Who Are the Many?

The adjective/pronoun “many” occurs hundreds of times in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. In the vast majority of those instances, the immediate context makes clear to whom/what “many” refers. However, there are a small number of important instances in which there is no definite referent for “many” (e.g., Dan8:25; 9:27; 11:14,18,26,33,34,39; 12:10; Matt19:30; 20:16; 20:28; 22:14; 26:28; Mk10:31,45; 14:24; Luk14:16); it should be noted that these instances tend to occur primarily in the O.T. and the synoptic Gospels, whose focus is the nation of Israel under the Dispensation of Law. In these instances, the “many” refers to Israel. For a study of this issue, see the article Who Are the Many? Under the Biblical Studies tab.