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The table below presents presents
two contradictory verses.
Both verses talk about
the number of Jews that left Egypt.
The underlined words highlight the contradiction.
One verse says
600,000 Jews left
while the other verse says
603,550
Which is it?
Did 600,000 people leave or did 603,550 leave?
Rashi simply resolves this in two ways: One using the 2 Aspects method and one using the broad-literal method.
We present two solutions. Solution 1: 600,000 is a legitimate approximation for 603,550
[Support for this solution may be found in Ex12-37 which explicitly says that the 600,000 is approximate!].
Solution 2: The 600,000 men who left Egypt complained. The 3,550 people who became adults (reached age 20)
since leaving Egypt did not complain.
Summary
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Verse / Source
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Text of verse / Source
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600,000 Jews left Egypt
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Ex12-37, Nu11-21
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And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot, who were men, beside children.
...
And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are 600,000 footmen; and you have said, I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month.
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603,350 Jews left Egypt
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Nu01-46
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All those who were counted were 603,350
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Resolution:
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2 Aspects, Broad-Literal:
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We present two solutions. Solution 1: 600,000 is a legitimate approximation for 603,550
[Support for this solution may be found in Ex12-37 which explicitly says that the 600,000 is approximate!].
Solution 2: The 600,000 men who left Egypt complained. The 3,550 people who became adults (reached age 20)
since leaving Egypt did not complain.
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Advanced Rashi:
There are a variety of numerical Contradictions in the Bible including
- The list of 69 people who came down to Egypt, even though the count is 70
- The requirement of giving 40 lashes even though the maximum is 39
- The requirement to count 7 weeks which is 50 days.
There are known Midrashic resolutions of all these contradictions. However a Rosh suggests that
It is the nature of the Torah to round. This is particularly true for small numbers that end in 9.
The above list of 3 examples coupled with the current Rashi being studied gives credibiilty to the Rosh's
approach.
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#*#*#*# (C) RashiYomi Inc., 2012, Dr. Hendel, President #*#*#*#*#
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