A thought on Parshas Beshalach

"...v'chamushim alu..." "...and they ascended in fifths..." (13:18) "...'v'shalishim al kulo..." "...and thirds for all of them..." (14:7) The Torah describes the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. We went out "chamushim" which can mean "armed" but technically stems from the word "chamesh". Chamesh is the number five, so chamushim would mean some derivative or exponent of five. Later, the Torah describes how the Egyptians pursued us. They went after us "shalishim" which can mean "infantry." Shalosh is the number three, so shalishim would be a derivative or exponent of three. What does this add up to? The Panae'ach Raza cites a trio of opinions in the midrash about chamushim. One opinion (cited by Rashi) is that only one out of five Jews actually left Egypt. This means that the 600,000 men were only a fifth of the Jewish male population who had lived in Egypt at that time. The other four-fifths died during the plague of darkness. The second opinion in the midrash is that chamushim means one fiftieth of the Jews went out. The third view is that one five-hundredth went out. So, according to the first opinion, there had been 3 million Jews in Egypt. The second opinion holds that there had been 30 million. The third view is that there had been 300 million Jews. Now the Panae'ach Raza notes that the midrash also brings three opinions on the word shalishim. One opinion is that the Egyptians sent 3 soldiers after each Jew. The second opinion is that there were 30 Egyptians pursuing each Jew. The third view is that there were 300 Egyptians per fleeing Jew. Rather than leaving these numbers alone, the Panae'ach Raza makes sense of them. Our tradition is that many Jews - those who had lost their ties to our people and our faith - did not merit the miraculous departure from Egypt. They died quietly during the plague of darkness, and were buried by their brethren. Now, in keeping with this midrashic tradition, the Panae'ach Raza suggests that Pharaoh knew nothing about those deaths. Hence, he and his army assumed that the fleeing nation remained intact. He then calculates that the opinion that holds that there had been 3 million Jews in Egypt holds that 300 soldiers pursued each one of the 600,000 Jewish men, in that Pharaoh assumed that there were still 3 million enemies. In other words, the Egyptian army consisted of 90 million soldiers, with a 300:1 ratio. The opinion that holds that we had ranked 30 million in Egypt computes that the Egyptian soldier to Jew ratio was 30 to 1. This also equals an Egyptian army of 90 million soldiers. The view that we had been 300 million in Egypt holds that this ratio was 3 to 1. That also computes as an Egyptian army of 90 million. How does the Panae'ach Raza know that all three opinions agree that the Egyptian soldiers numbered 90 million? He notes that the midrash says that when HaShem willed the demise of those soldiers at the Yam Suf, "He sent down 90 million malacahei chavala - destroying angels." This would line up as one malach per Mitzri. If so, the three opinions about "chamushim" line up with the three opinions about "shalishim." There are no random numbers here! The Panae'ach Raza sees the Higher math. Good Shabbos. D Fox