[blam]

I read before that 40 is a miss translation and that it really means 'many'. For example: Rained 40 days and 40 nights...Ali Baba and the 40 thieves...etc.

[Fedora]

The Hebrew in the relevant passages (Exodus 16:35 and Numbers 14:34) is the number for 40, "arbahim" ("forty - arba׳eem - 40 אַרְבָּעִים": http://www.hebrewonline.com/Hebrew_Words/166.htm). "40" is a correct translation. Some scholars proposed that this might be a symbolic number after the Late Date theory of the Exodus was proposed, but there is nothing in the Hebrew language or the text of the Torah to support this.

[Fred Nerks]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1499609/posts

like in #26 here? Bit too deep for me...

But 40 for 'many' I can believe. Just how many objects or days/nights can an illiterate 'slave' count?

In Oz, the aboriginals used a word signifying 'mob' for anything over five...

[Drammach]

I read before that 40 is a miss translation and that it really means 'many'.

The Hebrew in the relevant passages (Exodus 16:35 and Numbers 14:34) is the number for 40, "arbahim" ("forty - arba׳eem - 40

The Children of "Arbahim" ???