from the Egyptians. The sages granted Gebiah ben Pesisa permission to be Israel's advocate. Gebiah asked the Egyptians what the evidence was for their claim, and the Egyptians answered that the Torah provided their evidence. Then Gebiah said that he would also bring evidence from the Torah in Israel's defense. He quoted and demanded back wages from the Egyptians for the labor of 600,000 Israelite men whom the Egyptians had compelled to work for them for 430 years. Alexander turned to the Egyptians for a proper answer. The Egyptians requested three days' time, but could not find a satisfactory answer, and they fled. Rabbi Eliezer interpreted the words "the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to sukkot" in to mean that the Israelites went to a place where they put up booths, sukkot. Other Sages said that Succot was simply the name of a place, as in . Rabbi Akiva taught that Succot in means the clouds of glory, as in . A Midrash taught that the Israelites were counted on ten occasions: (1) when they went down to Egypt (); (2) when they went up out of Egypt (); (3) at the first census in Numbers (); (4) at the second census in Numbers (); (5) once for the banners; (6) once in the time of Joshua for the division of the Land of Israel; (7) once by Saul (1 Samuel ); (8) a second time by Saul (); (9) once by David (); and once in the time of Ezra (). A Midrash explained that Moses numbered the Israelites like a shepherd to whom an owner entrusted a flock by number. When the shepherd came to the end of the shepherd's time, on returning them, the shepherd had to count them again. When Israel left Egypt, God entrusted the Israelites to Moses by number, as reports, "And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai . . . 'Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel.'" And records that "the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 men on foot," demonstrating that Moses took responsibility for the Israelites in Egypt by number. When, therefore, Moses was about to depart from the world in the plain of Moab, he returned them to God by number after having them counted in the census reported at . The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael