What Does Exodus 12:38 Mean?

A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. The "mixed multitude" (Hebrew: erev rav, great mixed company) that joins the Exodus is one of the most theologically significant incidental details in the narrative: non-Israelites depart with Israel. The mixed multitude includes Egyptians who chose to join Israel's liberation, non-Israelite residents of Egypt who aligned themselves with YHWH's people, and possibly other enslaved peoples who joined the movement. The Exodus is not strictly ethnic: YHWH's liberation movement attracts those outside ethnic Israel who identify with Israel's God and people.

The mixed multitude will later become a source of instability: in Numbers 11:4, "the rabble among them" (likely a reference to the mixed multitude) are the ones who first complain about the manna and demand meat, triggering the Quail plague. The varied backgrounds and varying commitments of the Exodus community are a structural feature of the liberation movement from its beginning. Not everyone who leaves Egypt with Israel has Israel's covenant identity or Israel's covenant commitment; the Exodus draws a crowd with mixed motivations, mixed backgrounds, and mixed faith.

The "very much livestock, both flocks and herds" attached to the Israel-and-mixed-multitude departure confirms Moses' "not a hoof shall be left behind" declaration: the animals go with Israel. The economic significance of the livestock departure is the agricultural foundation of the wilderness community: the animals are the source of sacrifice, wool, milk, and eventually meat. Israel does not depart as bare refugees but as a livestock-rich community with the economic resources for the wilderness journey and the sacrificial resources for wilderness worship.