mixed multitude

(Exodus 12:38)

a class who accompanied the Israelites as they journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the first stage of the Exodus

These were probably miscellaneous hangers-on to the Hebrews, whether Egyptians of the lower orders, or the remains of the Hyksos (see EGYPT; MOSES), as some think. The same thing happened on the return of the Jews from Babylon (Neh. 13:3), a “mixed multitude” accompanied them so far.