How much is a homer

How much is a homer? — James Sutherland

January 18, 2015  /  James Sutherland

Did you know that the homer is a way to measure volume?  No it’s nothing to do with The Simpsons.  It’s an ancient Hebrew way of measuring liquids or dry goods, like the modern gallon or liter.   The Bible says that God brought the Israelites many homers worth of birds to eat when they were starving in the desert.  Sometimes it’s fun, not to mention educational, to look deeper into what has been written.   Lets do that for this bit of the bible.  How many birds did god send these hungry people get and how many did they take?  Far too many, and God got angry about it, but more about that later.

First of all what kind of bird are we talking about here.  When I think of quails I picture the silly little thing in Warner Brothers cartoons that’s always waddling along with it’s chicks in a line behind.  It has a top knot of feathers that sticks out of the top of it’s head and falls forward into  it’s eyes that it has to constantly blow out of the way so it can see where it’s going.  That is a California Quail.  Or course the Israelites were a long way from California.  They were crossing the Sinai Peninsula, in modern Egypt.  It splits the northern end of the Red Sea into the Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba.

In this part of the world there is the Common Quail (Coturnix Coturnix).  It’s a member of the pheasant family so it’s probably pretty good eating.  However it’s not very big, a little over 7 inches long on average and generally only weighs about 4oz. Thankfully this isn’t an endangered species, it’s a very widespread bird that you can find anywhere in  Europe, Asia, and Africa.  There is no shortage of these birds to eat, but as you’ll see below there must have been a lot more of them around in Moses’ day then there are today.

So we know what kind of bird we’re talking about and how big they are.  But how many birds are in a homer?  My pocket reference guide says that a homer is 220 liters, that’s about 58 gallons.  So “he that gathered least” gathered 580 gallons of little birds, 18 garbage cans full.  That’s about 3 cubic yards of birds, or enough to fill the bed of a full sized pickup truck to overflowing, mounded high with little dead birdy bodies.

So how many birds is that?  Well we have a bit of data on our side.  As you probably know airplanes and birds don’t get along.  When one hits the other bad things can happen.  Engineers who design planes need to account for the fact that a bird is going to smack into the plane from time to time.  And design the plane in such a way that birds won’t break it.  Of course to do this they need to know the density of a bird.  It’s all about density.  You can imagine how a plane hitting a 1 pound brick is a lot bigger deal than if it were to hit a 1 pound bag of feathers.  The different between the two impacts is that a brick has a very high density and a bag of feathers has a very low density.  Our birds should be somewhere in the middle of those density extremes.  If we can figure out the density of the birds we can figure out how many birds and how many pounds of birds would fit in a 10 homer container.

The Bible, King James Version, Numbers 11:31-32; “And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. -- And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.”

However the aerospace industry doesn’t use quails, California Animated or otherwise, for it’s testing.  They use an even more common, and flightless, bird, the chicken.   It might not make sense at first thought to use a flightless bird in designing airplanes.  But In testing they use frozen chickens, heck if a plane can stand up to a frozen chicken from the grocery store it shouldn’t have problem with a 4oz quail.   Thankfully a lot of other types of birds have been studied over the years, many with airplane strikes in mind, and so density measurements were taken. Lucky for us in 1967 a couple of researchers measured the density of 70 quails of the same type that God brought to the israelites.   We’re in!  They got an average density of 0.98gm/cm3.   They had some other birds in their study too but nowhere near as many other species as there were common quails.   This number should be close enough.

If we do a bit of math we see that 10 homers is equal to about 220,000cm3, and at 0.98gm/cm3 that works out to about 1900 birds, weighing about 475 pounds.   You might assume that “he who gathered least” would be the sick, the wounded and the old.  However this part of the bible pretty much ignores everyone except the able bodied soldiers.  Twice in Numbers God tells Moses to perform a census of, “all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, throughout their fathers' house, all that are able to go to war in Israel. ”  So we’re going to do like Moses and assume that all the women are making cook fires, plucking feathers and dressing birds. And that all the kids are busy playing games on their iSlates. And not count them.  We’ll assume only the warriors are gathering birds.

The bible doesn’t tell us who got the record for most birds gathered, it only gives of the lowest number.  So for simplicity we’ll just use with that 10 homers per soldier estimate.  How many soldiers are there?  Each census came up about the same at 600,000.  Yes, six hundred thousand able bodied men.  That’s a city the size of Las Vegas full of nothing but men over 20 able to fight.  If we assume that able bodied man made up about ¼ the population then we’re talking about 2.4 million people, or a little less than the population of Chicago, marching across the desert.

