Numbers

Numbers

Introduction.-Even a casual reader of the Bible is struck with the fact that in many cases-not altogether exclusive of those in which the desire to state facts accurately may be presumed-a preference is given to certain numbers. He will observe particularly the frequency of the Numbers 3, 7, 10, , 12, together with their multiples and even their fractions. In regard to 7, the ritual arrangements found in the Pentateuch would alone warrant the conclusion that this number was regarded as in some sense sacred. If we read that God blessed the 7th day and sanctified it (Gen 2:3), and find that peculiar religious observances or customs with a religious basis attach, not only to the 7th day, but to the 7th month, the 7th year, and the 77th year, [Note: Lev 23:24; Lev 25:3 ff., Lev 25:8.] we seem warranted in saying that, among the people of the Bible, 7 represents a mystic cycle of work and rest, within which God both accomplishes His purpose in the universe and co-operates with sanctified men. From the starting-point of such a preliminary observation, however, many questions arise, of which the principal are the following. (1) How far is the sanctity of particular numbers peculiar to the people of the Bible? Is its basis, so far as it may be traceable, to be found in nature or in religious theory or custom? If the latter, is the theory or custom borrowed from, or maintained in common with, other peoples (Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians) with whom the Jews came into contact? (2) For what other numbers besides those named may a more or less similar prominence be claimed? (3) How far is the usage as to numbers, which is found in the OT or kindred Jewish literature, found also in the NT? The present article must be concerned with (1) and (2) only in so far as the answer to them is involved in the answer to (3). There can hardly be, even in connexion with the Apocalypse of John, any idea of the NT writers borrowing directly from Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, or, even in this reference, from Greeks or Romans. If such foreign influences are found in the NT, they have come through the medium of the OT or kindred Jewish writings. The Apostolic Age is cosmopolitan in spirit, yet the ancestry which it owns is strictly Jewish. Among its writers are masters of Greek style like St. Luke and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, yet all the writers are men whose Bible was the OT.

It is, however, the cosmopolitanism of the first Christian age and not its Jewish origin that lends interest to its practice as regards the symbolism of numbers. The degree in which this symbolism has passed into the age that begins with our Lord and His apostles offers an obvious standard for measuring its worth.

Before proceeding to particulars, a general statement may be offered of the position of matters which they seem to indicate: the NT practice stands to that of the OT as the latter does to its basis in Babylon, Egypt, or Persia, except for what disturbance of the proportion may arise from the fact that a degree of affinity, both racial and religious, exists between the people of the OT and that of the NT such as does not obtain between the Jews and the heathen neighbours or masters who most influenced them. The practice of employing a particular number, where it is, by presumption, at least approximately correct, or of choosing it, where the question of accuracy as to matter of fact does not arise, is taken over; but, except-and even here the exception is partial-in a book like the Apocalypse of John, the practice is unconscious. It may be true, e.g., that when a thoughtful mystic of the Apostolic Age used the number 3, he involuntarily thought of the Divine Being or Trinity; it may be probable that when he used the number 4, he thought of the 4 directions and, therefore, of the world. But to say that 3 was to the average Christian the number for God, or 4 the number for the world, or that even one in a hundred Christians thought, in connexion with 3, of Babylonian or Egyptian triad-divinities [Note: Kautzsch denies the affinity in the case of the Babylonian and Greek trinities on the ground that these trinities arise from a division of territory among 3 originally independent divinities (PRE3 xxi. [1908] 598 ff.).] or of the alleged fact that every Babylonian divinity had its appropriate number, is to say what cannot be proved and is highly improbable.

I. The numbers employed in the Apocalypse of John

1. Three.-The natural importance of this number is obvious. It is the lowest number to express several, or to denote something that has a beginning, middle, and end. It is the common number of a small deputation. It is the number of the possible dimensions of space, of the natural divisions of the physical cosmos (heaven, earth, and sea), of the day (morning, noon, and evening), of time generally (past, present, and future), and of the human person (body, soul, and spirit).

It is a usual number to express the frequency that makes an action effective, and is a common number of members in a rhythmical sentence, or in a list of adjectives. Such uses are abundantly illustrated in the Bible as in other literature. The number is, moreover, of undoubted frequency in religious connexions: 3-fold invocation (Jer 22:29, Isa 6:3), blessing (Num 6:24 ff.); 3 great Feasts (Exo 23:14 ff.); 3 days, months, or years of waiting and preparation for an important event or action (Gen 40:12, Exo 2:2, Gal 1:18); 3 times of prayer or repetitions of the same prayer (Dan 6:10; Dan 6:13, Mat 26:44 ||, 2Co 12:8). This prominence of 3 in other parts of the Bible makes its comparative infrequency in the Apocalypse the more remarkable. Even where there is a clear indication of the Divine Trinity (Rev 1:4) or of the 3-fold time-manifestation of the Creator-God (Rev 1:8) the numeral is not named. The fraction of the numeral, and 3 as a fraction of 12, are of more frequent occurrence than the numeral itself. [Note: Rev 8:7-12; Rev 9:18, where the fraction occurs eight times. Take these passages along with Rev 16:19 and Rev 21:13 where 3 as a fraction of 12 occurs five times, and compare with Rev 6:6, Rev 8:13, Rev 9:18, Rev 16:13, showing four instances of the independent use of the number.] Comparing this state of the case with the frequency of 7 and even of 12 (see below) in the Apocalypse, we seem warranted in doubting whether any kind of sacred significance necessarily attached to the number 3 even in the mind of the symbolists of the Bible.

2. Seven.-Examples: 7 churches, spirits (Rev 1:4; Rev 1:11, Rev 3:1), stars (Rev 1:16; Rev 1:20), candlesticks (Rev 1:13), lamps (Rev 4:5), seals (Rev 5:1, Rev 8:1), horns and eyes (Rev 5:6), trumpets (Rev 8:2), angels (Rev 8:2), thunders (Rev 10:3 f.), heads (Rev 12:3, Rev 17:3), angels with plagues (Rev 15:1), vials full of the wrath of God (Rev 15:7), kings (Rev 17:10). In view of this pervasiveness of the 7 one need hardly refer to the 7 spirits of God which invest Christ (Rev 3:1) or to the 7 heads of blasphemy on the Beast that is Antichrist (Rev 13:1) in proof of the fact that 7 is pre-eminently the number of perfection or completeness whether on the side of good or evil. The cogency of proof is augmented by the significance undoubtedly attached to the numeral next mentioned.

3. Three and a half.-The actual numeral occurs only twice-3 days (Rev 11:9; Rev 11:11). But in Rev 12:14 we have the time and times and half a time as in Dan 12:7, [Note: How entirely an apocalyptic symbolist might be governed by the idea of 3 or the number appropriate to a period of disciplinary tribulation appears particularly in Daniels manipulation of the 70 years of servitude in Babylon prophesied by Jeremiah (Jer 25:11) in Dan 9:26 ff. The 70 years=70 weeks of years, and the 70 is divided into 7+62+1, in order that the one week of years may be halved so as to give 3 years as the period of the tribulation under Antiochus.] and in Rev 11:2 f., Rev 12:6, Rev 13:5 the same period-3 years-appears as 42 months, or (multiplying by 30) 1,260 days. The use of the number both in Daniel (see footnote) and the Apocalypse proves that by a convention, certainly older, probably much older, than the Book of Daniel, and one in all likelihood not peculiar to the Jews, the number indicated a period of stress and tribulation that would be balanced by a period, of at least equal duration, of comfort and prosperity. if 7 represents the perfect work of God in mercy and judgment in relation to men (as well as the total work of creation) and, on the human side, the life of godliness with its twin ingredients of joy and sorrow, the fraction 3 fitly stands for the factor of the total that signifies Gods broken covenant and mans broken hope (see Psa 90:15, and, for its equivalent in the nobler apostolic faith, Rom 8:18, 2Co 4:12).

4. Twelve and its multiples.-However natural it may seem to think of the 12 signs of the Zodiac [Note: In his very instructive article Siebenzahl, in PRE3 xviii. 310 ff., Zckler quotes the passage (BJ V. v. 5) in which Josephus asserts that the 7 lamps of the sacred candlestick indicate the 7 planets, and the 12 loaves of shewbread the circle of the Zodiac. He argues conclusively that the use of 7 by the Babylonians is older than their astrology of the planets and rests on the division of the lunar month into 4 periods of 7 corresponding to the 4 phases of the moon. Josephus casual theories he characterizes as shallow interpretations, which are to be repudiated as idle Phantasieprodukte, without historical foundation. Yet these stray remarks of the Jewish historian are interesting as an indication that the questions of modern anthropology in relation to religion could arise even in a mind of the first Christian century.] as the basis of the usage which gives prominence to this number in the Bible, it may fairly be doubted whether even such symbolists as the authors of Daniel and the Apocalypse ever had such a reference in their minds. Yet an indication of something of the kind has been found by Gunkel and others in the 24 elders of 4:4, whose origin might be a primitive astronomical conception, presumably Babylonian, according to which the sun was surrounded by a circle of light each half of which contained 12 luminaries. Apart from the likelihood that any such association would have seemed to the prophet of the Apocalypse so much sanction given to idolatry, we have surely a hint of the true origin of the 24, so far as he is concerned, in Rev 15:3, where the victors over the Beast and his image sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb. These victors and redeemed ones are those who are true to the religion of both the covenants. A symbolist would naturally reckon their representatives in the immediate presence of God as 12 + 12, i.e., the 12 patriarchs or heads of the 12 tribes of Israel, and the 12 apostles or heads of the Church. He expresses the same idea when he writes of 12 gates with the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel, and of 12 foundations of the wall in which were the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb (Rev 21:12; Rev 21:14).

Further examples: 144,000 (or 12,000 for each tribe) are sealed as the servants of our God (Rev 7:4 ff., Rev 14:1). The number 12, with multiples and fractions, is used exclusively in the delineation of the Celestial City: 12 gates, angels; a cube of 12,000 furlongs; 12 foundations, precious stones, pearls (Rev 21:12 ff.).

