Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MIXED MULTITUDE

The group of people which escaped from Egypt in the Exodus and later formed the nation of Israel (Exod. 12:38). After numbering the Israelites specifically, not including children, the text then states that in addition a “mixed multitude” (Heb. ʿēreḇ raḇ) joined along with them. The use of such a phrase in this context implies that the exodus group was not purely homogeneous, and certainly not comprised exclusively of the descendants of Jacob, but included various foreign elements as well. One may point specifically to the Midianites whom Moses brought along. Certainly there must have been many other Canaanites, Egyptians, and other peoples mixing in as well. Indeed, Egyptian records show that many different peoples took refuge in Egypt during times of famine, as did the Israelites, since the regular flooding of the Nile supported agriculture there even when rainfall was sparse. The Kenites and Rechabites are clearly incorporated into Israel from outside. Some would point to the Calebites as well, though they claim a Judahite descent. Some scholarly models of the Exodus would take this passage to imply a diverse coalition of slaves and other malcontents who banded together in the escape or, at least, in the subsequent settlement of the new nation. Num. 11:4 makes a similar implication in referring to “the rabble” (hāʾsapsup) that murmured against Moses in the wilderness wanderings. (The LXX translates both terms with Gk. epímiktos.)

Even though the full phrase occurs only in Exod. 12:38, its meaning as relating to “mixing” and “foreigners” is well attested. Heb. ʿēreḇ alone is used in Neh. 13:3; Jer. 25:20, 24; 50:37 to describe foreigners of various types (cf. Dan. 2:41, 43). Ps. 106:35-37; Ezra 9:2 use a verbal (hithpael) form of this root for mixing with foreigners (gôyîm), which leads to idolatry and human sacrifice.

Robin J. DeWitt Knauth

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MIXED MULTITUDE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)