What is the significance of the number forty in the Bible?<\/p>\n
In my reading, I have notice numbers to be very significant. For example, the twelve Israelites went to search out the promised land and it took them 40 days, but because of their bad report, they spent the next 40 years in the wilderness. Elijah after running from Jezebel took 40 days to travel and fast to get to the cave where he heard the still soft voice of God. The first three kings of Israel all reign 40 years before their death. Moses three or four times did 40 days of fasting while he was on the mount with God. Jesus did a 40 day fast and afterward, was tempted by Satan. I understand a few of the other numbers, such as eight means a new beginning, seven means completion, twelve is the twelve tribes of Israel, fifty is jubilee or rejoicing time, five is grace, and six is the number of man, but I don’t understand the significance of the number 40. I am doing a 40-day fast and I am researching fasting as it pertains to the 40-day fast and the number 40.<\/p>\n
If you can give me any insight, I would really appreciate it.<\/p>\n
Thank you<\/p>\n\t
The assignment of meanings to numbers is not something that I could say was simple or uniform.\u00a0 It is one of the deeper things about learning the mind of God.\u00a0 Scholars will debate the meanings indefinitely and ultimately it won’t matter.\u00a0 Every person has to look into the uses of the numbers and determine through wisdom what the meanings are.\u00a0 In this regard, I am more than willing to say that your opinion is just as valid a starting point as any.<\/p>\n
When looking for meanings in numbers, you have to separate the incidental uses of the number from the significant uses.\u00a0 For the number 40, I dismiss as incidental events like the first 3 kings of Israel all having reigns of 40 years.\u00a0 However, I could easily be wrong in doing so.<\/p>\n
I think the number 40 has something to do with “coming into maturity or fulfillment” [or a complete time of trial – jwh].\u00a0 I base this on the following:<\/p>\n
In each case, something is being sought to be completed, finished or brought into maturity.\u00a0 The question that comes up in my mind is why did he stop at 40?\u00a0 I’m sure that it did not take a full 40 days of rain to actually destroy everything.\u00a0 Why couldn’t the maximum punishment be 37 lashes?\u00a0 Could Jesus have fasted for just 30 days and accomplished the same thing on a physical plain?\u00a0 My thinking is that he wanted to establish that 40 is the number he chose to show the completion of his goals.<\/p>\n
Darrell Hamilton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: What is the significance of the number forty in the Bible? In my reading, I have notice numbers to be very significant. For example, the twelve Israelites went to search out the promised land and it took them 40 days, but because of their bad report, they spent the next 40 years in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[211,210],"class_list":["post-10438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-figurative-language","tag-symbolism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17599,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-long-did-the-exodus-from-egypt-take\/","url_meta":{"origin":10438,"position":0},"title":"How long did the exodus from Egypt take?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How long did it take Israel to travel out of Egypt? I know that they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness of Sinai, but how long did it take them to walk the journey from Egypt to the crossing of the Red Sea? Answer: The Exodus started on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31161,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-the-40-years-in-the-wilderness-begin-from-the-original-passover\/","url_meta":{"origin":10438,"position":1},"title":"Could the 40 years in the wilderness begin from the original Passover?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This page suggests that the 40 years in the wilderness commenced after Mt. Sinai. That isn't upheld by Scripture. If you look for example at Deuteronomy 1:3 and Joshua 5:6 for example, it becomes quite clear that God counted the 40 years as commencing with the Passover meal on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11030,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-significance-of-fasting-for-twenty-one-days\/","url_meta":{"origin":10438,"position":2},"title":"What is the significance of fasting for twenty-one days?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the significance of 21 days of fasting? Four of us are fasting and praying for the anointing of the Holy Spirit, our families' salvation and for our friends nearby. I saw on your web site about the importance of 40 days and thought of asking you. Answer:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9565,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-are-the-144000\/","url_meta":{"origin":10438,"position":3},"title":"Who are the 144,000?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Revelation it talks about 144,000 in a couple of places, I was talking to my friend about it. It's been six months since I have read Revelation straight through and I have never done a real \"study\" on it. But what are the requirements for the 144,000 people?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7514,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-twelve-apostles\/","url_meta":{"origin":10438,"position":4},"title":"Why twelve apostles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why were there only 12 apostles? Answer: Certain numbers appear frequently through the text of the Bible, much more frequently than you would expect from mere chance. Twelve is one such number and its repeated use indicates foreshadowing in the Bible and it is a reflection of the fact\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54166,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/following-the-lord-fully\/","url_meta":{"origin":10438,"position":5},"title":"Following the Lord Fully","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Joshua 14:6-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God describes for us the character of various men by referring to them by certain phrases \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Abraham was called a friend of God - James 2:23 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Because that is how God referred to him - II Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}