5. Ten.-A natural importance attaches to this number. It is the number of fingers (5 + 5) on the two hands-the natural means of reckoning between two traders who speak different languages. It closes the series of units and is the dominating number of the most natural system of reckoning. It is the number naturally chosen to designate a considerable number of persons or a short but not inconsiderable period of time: e.g., 10 days tribulation for the faithful Church of Smyrna (Rev 2:10); 10,000 10,000 and 1,000 1,000 are the number of the angels round about the throne (Rev 5:11). Men without the seal of God are tormented by locusts for 5 months (Rev 9:5). The dragon has 10 horns, the Beast rising out of the sea has 10 horns and 10 crowns (Rev 12:3, Rev 13:1). Similarly the woman on the scarlet Beast has 10 horns (Rev 17:3; Rev 17:7), which are explained to be 10 kings (Rev 17:12). The devil is bound for 1,000 years, while the martyrs of Jesus reign on the earth (Rev 20:2; Rev 20:4). On the 1,000 years see article Apocalypse, p. 78, note. The fraction 1/10 occurs only in Rev 11:13. Its use in this passage suggests the negative side of the significance of the tithe-offering-viz. the part representing the whole. The 10th part of the city-7 out of 70 thousand inhabitants-perish, but the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to God. [Note: It is curious that the multiple 40, so common in the number-schematism of Scripture to denote a period of disciplinary affliction or penitential exercise (e.g. Psa 95:10, Eze 4:6; Eze 29:11-13; Ezekiel 29 :1Sa 17:16, Jon 3:4, Exo 24:18), does not occur independently in the Apocalypse. The nearest approach to a reference is the 42 months (instead of 3 years) of 11:2 and 13:5.]

6. Six.-Apart from the notorious three 6s of the Beast in Rev 13:18; Rev 13:6 occurs only once in the Apocalypse. In Rev 4:8 the 4 Beasts, copied doubtless from Eze 1:8 ff., have 6 wings like the seraphim in Isa 6:2, and not 4 only as in Ezekiel. In connexion with Rev 13:18 the suggestion has been made (see article Apocalypse) that to a Jewish symbolist 6, as = 7-1, might very well have the significance of that which resembles the Divine perfection but fails just when it seemed likely to succeed. The Beast, to which the Dragon gives its throne (Rev 13:2), and which therefore represents the rival of the Supreme God, has 7 heads, like the 7 spirits of God, which belong to Jesus Christ (Rev 3:1), but on the heads are names of blasphemy. The Beast has the trappings of divinity; only the reality fails.

7. The number of the Beast.-The passage, Rev 13:18, is a Scripture instance of what is known in later Rabbinism as Gemaria, or the mystic art of attaching values to names according to the numbers represented by the letters composing them. As both in Hebrew and Greek the letters of the alphabet were used to indicate numbers, the art could be pursued both by Hellenic and Palestinian or Babylonian Jews. For the various views regarding the name (Greek or Hebrew) corresponding to 666, see article Apocalypse. For a fuller account see G. A. Bartons article Number in Encyclopaedia Biblica iii. 3434 ff.

The calculation which gives the name Nero Caesar, (Neron esar), is as follows: =50; =200; =6; =50; =100; =60; =200-total, 666. In regard to the Hebrew notation it may be mentioned that the letters to =the units; to =the tens; to =the first four hundreds. compounded=other hundreds. Thus =500; =600; =700; =800; =900. The thousands are expressed by the letters for the units with two points placed above: =1,000; =9,000; =10,000. [Note: On this and the very similar system of Greek notation see especially art. Zahlen and kindred articles in E. C. A. Riehms Handwrterbuch des biblischen Altertums, 1884.]

8. Four.-This number is naturally associated with the 4 directions of space. The 4 living creatures () round about the throne in Rev 4:6 are adopted from Eze 1:5 ff. The principal difference is that the 4 faces (man, lion, calf, [Note: Eze 1:10 LXX gives as in Rev 4:7. The translators use for no fewer than four Hebrew words: = a bull, = cattle, = an ox or cow (the word in Eze 1:10), i = a calf (see Grimm-Thayer, s.v.).] eagle) are distributed among the 4 , instead of, as in Ezekiel, belonging to each. The reason seems to be that to the apocalyptist the main attribute of these ministers of the Divine presence is not, as with Ezekiel, their ubiquitousness, but rather their omniscience. Their place is round about a stationary throne, but they are full of eyes before and behind.

It may fairly be doubted whether the apocalyptist attached any significance to the number 4 in this reference or to the variety of faces. Perhaps as in other places (see article Apocalypse) he borrowed more than he used. The other instances of 4 in the Apocalypse are: 4 angels standing at the 4 corners of the earth holding 4 winds (Rev 7:1; cf. Rev 20:8), 4 horns of the golden altar which is before God (Rev 9:13), 4 angels bound on the river Euphrates, corresponding to 4 terms of destructive operation (hour, day, month, year) (Rev 9:14 f.), the city lieth (Rev 21:18). It is perhaps only in the last instance that we are warranted in supposing that the apocalyptist attached any significance of faith to the numeral 4. It seems to be associated in his mind, if it does not actually express it, with the inconceivable magnitude, yet perfect symmetry, of the City of the Redeemed.

9. Eight.-The significance of this number in the Apocalypse does not arise from its being a multiple of 4. It occurs twice in the ordinal form (Rev 17:11, Rev 21:20). The former passage-the 8th that is of the 7-is interesting. Adopting the view that the person intended is Domitian, we see that the author or the final editor is governed by the idea that 7-the number of the heads of the woman on the scarlet Beast (Rev 17:3)-ought to represent the number of genuine Roman Emperors, [Note: Galba, Otho, and Vitellius are excluded, and the 10 horns are not Emperors but kings, or kinglets, who receive power for one hour along with the Beast (Rev 17:12).] who are allowed to maintain for a time a blasphemous rivalry to the King of kings. The 8th is a difficulty. The apocalyptist gets over the difficulty by thinking of him as Nero Redivivus. He is the 8th, yet still of the appointed 7, and he goeth to destruction. This elongation of 7 so as to absorb 8 is not unnatural in a Jewish writer. One may compare the 8th day of the Feast of Tabernacles, which had come in practice to be the most important day, and is recognized even in the rubrics which make it clear that the legal Feast ended on the 7th day (Lev 23:34; Lev 23:36).

10. Two and one.-Apart from association with other numbers (as in Rev 9:16 and Rev 11:2) and from the 2 woes more (Rev 9:12), 2 occurs only in Rev 11:3-4; Rev 11:10, each time in connexion with the 2 witnesses, the unnamed Moses and Elijah (Rev 11:6) of chapter 11. The witnesses are, therefore, Law and Prophecy. The author seems to use the numeral to convey the idea that, though Gods witnesses may be the least possible number (Num 35:30), their testimony will yet prevail to secure the destruction of blasphemers and murderers of the servants of God.

The numeral 1 occurs in a significant sense chiefly in the 1 hour, signifying a very short time, which occurs five times (Rev 17:12, Rev 18:8; Rev 18:10; Rev 18:17; Rev 18:19).

Result.-Our survey of the Apocalypse would seem to show that, except in the cases of 7, 3, and 12, no consciousness of their being specially sacred underlies the usage of the writers in regard to numbers. The usage in reference to these numbers is, however, sufficient to show that the men of the Apostolic Age found nothing alien to their new faith in the mystic symbolism of numbers which they inherited from their Jewish ancestors and especially from the apocalyptic writers. From the fact, however, that this symbolism appears with definite intent only in one book of the NT, and even there but sparingly, we may fairly infer that no great currency was given to it in the Apostolic Church, and the apocalyptic books, other than the Apocalypse of John, which contain it, while undoubtedly much read (see article Apocalypse), were not considered of supreme worth or authority. The authoritative writers might take over the symbolism to a certain extent, but they did so almost unconsciously. Those who went further and made much of it might be then, as in subsequent ages of the Church down to our own day, interesting and edifying writers, but they did not rank with the authorities.

This state of the case may best be illustrated by a survey of the practice, in this reference, of the other NT writers.

II. Numbers in the other NT Books.-The examples given below are intended to represent cases in which the selection of the particular number or the mention of the particular number, presumably in accordance with fact, may reasonably be supposed to rest on ancient symbolical usage.

i. The Gospels

1. Seven.-The genealogies in Mat 1:1 ff., Luk 3:23 ff. are a clear instance of symmetrical arrangement on the basis of the number 7. To St. Matthew it seems important that the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham includes 3 14 generations (Mat 1:17). In the part of St. Lukes genealogy which is comparable with St. Matthews neither names nor numbers agree; but the list from Adam to Abraham gives, inclusive of Abraham, 21 names. The total, inclusive of the termini (God and Jesus) is 77. The phrases 7 other spirits worse than himself (Mat 12:45 ff. ||), the 7 demons that came out of Mary Magdalene (Luk 8:2 f. ||), the 7 times and 70 7 times of Mat 18:21 ff. show that the use of 7 to express a totality of good or evil (even though it might be, as in Mat 18:21 ff., immeasurable) was not confined to the symbolists of the first Christian age. [Note: Instances in which, apart from mention of the numeral, a preference for it may be fairly considered implicit are the 7 petitions in the Lords Prayer (Mat 6:9 ff.), the 7 parables of Matthew 13, the 7+1 woes of Mat 23:13 ff.] There is no likelihood that either our Lord or the Evangelists thought of the planet-divinities of Babylon, or of the 7 Amshaspands of good spirits of Persia, opposed to 7 spirits of evil, yet the number comes to lip and pen involuntarily through a usage that may have its basis or confirmation there. [Note: Proof that the sacredness of 7 was a subject of speculation among Jews of the 1st cent. may be found in Slav. En. XXX. 3. See also Josephus, Ant. III. vi. 7, along with the parallel passage in BJ V. v. 5, cited above under I. 4, note.] Again, in considering the accounts of the two miraculous feedings in Mark, chs. 6 and 7 ||, it is difficult to exclude the idea that the numbers employed, especially 7, 5 + 2, and 12, [Note: Other instances of 12, worth mentioning, are the 12 legions of angels (Mat 26:55), and the age of the child Jesus when He was found in the Temple (Luk 2:42). In regard to the latter, Josephus (Ant. V. x. 4) gives Samuel the same age when the Lord called him (1Sa 3:8 ff.), and pseudo-Ignatius (ad Magn. 3) makes Solomon 12 when he delivered the famous judgment (1Ki 3:16 ff.).] may have to the writers a certain sacred and sacramental significance. The sacramental association-apart from the numbers-is obvious in the narrative of the Fourth Evangelist (John 6), but is it not suggested even in the Synoptic account? The Divine supply is perfect (5 + 2 or 7). What is left of it may be as great as or even greater than what is taken (7 to 7, or 12 to 7). And where the company is largest most may be left. See especially the commentary on the double incident in Mar 7:14-21 (cf. Mat 16:5-12). Act 1:23 ff. (filling of the vacancy in the apostolate), and 1Co 15:5, [Note: Taylor Smith notices that the 12 occurs twenty-two times in the Gospels (art. Numbers in DCG).] where the 12 is used of the company that was only 11, seem to imply that to the mind both of our Lord and the apostles the number 12 signified His intention and ability to recover completely what was lost (Luk 19:10; cf. with Mat 15:24. See also Joh 10:28 f., Joh 17:12, Act 26:7 [our 12 tribes]).

