Dr. Alice C. Linsley
Number symbolism in the Bible varies, depending on the cultural and geographical context. For the early Nilotic Hebrew (4000-2000 BC) "
40 days and 40 nights" pertained to the Nile floods (40 days) and the period of time before the people could return to their homes (40 nights). However, the number 40 does not appear in the Book of Daniel with its geographical setting around Susa (biblical Shushan) in Babylon. The geographical differences are a significant factor in understanding number symbolism in the Bible.
Also, consider how different translations provide different numbers. Genesis 46:27 in the Septuagint says, "Thus all the souls of Jacob's house who went to Egypt were seventy-five" but the Masoretic says, "...all the persons of the house of Jacob, that came into Egypt, were seventy." Different lifespans are assigned to
Lamech the Younger (Gen. 5). In the Septuagint, he is said to have lived 753 years. In the Samaritan Pentateuch, he is said to have lived 653 years, and the Masoretic text claims that he lived 777 years.
The number 3 is repeatedly found in connection to divinely inspired or God directed actions. Jonah was 3 days in the belly of the whale. Moses was hidden for 3 months (Ex. 2:2). Job's 3 friends struggled with the mystery of why the righteous suffer. Moses asked permission to go 3-days journey into the wilderness to worship. Abraham traveled 3 days to a mountain only God could reveal and upon which God provided His own sacrifice. The Covenant God made with Abraham involved cutting up 3 animals that were 3 years old. The visit by 3 "Men" to Abraham's tent. The 3 measures of flour made into cakes for those Visitors. The 3 gifts offered them: curds, milk and a calf. Abraham prayed 3 times for Sodom. Joseph had a dream of a vine with 3 branches (Gen 40:10-12). The “Son of Man” appeared with 3 men in the fiery furnace.
In ancient Egypt, the number 3 symbolized the divine triad of Re, Hathor and Horus (HR, "Most High One" in Proto-Egyptian). The number 3 also spoke of life after death, symbolizing birth-death-and bodily resurrection. St. Augustine noted that the Egyptians took great care in the burial of their dead and never practiced cremation, as in the religions that seek to escape material existence. Their greatest fear was the "second death" which apparently occurs when the body and the spirit/soul as a unit are not restored to life in the resurrection. The Son of God rose on the third day, as his early Hebrew ancestors anticipated. HR is described as rising on the third day. Utterance 667 (The Ancient Pyramid Texts) dates to about 4000 years ago and states that HR would rise on the third day. "Oh HR, this hour of the morning, of this third day is come, when thou surely passeth on to heaven, together with the stars, the imperishable stars."
The study of numbers in the Bible is fascinating, but one must not become dogmatic about one's personal or mystical interpretation. The Church Fathers were not interested in philosophical speculation about numbers. Nor was the Apostle Paul. Risto Santala, the late Finnish Bible scholar and an expert on Paul, wrote, "The esoteric Qabbalah wandered off the right track in creating a very extensive literature on doctrines of angels and mysteries relating to God's being (razei El). Only those over the age of forty were allowed to study them. The angel RAZIEL, whose numeric value in gematria is 248 and who thus knew the inner secrets of the two hundred and forty-eight 'do'- commandments, gave Adam the 'Sefer Raziel', that is, 'the Book of Raziel', an esoteric source. The enormous literature of the Kabbalah is occupied with these imaginary conjectures. They indeed have 'an appearance of wisdom,' but both Jesus and Paul entirely renounced them."
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