Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Arnaud Fournet" <fournet.arnaud AT wanadoo.fr>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Isaac Fried" <if AT math.bu.edu>
To: "Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
Cc: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2010 6:50 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] cognate alphabet


> Some relevant mathematics.
> Assume that at the end of the exodus out of Egypt some 50,000  
> Israelites entered their promised land. Assume, conservatively, that  
> they had a rate of growth of 1/2% per annum. 
***
This is not "conservative".
Unless there is more food or the initial population accretes outsiders, 
there is no reason it should grow.
Pre-modern populations were entirely dependent on food, wars and epidemics.

A.
***


They lived upon their  
> land for some 800 years until the destruction of the first temple,  
> and the ensuing deportation into exile. At that time there should  
> have been in the land of Israel some 50,000(1.005)^800= 2,700,000  
> Hebrew speakers, or am I wrong.
***
And how much is the surface fit for agricultural use?
How do you feed those numbers?

Arnaud Fournet
***