Reply To: The population of the Israelites during Exodus

[Deborah Hurn]

Number of Amalekites: Israel’s first battle with Amalek was a closely matched contest with several reversals of advantage (17:8-11). Even if the Amalekites were superior warriors, a race of nomadic bandits could not have raised an army of sufficient size to challenge an Israelite host of around 600 000 armed men. Neither could they have supported themselves and their families, flocks and herds in the same wildernesses in which Israel sojourned, without the benefit of divine sustenance.