Additional insight on the question of whether Amram was the father of Aaron and Moses can be found by reviewing the numbering of the descendants of Kohath:
Numbers 3:27 And of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izeharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites: these are the families of the Kohathites.
Numbers 3:28 In the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were eight thousand and six hundred, keeping the charge of the sanctuary.
Recall that Levi had three descendants: Gershon, Kohath and Merari (Exodus 6:16). In turn, Kohath had four descendants: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel (Exodus 6:18). It was these descendants of Kohath that Moses numbered in the verses above, counting all males from a month old and up. The total count of these males were 8600, including babies, children and adults. This census was taken by Moses in the 2nd year following the Exodus (Numbers 1:1), when Moses was approximately 82 years old (since Moses was about 80 years old at the Exodus, see Exodus 7:7) and Aaron about 85 years old (3 years older than Moses). Now, given that the total count of Kohathites was 8600, and because Kohath had four descendants, we could estimate that each line of descent from Kohath would have had approximately a fourth of the 8600 total, or 2150 each. This would mean the Amramites probably had something on the order of 2150 males, and so did the Izeharites, the Hebronites and the Uzzielites.
Now recall that if Amram was the father of Aaron and Moses and Miriam (Numbers 26:59), then this would mean that the 2150 Amramite males must have come through these three children of Amram in just 85 years! Also remember that Moses only numbered males, yet surely a similar number of daughters would also have been born, so that the total number of descendants (sons and daughters) would probably have been close to 4300! So what do we know of the children of Aaron, Moses and Miriam? We know Moses had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer (1 Chronicles 23:15, Acts 7:29), and Aaron had four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar (I Chronicles 6:3). But we also know Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abihu, died without having sons (Numbers 3:4). Thus, neither Aaron nor Moses seemed to have large families, though they may have had additional children not recorded in the Bible. As far as Miriam, there is no information as to her children, or whether she was even married. Of course the sons (and daughters) of Moses and Aaron (and Miriam if she had any) could also have contributed sons to the 2150 total. We know Moses didn't marry until at least 40 years old (compare Acts 7:23 with Exodus 2:15-22), thus he (and his sons) only had 42 years to contribute offspring to be counted (i.e., 2 generations at most). No information is given as to when Aaron and Miriam married, but even if they both married young (~20 years old) this would allow them (and their offspring) just 65 years to contribute offspring before the census (i.e., 3 generations at most).
We can do some math to determine how many children would result from these three children of Amram given the following:
> Moses married at 40 years and had 42 years to produce children prior to the census (time for up to 2 generations)
> Aaron and Miriam married at 20 years and had 65 years to produce children (time for up to 3 generations)
> Assume 50% of children are males
> Assume a large family of 10 children (5 sons and 5 daughters) per family per generation
The total number of children (sons and daughters) given these parameters would be:
> Moses' 1st generation = 10 + 2nd generation = 100
> Aaron's 1st generation = 10 + 2nd generation = 100 + 3rd generation = 1000
> Miriam's 1st generation = 10 + 2nd generation = 100 + 3rd generation = 1000
So the total number of children determined above would be 2330, and if 50% were males, then 1165 males. Notice that this is far short, only about half, of the 2150 Amramite males numbered at the census. And notice that the 1165 males calculated above assumed very large families (10 children each) and 3 generations for Aaron and Miriam. So despite the generous assumptions used in the calculation above, it's not possible to account for all the probable descendants of the Amramites when Moses numbered them in the 2nd year after the Exodus.
So we are left with the question of where did the approximately 2150 male Amramites come from? The simple answer if that is Amram is not forced to be the father of Aaron, Moses and Miriam, but instead an earlier ancestor (grandfather, great grandfather, etc), then there would be additional time for more generations to develop, which could easily account for the number of male descendants born.
In the next study on Numbers 4:34-36, where Moses numbers only the 30-50 year old Kohathite males, an even greater evidence will be shown displaying how unrealistic it is to conclude that Amram was the father of Aaron, Moses and Miriam.
QUESTIONS
The following are questions on the above study:
Q: Isn't it possible that Amram had other children besides Moses, Aaron and Miriam? This would allow them to have more descendants in a shorter period of time.
A: It is certainly possible Amram had other children unnamed in the Bible, but even if he had 10 children, each one of those would need to have approximately 430 children to reach a total of 4300 sons and daughters.
Q: Couldn't the descendants of Amram have been disproportionately smaller than his brothers Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel?
A: It is possible the Amramites didn't have 25% of the 8600 descendants. But even if one assumed a very unequal split like 10%, that would still require 860 males from Amram's three children, or roughly 287 from Moses, 287 from Aaron and 287 from Miriam. Because of the short time span from the birth of Aaron and Moses until the Exodus census, it would be quite difficult if not impossible to produce so many male descendants.
Q: Couldn't you squeeze in a 3rd generation for Moses in 42 years and a 4th for Aaron and Miriam in 65 years?
A: Remember, the above assumption was that each family of each generation had 10 children, and it takes many years to have 10 children! However, if each family of each generation only had a few children (2-3), then sure, you could squeeze in another generation. But this won't allow more sons to be born even though there is an extra generation because now each generation is smaller. In fact, even the assumption above of a generation every 25 years is practically impossible when each family has 10 children. This just goes to show how unrealistic it is to conclude that Amram was the father of Aaron, Moses and Miriam!
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