How many train loads of food and water would it have taken to supply the Israelites daily to survive in the desert?

Answer 1

If The Bible is literally true, around 2.5 million Israelites must have left Egypt to trek through the desert. After forty years, the numbers were much the same, but all the Israelites had been born during the journey. So, there must have been somewhat more than 2.5 million births during this period.

To feed 2.5 million people just two pounds of food and four pints of water per day would require around 2250 tons of food, excluding bones and scraps, plus around 1.25 million gallons of water. This excludes fodder and water for their livestock.

Over the forty years that the Exodus was said to have taken, it would have required at least 33 million tons of food and 18,000 million gallons of water just to sustain the people.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/bible/the-book-of-exodus

Answer 2

Let's talk about food. The Torah gives the census of mature males at about 600,000 (Exodus 38:26; Numbers ch.2 and ch.26). To that, add women and children, for a total of at least 2 million. They ate manna (Exodus ch.16) at a volume of one omer per person per day (ibid). That's 2 million omer per day for the nation. An omer is the volume of 43.2 eggs; figure around 2 ounces volume per egg.

To this you should add an unspecified amount of meat (they had flocks) and whatever was purchased from surrounding nations (Talmud, Yoma 75b).

Answer 3

Moses would have needed 1500 tons of food each day to feed the Israelites. To bring that much food each day, two freight trains, each a mile long, would be required.