In the prior study (Numbers 3:27-28) it was shown that the assumption that Amram was the father of Aaron and Moses makes it very difficult to account for the number of descendants when Moses numbered Amram's descendants after the Exodus. In that study all males from a month old and up were counted. In this study of Numbers 4, we find that Moses also numbered the descendants who were between 30 and 50 years old:
Numbers 4:34 And Moses and Aaron and the ruler of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families, and by their fathers' house,
Numbers 4:35 from a son of thirty years and upward, even to a son of fifty years, everyone who is going into the service, for work in the tabernacle of the congregation.
Numbers 4:36 Their numbered ones, by their families, were two thousand, seven hundred and fifty.
Here again, similar to Numbers 3:27-28, a post Exodus census is taken of the Kohathites (Kohath was the father of Amram, and one of the three descendants of Levi, see Exodus 6:16). However in this numbering only those males between 30 and 50 years of age were counted. Recall from Numbers 3:27-28 that all the males from a month old and up summed to 8600. Now in this numbering we learn that all those between 30 and 50 years old were 2750, roughly 1/3 of the 8600 males found earlier. As in the last study, since Kohath had four offspring (Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel), it will be assumed that roughly a fourth of the 2750 adult males were Amramites, or 688 men. Given the idea that Amram was the father of Aaron, Moses and Miriam, this would mean these 688 adult men came from these three offspring. In order to help visual the implications of this a timeline is shown below:
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Post Exodus Census Timeline (Years are Relative to the Exodus)
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Year -83 = Aaron born
Year -80 = Moses born
Year -48 = 50 year old males born
Year -40 = Earliest Moses marries Zipporah (i.e., 40 years old, after fleeing Egypt to Midian)
Year -28 = 30 year old males born
Year 0 = Exodus
Year +2 = Moses take census of 30-50 year old males (Numbers 1:1, 4:36)
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In the above timeline, negative years indicate time prior to the Exodus. Since Aaron was approximately 83 years old at the time of the Exodus, and Moses 80, the timeline indicates their birth dates as -83 and -80 respectively. The Bible also indicates that Moses did not marry until he was at least 40 years old (compare Acts 7:23 with Exodus 2:15-22), so for simplicity it is assumed he married at 40 years old, indicated by the year -40 (40 years prior to the Exodus). Finally, the years between -48 and -28 indicate when the 30-50 year old males who were counted in the post Exodus census must have been born (the census occurring 2 years after the Exodus requires the 50 years old males be born 48 years before the Exodus, at year -48, and at 30 year old males 28 years before the Exodus, at year -28).
As can be seen from the timeline, given that Moses married at 40 years old, it is possible that his two sons Gershom and Eliezer (1 Chronicles 23:15, Acts 7:29) were born some time between years -40 and -28. However, in the case of Moses' sons, there is no time for them to grow up and have sons before year -28, given that the oldest they could have been was 12 years old. Now in the case of Aaron, we don't know when he married, but we know he had four sons (Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, I Chronicles 6:3) who could have been born between the years -48 to -28. However, these sons of Aaron, even if born in year -48, probably would not have grown up and married in time to produce a second generation of sons prior to year -28 (just 20 years later). Finally there is Miriam, about whom not much is known in regard to whether she had children, or if she even married. However it could be assumed that she likewise had some children between the Pre-Exodus years -48 and -28, but again, it would be very doubtful any of her children would have had time to grow up and have a second generation before year -28. Thus, the most offspring we could reasonably attribute to Aaron, Moses and Miriam would be something like 10 of those 30-50 year old adult males, nowhere close to 688! It is also conceivable that Amram himself may have had some additional children in his very old age during this 20 year time span, but certainly not enough to bring the total anywhere near to 688!
So what we find is that if Aaron, Moses and Miriam were immediate sons and daughter of Amram, then it would be all but impossible for them to provide anywhere close to the 688 adult males (between 30 and 50 years old) attributable to the descendants of Amram. And remember, even if some of the sons of Aaron and Miriam were born in year -48, there is just not enough time for them to grow up and produce another generation before year -28 (just 20 years later, or even if they did have a child in year -48 that had another child before year -28, the most you might add to the 10 above might be 3 or 4). And in the case of Moses, who married at 40 years old, the earliest he could have had any sons would be year -40, and so it would be quite impossible for his sons to produce another generation in just 12 years. As far as Amram having other sons and daughters besides Aaron, Moses and Miriam, ones not recorded in the Bible, it would take more than 65 additional children from Amram, each having 10 children of their own in the 20 years time span for 30-50 year olds, to provide 688 adult offspring at the time of the Post-Exodus census, something we can be sure didn't happen. Thus, the conclusion that Amram was the father of Aaron, Moses and Miriam seriously conflicts with the numbering of 30-50 year old males in the post Exodus census.
The solution to this apparent problem is to recall that the Hebrew words "ben" (son) and "yalad" (begat), used to describe the relationship of Amram, Aaron, Moses and Miriam, can never be assumed to guarantee an immediate father-son or father-daughter relationship. Given this along with the post Exodus numbering, we can be sure that Amram was not the immediate father of Aaron, Moses and Miriam, but that he was an ancestor (grandfather, great grandfather, etc). Such an understanding allows Amram to have other generations of offspring prior to the arrival of Aaron, Moses and Miriam, and these additional descendants of Amram would have been able to support the birth of something on the order of 688 male descendants in the Pre-Exodus years -48 to -28.
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