How many years did Moses and the Israelites wander in the wilderness?

Answer 1

The period of time as recorded in Exodus ch.16 and Numbers ch.14 was 40 years, until one generation was exchanged.

They were not lost in terms of their location and direction of travel since they had leadership (Moses, Aaron, elders of the tribes) and God Himself directed them in their movements and provided for them. In another sense many of them were 'lost' in the bondage of their own rebellious and grumbling attitude. which even annoyed Moses so much that he 'lost it'.

Exodus 16:35 (King James Version)35And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

Deuteronomy 29:5 (King James Version)5And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.

Answer:

None. The event never happened. After over 1 million man hours of archaeological excavation, not a single shred of evidence exists of some 3,000,000 people wandering the desert for 40 years.

The absurdity of this notion is evidenced by considering the huge logistic hurdles in moving 3,000,000 people - they surely wouldn't of traveled south many miles with no way to cross the Red Sea and with no way to foresee the God would supposedly separate the sea for their crossing. They would of followed well established roads - then enter an inhospitable desert as opposed to choosing an area that could sustain life.

The absence of proof does not necessarily prove non-existence.

Answer:

200,000,000 people have visited the Grand Canyon in the past forty years (Based on today's annual census of visitors, therefore, this number could be as much, or as more than half that number).

160,000,000 people have visited Yosemite National Park in the past forty years (Based on today's annual census of visitors, therefore, this number could be as much, or as more than half that number).

I suspect that there is no lasting evidence as to this number of people traveling through, and some staying for a time, in these regionally small areas of land. That is, no lasting evidence other than the census of travelers passing through and staying for a period of time.

If left unattended, for several thousand years, the current Grand Canyon and Yosemite National Park structures, roadways and minute evidence of travel and camping will no doubt be eroded, washed or decomposed away, back into the Earth. The existence of a census of travelers may be the only evidence to survive for future generations to seek as truth to the existence of such vast numbers of travelers to such a confined area.

Much of the evidence of "today's" inhabitance of those areas, mentioned above, is eliminated through policies of "No-Trace" camping, use and inhabitance. Recycling of consumables further reduces trace of human existence in the areas mentioned above.

It is possible that the Israelites traveling through the wilderness for forty years left "no trace" by the utilization of the same "no-trace" practices used today. Even more then, than today, they would make maximum use of resources and utilize recycling. Why? Because the wilderness was likely void of a multitude of resources. "Trash", would likely be recycled and once again become a useable resource. These considerations could explain the possible absence of archeological artifacts that one may seek to prove the existence of two million or more Hebrews on an exodus from Egypt and through the wilderness.

Answer:

The entire enterprise of archeology consists in the analyzing of the long-dead past. This carries with it the inescapable effort to study what has partially eroded, and what has completely eroded. Evidence always remains, and archeology is the very enacting of the skills to detect such evidence.

We regularly detect dwellings from primitive man. These consist of a handful of people. Maybe a dozen people in all. They typically have left us no drawings, and no tools obvious to the untrained eye. There previous presence is nevertheless unmistakable: Locations (proximity to resources), altered objects (shifted boulders, preserved tree-stumps), personal possessions (being human, even the frugal and poor caveman could lose something), bones and burial grounds (did nobody die in the wilderness?), fecal matter (you'd be surprised what content can survive), forensic evidence (for example: elements that result from combustion found concentrated in specific areas meaning controlled and therefore artificial fire).

3 million traveling people would alter vegetation paths, compact the ground to produce an instant primitive 'road', and all other anomalies specific to such a large group, in addition to vastly multiplying the typical pool of evidence used to discover a people. If they ever stopped, their encampments would instantly alter the landscape in a flurry of further evidence. It would be unmistakable.

Now consider the incredibly small area that constitutes the 'wilderness' we are dealing with. Apparently they either traveled at a snail's pace or they transversed the same area repeatedly (being "lost" after-all) again, and again, for 40 years. In the first they are not so much traveling as an enormous encampment (dozens of miles long and wide--many hundreds of square miles) that slowly shifts forward by 108 ft a day. In the second option they would be an incredibly long traveling group that manages to constantly U-turn and trample the same area over and over and over again: "...2.5 million people marching ten abreast would form a line 150 miles long, without accounting for livestock [or traveling gear, sleeping gear, tents, possessions of any kind!].[13]"

Answer:

No evidence of a 40 year wandering exist, not even latrines for 603, 550 soldiers (over 20 years of age) + their families.

Answer 2

They wandered a total of 40 long years in the wilderness.

Answer 3

The Israelites did wander in the wilderness for a period of 40 years.

Answer 4

The Torah teaches that they wandered 40 years

Answer 5

Forty (Numbers ch.14, Deuteronomy ch. 1).

Answer 6

more than 40 years

Answer 7

Forty years.

Answer 8

40 years