[Asphalt]

you assume there were just as many Israelites after fourty years. Considering they were in the desert. And considering all the plagues (ground opened up, etc.) I would say a good half of them if not more could easily have died.

[Junior]

A 50 percent mortality rate would be nothing to sneeze at, either, and I'd think someone would've mentioned it (as well as mentioning that two-thirds of the population of Egypt had upped and left).

Still, Canaan could not support 1 million folks at this time, even if they managed to kill off all the locals first, which Scripture says they did not (there were the Philistines, remember).

[Junior]

BTW, I ran the numbers on the Israelites' population growth figuring they had all their material needs taken care of by the Almighty (the biggest limiting factor on a population is food supply). Modern growth rates, IIRC, run about 2 percent a year, give or take a few tenths of a percent. And that's with modern sanitation, food quality and availability, and medical care. At a growth rate of only 1 percent, nearly 3 million Israelites would've descended upon poor peaceful Canaan. And that's after only 40 years.

My wife and I were discussing this in the car yesterday, and she pointed out that after 40 years of wandering, the Israelites were only permitted a glimpse of the Land of Milk and Honey and were forced to spend another 40 years in the desert before entering Canaan (she's a bit more well-read on the OT than I am, and I'm no slacker). After 80 years, the population would approach 4.4 million.