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How many were killed? 70 or 50,070?

Claim:

Most manuscripts—especially the Masoretic Text—records that 50,070 men were killed. Only a few manuscripts record that 70 were killed. Which is true?

Response:

70 men were killed. The 50,070 number is definitely a transmission error. Archer writes, “Note that the alphabetic system of numerical notation needed only a few dots above or below to multiply by one thousand; thus the letter nun with two dots above it would signify 50,000." Therefore, we can see that it would be easy to introduce a scribal error here.

  1. ^

    Archer, Gleason L. A Survey of Old Testament Introduction: Revised and Expanded. Chicago, IL: Moody, 2007. 387.

About The Author
James Rochford

James earned a Master’s degree in Theological Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, graduating magna cum laude. He is the founder of Evidence Unseen and the author of several books. James enjoys serving as a pastor at Dwell Community Church in Columbus, Ohio, where he lives with his wife and their two sons.