Chamishim Umatayim - mi yodeya?

Question

Who knows two hundred fifty?

Please cite/link your sources, if possible. At some point at least twenty-four hours from now, I will:

• Upvote all interesting and relevant answers.

• Accept the what I think is the "best" answer.

• Go on to the next number.

This one should require a little less digging, I think.

Answer 1

• According to R' Akiva, cited in the haggada, there were 250 plagues (or "plague components") during קריאת ים סוף.
• Korach's "עדה" consisted of 250 men. (Bamidbar 16:2)

Answer 2

There were 210+40=250 years from entering Egypt to entering Israel (or, to the tune, "two FIFty were the YEARS outside IS-RAEL").

Answer 3

250 [shekel, I think] was the quantity of k'ne vosem in the shemen hamishcha (anointing oil). (Sh'mos 30:23.)

Answer 4

Instead of weighing out 500 shekel of kin'mon-besem and putting some extra on to tip the scale, the kinmon-besem was weighed in 2 shifts of 250 so that there will be 2 extra "scale tipping portions".

This is why the Torah writes the recipe as "half of it is 250", to teach us that

a) the kinmon-besem gets 2 of those extras

and by induction

b) the measurements are not exact, you add a little more to all the measurements

(Rashi Ki Sisa 30:23 and Krisus 5a)

(Nontraditional translations assume only 250, half of the mar-dror)

Answer 5

דברי הימים ב: ח. י. ואלה שרי הנציבים אשר למלך שלמה חמשים ומאתים הרדים בעם

יחזקאל: מח. יז. והיה מגרש לעיר צפונה חמשים ומאתים ונגבה חמשים ומאתים וקדימה חמשים ומאתים וימה חמשים ומאתים

Answer 6

A man has 248 Aivorim and a lady has 252 Aivorim. Together that equals 500. We light 2 candles for Shabbos. Ner = 250. 2 x 250 = 500