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An army of one million

Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by rlvaughn, May 21, 2021.

  1. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    2 Chronicles 14:9 - And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah.

    This was brought up in another thread. I thought it might make an interesting discussion. Here are some comments on the million man army, from over at Bible Hub, and Josephus.
    Thoughts?
     
  2. robycop3

    robycop3 Well-Known Member
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    The largest Civil War armies that were together as a unit were around a half-million, & they could travel only as fast as their supply trains, same as ancient armies, as they all had to be fed & have water & latrines. Same as ancient armies, they had large numbers of animals with them, that had to eat & drink as well. Also, the commanders couldn't get their orders to all the men too quickly. The Civil War armies were the last large armies to travel the same way the ancient armies did.

    I'd say the censuses the old Israelis made of fighting-age men were fairly-accurate. And the 200-million-person Oriental army in Revelation is VERY-accurate, as it's from GOD. And awhile back, China by itself boasted of having a 200-million-person army available, which I don't doubt for a second.

    But as for the million-man Ethiopian army, I believe what the Cambridge people said-it was a large army the Israelis couldn't count.
     
  3. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    Do you mean the military censuses recorded in the Old Testament? If so, what do you mean by fairly accurate?
    By writing that, are you implying that the number in 2 Chronicles 14:9 is not from God?
     
  4. 37818

    37818 Well-Known Member

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    A number in holy scripture would be true and the number can actually be more.

    Numbers 24:9, ". . . And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. . . ."

    1 Corinthians 10:8, ". . . some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. . . ."
     
  5. Dave G

    Dave G Well-Known Member

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    It's a literal number,
    as God, who cannot lie, has stated it.
     
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  6. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    @robycop3, Hoping I might get your attention on this. I had forgotten about it.

    When writing what I quote below in post #2, what did you mean? Combined with what you said about the Ethiopian army, were you implying that the number in 2 Chronicles 14:9 is not from God? Or something else?
    Thanks.
     
  7. Dave G

    Dave G Well-Known Member

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    https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/OTpdf/2ch14.pdf
    2 Chronicles 14 Interlinear Bible
    2 Chronicles 14:9 - וַיֵּצֵ֨א אֲלֵיהֶ֜ם... - Interlinear Study Bible
    2 Chronicles 14
     
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  8. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
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    There are instances in the Hebrew texts though where the numbers cannot be determined with absolute certainty, so that army would be a large number is fine, even is exact count was wrong!
     
  9. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
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    There are instances in the Hebrew texts though where the numbers cannot be determined with absolute certainty, so that army would be a large number is fine, even is exact count was wrong!
     
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