2. Three.-The chief instance of this numeral in a suggestion of sense other than strictly literal is that of the resurrection of our Lord on the 3rd day (Mar 10:34, etc.||; cf. Act 10:40, 1Co 15:4). There is no reason to doubt either the definite prophecy or the definite fulfilment. It is not so easy to state precisely the reason of the choice of the number. It has been customary to refer, for a proximate reason, to the influence of Hos 6:2, [Note: Taken as an expression of real faith, not of delusive hope (see the Commentaries). The prophets faith for the holy nation, the Servant of God, decided, it might be supposed, the terms of our Lords faith for Himself as One torn and smitten for their sins.] and, for one more remote, to the ancient idea that the spirit hovered beside the body it had inhabited for 3 days, departing on the 3rd day because in the decaying flesh it no longer recognized its own likeness. Perhaps only the former of these associations is worth more than mention. It may fairly be argued that St. Luke, St. John, and St. Paul thought of Hos 6:2 when they referred to the Resurrection on the 3rd day as taking place according to the Scriptures (Luk 24:46, Act 10:40, Joh 2:22, 1Co 15:4), as this is the only passage discoverable where the collocation of revival from the dead and the 3rd day occurs. [Note: See E. A. Abbots Message of the Son of Man, London, 1909, ch. ix. There is also a reference in his The Son of Man, Cambridge, 1910, p. 200 (Addendum on The Third Day).] It is another thing, however, to ascribe such definiteness of emphasis upon the 3rd day to our Lord. Even if He thought of the passage in Hosea, He may have regarded the Numbers 2, 3 simply as the natural equivalent for a very short time that was yet a real interval. If one reckons in days, there can hardly be a shorter interval than one day. It is not surprising that after the event of the Resurrection the more definite emphasis upon the numeral 3 or 3rd became common. [Note: The strongest argument, perhaps, in favour of distinguishing, in reference to the 3rd day, between Jesus and His reporters, is that supplied by Mat 12:40. This verse is an obvious gloss on the part of the Evangelist, who thinks that the sign referred to is the death and resurrection of Jesus, and naturally finds the point of comparison between Him and Jonah in the 3 days. He is not disturbed by the fact that in Jonahs case there are 3 nights as well (Jon 1:17). The sign intended by our Lord is that explained in v. 41.] Other instances in the Gospels in which some kind of symbolical meaning may lurk in the fact or mention of the number 3 are: 3 measures of meal (Mat 13:33), these 3 (Luk 10:36), these 3 years (Luk 13:7), 3 temptations (Mat 4:1 ff.), 3 agonized prayers (Mat 26:37 ff., Mat 26:42; Mat 26:44 ||; cf. 2Co 12:8), 3 denials and charges of Simon Peter (Mat 26:69 ff. || Joh 21:15 ff.). Of these perhaps the most relevant are the 3 temptations of Jesus and the 3 years of patience with the barren fig-tree. In both instances the number may be suggested by 3 as the common apocalyptic number for a period of trial or probation. In regard to the 153 of Joh 21:11 Calvin has perhaps said the last word: Quantum ad piscium numerum spectat non est sublime aliquid in eo quaerendum mysterium (Com. ad loc.). Peter never landed a haul of fish without counting them (M. Dods, in Expositors Greek Testament , London, 1897, ad loc.).

3. Three and a half appears instructively in Luk 4:25 (cf. Jam 5:17). The addition of the to the 3 of 1Ki 18:1 is evidently due to apocalyptic tradition.

ii. The Acts of the Apostles.-Apart from the instances already referred to, the most relevant seem to be: 7 deacons (Act 6:3), 7 sons of one Sceva a Jew, using the name of Jesus (Act 19:14), the 3 forties in the history of Moses and the Israelites (Act 7:23; Act 7:30; Act 7:36), 3 days without sight and food (Act 9:9), 4 corners of the earth (Act 10:11).

iii. The Pauline Epistles

1. Oratorical rhythm.-It occurred to the present writer [Note: Unaware at the time that Zckler had carried out the same idea in his art. Siebenzahl in PRE3 xviii. 310 ff.] to study the rhetorical sentences of St. Paul with the view of discovering whether any sort of preference was given to particular numbers in lists of words, phrases, or sentences. The investigation seems to show that if a preference, instinctive or conscious, is given to any number above another, it is rather to 5, 3, or even 6, than to 7. Thus in Rom 8:29 f. there are 5 steps (including the terminus a quo) from foreknowledge to glory, in Rom 10:12-15 the number from call to sent is 5. St. Paul would rather speak 5 words with understanding than 10,000 in a tongue (1Co 14:19). The grace in which the Corinthians abound and the things they are to put up with are 5 (2Co 8:7; 2Co 11:20). There are 5 things to be mortified (Col 3:5), 5 things to be put off, and 5 to be put on (with love as 6th) (Col 3:8; Col 3:12), 5 good works of a widow (1Ti 5:10).

Instances of 3, single or multiple, are faith, hope, love, these 3 (1Co 13:13), the 9 fruits of the spirit in Gal 5:22 f. The rhetorical questions at Gal 6:15 f. are 3. In the remarkable passage 2Co 6:4 ff. the phrases beginning with are 18, those beginning with are 3, while the adversative phrases beginning with are 7.

In the passage in Romans already alluded to (Rom 8:28 ff.) the number from tribulation to sword (Rom 8:35) is 7, and at 2Co 7:11 there are 7 exhibitions of sorrow. But, on the other hand, the number is absent where we might most expect it. Thus the weapons of the spiritual warfare in Eph 6:13 ff. are 6, and the things to be thought on in Php 4:8 are also 6 (cf. 1Ti 4:12; 1Ti 6:11).

Rhetorical examples of 4 are: Eph 6:12 (4 powers to be resisted), Php 3:19 (4-fold description of the enemies of the Cross), 2Ti 3:16 (the profit of Scripture in 4 particulars), 2Ti 2:11-13 (a faithful saying in 4 conditional clauses), 2Ti 2:22 (4 things to follow after).

2. Symbolical suggestion.-Apart from rhetorical connexions it would appear that the Numbers 3, 4 occur most frequently, if also in part unconsciously, in a sacred connexion. In 2Co 13:14 we have the trinitarian benediction, and in the descriptions of God and the company in heaven a preference seems to be given to the number 3 (1Ti 1:17; 1Ti 5:21). Along with the 3 graces (1Co 13:13) may be placed the 3 gifts (2Ti 1:7). On the other hand, in the usual form of greeting there is no reference to the Holy Spirit, but only to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 1:7 and all the Epistles to Churches except Galatians). In all but the three Pastoral Epistles the ingredients of the blessing are 2 (grace and peace), in the Pastorals they are 3 (grace, mercy, and peace). The better text, however, in Tit 1:4 omits . The apocalyptic suggestions in the 3rd heaven of 2Co 12:2, and in the 4 dimensions of the immeasurable in Eph 3:18, should be noticed.

iv. The Epistle to the Hebrews.-The oratorical style of this book, where the clauses and phrases are more carefully balanced than in St. Pauls writings, would lead us to expect a preference for the perfect number 7. But here, as in the Pauline Epistles, other numbers (e.g. 5 and 6) are just as frequent. Thus in Heb 11:32 there are 7 from Gideon to the prophets; in Heb 12:18; Heb 12:7 things to which ye have not come. But, on the other hand, in Heb 7:3 we have a 5-fold description of the King of Peace; in Heb 7:26; Heb 7:5 adjectives describe the High Priest, Christ; in Heb 6:1 f. we have the foundations of Christian faith in 6 particulars; in Heb 12:22, there are 8 or, reckoning Mount Zion and the city of the living God separately, 9 things to which ye have come. This is the more remarkable that the author seems, pretty clearly, to associate a mystical significance with the number 7 (Heb 4:4).

v. The Epistle of James.-In Jam 3:17 there are 7 attributes of the wisdom that is from above; in Jam 5:17 we have, as in Luk 4:25; Luk 4:3 for the 3 of 1Ki 17:1.

vi. The Second Epistle of Peter.-In 2Pe 1:5 ff., 2Pe 1:7 virtues are evolved from faith; in 2Pe 2:5, we have Noah the 8th person (Authorized Version ). According to Genesis 5, however, Noah is the 9th or, according to the reckoning followed in Jud 1:14, the 10th from Adam. The supposition may be hazarded that 7 generations had come to be regarded as the measure of the world before the Flood. The 8th person begins the new world. In 2Pe 3:8; 2Pe 3:1 day is mentioned as the shortest period and 1,000 years as the longest (cf. Psa 90:4).

vii. The First Epistle of John.-In the Johannine style the sentence of 3 clauses prevails: e.g. 1Jn 1:6; 1Jn 1:8 et passim. For examples of words and short phrases cf. 1Jn 2:10, 1Jn 3:18, and especially 1Jn 5:8 (the 3 that bear witness on earth).

viii. The Epistle of Jude.-In v. 14 we have the 7th from Adam. The number is obtained by reckoning Adam one of the 7 (cf. Gen 5:3-18).

