Texts in Conversation
Exodus 12 says that about 600,000 men left Egypt with Moses. The Letter of Aristeas settles exactly 600,000 men on farms in Judea, using the number from the Exodus to set the size of the land the Jews hold.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 12:37
Hebrew Bible
35 Now the Israelites had done as Moses told them—they had requested from the Egyptians silver and gold items and clothing. 36 The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and they gave them whatever they wanted, and so they plundered Egypt. 37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about 600,000 men on foot, plus their dependents. 38 A mixed multitude also went up with them, and flocks and herds—a very large number of cattle. 39 They baked cakes of bread without yeast using the dough they had brought from Egypt, for it was made without yeast. Because they were thrust out of Egypt and were not able to delay, they could not prepare food for themselves either.
Letter of Aristeas 1:116
Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
since it is well watered in all directions and well protected from storms. The river Jordan, as it is called, which never runs dry, flows through the land. Originally (the country) contained not less than 60 million acres-though afterwards the neighbouring peoples made incursions against it - and 600,000 men were settled on it in farms of a hundred acres each. The river like the Nile rises in harvest- time and irrigates a large portion of the land. Near the district belonging to the people of Ptolemais it issues into another river and this flows out into the sea. Other mountain torrents, as they are called, flow down into the plain and encompass the parts about Gaza and the district of
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Notes and References
“... Second, the long travel section incorporates several episodes from the Exodus story: the workings of the temple, its sacrificial system and priestly ministrations parallel material from both Exodus and Leviticus; the description of the high priest’s vestments originates in Exodus 28, although as in the ekphrasis on the table and bowls, Ps.-Aristeas departs significantly from the biblical text from which he draws his inspiration; the description of Jerusalem and it surroundings creates an ideal city for a Hellenistic Jewish audience in light of the idealistic description of a land “flowing with milk and honey” (see Num 13:26–27; 14:7–8). The description of the size of the land, six million aroura, relies explicitly on the number 600,000 people who left Egypt in Exod 12:37 (here “men”) and Num 11:21 (here “people”). ...”
Wright, Benjamin G., III
The Letter of Aristeas: ‘Aristeas to Philocrates’ or ‘On the Translation of the Law of the Jews’
(pp. 57-58) De Gruyter, 2015
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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