Double the Number of Those Who Left Egypt

The Sages taught: Once, King Agripas wished to know the multitudes of Israel (i.e. to know the population) He said to the High Priest: “Set your eyes on the Paschal lambs (count the number brought in order to approximate the population). (The High Priest) took a kidney from each, and six hundred thousand pairs of kidneys were found there, double (the number) of those who left Egypt. (This did not reflect the sum total of the Jewish population, since it) excluded those who were ritually impure or at a great distance (from the Temple, and hence did not offer the paschal sacrifice). (Furthermore) there was not a single lamb that did not have more than ten people registered for it.                           Babylonian Talmud, Pesaḥim 64b

            Based on the Talmud’s story, during the time of King Agripas (who reigned between 41 – 44 ce) 1,200,000 paschal lambs were slaughtered and offered on the altar, and since each lamb was brought by a group of no fewer than ten, more than 12,000,000 Jews ascended to the Temple.

            Anaf Yosef (commentary on the Talmudic agadot) suggests that the Talmudic story is an exaggeration, a suggestion which seems necessary, based on at least two considerations:

             It is physically impossible to deal with such a huge number of sacrifices within the limited time available for offering the Paschal lamb (approximately four and a half hours, see Maimonides’ Laws of the Paschal Sacrifice 1:4];

            Historians estimate that at the time of Agripas, the Jewish population of the world numbered approximately 7,000,000

            Immediately before quoting  the episode of counting the kidneys of the Paschal lambs, the Talmud presents a difference of opinion between Abayye and Rava concerning the correct reading of the Mishna’s description of offering the Paschal sacrifice. Abayye posits that the proper reading is “the doors (of the Temple courtyard) were closed (implying automatically, and miraculously),” while Rava maintains that the reading is “they (humans) closed the doors.”

The Talmud explains that the source of the disagreement is the question of whether or not we are to rely on miracles.

            While the debate between the two Talmudic giants apparently is not on a halachic issue, nonetheless, it would seem that Rava’s position is to be preferred, since in all halachic debates between the two the halacha is decided in accordance with Rava’s approach (save six times).

            Indeed, Maimonides, in describing the service of the Paschal lamb, quotes Rava’s position:

The first group (to offer the Paschal lamb) entered (the Temple courtyard) until it was filled, and then they closed the doors of the courtyard and began to sacrifice the Paschal lambs.

                              Laws of the Paschal Offering 1:11

            This preamble to the episode of Agripas’ “census,” accepting that we do not rely on miracles, is perhaps intended to inform us that the following story is not to be believed literally.

            Moreover, the source of the Agripas episode is the Tosefta, however, the Talmud deletes a phrase from the original source “and the (courtyard) could not contain them all.” [Tosefta, Pesaḥim 4:15] According to the Tosefta, there was not enough room in the Temple courtyard for all of the pilgrims who ascended to Jerusalem. The missing phrase too indicates our Sages exaggerated and the story is not to be believed literally. If the story reflects a miracle that the natural limitation of space was overcome, it matters not to God, who performs the miracle whether there were 12,000,000 or 12,000,000,000 in the courtyard.

            The number which our Sages use “six hundred thousand” (in a more exact translation: “sixty myriads”) is what scholars refer to as a “typological number,” that is, a number which conveys a symbolic, rather than exact meaning.

            We may suggest that in stating that the number of Paschal lambs brought to the altar was “double (the number) of those who left Egypt,” our Sages express the thought that the experience of offering the Paschal sacrifice is greater than the experience of leaving Egypt. The reason for this is that the exodus was not a goal, but a means. The goal of the exodus was to bring the nation of Israel into its Land, and to fulfill God’s mitzvot within her. When Jews offered the Paschal sacrifice during the Second Temple period (and, equally, during the First Temple period) they realized the purpose of the exodus, and thus their experience was greater than leaving Egypt.