Literature.-articles in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) , Dict. of Christ and the Gospels , and Encyclopaedia Biblica . Of similar work in German, E. C. A. Riehms article Zahlen in Handwrterbuch des biblischen Altertums, 1884, and O. Zcklers article Siebenzahl, heilige, in PRE [Note: RE Realencyklopdie fr protestantische Theologie und Kirche.] 3 xviii. [1906] 310 ff., will be found specially helpful. See the latter especially on the bibliography of the subject. Of monographs may be mentioned H. Gunkel, Zum relig.-geschichtl. Verstndnis des NT, Gttingen, 1903 (e.g. on the number 4, p. 43f., and p. 81); T. K. Cheyne, Bible Problems and the New Material for their Solution, London, 1904; but especially A. Jeremias, Babylonisches im NT, Leipzig, 1905 (a sequel to Das AT [Note: T Altes Testament.] im Lichte des alten Orients, do., 1904). Regarding this work Zckler remarks that it is a good antidote to the extravagant Babylonism of Gunkel and Cheyne. Note, in Zcklers bibliography, especially the references to the works of F. von Andrian (Die Siebenzahl im Geistesleben der Vlker, in Mitteil. der Anthropol. Gesellschaft in Wien, vol. xxxi. [1901] pp. 225-274) and W. H. Roscher [Note: oscher Roschers Ausfhrliches Lexikon der griech. und rm. Mythologie.] (Die Bedeutung der Siebenzahl im Kultus und Mythus der Griechen, in Philologus, 1900, pp. 260-373). On the development of number-symbolism in the Church in connexion with its ethical teaching see Zckler, Die Tugendlehre des Christentums geschichtlich dargestellt mit besonderer Rcksicht auf die Zahlensymbolische Einkleidung ihrer Lehrformen, Gtersloh, 1904.

L. A. Muirhead.

Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church

Numbers

The fourth Book of the Bible. The name is not so felicitous as that of the preceding books, since it illustrates the contents of the opening chapters only, dealing with the numbering or census of the people. The best division is as follows.

The Hebrews prepare to depart from Mount Sinai (1-10):

the census (1-4)

some supplementary laws

last events before the departure (7-10)

From Mount Sinai to Cades (10,11-12)

Cades (13-20):

the spying of the Promised Land, revolt, and chastisement (13- 14)

revolt of Core, Dathan, and Abiron (15-17)

the waters of contradiction (20)

From Cades to the Plains of Moab (22-34):

Balaam’s oracles (22-24)

idolatry and impurity (25)

new census and new laws concerning the sacrifices (26-30)

punishment of the Madianites and first division of the conquered territory (31-35)

The last chapter deals with the Levitical cities and the cities of refuge.

New Catholic Dictionary

Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary

Numbers

NUMBERS.In this article it is above all things necessary to distinguish carefully between passages in which numbers are used only in the ordinary way and those in which they are connected with some custom or belief, or have for any reason symbolic significance, whether secular or sacred. Three facts must be borne in mind throughout the inquiry: (1) the Oriental preference of round numbers to indefinite statements; (2) the close association in Western Asia from early times of numbers and religion. It seems to be proved that each of the chief Babylonian gods had his number: Anu, for example, 60, Bel 50, Ea 40, Sin 30, Marduk, as identified with Jupiter, 11, etc. (KAT [Note: AT Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Test.] [ZW] 454). And it is equally certain that number often played an important part in ritual. (3) The gradual obliteration of the original reference from the popular consciousness. By the time of Christ the process by which certain numbers had acquired special significance would be wholly or partially forgotten by most of the Jews resident in Palestine. They had received their use from their fathers, and found it expressed in literature and ceremonial and daily life, but knew little, if anything, of the way in which it had originated, so that it is very unsafe to credit them with conscious application of ideas current elsewhere. The Jews who lived in Babylonia from about b.c. 600 to the completion of the Babylonian Talmud unquestionably adopted in course of time many Babylonian thoughts and expressions; but this cannot be assumed, at any rate in the same degree, of the Jews of the Holy Land.

Seven.Of the significant numbers met with in the Gospels the most prominent is that so freely used in the OT and the other literature of the Semitic areathe number seven, represented in the Gr. Test. by , , , . In three contexts it must be understood literally, although perhaps in the first two with an underlying reference to another use: in the statement that Annas married life lasted 7 years (Luk 2:36), in the accounts of the feeding of the 4000 (7 loaves, 7 baskets, Mat 15:34; Mat 15:36 f., Mar 8:5-6; Mar 8:8; cf. also the references in Mat 16:10 and Mar 8:20), and in a note of time, the seventh hour (Joh 4:52). In all other passages: Mat 12:45; Mat 18:21 f., 28, Mar 12:20; Mar 12:22 f., Mar 12:16 [9] Luk 8:2; Luk 11:26; Luk 17:4; Luk 18:30 (a doubtful reading) Luk 20:29; Luk 20:31; Luk 20:33; in the number of the Beatitudes relating to character (Mat 5:3-9); in the 7 disciples at the Lake (Joh 21:2); and in the grouping together of 7 parables of the Kingdom in Matthew 13it has some kind of special significance. In the Apocalyptic passages which come within the scope of this study, the literal meaning combined with the symlbolic may be recognized in the 7 churches (Rev 1:11; Rev 1:20), the 7 candlesticks (Rev 1:12; Rev 1:20, Rev 2:1), the 7 stars (Rev 1:16; Rev 1:20, Rev 2:1, Rev 3:1), and the 7 angels (Rev 1:20). Elsewhere, in the 7 seals (Rev 5:1; Rev 5:5), the 7 horns, the 7 eyes, and the 7 spirits (Rev 4:5, Rev 5:6), the use is purely symbolic.

This symbolic or, to speak more generally, non-literal use is very frequent in the Jewish literature of the period extending from about b.c. 150 to about a.d. 100, the period which includes the time covered by the Gospels. The following are a few examples out of many. We read of 7 heavens (Slav. Enoch 3 ff.; Test, of Levi, 2 f.; cf. Charles in ExpT [Note: xpT Expository Times.] vii. [1895] 57 ff.), 7 angels (To 12:15, Ethiopic Enoch 81:5), and 7 high mountains, 7 large rivers, and 7 great islands (Ethiopic Enoch 77:4, 5, 8). Man is said to have been made by the Divine Wisdom of 7 substances (Slav. Enoch 30:8), and to have received 7 natures (30:9). Seven great works were made on the first day of creation (Jub 2:3); Adam and Eve lived 7 years in Paradise (3:15); at the Deluge 7 sluices were opened in heaven, and 7 fountains of the great deep in earth (5:24); and Jacob is said to have kissed his dying grandfather 7 times (22:26).

In this non-literal use of the number, three shades of significance can perhaps be traced, (a) It was a favourite round number. Instead of many or a considerable number, an Oriental in many cases preferred to say seven. This is probably the force of the number in Peters question about forgiveness (Mat 18:21); in our Lords command of sevenfold forgiveness for sevenfold injury (Luk 17:4); in the promise (Luk 18:30, according to some Manuscripts ) of sevenfold reward ( instead of the usual reading ); in the references to the 7 evil spirits (Mat 12:45, Mar 16:9, Luk 8:2; Luk 11:26); in the question of the Sadducees about the 7 brothers (Mat 22:25 etc.); and in the passages alluded to in the Book of Jubilees.(b) Seven often expressed the idea of completeness. So in 7 churches, 7 parables of the Kingdom, the 7 Beatitudes above mentioned, perhaps in the 7 loaves and the 7 disciples, and some of the passages referred to in the Books of Enoch. This use of 7 in the ancient East is directly attested by some cuneiform texts which explain a sign consisting of 7 wedges as meaning totality, whole (Zimmern in Busspsalmen, p. 73).(c) Seven was for the Jews and all their neighbours from early times a sacred number. In our Lords day there were many features of Jewish religious life which kept the sacredness of 7 continually before the mind: the observance of the 7th day and the 7th year; the 7 days of unleavened bread and of the Feast of Tabernacles; the 7 sprinklings of the leper (Lev 14:7); the 7 sprinklings of the blood of the bullock in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:14); the 7 he-lambs prescribed as an offering for several important occasions (Num 28:11; Num 28:19; Num 28:27; Num 29:36); the 7 days of seclusion for uncleanness or suspected uncleanness (Lev 13:4; Lev 13:6; Lev 13:26; Lev 14:9; Lev 15:13; Lev 15:19; Lev 15:24; Lev 15:28, Num 12:14-15 etc.). the sevenfold march round the altar on the 7th day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Mishna, Sukkah iv. 4); and the seven-branched candlestick in the Temple (Josephus Ant. iii. vi. 7, the Arch of Titus). For all classes of Jewish society in the period of our Lords ministry the number 7 was inseparably associated with the most solemn seasons and the most important acts of worship. There is no direct illustration of this sacredness of 7 in the Gospels, but it can be confidently traced in Apocalyptic imagery: in the 7 candlesticks (Rev 1:12; Rev 1:20; Rev 2:1) which evidently allude to the seven-branched candlestick in the Temple, and in the 7 horns of the Lamb, and the 7 eyes which are the 7 spirits of God sent out into all the earth (Rev 5:6; cf. Rev 4:5). In non-canonical literature it is found in the 7 heavens and the 7 angels, and in the remarkable description in the so-called Fourth Book of Maccabees of the 7 brothers put to death by Antiochus Epiphanes as a most holy 7 ( ), who circled round piety in choral dance like the 7 days of creation round the number 7 (4Ma 14:7 f., according to the emended text followed by Deissmann in Kautzsehs Pseudepigraphen, p. 169). The rise and development of these shades of meaning, which to some extent melt into one another (for the use of 7 as the number of completeness was probably connected with its sacred use, and its employment as a round number may have been facilitated by the other uses), are questions which hardly come within the range of this article, as the process must have been completed millenniums before the Christian era. Seven is distinctly a sacred number in the inscriptions of Gudea the ruler of Lagash some centuries before the time of Abraham (RP [Note: P Records of the Past.] , new series, ii. 83, 94 ff.). Whatever the primary impulse, whether the observation of the phases of the moon, or of the 7 planets, or of the 7 brightest stars of the Pleiades, or of the 7 stars of Arcturus, or of the 7 stars of the Great Bear, which all attracted the attention of early star-gazers, the Jews of our Lords age (with a few exceptions) will have used the number simply as their fathers had used it for many generations, as they found it in ritual, in proverbial lore (Pro 6:16; Pro 6:31; Pro 9:1; Pro 26:16; Pro 26:25, Sir 7:3; Sir 20:12; Sir 35:11; Sir 37:14; Sir 40:8), in other literature, in history (Jos 6:4, Jdg 6:1; Jdg 16:7; Jdg 16:13, 2Sa 24:13, 2Ki 5:10 etc.), and in common life (7 days of the marriage feast, To 11:18; and 7 days of fasting and mourning, 1Sa 31:13, Job 2:13, Med Katon 27b). A few highly educated men associated the number with astral phenomena; the pseudo-Enoch, for example (Slav. Enoch 30:3), and Josephus, who affirms that the 7 lamps of the candlestick imitated the number of the 7 planets ( , Ant. iii. vi. 7); but most will have had little or no acquaintance with such speculations.

