I have thoroughly enjoyed the book "The Athiest's Book of Bible Stories". The author has brought up multiple biblical examples that truly make you bury your head in the sand if you take them to be literal. But there are some examples with very flawed logic. I'll give an example. On pages 24 and 25 we have the example of the explosion of the Israelite population from 70 people to 1.8 million in just three generations. First and foremost....I agree that it is a ridiculous notion to think that either Kohath or Amram lived 130+ years. But IF you can get past that....the author argues the following:
Jacob's generation (given) 12 persons
Kohath's generation (given) 70 persons (35 of which were female)
Amram's generation 35 x 320 = 11,200 persons (5,600 of which were female)
Moses' generation 5,600 x 320 = 1,792,000 persons
The author argues that to go from 70 persons (as the bible says were in Egypt) to 1.8 million....each woman would have had to have had 320 babies. I believe this argument is grossly flawed. The argument says that each generation is only capable of having one big wave of children. Take the following:
Kohath's generation 70 (35 female). Each female has 5 children. The population of children is now 175. Half (88) are female. 20 years go by and now those 88 women all have 5 children. The population of children is now 440. Half (220) are female. 20 years go by and now those 220 have 5 children. The population of children is now 1,100. Half (550) are female. 20 years go by and now those 550 have 5 children. The population of childrent is now 2,750. Half (1,375) are female. 20 years go by and those 1,375 have 5 children. The population of children is now 6,875. Half (3,438) are female. 20 years go by and those 3,438 have 5 children. The population of children is now 17,190. Half (8,595) are female. 20 years go by and those 8,595 have 5 children. The population of children is now 42,975. Half (21,488) are female. 20 years go by and those 21,488 have 5 children. The population of children is now 107,440. Half (57,320) are female. 20 years go by and those 57,320 have 5 children. The population of children is now 268,600. Half (134,300) are female. 20 years go by and those 134,300 have 5 children. The population of children is now 671,500. Half (335,750) are female. 20 years go by and those 335,750 have 5 children. The population of children is now 1,678,750.
In the above example....10 twenty year periods went by. A total of 200 years. Granted, it assumes that EVERY woman gave birth to at least 5 children apiece....and the infant mortality rate was 0%......but I think it shows that going from 70 people to 1,800,000 (even though I believe that number is greatly inflated as well) in 350 years is possible. Not likely, but possible. It is a far cry from the exaggerated situation described in the Athiest's Book of Bible Stories.