Diligent students have long since noted that the Bible is structured
mathematically. This structure is enhanced by the fact that in both
Hebrew and Greek there are no separate symbols for numbers, each
letter serving a dual function of letter and number. Thus the
letters of the alphabet A, B, C … are used for 1, 2, 3…This gives
rise to each word, phrase, clause and sentence in the Bible having a
distinct numerical value producing a mathematical structure to the
whole. This is known as gematria. My intention is not to pursue this
matter further, deeply interesting though it is, as it requires some
familiarity with the original languages and also a fair amount of
mathematical patience. However, on a more simple plane it can be
said that the numbers used in the text are never employed in a
haphazard fashion and have their own significance. Not only that but
the number of times a word or a phrase occurs in the Bible is not
without meaning. My object is to offer the reader a few suggestions
as to the significance of God’s use of numbers.
In 1 Cor. 11: 14, concerning a certain matter, the apostle Paul asks
“Does not even nature itself teach you…?”. Without doubt,
consideration of the natural world often gives an insight into the
spiritual world. Let me introduce our subject by asking a few
questions about numbers. Why is it universally recognised that there
are there seven days in the week––not six or eight? Why does the
year have twelve months and the day and night each have twelve
hours? Again, why has the year just four seasons and time but
three
divisions––past present and future? Why are there three dimensions
but four cardinal points to the compass––North, South, East and
West? Take the human body. Why are there five digits on each
hand––four fingers plus one thumb? Why ten toes on
two feet? None of
these numbers are arbitrary––they are fixed by the Creator. The same
Creator has given to each of the numbers in the Bible its own
distinctive meaning. I trust that I have said enough to whet your
appetite. For the sake of brevity I do not propose looking at every
number in Scripture (such as Abram’s 318 servants or the disciples’
153 fishes) but only some of those that are frequent in their
occurrence.
It will help if we recall that numbers are classed as cardinal or
ordinal. Cardinal numbers are one,
two three etc; ordinal numbers
are first, second, third etc. Again, some numbers are classed as
prime numbers. These are numbers that can be divided only by
themselves and one. Five is a prime number as it can only be divided
by itself and one. Four is not a prime number as it can be divided
by two as well as four and one. Thus one,
two, three, five, seven,
and eleven are prime numbers whereas four, six,
eight, nine, ten and
twelve are not. Let us begin with the prime numbers one,
two and
three.
ONE
All numbers are divisible into other numbers except one.
One is made
up of no other numbers (three, for example, may be viewed as
two
plus one). Thus one does not owe its existence to any other number.
It is unique and is the number particularly identified with God
for
God alone does not owe His existence to another and is independent
of all. Every number owes its existence to the number
one. For what
is two if not one plus one and three if not
one plus one plus one
etc? Likewise all owe their existence to God as the apostle says
“for in him we live and move and exist” (Acts 17: 28). One asserts
that in God there is a sufficiency that needs no other, an
independency that admits no other. While all stand in need of God,
He needs assistance from no one. Independence in God is His glory
but independence in man is sin. The word to Israel was “Hear,
Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah” (Deut. 6: 4)––one Jehovah
(Lord) to the exclusion of all other authority (any other authority
is idolatry).
Now as a cardinal number one denotes unity, not only in the Godhead
but in creation as well. Thus a man “shall be united to his wife,
and the two shall be one flesh” (Eph 5: 31). One also speaks of
uniqueness: “[There is] one body, and one Spirit …” (Eph 4: 4).
However, when one is an ordinal number it denotes
primacy. The first
book in the Bible is Genesis (The Beginning) which has rightly been
called the Book of Beginnings or the seed plot of the Bible. The
germ of all other books is to be found there. Primacy is also
identified with Christ. He is not only the Alpha and the Omega but
the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (see Rev. 22: 13).
Hence the essential concepts in one, depending on the context, are
independancy, uniqueness,
unity and primacy, concepts that belong in
a peculiar way to God Himself.
TWO
Two is the first number that we can use to divide and get a
different answer (while six divided by
one is still six, six divided
by two is three). Just as one excludes all difference and thus
denotes what is sovereign, the number two clearly affirms that there
is a difference. The fundamental concept in the number
two is
division or difference––a difference which may be for good or evil.