One use of the number in the Gospels which has been already briefly referred to needs fuller treatment. In three or four passages, which are really but two, mention is made of 7 evil spirits. Our Lord cast 7 devils or demons out of Mary Magdalene (Luk 8:2, Mark 16 :[9]), and He spoke of an evil spirit which had been cast out as returning with 7 other spirits worse than himself (Mat 12:45, Luk 11:26). It has been suggested, cautiously by Zimmern (KAT [Note: AT Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Test.] [ZW] 462463), positively by R. C. Thompson of the British Museum (Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, i. xliii.), that these 7 are connected in some way with the evil 7 so often referred to in Babylonian incantations, and identified to some extent with winds and storms. That the Babylonian belief was widely diffused in the regions affected by Babylonian civilization is probable enough, and that it lingered in one district at any rate into Christian times is attested by a curious Syrian charm cited by Thompson; but there seems to be no clear allusion to it in the extant Jewish literature of the period inclusive of the time of Christ. The 7 spirits put by Beliar into man, according to the Test, of Reuben (2 f.), are mere abstractions. The whole passage seems to be a sort of allegory. And it must be remembered that the Test., as we have it, has been manipulated by a Christian, who would be familiar with the passages in the Gospels under consideration. The use of 7 in the latter can be fully accounted for without any reference to Babylonia.

In the Holy Land and amongst the Arabs there are still many echoes of the ancient use of 7 as shown in the preceding paragraphs. Dalmans Diwan contains several examples of it as a round number in popular poetry (pp. 260, 287, 305, 309). Mourning for relatives and marriage rejoicings extend amongst the Arabs over 7 days (Forders With the Arabs in Tent and Town, 216, 218). If the person is stained with blood, the stain is washed 7 times (Robinson Lees, Village Life in Palestine, 2nd ed. 218). A festival at Nebi Musa lasts 7 days (Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion To-day, 163). These illustrations show that the modern Oriental not only employs 7 as a round number, but sometimes associates it in some measure with the ideas of completeness and sanctity.

Three and a half.Of the symbolic use of the half of seven there is one instance in the Gospels, viz. the reference to the famine in the time of Elijah as lasting three years and six months (Luk 4:25, cf. Jam 5:17). This number, the half of the number of completeness, seems to have been often used by the Jews of periods of trial and judgment. According to Josephus (BJ i. i. 1, v. ix. 4), the worship of the Temple was discontinued in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes for three years and six months; and, according to the Midrash on Lam 1:5, the siege by Vespasian continued for the same period (cf. Dan 7:25; Dan 9:27; Dan 12:7, Rev 11:2, and Wetsteins note on the last passage).

Fourteen.The double of 7 in the genealogy at the beginning of Matthew can hardly be accidental. When the Evangelist carefully divides the generations from Abraham to Christ into three groups of 14 each (Mat 1:17), he must intend the number to have some meaning. He does not forget that it is the double of a favourite round number which is at the same time suggestive of completeness. This multiple of 7 seems to have been common in old Canaan, for scores of the Tell el-Amarna Letters from Canaanites to the Pharaoh have some form of the salutation: Seven and seven times I fall at the feet of the king my lord. A striking example of the use of a multiple of 7 in a scheme of history is supplied by a writing composed probably within a hundred years of our Lords ministry, the Book of Jubilees or Little Genesis. The writer arranges the whole period from Adam to the giving of the Law in about 7 times 7 jubilees, the interval between two jubilees being 7 times 7 years (50:4).

Seventy.Of another much used multiple of 7, 7 10 = 70, there is only one instance in the Gospel narrative, the sending out by Jesus of the 70 disciples (Luk 10:1; Luk 10:17). It must be noted, however, that WH [Note: H Westcott and Horts text.] read (with BD, some OL, Vulgate , Syr [Note: yr Syriac.] cur and Syr [Note: yr Syriac.] sin) 72, the multiple of 6 by 12. In either case the use of 70, of which there are so many examples in the OT and elsewhere (Gen 50:3, Exo 1:5; Exo 15:27, Num 11:16, Jdg 1:7; Jdg 8:30, 2Ki 10:1, 2Ch 29:32, Psa 90:10, Jer 25:11, Eze 8:11, Dan 9:24, Ethiopic Enoch 89:59 the 70 shepherds, Test, of Levi, c. 8, 2Es 14:46; Josephus Vita, 11, BJ ii. xx. 5; Bk. of Jub 11:20 clouds of ravens returned 70 times; Sanhedrin i. 6 the high court of justice with 70 members and president) as a round number for very many, with perhaps the added idea of comprehensiveness, may be safely recognized as influential.

The Rabbinic idea of 70 languages for the 70 peoples is found in the Mishna (Sota vii. 5), and so may be as old as the time of Christ, but can hardly be alluded to in a mission intended only for Jews. Dr. A. Jeremias (Babylonisches im NT, 93) regards 70 as used in the Gospel as a round number with astral character; but any reference to the stars is unnecessary and improbable. Babylonian astrologers might be credited with it, but not the Galilaean Jews of our Lords time and the Evangelists.

Seventy times seven.The 70 times 7 of Mat 18:22, the multiple of 10 times 7 by 7, is a very strong way of saying very many times, almost equivalent to without limit. The alternative rendering of (Revised Version margin) seventy times and seven, which yields a much less emphatic meaning, rests on the LXX Septuagint translation of Gen 4:24 where the same Greek represents Hebrew words which clearly mean 77. In Mt. the familiar rendering is distinctly preferable. Wellhausen (Das Evangelium Matthaei, 94) notes that D [Note: Deuteronomist.] reads for , which is strictly correct (but cf. Moulton, Proleg. Gr. Gram. 98).

Ten (, , ).The number ten is probably a round number in the parables of the 10 virgins (Mat 25:1), the 10 pieces of silver (Luk 15:8), the talents (Mat 25:28), and the 10 servants who received 10 pounds (Luk 19:13; Luk 19:16 f., Luk 19:24 f.); and in the prediction to the Church of Smyrna of tribulation 10 days (Rev 2:10). In other passages (Mat 20:24, Mar 10:41, Luk 14:31; Luk 17:12; Luk 17:17, and the references to the payment of a tenth to God, Mat 23:23, Luk 11:42; Luk 18:12) it is used literally. As a round number significant of completeness (although without the idea of sacredness associated with 7), its use was facilitated by the decimal system, which may have been suggested in the first instance by the number of fingers on the two hands Be that as it may, the Jews of our Lords day found 10 again and again in their sacred books and in history; for example, in the 10 patriarchs from Adam to Noah (Genesis 5); the 10 righteous men whose presence would have saved Sodom (Gen 18:32); the 10 commandments (Exo 34:12-26; Exo 20:2-17, Deu 5:6-21); the 10 temptations with which Israel tempted God in the wilderness (Num 14:22); the 10 curtains of the tabernacle (Exo 26:1); the 10 lavers (2Ch 4:6); the 10 candlesticks (v. 7) and the 10 tables (v. 8) in Solomons temple; the 10 servants of Gideon (Jdg 6:27), and the 10 elders of Boaz (Rth 4:2).

The non-canonical literature of later times supplies many additional examples. The Book of Jubilees knows of 10 temptations of Abraham (19:8), a thought found also in the Mishna (Abth v. 4), and the Test, of Joseph of 10 temptations of Joseph (ch. 2). The fondness of the Rabbis for the number receives striking illustration from the long series of significant tens in Abth v. 19. The number was also applied in daily life. Ten persons constituted the minimum required for a community or congregation (Mishna, Sanhedrin i. 6), and for a company at a Paschal supper (Josephus BJ vi. ix. 3). Later authorities fix 10 as the number of persons drawn up in a row to comfort mourners (Sanh. 19a) and as the number requisite for the utterance of the nuptial benediction (Kethuboth, 7b). The 10 virgins of the parable may possibly receive illustration from an Arab custom mentioned by some mediaeval Jewish writers. They affirm that in the land of the Ishmaelites, when the bride was taken from her fathers house to her new home on the evening preceding the completion of the marriage festivities, 10 torches or lamps were borne in front of her. The authority is, it is true, very late, but the custom described may have been of ancient origin (given in the gloss to Kelim ii. 8, 9b, and in Latin in Wetsteins note on Mat 25:1). The payment of a tithe or tenth to the Deity, referred to twice by our Lord (Luk 18:12, Mat 23:23 || Luk 11:42), must have been connected in the first instance with the symbolic use of 10. The custom has been traced among Hebrews, Babylonians, Phnicians, Greeks and Romans. The prominence of the subject in later Judaism is attested by the great space devoted to it in the Mishna, three treatises with 150 hlkhth.

Five.Five, the half of ten, is met with in a considerable number of passages in the Gospels, in some of which it may have more than mere numerical significance. So perhaps in the 5 loaves (Mat 14:17; Mat 14:19; Mat 16:9, Mar 6:38; Mar 6:41; Mar 8:19, Luk 9:13; Luk 9:16, Joh 6:9; Joh 6:13), a great multitude fed by an amount of food strongly suggestive of smallness and incompleteness; the 5 talents which bring in 5 more (Mat 25:15 f., 20); the fivefold profit of the second servant in the parable of the Pounds contrasted with the tenfold profit of the first (Luk 19:18 f.); perhaps the 5 sparrows worth two farthings (Luk 12:6); and the 5 disciples of Jesus at the beginning of His ministry (Joh 1:35-51; cf. the 5 disciples of R. Jochanan ben Zakai, c. [Note: circa, about.] 80 a.d. [Abth, ii. 10], and the 5 disciples ascribed to Jesus in a baraitha removed from the censored editions of the Talmud [Sanh. 43a, see Laibles Jesus Christus im Talmud, Anhang 15]). In the other passages (Mat 25:2, Luk 1:24; Luk 12:52; Luk 14:19; Luk 16:28, Joh 4:18; Joh 5:2) it is safest to find only the ordinary meaning. Five, as a small round number, is repeatedly met with in the OT (Gen 43:34; Gen 45:22, Lev 26:8, Isa 30:17 etc.) and in the Tell el-Amarna letters, in one of the latter (ix. 20 in Wincklers edition) it seems to be regarded as a number so small as to need an apology.