600,000 men times 1900 birds per man works out to 1.14 billion birds!  That would fill well over 525 olympic swimming pools.   The bible goes on to tell us what they did with these birds, “they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. ”  One person’s birds would cover the floor of a square room 15ft on a side.  These 600,000 men would have had to cover 3195 acres with little bird corpses laid side by side.  If you laid these birds beak to tail they would go around the earth five times.  And the bible tells us they did it all in a day and night!

This would seem extreme to anyone.  It seems doubtful even the most ambitious family could clean and cook (or otherwise preserve) 1900 birds before they went bad, especially when 599,999 other families are trying to do the same thing all around you.  I imagine that firewood would have been at a premium in the desert even before it was time to cook a billion birds.  God seems to have felt the same way and things soon turned bad for the bird hoarders, “And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.”

Even if you are a devout christian you probably have some trouble believing the above numbers.  For instance 2.4 million people crossing the desert probably isn’t possible, there would be no way to feed and water them.  The Persian Army was said to have 220,000 soldiers and Herodotus tells us that they drank the rivers dry.  Also 1.14 billion birds, that’s 7 times how many common quails are thought to be alive today.

Most biblical scholars believe these numbers to be either a mistake or a literary fiction.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  The Bible is trying to teach a lesson here, and it’s using exaggeration to do it.  Exaggeration, simile and metaphor are great teaching tools.  Most countries have a long history of tall tales.  And while few of us believe that Johnny Appleseed is responsible for spreading the apple in the west all by himself, or that Pecos Bill tamed the west, they are still good narratives that teach what an individual person might do if they work  hard enough.  Most parents have said, “Don’t put your fingers in your mouth, you don’t know where those fingers have been. ”  Of course the child knows exactly where their fingers have been.  After all the fingers are part of his or her body. It’s a metaphor and one that works.

So I for one will give the bible break on this one.  Still it’s fun to do the math.  It’s not as fun to think about what 500 swimming pools worth of dead birds would smell like, in the desert, surrounded by people experiencing a great plague.  I ever get a time machine I don’t think I’ll be visiting Kibroth Hattaavah (the graves of gluttony),  no matter how hungry I am for pheasant.

10 Comments 12 Likes

Over a Billion Quail - Numbers 11

Judaic Hyperbole

In Numbers 11, we read about how the Lord sent quail to the Israelites because they were complaining that they were tired of eating manna in the wilderness, that they lacked meat (something that contradicts the rest of the narrative).

With a couple of Bible helps 1 we see that 10 homers of quail is an extreme amount of game to consume, working out to about about 1,900 birds, or 580 gallons, weighing about 475 pounds.   You might assume that “he who gathered least” would be the sick, wounded, or the old (Numbers 11:32).  It is noteworthy that this part of the narrative is focusing on the able bodied soldiers, so it was probably just be referring to these people.

The Numbers narrative doesn’t tell us the amount for the person who gathered the most amount of quail, it only gives of the lowest number.  So for simplicity we can just use the 10 homers per soldier estimate.  How many soldiers are there?  Each census came up about the same at 600,000.  Yes, six hundred thousand able bodied men.  That’s a city the size of Baltimore or Milwaukee filled with men over the age of 20 able to fight.  If we assume that these men made up about ¼ the population then we’re talking about 2.4 million people, or a group of people about the size of Houston, Texas, marching across the desert of Sinai.

600,000 men times 1,900 birds per man works out to 1.14 billion birds. That is a lot of fowl. You could call that a very fowl number indeed! The Numbers narrative goes on to tell us what they did with these birds, “they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp” (Numbers 11:32).  One person’s birds would cover the floor of a square room 15 feet on a side.  These 600,000 men would have had to cover 3,200 acres with little dead quail laid side by side.  If you put down these birds beak to tail they would go around the earth five times.  And the Elohist author of Numbers 11 informs the reader that they spread out all these birds in one day and a night!

This is a classic example of what I call “Judaic hyperbole.” It seems doubtful even the most determined family could clean and cook almost 2,000 birds before they went rotten.

Notes

1. How much is 1 homer? A homer (Hebrew: ‎‎ חמר; also kor, Hebrew: כּר‎‎) is a unit of volume used by ancient Hebrews for liquids and dry goods. 1 homer is equal to 10 baths, or what was also equivalent to 30 seahs; each seah being the equivalent in volume to six kabs, and each kab equivalent in volume to 24 medium-sized eggs. 1 homer equals 220 litre or 220dm3, or about 58 gallons! The homer should not be confused with the omer, which is a much smaller unit of dry measure. The Mishnah (ed. Herbert Danby), Oxford University Press: Oxford 1977, Appendix II, p. 798.

Like this:

Like Loading...

2017-12-11

Price calculator for cool numbers for a car in the Republic of Kazakhstan

When you receive a state registration plate (GRNZ) for a car, you can choose any number you like from the list. This opportunity is provided even when choosing regular rooms with a standard price.

