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Are 1000 Scribes too Many?
>
> Moshe, Read Stegemann. He will explain why people were not very old.
> It is not that old people would stay away but that people did not
> grew old at all, exept the lucky few. His average estimation of the
> age is something like 39 for men and less than 30 for women (you will
> have to check for yourself). So he has some intricate calculations
> about the turnover at the settlement of residents.
In view of this, I find the ages for the men who were to engage in battle in the
War Scroll to be rather puzzling--30-50--with the men under 25 restricted to
pillage and organization of supplies. 30-50 would be rather old
(oops--"chronologically enhanced" ; - ) )for combat troops today. It's not
quite as problematic for the ages of the mivaqer, the maskil and the paqid,
according to the Community Rule, since only one of each was needed, but
nevertheless the impression one gets is that these men were considered to be in
their prime, not in danger of imminent demise at that age.
Marsha
Marsha B. Cohen
Graduate Student, Religious Studies
Florida International University
Miami, FL