Forty.An important multiple of ten is 40, found in the accounts of the Temptation (Mat 4:2, Mar 1:13, Luk 4:2) and of the period intervening between the Passion and the Ascension (Act 1:3). That it is in both cases more than a mere number is evident. The 40 days of fasting in the wilderness clearly point back to the 40 days spent by Moses on Sinai (Exo 24:18; Exo 34:28) and the 40 days journey of Elijah in the same region (1Ki 19:8). The 40 days of temptation remind us of the repeated use in the OT of the number 40 of periods of testing or punishment. The rain at the Flood fell 40 days and 40 nights (Gen 7:4; Gen 7:17). The spies were absent 40 days (Num 13:25). The punishment and proving of the people extended over 40 years (Num 14:34). Nineveh was granted 40 days of respite (Jon 3:4). The Philistine oppression lasted 40 years (Jdg 13:1), and Ezekiel predicted that Egypt should be desolate 40 years (Eze 29:11). That this application of the number was not confined to Israel is probable from the statement on the Moabite Stone (lines 7 f.), that the occupation of Mehedeba by Israel lasted 40 years. Even if king Mesha intended the number to be understood literally, which is very doubtful, he may have recorded it with a view to its special significance. In another group of passages, also, 40 seems to be a normal or ideal number. Three periods of rest from foreign invasion, each of 40 years, are mentioned in the Book of Judges (Jdg 3:11; Jdg 5:31; Jdg 8:28). Eli was judge for 40 years (1Sa 4:18); and the reigns of David and Solomon are reckoned at 40 years each (2Sa 5:4, 1Ki 11:42 : add from tradition the reign of Saul, Act 13:21 Josephus Ant. vi. xiv. 9).

How did 40 come to be used in this way? The most satisfactory answer is suggested by the following passages in the OT and other Oriental literature and history. Isaac and Esau married at 40 (Gen 25:20; Gen 26:34). Moses came forward as a friend of his people about 40 (tradition recorded in Act 7:23; cf. Exo 2:11 when Moses was grown up), and began his work as their divinely appointed leader 40 years later (Act 7:30 and Exo 7:7). Caleb was 40 years old when sent out as one of the spies (Jos 14:7). Hillel is said to have entered on his Rabbinic career at 40 (Sifre referred to in Jewish Encyc. art. Forty), and Jochanan ben Zakai to have exchanged commerce for study at 40 (Rosh ha-shanah, 31b: the same is affirmed of Akiba in the late writing, the Abth of Rabbi Nathan, c. 6). Mohammed, according to a tradition referred to by Knig (Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible iii. 563b, Stilistik, 55; cf. Muir, The Coran, its Composition and Teaching, 11), appeared as a prophet at or about 40. These passages suggest that 40 was regarded in the ancient East as the age of intellectual maturity, and there are not wanting direct declarations of that belief. In the addendum to the fifth chapter of Abth, 40 is described as the age of reason or understanding ( ), and a passage in the Koran cited by Knig (ll.cc.) runs: until he reached his full strength and attained the age of 40 years. Forty years, therefore, represented a generation, and thus the number 40 became a round number for a full period, a complete epoch, and more generally for many.

It is still used in this way to some extent in the modern East. There is a Syrian proverb: If you live 40 days with people, you will then either leave them or become like them (Mackie, Bible Manners and Customs, 111; Bauer, Volksleben im Lande der Bibel, 236, gives it rather differently, but with the same use of 40). As the ancient star-gazers noted the disappearance of the Pleiades for 40 days, some recent writers (Cheyne, perhaps, Bible Problems and their Solution, 114 f., and Winekler cited there; Zimmern, too, in KAT [Note: AT Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Test.] [ZW], 389, thinks the reference possible) connect the interval between the Passion and the Ascension, through a pre-Christian myth, with this astronomical period. This need not be seriously debated. The explanation given above is quite sufficient to account for the 40 days of the Temptation and the Great Forty Days.

A Hundred (, ).That the product of 10 by 10 should be frequently used in a general way to express a large number, could be expected only in a civilization which was acquainted with the decimal as well as the sexagesimal system. There are instances in the OT, etc.: Lev 26:8, 2Sa 24:3, Pro 17:10, Ecc 6:3; Ecc 8:12, Sir 18:9 (Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 : The number of mans days at the most are 100 years), and the Moabite Stone (lines 28 f.: I reigned over 100 chiefs). In the Gospels the number is used mainly in this way: in the parable of the Sower (Mat 13:8; Mat 13:23, Mar 4:8; Mar 4:20, Luk 8:8), in the parable of the Lost Sheep (Mat 18:12, Luk 15:4), and in Mat 18:28; Mat 19:29 (not WH [Note: H Westcott and Horts text.] ), Mar 10:30, Luk 16:6 f. In Mar 6:40, Joh 19:39 it is employed in the ordinary way.

The division of 100 into 99 and 1 (Mat 18:12 f., Luk 15:4; Luk 15:7), with the preference of the 1, is found in the Mishna, Peah iv. 1 f. The same division is also met with in a remarkable passage in the Jerus. [Note: Jerusalem.] Talmud (Shabbath xiv. 3), which, however, is not earlier than the 3rd cent. a.d. Perhaps the contrast of 90 and I was not unknown to the Rabbinic teaching of our Lords day.

Ten Thousand.In the two passages in the Gospels in which the multiple of 10 by 1000 occurs (, Mat 18:24; , Luk 12:1), it is best regarded as hyperbolical. The intention in the one case is to name an amount quite inconceivable in ordinary life, a debt which could not possibly be discharged by a private person; in the other, to impress on the reader the enormous magnitude of the crowds which gathered round Jesus at that period of His ministry. There are many examples of this use in the OT (Lev 26:8, Deu 32:30, 1Sa 18:7 f., Ca 5:10, Eze 16:7 (Revised Version margin) , Dan 11:12, Mic 6:7 etc.). In the Tell el-Amarna letters 100,000 is used in this way. Dushratta, king of Mitani, prayed that Ishtar might protect him and his royal brother the Pharaoh for a hundred thousand years (No. xx. in Wincklers edition).

Two.There seems to be no special significance of the number 2 in the Gospels, unless, with knig (Stilistik, 51 f.), we regard it as, in some passages, an equivalent for a few. This idiom seems to be proved for the OT. Two days, in Num 9:22, may well mean a few days; and the 2 sticks of the widow of Zarephath (1Ki 17:12) can hardly be understood literally. It may be illustrated in the NT by the 2 fishes (Mat 14:17; Mat 14:19, Mar 6:38; Mar 6:41, Luk 9:13; Luk 9:16, Joh 6:9), and the 2 who agree in prayer concerning anything (Mat 18:19); but the ordinary interpretation seems not inadmissible in both these cases. The custom of sending out representatives in pairs, of which there are several examples in the Gospel story (the 2 disciples sent by the Baptist to Jesus [Luk 7:19], the 12 sent out by two and two [Mar 6:7], the 70 sent out by two and two [Luk 10:1], the 2 sent out near Jerusalem [Mat 21:1, Mar 11:1, Luk 19:29], and the 2 sent out to make preparations for the Paschal supper [Mar 14:13, Luk 22:8; cf. the 2 going to Emmaus, Luk 24:13 ff., Mark 16 :[12]], the 2 angels at the sepulchre [Luk 24:4, Joh 20:12], and the 2 on Olivet [Act 1:10]), was probably known to the Jewish society of our Lords time.

A comparatively early tradition enjoined that the collectors of charity should travel in couples (Baba Bathra, 8b). When the son of Rabban Gamaliel (the grandson of St. Pauls Gamaliel) was ill, the distressed father sent two of his disciples to R. Chanina ben Dosa to request his prayers (Berak., 34b). The 5 zugoth or couples of eminent teachers, the last of which consisted of Hillel and Shammuai, referred to in the Mishna (Peah ii. 6, Abth i. 416), may also be mentioned. The expression pairs was probably used of them in Rabbinic circles in the time of Christ.

The two ways of Mat 7:13 f. probably represent a widely current mode of teaching. They are met with in Jer 21:8 (cf. Deu 30:15, Sir 15:17), Slav. Enoch 30:15 I showed him the two ways, the light and the darkness (cf. the note of Charles), in the Jewish manual probably incorporated in the early chapters of the Didache (cf. Ep. of Barnabas, 18 ff.), and in a remarkable passage in the Talmud. When R. Jochanan ben Zakai (c. [Note: circa, about.] 80 a.d.) was on his deathbed, he said to his disciples, who wondered at his tears: There are two ways before me: one leading to the Garden of Eden and the other leading to Gehenna, and I do not know in which I am about to be led (Berak. 28b).

