In the second caravan the number was 1496. Wen- en and children are in neither case included (Ezra viB, 1-14).
It was probably ibr kindred objects that tke pedi- grees and enumerations which occupy the first 9 diap- ters of the Ist book of Chronicles were either eom- posed before the Captivity, or compfled after wards fhnn existing records by Em and others (1 Chroo. iv, 28, 82, 89; v, 9; vi, 57, 81; vii, 28; ix, 2). In the course of these we meet with notices of tlie nnmbers of the tribes, but at what periods is uncertain. Thos Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Bfanasseh are set down at 44,760 (v, 18), Issachar at 87,000 (vii, 5), Ben- jamin 59,484 (vii, 7, 9, 11), Asher 26,000 (vii, 40). Be- sides, there are to be reckoned priests, Levitea, and res- idents at Jerusalem ftam the tribes of Benjamin, Epb- raim, and Manasseh Qx, 8).
Throughout all thme accounts two points are dear. 1. That great pains were taken to ascertain and regis^ ter the numbers of the Jewish people at various times for the reasons mentioned above. 2. That the num- bers given in some cases can with difficulty be recon- ciled with other numbers of no very distant date, aa well as with the presumed capacity of the country for supporting population. Thus the entire male popula- tion above 20 years of age, excepting Levi and Bea- jamin, at David*s census, is given as 1,800,000, or 1,570,000 (2 Sam. xxiv, 1 ; 1 Chron. xxi), strangers 158,600 ; total, 1,458,600, or 1,728,000. These numbers (the excepted' tribes being borne in mind) represent a popidation of not less than 4 times this amount, or at least 5,814,000, of whom not less than 2,000,000 be- longed to Judah alone (2 Sam. xxiv, 9). Aboot 100 years after, Jehoshaphat was able to gather from Judah and Benjamin (indnding subject foreigners) an army of 1,160,000, besides garrisons, representing a popnla- tion of 4,640,000. ^fty years later, Amaziah could only raise 800,000 from the same 2 tribes, and 27 years after this, Uzziah had 807,500 men and 2600 officers. Whether the number of the foreigners subject to Je- hoshaphat constitutes the difference at these periods must remain uncertain.
To compare these estimates with the probable ca- pacity of the country, the whole area of Palestine, in- cluding the trans-Jordanic tribes, so fiur as it is possi- ble to ascertain their limits, may be set down as not exceeding 11,000 square mUes ; Judah and Benjamin at 8185, and Galilee at 980 square miles. The popu- lation, making allowance for the excepted tribes, would thus be not less than 580 to the square mile. This considerably exceeds the ratio in most European coun- tries, and even of many of the counties of England.
But while, on the one hand, great doubt rests on the genuineness of numerical expressions in O. T., it must be considered, on the other, that the readings on which our version is founded give, with trifling variations, the same results as those presented by the Sept. and by Josephus (Jahn, v, 86 ; Glasse, PkiL Sacr. de emum comqTtiofMt, i, §28; vol. ii, p. 189). SeeNuMBEB.
In the list of cities occupied by the tribe of Judah, including Simeon, are found 128 "with their villages,^* and by Benjamin 26. Of one dty, Ai, situate in Ben- jamin, which like piany, if not all the others, was walled, we know that the population, probably exclu- sive of children, was 12,000, while of Gibeon it is said that it was larger than Ai (Josh, viii, 25, 29; x,2; xv, 21-62; X viii, 21,28 ; xix, 1-9). If these " cities" may be taken aa samples of the rest, it is clear that Soulii-
CENSUS
185
CENSUS
em Bfclfitine, at least, was yaiy popnlons before the eiftiaiioe of tha people of IsraeL
But Joaephns, in hia aooounts (1.) of the population of Galilee in hia own timoi and (2.) of the nombera eoDgregated at Jemaalem at the time of the Passorer, thows a large peculation inhabiting Palestine. He mjs there were manj cities in Galilee, besides yil- kges, of wldch the least, whetlier cities or villages is not quite certain, had not less than 15,000 inliabitants (War, iii, 8, 2 and 4; comp. Tacit. BiM, ▼, 8> After the defeat of Ceetius, A.D. 66, before the formal olt- break of tlie war, a census taken at Jerusalem by the priests, of the numbers assembled there for the Passo- Ter, founded on the number of lambs sacrificed, com- pared with the probable number of persons partaking, gsre 2,700,000 persons, besides foreigners and tliose who were excluded by ceremonial defilement (see Tt^ dt. ma. ▼, 12). In the siege itself 1,100,000 perished, and during the war 97,000 were made captives. Be- sides these many deserted to the Romans, and were dismissed by them (War, yi, 8, 9, 3). These num- bers, on any supposition of foreign influx (^fi^^Xov 6XX' oitK Imxf^tpiov) imply a larg^ native population ; and 68 years later, in the insurrection of Barchochebas, Dkm Caasius says that 50 fortified towns and 980 vil- lages were destroyed, and 580,000 persons were slain in war, besides a countless multitude who perished by fiunine, fire, and disease, so that Palestine became al- most depopulated (Dion Cass. Ixix, 14).
Lastly, there are abundant traces throughout the whole of Palestine tt a much higher rate of fortOity in fmner as compared with present times— a fertility re- marlud by profiuie writers, and of whidi the present neglected state of cultivation affords' no test. - This, combiDed with the positive divine promises of popn- limsness, increaaes the probability of at least approxi- mate correctness in the foregoing estimates of popula- tioii (Tadt. Bitl, v, 6 ; Amm. Marc zlv, 8 ; Josephus, War. iii, 8 ; Jerome on Eaek. xx, and Rabbinical au- thorities in Reland, c xxvi ; Shaw,7yYi9e&,ii,pt.ii,c i, p. 886, 840, and 275 ; Hasselquist, navek, p. 120, 127, 180; Stanley, PaktL p. 120, 874; Kitto, Pk^ft. Gtogr. p. 88 ; Raumer, PalAatima, p. 8, 80, 83, App. ix. Comp. Gen. xiii, 16; xxii, 17; Num. xxiii, 10; 1 Kings iv, 20; Aqts xii, 20). See Meiner, De Hebrmorum cambtu (Lsngens. 1764-66); Zeibich, De eensffm Jlebraonm (Gera, 1764-6). See PALSSTorB.