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years , in a country for the most part barren ; these circumstances seem not to > admit a number much greater , if at all , than that , which is specified in the preceding calculation . To all these circumstances we . may add the words of Moses himself , as attesting the comparative smaHness of their
number , Deut . vii . 7 . " The . Lord did not set his love upon you , nor chuse you , because you were more in number than any people ; for ye were the fewest of all people . " And though he reckons them , ( Chap , x * 22 . ) ' « as the stars of heaven for
multitude " , compared to the original number " seventy , when their fathers went down into Egypt j" yet he describes the nations whom they "were preparing to attack ( Chap . ix . 1 . ) as " greater and mightier than they , " and exhorts them , ( Chap . vii . 17 , 180 not to be terrified on account of their number
and power . V . Their passing the Red Sea with their flocks , herds and carriages , in one night , as is represented , or in a day and night , seems impossible , supposing them to be so very numerous . But if we reduce the number
according to the calculation abovementioned , a probable solution may be given of any great difficulty which may seem to remain . For some inodern travellers , who have investigated those parts , report that there is a bay lying northward of the Red Sea , which hath a communication
with it ; that there is notwithstanding a passage , commonly fordable , and sometimes quite dry ; and that now people frequently pass that way to andfro , between Egypt and Arabia . This they suppose to have been the
very place where the Israelites made their passage . It is said in the scripture that " a strong wind blew" previous to their passage , which would necessarily cause an extraordinary recess of the tide . If then , Moses took
the earliest opportunity , as he undoubtedly would , of sending the carriages and cattle before him , on the day , or some days preceding" , forty thousand people might pass afterward on dry ground in less than one night , the passage being scarcely one mile : and when the wind
ceased , a high tide might return with such force , as to overthrow the pursuing army so effectually , that in the morning the Hebrews on the other
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side could discover nothing of them * but dead bodies thrown upon the shore . This account is adopted by a very able and learned critic , Le Clerc- The expressions used in
scripture are not to be thought violent figures of speech , at least in poetry ; though it is said "the people passed through the midst of the sea , " and that " the waters were as a wall
unto them on the right hand and on the left , " For as they certainly made their passage with great expedition , so the sea on one hand , and the bay on the other , would check the pursuit of the enemy and guard them
from being surrounded , as effectually as walls . This explanation does not contradict , as some may hastily imagine * a particular or miraculous protection of heaven over that people in that event , but serves to shew , what is most credible , that a
power from heaven always operates so far and no farther than the necessity or reason of the case requires * To what purpose is there any mention of " a strong wind blowing all day and night which caused the sea to go back , " implying as plain as words
can express , a recess of the tide ; but which means nothing , if an immense gap was made in the middle of the sea , by a stroke of divine power . Was not that very wind , blowing so strong at that juncture , a sufficient and therefore more reasonable and
credible interposition of providence in their favour , than the other case supposed ? Or is the poetical language used in describing that wonderful and truly miraculous event , more liable to censure according to this explanation , than the phrases
used when nothings miraculous appears necessary or credible ; such as the " sun and moon standing still in the heaven , " to denote a long day of pursuit ; or the " stars fighting in their courses" against the enemy , to
express a signal and surprising defeat of them ? It seems not improbable , that as soon as the Hebrews had passed and the Egyptians were advanced into the midst of the channel , the wind changed its course and brought back the tide with a redoubled swell
and violence ; while the heavy chariots and horses of which the Egyptian army consisted , were obstructed and almost set fast , by sinking into a soft bottom 5 though travellers on
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44 On the Number of the Hebrew People at different Periods .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1815, page 44, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1756/page/44/
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