Three.A number of peculiar interest to the student of the Gospels is three, , , . It is purely numerical in the following passages: Mat 15:32, Mar 8:2; Peters words about the three tabernacles on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mat 17:4, Mar 9:5, Luk 9:33); Mat 18:16-20; Mat 20:3; Mat 22:26, Mar 12:21; Mar 15:25, Luk 1:56; Luk 2:46; Luk 12:38; Luk 12:52; Luk 20:12; Luk 20:31; Luk 23:22, Joh 2:1; Joh 2:6. In a much greater number of passages it obviously or probably means more: in the allusion to Jonah (Mat 12:40), in the parables of the 3 measures of meal (Mat 13:33, Luk 13:21), the friend asking for 3 loaves (Luk 11:5), the Good Samaritan (Luk 10:36), and the barren fig-tree (Luk 13:7), in the 3 temptations (Matthew 4 ||), and the 3 prayers of Jesus (Mat 26:44, Mar 14:41), in the references to Peters threefold denial (Mat 26:34; Mat 26:75, Mar 14:30; Mar 14:72, Luk 22:34; Luk 22:61, Joh 13:38), in the allusions to the 3 days interval between the Passion and the Resurrection (Mat 12:40; Mat 16:21; Mat 17:23; Mat 20:19; Mat 26:61; Mat 27:40; Mat 27:63 f., Mar 8:31; Mar 9:31; Mar 10:34; Mar 14:58; Mar 15:29, Luk 9:22; Luk 13:32; Luk 18:33; Luk 24:7; Luk 24:21; Luk 24:46, Joh 2:19 f.: add Act 10:40, 1Co 15:4), in the 3 manifestations of the risen Lord recorded in the Fourth Gospel (Joh 21:14), and in the threefold question, Lovest thou me? addressed to Peter (Joh 21:15 ff.). In this latter and larger group can be traced a reference to the use of 3 as a significant number, of which there is a multitude of examples in the OT and other Jewish literature: the 3 feasts (Exo 23:14), Jobs 3 friends (Job 2:11), the 3 times of prayer (Psa 55:17, Dan 6:10), the threefold shooting of Joash (2Ki 13:18), the 3 sanctuariesEden, Mount Sinai, Mount Zion (Bk. of Jub 8:19), the 3 branches of a vine and the 3 baskets representing 3 days (Gen 40:10; Gen 40:12; Gen 40:16; Gen 40:18), 3 days journey (Exo 3:18, Num 10:33, Jon 3:3), the 3 days search for the body of Elijah (2Ki 2:17), Esthers 3 days fast (Est 4:16), the 3 days of rejoicing for the honour done to Enoch (Slav. Enoch 68:7), the perfuming and anointing of the body of Abraham for 3 days (Test, of Abr. text A, ch. 20), the 3 sayings of the men of the Great Synagogue (Abth i. 1), the 3 things on which the world standeth (Shimon the Righteous in Abth i. 2, and Shimon ben Gamaliel in Abth i. 19), and the 3 sayings ascribed to each of the 5 disciples of Rabban Jochanan ben Zakai (Abth ii. 14 ff.).

It is not difficult to see how the number came to be used in this manner. Several wholes which are often met with can be readily divided into 3 parts: the head, trunk, and legs of a body; the source, stream, and mouth of a river; the root, trunk, and corona of a tree (Knig, DB [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] iii. 562b); the van, centre, and rear of an army; morning, noon, and evening. Early Eastern speculation grouped all things under three heads; heaven, earth, and the abyss (cf. the Babylonian triad of gods, Anu, Bel, Ea). It will have been noticed in very early times that 3 is the smallest number with beginning, middle, and end. So it naturally came to be used on a small, well-rounded total, especially, as shown above, in reference to time.

The 3 days interval between the Passion and the Resurrection may perhaps receive additional illustration from the Jewish rule that evidence for the identification of a corpse could not be received after 3 days (Yebamth xvi. 3). A reason for the rule is given in a tradition ascribed to Bar Kappara, who was associated with the compiler of the Mishna (c. [Note: circa, about.] a.d. 200). This Rabbi is reported to have said that for 3 days the soul hovers near the body, waiting for an opportunity of returning into it, but that at the end of that period, seeing that the features are altered, it goes away (Midrash on Genesis, c. 100; Midrash on Ecc 12:6 : cf. Bousset, Die Religion des Judeuthums, 285 note). The resurrection of Jesus evidently took place before the close of the period of identification. Be that as it may, there can hardly be a doubt that the belief expressed by Bar Kappara, or something like it, underlay the words of Martha: Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days (Joh 11:39). The 3 days were ended, and decay, she thought, had advanced so far that the features would be unrecognizable. That the 3 days between the Passion and the Resurrection had even the remotest connexion with the 3 days disappearance of the new moon in spring (Zimmern in KAT [Note: AT Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Test.] [ZW] 389), is highly improbable.

Two other passages cannot be entirely passed over, although little or nothing can be said in illustration: the reference to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in the baptismal formula (Mat 28:19), and the words ascribed to the risen Lord in the Apocalypse: I am the first, and the last, and the living one (Rev 1:17). There is no parallel to the use of the number in the former in pre-Christian Jewish literature, and connexion with Babylonian and Egyptian triads is out of the question. The triple priestly blessing (Num 6:24-26) and the Thrice Holy in the song of the seraphim (Is 6:3) are remarkable, but cannot be safely regarded as foreshadowings of the doctrine of the Trinity. The number 3 is in both cases strongly emphatic, but it is not advisable to find more than emphasis. Holy, holy, holy is a very strong superlative. The passage in the Apocalypse is, no doubt, like the preceding words him which is, and which was, and which is to come (Rev 1:4), an expansion or interpretation of the name I AM THAT I AM (Exo 3:14), and has a partial parallel in Plato, de Legibus, 716: ( ) , but must not be connected with it.

Four.The number 4 (, , , , ) is found in the Gospels in the following passages: in the 4 months before harvest (Joh 4:35), the 4 bearers of the paralytic (Mar 2:3), the 4th watch (Mat 14:25, Mar 6:48), the fourfold restitution promised by Zacchaeus (Luk 19:8), the 4 days of Lazarus in the grave (Joh 11:17; Joh 11:39), the division of the garments of Jesus among the 4 soldiers (Joh 19:23), the 4 winds (Mat 24:31, Mar 13:27), and the 4 kinds of soil in the parable of the Sower, with the types of character which they represent (Mat 13:4 ff. and parallels). We may add the 4 Gospels, the number of which was early regarded as significant. The four last references constitute a group. The 4 winds, associated with the 4 points of the compass, are met with in the OT and elsewhere in Oriental literature and symbolism: 1Ch 9:24 (Revised Version margin) , Jer 49:36, Eze 37:9; Eze 42:20 (Revised Version margin) , Dan 8:8; Dan 11:4, Zec 2:6; Zec 6:5, Babylonian Flood Story, eol. iii. line 42, Book of the Dead, c. 161 (in Budges smaller edition, p. 531 f.). This use of 4 suggested world-wide extent and then comprehensiveness. So we find in the OT: 4 heads of the river going out of Eden (Gen 2:10), 4 cherubim each with 4 faces and 4 wings (Eze 1:5 f., cf. Rev 4:6 ff.), 4 horns (Zec 1:18), 4 smiths (Zec 1:20), 4 chariots (Zec 6:1), and 4 empires (Dan 2:40; Dan 7:3 ff.,Dan 7:17 ff.). An Assyrian royal title ran king of the 4 quarters, that is, of the world. Some of the divine figures in Assyrian sculptures have 4 wings, for example No. 1 in the Nimroud Gallery of the British Museum. Adams name is said to have been given from 4 substances, that is, the east, the west, the north, and the south (Sl. Enoch 30:13). Abraham is said to have pitched his tent where 4 roads met (Test. of Ab. text A 1). The 4 kinds of soil in the parable, therefore, and the 4 types of character which they represent, cover the whole area of human life; and the 4 Gospels give a complete outline-portrait of Christ. The use of 4 in the groupirig of persons or things seems to have been a favourite method with Jewish teachers. There are several examples of it in Amos (Amo 1:3; Amo 1:6; Amo 1:9; Amo 1:11; Amo 1:13; Amo 2:1; Amo 2:4; Amo 2:6) and in Proverbs (Pro 30:15 f., Pro 30:18 f., Pro 30:21 ff., Pro 30:24 ff., Pro 30:29 ff.). Later instances are Sir 37:18 good and evil, life and death, Test, of Judah, ch. 16, 4 spirits in wine, and the remarkable series of paragraphs in Abth v. Pro 30:16-21, in which people generally, dispositions, scholars, almsgivers, college-goers, and those who sit under the wise, are in each case grouped in 4 classes. May we suppose that our Lord, in accordance with His habit of utilizing current methods, adopted in the parable a familiar mode of classification?

Twelve.Twelve, as the number of the tribes of Israel according to ancient tradition, became naturally a favourite number among the Jews, especially as it carried with it the suggestion of Divine choice and Divine faithfulness. So it figured in religions ritual, symbolism, and history. There were 12 jewels in the high priests breastplate (Exo 28:21), and 12 cakes of shewbread (Lev 24:5). Solomons sea stood on 12 oxen (1Ki 7:25), Elijahs altar on Carmel consisted of 12 stones (1Ki 18:31), and the altar-hearth in Ezekiels visionary temple was 12 cubits long by 12 cubits broad (Eze 43:16). It is, therefore, not surprising that the number 12 is prominent in the Gospels. The 12 disciples referred to in Mat 10:1 f., Mat 10:5; Mat 11:1; Mat 20:17; Mat 26:14; Mat 26:20; Mat 26:47, Mar 3:14; Mar 4:10; Mar 6:7; Mar 9:35; Mar 10:32; Mar 11:11; Mar 14:10; Mar 14:17; Mar 14:20; Mar 14:43, Luk 6:13; Luk 8:1; Luk 9:1; Luk 9:12; Luk 18:31; Luk 22:3; Luk 22:47, Joh 6:67; Joh 6:70 f., Joh 20:24 (in 22 of these passages simply as , the Twelve; cf. also Act 6:2, 1Co 15:5, Rev 21:14), the 12 baskets of broken pieces (Mat 14:20, Mar 6:43; Mar 8:19, Luk 9:17, Joh 6:13), the 12 legions of angels (Mat 26:53), are all more or less reminiscent of the 12 tribes. In the promise in Mat 19:28 || Luk 22:30 is a direct reference which puts beyond doubt the association of the number in our Lords day with the tribes.

This use may have been aided by the constant recurrence of the 12 months of the year, but it is not safe to follow Dr. A. Jeremias (Babylonisches in NT, 88) in connecting the number of the Apostles even indirectly with the 12 signs of the zodiac. He does not, indeed, venture to affirm that this lay in the consciousness of Jesus, although he thinks the promise of the 12 thrones (Mat 19:28, Luk 22:30) might point at that; but he is confident that the mystical cosmological reference, as he calls it, lies in the words of the writer of the Apocalypse about the 12 Apostles of the Lamb (Rev 21:14). However it may be with the latter, it is unnecessary to find any allusion of the kind in the Gospels. Men familiar in some decree with Gentile culture and the astrological-astronomical speculations which were in vogue about this time, such as Philo and Josephus, might connect the 12 gems of the high priests breastplate with the signs of the zodiac, and might therefore regard 12 as a perfect number (Philo, de Profugis, 33, cited by Knig, DB [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] iii. 563a, ; Josephus, Ant. iii. vii. 7) without the idea ever entering the minds of the majority.

