Mixed Multitude
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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Mixed Multitude

MINGLED PEOPLE; (MIXED MULTITUDE)

min'-g'-ld pe'-pl:

(1) "Mixed multitude" occurs in Numbers 11:4 as a translation of asaphcuph, "collection," "rabble." The same phrase in Exodus 12:38 Nehemiah 13:3 is the rendition of erebh. "Mingled people" is used also to translate `erebh, and is found in Jeremiah 25:20, 24; Jeremiah 50:37 Ezekiel 30:5, and in 1 Kings 10:15 the Revised Version (British and American) (the King James Version "Arabia"; compare the American Revised Version margin). In the last case both revised versions have followed the pointing of the Massoretic Text, and this pointing alone distinguishes "mingled people" (`erebh) from "Arabia" (`arabh); in the unvocalized text both words are equally `-r-b. Now "the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of the mingled people, and of the governors of the country" is very awkward, and the correction into "Arabia," as in the Massoretic Text (and English Versions of the Bible) of the parallel 2 Chronicles 9:14, is indicated. Probably the same change should be made in Ezekiel 30:5, reading "Ethiopia, and Put, and Lud, and Arabia, and Cub." A similar textual confusion seems to be responsible for either "and all the kings of Arabia" or "and all the kings of the mingled people" in Jeremiah 25:24. On all these verses see the commentaries.

(2) In Jeremiah 25:20; Jeremiah 50:37, "mingled people" is a term of contempt for the hybrid blood of certain of Israel's enemies. Something of this same contempt may be contained in Exodus 12:38, where a multitude of non-Israelite camp-followers are mentioned as accompanying the children of Israel in the exodus, and in Numbers 11:4 it is this motley body that seduced Israel to sin. But who they were, why they wished or were permitted to join in the exodus, and what eventually became of them or of their descendants is a very perplexing puzzle. In Nehemiah 13:3, the "mixed multitude" consists of the inhabitants of Palestine whom the Jews found there after the return from the exile (see SAMARIA). In accord with the command of Deuteronomy 23:3-5, the Jews withdrew from all religious intercourse whatever had been established with these.

NOTE.-The Hebrew noun for "mingled people" may or may not be connected with the verb translated "mingle" in Ezra 9:2 Psalm 106:35 Daniel 2:43. On this see the lexicons.

Burton Scott Easton

Smith's Bible Dictionary
Mixed Multitude

When the Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the first stage of the exodus from Egypt, there were up with them "a mixed multitude." (Exodus 12:38; Numbers 11:4) They were probably the offspring of marriages contracted between the Israelites and the Egyptians; and the term may also include all those who were not of pure Israelite blood. In Exodus and Numbers it probably denoted the miscellaneous hangers-on of the Hebrew camp, whether they were the issue of spurious marriages with Egyptians or were themselves Egyptians, or belonging to other nations. The same happened on the return from Babylon, and in (Nehemiah 13:3) (comp. vs Nehe 13:23-30) a slight clue is given by which the meaning of the "mixed multitude" may be more definitely ascertained.

Strong's Hebrew
6154. ereb -- mixture, mixed company
... ereb. 6154a . mixture, mixed company. Transliteration: ereb Phonetic Spelling:
(ay'-reb) Short Definition: Arabia. Arabia, mingled people, mixed multitude, woof ...
/hebrew/6154.htm - 5k

628. asaphsuph -- a collection, rabble
... mixed multitude. By reduplication from 'acuph; gathered up together, ie A promiscuous
assemblage (of people) -- mixt multitude. see HEBREW 'acuph. 627, 628. ...
/hebrew/628.htm - 6k

Library

Pearls Before Swine.
... "Nothing is more difficult, my brethren, than to reason concerning the
truth in the presence of a mixed multitude of people. For ...
/.../unknown/recognitions of clement /chapter i pearls before swine.htm

The Exodus
... And then, besides these, there went out with them an exceeding great company"a mixed
multitude. ... And that mixed multitude have their representatives now. ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 2 1856/the exodus.htm

Through the Red Sea
... But no one stopped to take notice that this was an Egyptian, totally unlike those
among the "mixed multitude" that had come to join Israel; nor did any wonder ...
//christianbookshelf.org/miller/the yoke/chapter xlv through the red.htm

Examples of the Various Styles, Drawn from the Teachers of the ...
... For the kid's flesh refers to the guilt of the outward act, the broth to the allurement
of lust within, as it is written, And the mixed multitude that was ...
/.../on christian doctrine in four books /chapter 21 examples of the various.htm

The Morning. AD 1100-1250
... and by their vain preaching impelled all kinds of men to go forth to deliver Jerusalem
from the Saracens." It goes on to describe the mixed multitude that was ...
/.../winkworth/christian singers of germany/chapter iii the morning a d.htm

The Greek of the Septuagint.
... the mercenary class (to misthophorikon), who may be roughly identified with the
Jews, and the Greeks of the Brucheion, a mixed multitude claiming Hellenic ...
/.../chapter iv the greek of.htm

The Great Distress the Jews were in Upon the Conflagration of the ...
... also came to the rest of the cloisters that were in the outer [court of the] temple,
whither the women and children, and a great mixed multitude of the people ...
/.../chapter 5 the great distress.htm

Conclusion
... the former case. There Jesus had to do with a mixed multitude of strangers.
Here he is talking with his own disciples. Yet he forbears ...
/.../section iii conclusion.htm

The World Our Enemy.
... is a something dangerous to our spiritual interests, and that it is in some way
connected with human society"with men as a mixed multitude, contrasted with ...
/.../newman/parochial and plain sermons vol vii/sermon iii the world our.htm

The Old Faiths and the New
... The population consisted of Greeks, Jews, Italians, and a mixed multitude;
it was excitable, pleasure loving, and mercurial. In ...
/.../sell/bible studies in the life of paul/study viii the old faiths.htm

Resources
Who is the king of the North in Daniel 11? | GotQuestions.org

What is the origin of the different races? | GotQuestions.org

What are the different types of psalms? | GotQuestions.org

Mixed: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

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