From Don't Know Much About the Bible, by Kenneth C. Davis:
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What is far more widely accepted is that the number of Hebrews who left Egypt had to have been far smaller than the hundreds of thousands mentioned in the Bible. There are several possible explanations for this incredible number. One is that the number in Exodus reflects a census made much later, in Israel. Others suggest a mistranslation of "thousand." If the word "thousand" is read instead as "troop," or a "contingent," of six to nine men each, it is far more plausible. A third suggestion is that in biblical numerology this figure represented a "perfect" number.
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I'm still looking for the other reference; clearly, it is in a different book.
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Gillian
"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"
"You can't erase icing."
"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"
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