How to govern 600000 Israelites

The 600000 Israelites took 3 months to arrive at Mount Sinai.
First of all, they crossed the Red Sea (Exodus 14). After that, no more Egyptians chased after them.
From the Red Sea, they came to a place called Marah. There we find an etymology story.
When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah (Exodus 15:23).

וַיָּבֹאוּ מָרָתָה--וְלֹא יָכְלוּ לִשְׁתֹּת מַיִם מִמָּרָה, כִּי מָרִים הֵם; עַל-כֵּן קָרָא-שְׁמָהּ, מָרָה

This was also the first time the people complained against Moses. Moses had anticipated that when God called him in the burning bush. That was why Moses was not too eager to respond to God's call.
And the people murmured against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"
And he cried to the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet (Exodus 15:24-25).
Of course, Moses had the full support of God and the first problem was solved. Then they came to Elim (Exodus 15:27).
After departing from Egypt for one and a half month, the Israelites came to the wilderness of Sin.
They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt (Exodus 16:1).
Then came the food problem. They left Egypt in a hurry and could not have brought along sufficient food supply. How would Moses feed 600000 mouths?
And the whole congregation of the people of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness,
and said to them, "Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." (Exodus 16:2-3)
Liberation was truly an unthankful job. The Israelites preferred slavery to freedom. So long as they were fed, they did not mind slaving themselves to death in Egypt. God had to intervene. He solved the problem by raining them manna and quails for forty years!
Now the house of Israel called its name manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey (Exodus 16:31).
And the people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land; they ate the manna, till they came to the border of the land of Canaan (Exodus 16:35).
Only God could do it, feeding 600000 mouths for 40 years!
When they reached Rephidim, the water problem surfaced again. This time, it was worse because there was no water.
Therefore the people found fault with Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you find fault with me? Why do you put the LORD to the proof?" (Exodus 17:2)
Here came the famous story of striking the rock to get water. The God of Exodus always put up a spectacle before the Israelites to impress them.
And the LORD said to Moses, "Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the rod with which you struck the Nile, and go.
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel (Exodus 17:5-6).
I suppose Horeb might be Sinai and Rephidim was in the neighbourhood. Here, we find another etymology story.
And he (Moses) called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the faultfinding of the children of Israel, and because they put the LORD to the proof by saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?" (Exodus 17:7)

וַיִּקְרָא שֵׁם הַמָּקוֹם, מַסָּה וּמְרִיבָה: עַל-רִיב בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְעַל נַסֹּתָם אֶת-יְהוָה לֵאמֹר, הֲיֵשׁ יְהוָה בְּקִרְבֵּנוּ, אִם-אָיִן

Before they came to Sinai, Israelites had to fight a battle with Amalek in Rephidim. Here, we have the famous battle in which whenever Moses' hands were raised, Israelites prevailed. When Moses grew tired, Aaron and Hur held up his hands while Joshua was battling Amalek below.
Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.
But Moses' hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun (Exodus 17:11-12).
If you wonder how Moses was able to lead 600000 people in the wildernss, it was simple. Group them.
The Israelites had arrived. Moses was encamped at the mountain of God. Jethro his father-in-law brought his wife and his two sons to reunite with him. When Jethro saw Moses busying himself all day to settle the disputes among the people, he advised Moses to teach the Israelites God's law.
Moreover choose able men from all the people, such as fear God, men who are trustworthy and who hate a bribe; and place such men over the people as rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
And let them judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves; so it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you (Exodus 18:21-22).
Great leaders delegate. Moses was no exception. Only three months into the expedition, Moses had already organized the Israelites into manageable units of tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands.
Now, how many rulers had Moses recruited? Well, at least 600 rulers of thousands, right? Under each of these rulers, there would be 10 rulers of hundreds, totalling 6,000. Under each of these rulers of hundreds, there would be 2 rulers of fifties, totalling 12,000. Before we reach the level of tens, there were 18,600 rulers, occupying roughly 3% of the population. Add 60,000 rulers of tens. Now, Moses had a very huge administrative machinery, a team of 78,600 "civil servants", occupying roughly 13% of the population. It did not look efficient. Perhaps the rulers of tens were redundant. If the colonial government of Hong Kong be any guide, during the last century, she had 180,000 civil servants to serve 6 million people, roughly 3% of the population. Of course, the two governments were not comparable because they were dealing with totally different situations. People came into Hong Kong to dig gold, to make money. They had no intention to leave the community. On the contrary, Moses was dealing with a people who always wanted to leave or to return to Egypt. He had an unthankful job to keep the people together and march them to the Promised Land which was so remote, so unreachable.
Let's stop for a while and meet again at the foot of Mount Sinai tomorrow.

Dear Lord, without Your beneficial providence, it was impossible to keep the Israelites going for 40 forty years to reach the Promised Land. I pray that You continue to provide for the needs of the Church and nourish Your people until they reach home. Amen.