In several passages a period of 12 years is referred to. The woman healed by touching the fringe of the Lords garment had been ill for 12 years (Mat 9:20, Mar 5:25, Luk 8:43). The daughter of Jairus was 12 years old (Mar 5:42, Luk 8:42). Jesus was 12 years old when found in the Temple (Luk 2:42). In all these cases the number must be understood literally, but the second and third admit of illustration from Oriental life. At 12 childhood ceased for the Jewish boy. In the addendum to the fifth chapter of Abth two of the rules run: At 10 the Mishnah, at 13 the Commandments. A boy of 12, therefore, was on the threshold of manhood. A tradition recorded by Josephus affirms that Samuel was 12 years old when he received the Divine call (Ant. v. x.4). Another tradition, found in a Christian writing, but probably of Jewish origin, represented Solomon as 12 years old when he gave his famous judgment about the child (pseudo-Ignatius, ad Magnesias, iii.). At 12 a girl was marriageable. According to the Book of Jubilees (30:2), Dinah was 12 years old at the time referred to in Gen 34:2.

One more passage remains: Are there not twelve hours in the day? (Joh 11:9). Here, no doubt, Babylonian influence can be traced, although in the time of Christ most of the Jews living in Palestine will have been wholly unconscious of the fact. The full day was divided by the Babylonians, who in this matter as in so many points set the rule for all their neighbours, and through the Greeks for the whole Western world, into 12 parts. As this day consisted of two halves, the daylight portion and the night portion, the division into twelve was applied to each, without regard to the season of the year. An hour was one-twelfth of the day or the night (KAT [Note: AT Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Test.] [ZW] 328, 335 f.). The old way of speaking still survives in Syria. The day is regarded, as in the time of Christ, as consisting of 12 hours (Bauer, Volksleben im Lande der Bibel, pp. 274 f.).

Sixty.The use of the number 60 in the parable of the Sower (Mat 13:8; Mat 13:23, Mar 4:8; Mar 4:20, not in Luk 24:13) may possibly have indireet connexion with the sexagesimal system of Babylonia (for this, cf. Bezold, Ninive und Babylon, 90, 92), which must have been current throughout western Asia, especially through its use in the subdivision of the talent (talent = 60 manehs; maneh = 60 shekels), and would naturally lead to the employment of the number with more or less significance. There are many passages in the OT and other Jewish literature in which 60 can hardly be accidental: Num 7:88 (60 rams, 60 he-goats, 60 he-lambs of the first year), Deu 3:4 (60 cities, cf. Jos 13:30, 1Ki 4:13, 1Ch 2:23), 1Ki 6:2 (Solomons temple 60 cubits long, cf. 2Ch 3:3), 1Ki 4:22, 2Ch 11:21, Jer 52:25 (60 men of the people of the land found in Jerusalem by the Babylonians, cf. 2Ki 25:19), Ca 3:7, 6:8, Test, of Judah, ch. 3 (stone weighing 60 lbs.), ch. 9 (60 men slain), Test, of Abraham, text A 10 (cherubic chariot attended by 60 angels). The many examples in the Babylonian Talmud (fire the 60th part of Gehenna, Berak. 57b etc.) will be largely due to the Babylonian atmosphere of the compilation.

Thirty.Thirty, the half of sixty, may be used in the same context (Mat 13:8; Mat 13:23, Mar 4:8; Mar 4:20) in somewhat the same way, through the same association. In Luk 3:23, where it is said that Jesus was about 30 years of age at the beginning of His ministry, there is probably an allusion to the belief that 30 years marked the attainment of manly vigour. Joseph entered on his career as a states-man at 30 (Gen 41:46), and David was 30 when he ascended the throne (2Sa 5:4). In the appendix to the fifth chapter of Abth, 30 is defined as the age of strength ( ). The 30 pieces of silver paid to Judas (Mat 26:15; Mat 27:3; Mat 27:9, cf. Zec 11:12 f.) would remind every Jew of the average value of a slave as fixed in the Law (Exo 21:32), 30 shekels. The Babylonian average was lower, but the Assyrian coincided with the Hebrew (Johns in Babylonian und Assyrian Laws, Contracts, and Letters, p. 182 f.). In the remaining passage, Joh 6:19, the number is purely historical.

Literature.Art. Zahlen in Winer, RWB [Note: WB Realwrterbuch.] 3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] ; Riehm, HWB [Note: WB Handwrterbunch.] 2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , and Guthe, Bibelwrterbuch; artt. Forty and Number in the Jewish Encyc.; art. Number in Encyc. Bibl. and in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible iii. 560b ff.; Knig, Stilistik, 5157.

W. Taylor Smith.

Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels

Numbers

The third Book of Moses, so called from containing the numbers of the Israelites after coming out of Egypt.

Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures

Numbers

Numbers is the appellation given to the fourth book of Moses.

This book embraces more especially the continuation of the Sinaitic legislation, the march through the wilderness, the rejection of a whole generation, and the commencement of the conquest of Canaan. Thus we see that it treats on very different subjects, and on this account it has frequently been attempted to resolve it into separate fragments and documents, and to represent it as being composed of the most heterogeneous materials. We will endeavor to refute this opinion, by furnishing an accurate survey of its contents, and by describing the internal connection of its component parts, so that the organization of the book may be clearly understood.

The sum and substance of the law having been stated in the preceding books, that of Numbers commences with the arrangements requisite for preserving good order in the camp of the Israelites. The people are numbered for the express purpose of separating the Levites from those Israelites who had to bear arms, and of thus introducing into practice the law concerning the first-born, for whom the tribe of Levi became a substitute. For this reason the people are not merely numbered, but also classed according to their descent; the order which each tribe should occupy in the camp is defined, and the Levites are introduced into their respective functions (Numbers 1-4).

The camp, having been consecrated, was to be kept pure according to the law of Levitical cleansings; consequently all persons were excluded from it who were afflicted with leprosy, who had become unclean by a flux, and who had touched a corpse (Num 5:1-4).

Thus, after civil and sacerdotal life had been brought into a definite form, other laws based upon this form came into force, especially those laws which regulated the authority of the priests in civil affairs (Num 5:5 to Num 6:27). These regulations conclude with the beautiful form of benediction which indicates the blessing to be expected from the true observance of the preceding directions. The people are impressed with this fact; the hearts of the Israelites are willing to offer the required gifts, and to entrust them to the Levites.

Jehovah is faithful to His promise, and gloriously reveals Himself to His people (Numbers 7). Before the Levites enter upon the discharge of their sacred functions, the law concerning the lamps to be lighted in the sanctuary is significantly repeated (Numbers 8). These lamps symbolize the communication of the Holy Spirit, and bring to the recollection of the nation the blessings of theocracy to be derived from setting apart the tribe of Levi, which had recently been separated from the rest of the people.

Then follows a description of the celebration of the Passover, preparatory to the departure of the people from Mount Sinai (Num 9:1-14). Some regulations are connected with the celebration of the Passover, and the whole miraculous guidance of the people is described (Num 9:15 to Num 10:36).

Thus the entrance of Israel into the Holy Land seemed to be fully prepared; and it was of great importance to show how they were prevented from entering it. Accurate details are therefore given of the spirit which pervaded the nation; a spirit which, in spite of the forbearance of God, manifested itself in daring rebellions against the divine authority (Numbers 11-12).

Now comes the turning point of the history. Everything seems externally prepared for the conquest of the country, when it appears that the nation are not yet internally ripe for the performance of so important an act (Numbers 13-14).

In immediate connection with this are some laws which were given in the desert; the intention of which was to recall to the recollection of the rejected race, which had been justly condemned to suffer severe punishment, that nevertheless they had not ceased to be the people of the covenant, and the depositary of divine revelation (comp. Num 15:2; Num 15:13-16; Num 15:22-23; Num 15:37, sq.). In this respect the facts mentioned in Num 15:32-36, and Numbers 6 are also of great importance. They show, on the one hand, the continuance of an evil disposition in the people, and, on the other, the majesty of God watching over His holy law.

The contents of Numbers 15-19 are of a similar character. The facts there recorded relate to a period of thirty-eight years. The conciseness with which they are stated significantly indicates the strictly legal and theocratical principles of the Mosaical legislation. The period of Israel’s rejection is characterized by the circumstance, that the historian is almost silent respecting it, as being a period not strictly belonging to theocratical history. During this period the striking deeds of God, his miracles and signs, the more prominent operations of his grace, and his peculiar blessings, cease. The rejection of the nation consisted in this suspension of the divine operations. During this period God, as it were, ignored His people. Consequently, the historian also almost ignores the rebellious race. But the period in which the divine promises were to be fulfilled again forms a prominent portion of the history. The termination of the penal period is the commencement of the most important era in the Mosaical history. It brings the legislation to a splendid conclusion. The most glorious facts here follow each other in close succession; facts which were intended clearly to demonstrate that the chosen people entered into the land of promise, not by their own power and might, but that this land was given into their hands by the God of promise.

There have frequently been raised strong doubts against the historical credibility of the book of Numbers, although it is impressed with indubitable marks of the age to which it refers, and of perfect authenticity. The author proves himself to possess an intimate knowledge of Egypt and of Egyptian history, and manners and customs. Narratives like the history of Balaam furnish also numerous proofs of their high antiquity. Its geographical statements are found to be uncommonly accurate, and the nations particularly mentioned in that prophecy belong to the Mosaical period, and some of them at a later era disappeared entirely from history. The list of stations in Numbers 33 bears undeniable marks of antiquity; and the historical notices which the list contains demonstrate the accurate historical information of the author. Moreover the great fact which is the basis of the narrative of the whole bookthe sojourn of the Israelites during forty years in the wildernesscan only be accounted for by assuming an extraordinary divine intervention.

Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature

Numbers

a canonical book of the Old Testament, being the fourth of the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses; and receives its denomination from the numbering of the families of Israel by Moses and Aaron, who mustered the tribes, and marshalled the army, of the Hebrews in their passage through the wilderness. A great part of this book is historical, relating several remarkable events which happened in that journey, and also mentioning various of their journeyings in the wilderness. This book comprehends the history of about thirty-eight years, though the greater part of the things recorded fell out in the first and last of those years; and it does not appear when those things were done which are recorded in the middle of the book. See PENTATEUCH.

Fuente: Biblical and Theological Dictionary