Exodus chapter 6

[gib65]

on your question on 60000 and is it possible, it is absolutely possible.  Remember 70 went into captivity, and they were in captivity for 400 years (so eventhough, as Ex 6 outlines, it was only 3 generations from Levi to Moses, that doesn't mean that all other family trees were 3 generations, some might of had 8 or more generations).  So even a modest birth rate can cause a group to go from 70 to 60000 over 400 years.

BTW, not sure where you're getting 60000 - I thought it was significantly more (million+, but even a million is absolutely doable starting from 70 over a 400 year span, remember "growth is an exponential function!!!)

I'm not sure where I got that number either--I believe I got it from Jordan Peterson's Exodus on DailyWire, or at least googled it while doing research on Peterson's Exodus. Whatever my source was, I remember it saying there were 60,000 freed slaves when Moses brought them to Mt. Sinai.

In any case, I think my mistake was assuming that the slaves in Egypt all descended from Joseph. I understood that the Hebrews were enslaved for 400 years so I always thought that was enough time for Joseph's descendants to multiply to 60,000, but after reading Exodus chapter 6, I now understand that only 3 generations from Jacob, through the 12 heads of the fathers houses, to Moses and Aaron's generation had passed. Even if each father had 12 children, that would be 12 x 12 = 144 (plus the original 12 father plus Jacob would be 157). But this point is moot given that my assumption must be wrong (that all the slaves in Egypt descend from Joseph). If, as you say, there were 70 Hebrews who went into captivity at the beginning (from other lineages besides Joseph) then you're right, 400 years is plenty of time for 70 to multiply to 60,000 (assuming I have that figure right).