Many years ago, I heard a teaching that stated the women, children, and elderly were placed in the middle of the Exodus and wandering. While the men marched on the outside to protect them in case of an attack during the 40 years. I have looked everywhere I can think of to find any information. Is there someone here who can help me find some information concerning this question?
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1Welcome to BHSX. Thanks for your question. Please remember to take the tour to better understand how this site works. Valid questions here need a specific Bible passage to analyze. The answer to this question is not recorded so not Biblical answer can be given. – Dottard Oct 31 '23 at 06:25
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This might be a traditional Jewish understanding. You might ask this on https://judaism.stackexchange.com. – Perry Webb Oct 31 '23 at 10:01
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1@Dottard ... I think there is an exception (not applicable here) to your statement that valid questions need specific biblical passages to be valid: namely, questions that deal with hermeneutical principles and methodology. She the chart here. – Dan Fefferman Nov 02 '23 at 01:56
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@DanFefferman - agreed. – Dottard Nov 02 '23 at 05:18
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There was indeed a group marching at the center of the formation during the Exodus, but it was not the women and children; it was the Levites:
The other Israelites shall camp according to their companies, each in their own divisional camps, but he Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the covenant. (Num. 1:53) ...The camp of the Levites shall set out in the midst of the divisions. As they camp, so also they will march, each in place, by their divisions. (Numb 2:17)
Numbers 10 gives the order of march of the other Israelites:
13 The first time that they broke camp at the direction of the Lord through Moses, 14 the divisional camp of the Judahites, arranged in companies, was the first to set out... {a long list follows} Finally, as rear guard for all the camps, the divisional camp of the Danites set out, arranged in companies.... 28 This was the order of march for the Israelites, company by company, when they set out.
Elsewhere (Numbers 1:46) we read that the number of fighting men was more than 600,000, not counting Levites. Many readers do not take these numbers literally, but this would mean more than 2 million people, estimating conservatively. The logistics of bringing women and children to the center of the formation of march would make this task prohibitive. Even on a tribe-by tribe-basis, moving the women and children to center of each tribe's formation would be a massive task, involving tens of thousands of people together with their goods and animals. Even finding one's family after a march could be very difficult ordeal, with each tribe composed of a population greater than the largest sports stadium.
Conclusion: it is highly unlikely the women and children marched in the center of the formation during the Exodus, unless the numbers were very much smaller than the text indicates. In any case, such an arrangement is not indicated in the text. It was the Levites, not the women and children, who marched in the middle.
Dan Fefferman
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1Please understand that my edits were to help the visually impaired using a screen reader. For additional information, see Standard format for biblical quotations. – agarza Nov 01 '23 at 21:29
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@agarza - thanks for explaining that your edits for quoting Bible verses is to help the visually impaired. Is there also a reason for removing italics on headings? – Lesley Nov 02 '23 at 16:29
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@Lesley You are very welcome! As to the italics on headings, could you give me an example so I understand what you are asking? – agarza Nov 02 '23 at 16:31
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@agarza - My "house style" is to show headings in bold italics. It's only a detail and not important, though. Here is a recent example where you made the change: https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/97592/is-heaven-the-eternal-home-of-all-faithful-worshippers-of-god/97594#97594 – Lesley Nov 02 '23 at 16:39
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1@Lesley Yes, I see now. For users with dyslexia, italics can cause problems (see Are italics on the web bad for accessibility?). I have also read that this is exacerbated with the addition of bold. – agarza Nov 02 '23 at 16:48
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I appreciate your editing work--not just to help the visually impaired but also catching copy editing errors etc. There was recently one example where I wanted to keep the original formatting that my bible used in order to emphasize the poetic sense but I rarely object to what you do. Indeed as I said, I appreciate it a lot. – Dan Fefferman Nov 02 '23 at 18:25
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I'm a little lost in the weeds of the current example. I think I may have felt your edits made the sense of the writing less clear, even though it improved the readability for the visually impaired. – Dan Fefferman Nov 02 '23 at 18:29
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After escaping from the Egyptian army, the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sin and camped at Rephidim. There the Amalekites attacked the Israelite camp. The Amalekites were a nomadic tribe, native to the Negev, the desert between Egypt and Canaan.
The Amalekites’ unrelenting brutality toward the Israelites began with an attack at Rephidim (Exodus 17:8–13). This is recounted in Deuteronomy 25:17–19 with this admonition: “Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind [typically women and children]: they had no fear of God. When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!” (Source: Who were the Amalekites?)
The Israelites may well have taken measures to guard the camp or to surround the women, children and the elderly after this event. However, the Bible does not say.
Some speculate that after the death of Aaron the Israelites took care of proper perimeter defence. I found one reference to this:
Rosh Hashanah 2b-3a: For it is written [in connection with the latter], ‘After he had smitten Sihon’; and when Aaron died Sihon was still alive, as it is written, and the Canaanite the king of Arad heard. What was the report that he heard? He heard that Aaron had died and that the clouds of glory had departed, and he judged that it was now permitted to attack Israel.
According to Rashi: "(Amalek could pick off) all the people that fell behind (the camp, because) they were defenceless due to their sins because the cloud expelled them out."
That may be connected to what you heard but I can’t find anything in the O.T. to substantiate it.