For wealthy drivers and those who want to stand out on the road, there is an opportunity to pick up a beautiful or "cool" number plate for a fee much higher than the cost of ordinary numbers. For your information, the fee for a regular license plate is 2.8 MCI (8,576.4 tenge for 2022).

Below is an online calculator for calculating the cost of GRNZ, as well as prices for cool high-demand numbers in Kazakhstan for 2022.

Rates for the issuance of the State Registration Certificate and their types are established by Article 615 of the Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Online cost calculator

To automatically calculate the cost of the state registration plate (GRNZ), enter the number, series and region code in the calculator field and click the "Calculate" button.

License plate:

Attention! This site does not sell license plates for transport, on this page it is only possible to find out (calculate) the cost of certain combinations of numbers and series. The purchase and registration of the desired GRNZ is carried out at the Registration and Examination Units of the Departments of the Traffic Police of the Department of Internal Affairs or specialized departments of the NJSC GK "Government for Citizens" ( SpetsTsON ).

Prices for beautiful license plates

Phone number with the same digits - how much does this number cost?

Why do you need a phone number with the same digits? Advertising and promotionMaintaining the image of a reputable companyGrowing the number of calls and inquiries

A beautiful phone number with the same digits is an easy-to-remember number. It can be 8800, landline or mobile with a simple combination of numbers. In such numbers, there are often paired or mirror configurations, repeated numbers, or there is logic in their sequence. Beautiful numbers are divided into platinum, gold, silver and bronze.

Why do I need a phone number with the same digits?

Advertising and promotion

Beautiful numbers often help organizations stand out from competitors and stay in the customer's memory. Such numbers are easy to remember, so they are often used by companies when advertising on radio and TV, on advertising billboards along highways.

Maintaining the image of a solid company

A stable and reliable company always takes care of its customers. That is why the leading taxi services, call centers of key state. structures and financial organizations always use numbers with the same numbers for communication.

Increase in the number of calls and inquiries

Beautiful numbers in the 8800 code are free for customers. In this case, the calls are paid by the company, so customers become more loyal. There is a growing probability that, among other equal options, the buyer will choose this particular number.

A beautiful phone number is necessary for those companies whose work is based primarily on receiving calls from customers. These are delivery and taxi services, telecom operators, service providers, couriers, real estate agencies. More often than others, such numbers are connected for hotlines and call centers.

Direct numbers with same digits, double or mirror combinations.

Moscow (499) number+7 (499) 108-22-00 connection from 100 000 ₽subscription fee 1,000 ₽ per month

St. Petersburg room + 7 (812) 200-40-60 fee1 000 ₽ per month

Ekaterinburgnumber +7 (343) 288-00-10 fee1,000 ₽ per month

Nizhny Novgorodnumber+7 (831) 219-99-11 fee1,000 ₽ per month

Krasnodarnumber+7 (861) 212-33-55 fee1 000 ₽ per month

In these telephone numbers, one digit is repeated at least three times in a row or pairs of two different digits are repeated.

Moscow (495) number+7 (495) 268-0-777 connection from 25 000 ₽subscription fee1,000 ₽ per month

Moscow (495) number+7 (495) 268-08-08 fee1 000 ₽ per month

St. Petersburg number +7 (812) 309-25-25 fee1,000 ₽ per month

Sochinomer+7 (862) 225-70-07 fee1 000 ₽ per month

Yekaterinburgnumber+7 (343) 318-24-24 connection from 25 000 ₽sub. fee1 000 ₽ per month

Nizhny Novgorod number +7 (831) 429-13-13 fee1,000 ₽ per month

Krasnodarnumber +7 (861) 203-47-47 fee 1,000 ₽ per month

Silver numbers have a pair of two different digits repeated with a mirror reflection or have two pairs of identical digits.

Moscow (495) number+7 (495) 663-72-27 fee1 000 ₽ per month

St. Petersburg number+7 (812) 309-94-49 connection from 15 000 ₽sub. fee1,000 ₽ per month fee1,000 ₽ per month

Nizhny Novgorodnumber+7 (831) 429-13-31 fee1,000 ₽ per month

Krasnodarnumber+7 (861) 203-4-777 fee1 000 ₽ per month

Bronze numbers are distinguished by double repetition of the last digits or combinations.

Learn more

• 
  Things 1st graders should know
• 
  Teaching the letters
• 
  Compound word for home
• 
  Learn to read books for kids
• 
  List of literacy skills
• 
  Phonics pronunciation letters and sounds
• 
  Guess what number
• 
  Math for first grade kids
• 
  Reading comprehension strategies elementary students
• 
  What are the lower case letters
• 
  Games to play with sight words