Introduction : Meaning of Numbers in the Bible
Meaning of Numbers in the Bible have interested, even fascinated people through the ages. Many of the numbers in the Bible have deeper prophetic or spiritual significance. Both in the Old and New Testaments, numbers reveal hidden concepts and meanings that commonly escape the casual reader. And throughout history, men with great minds, like Augustine, Isaac Newton, and Leonardo Di Vinci, showed more than just a passing curiosity regarding the importance of biblical numbers.
Once more, Jesus said, “The very hairs of your head are numbered” (Matthew 10:30). So obviously, the Meaning of Numbers in Bible Scripture should be carefully considered.
Like most Oriental nations, it is probable that the Hebrews in their written calculations made use of the letters of the alphabet. That they did so in post-Babylonian times we have conclusive evidence in the Maccabeean coins; and it is highly probable that this was the case also in earlier times. On the one hand, it is certain that in all existing archives of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament the numerical expressions are written at length, yet, on the other, the variations in the several versions between themselves and from the Hebrew text when added to the evident inconsistencies in numerical statement between certain passages of that text itself seems to prove that some shorter mode of writing was originally in place, liable to be misunderstood, and in fact misunderstood by copyists and translators.
These variations appear to have proceeded from the alphabetic method of writing numbers. There can be little doubt, however, that at least some of the numbers mentioned in Scripture are intended to be symbolic rather than determinative. For example, certain numbers, as 7, 10, 40, 100, were regarded as giving the idea of completeness.
At least 13 significant numbers in the Bible stand out in this regard: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 40, 49, 50, and 70. Some have also given special symbolism for the number 666 because of Revelation 13:18. This infamous number is associated with the evil one in a great persecution at the end of time.
One prominent Catholic theologian, St. Augustine, showed more than just a curiosity about biblical numbers. Without entering into St. Augustine’s theory of this usage, we might mention that the notion of representative numbers in certain cases is one extremely common among eastern nations, who have a prejudice against counting their possessions accurately; that it enters largely into many ancient systems of chronology, and that it is found in the philosophical and metaphysical speculations not only of the Pythagorean and other ancient schools of philosophy, both Greek and Roman, but also in those of the later Jewish writers, of the Gnostics, and also of such Christian writers such as St. Augustine himself
The purpose of this website is to give some generally accepted meanings of numbers in the Bible along with pertinent examples, but not be a exhaustative commentary on this important subject. We will leave that enormous task to others.