The second day of creation had
division as its main characteristic:
“And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters,
and let it be a division between waters and waters” (Gen. 1: 6).
Hence God made a difference between the waters below and the waters
above the expanse.
Now Scripture presents many things in pairs so that we may learn by
comparison and contrast. A few examples among the many are
two goats
(Lev. 16: 7); two opinions (1 Kings 18: 21); two vessels (Jer. 18:
4); two masters (Matt. 6: 24); two foundations (Matt. 7: 24–27);
two
covenants (Gal. 4: 24); two sons (Luke 15: 11); two men (Luke 18:
10). The difference inherent in two may be for
oppression or
hindrance or it may be for association and
help, but there will
always be a difference. Thus we read of Rachel and Leah “Which two
did build the house of Israel” (Ruth 4: 11). In the Gospels you will
remember that the disciples were sent out in pairs and the Scripture
says “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for
their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but
woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and who hath not another
to lift him up!” (Ecc. 4: 9, 10). Hence in a secondary sense the
difference between two may serve as a
testimony. The Lord said that
the testimony of two men is true. (see John 8: 17, 18). If two
different persons agree in testimony, then the matter is conclusive.
Thus in the law it was said “At the mouth of two witnesses…” (Deut.
17: 6). The whole testimony of the law hung on two commandments
(Matt. 22: 40). However, the difference inherent in two may also
indicate opposition, enmity and
division. Examples of this are the
use of the word double as in James 1: 8: “a double–minded (literally
two–souled) man unstable in all his ways”. Similarly in Ps 12: 2 we
have a “double heart” and in 1 Tim. 3: 8 “double–tongued”. The basic
thought in the number two is always difference or
division which may
also introduce the idea of testimony as a secondary thought.
THREE
In the natural world, two dimensions cannot fully describe a
physical object. We need the third dimension; we need length,
breadth and height (or depth). The number three then suggests
completion. Again, two straight lines joined together cannot
completely enclose any space. A third line is needed to
complete the
figure (a triangle). Past, present and future give the complete
expression of time. Human capability is fully expressed in ‘thought,
word and deed’. All that is in the natural world is completely
embraced by ‘animal, vegetable and mineral’. Thus three is
identified with completeness.
The number three is also used in Scripture
to denote what is complete, but complete in relation to God.
It is the number of divine perfection. While the number
one
expresses God’s uniqueness and independence (There is one God––see
Mal. 2: 10) and the unity of the Godhead (God is one––see Gal. 3: 20
and 1 Tim. 2: 5), the number three gives His fulness––His
complete
manifestation as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As man was created in
the image of God, he is complete in “spirit, and soul, and body” (1
Thess. 5: 23). While man is identified with the earth, God is
identified with the heavens of which there are three (see 2 Cor. 12:
2). God’s attributes are completely expressed as omniscience,
omnipresence and omnipotence.
The number three not only suggests what is of
God and complete but also entirety of opposition to God. The world
is against the Father (1 John 2: 15, 16), the flesh is against the
Spirit (Gal. 5: 17) and the devil is against the Son (Matt. 4: 1
etc.). The entirety of the flesh’s opposition to God is seen in its
three facets: “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life” (1 John 2: 16). When God took Israel out from
Egypt, they had to go “three days journey into the wilderness” (Ex.
3: 18)––the separation from that which was against God must be
complete! Again, it was three years of seeking fruit that witnessed
to Israel’s complete failure to provide anything to satisfy God
(Luke 13: 7). The three languages of the inscription on the cross
fully testified to the Lord’s complete rejection by man––whether
religious (Hebrew), cultured (Greek) or vulgar (Latin). Man’s
apostasy from God is completely manifest in “the way of Cain … the
error of Balaam … and the gainsaying of Core” (Jude 11). The
vicarious sufferings of the Lord were completed in three hours (see
Mark 15: 33 and John 19: 30). The Lord’s death (not just His dying)
was complete in that He lay in the heart of the earth for three days
and three nights (Matt. 12: 40) and so the Scripture says that it
was on the third day that He was
perfected (Luke 13: 32). Thus three
is also the number of resurrection because it is in resurrection
that God’s power is fully manifest (see Rom. 1: 4). The essence of
the meaning of the number three is the manifestation of what is
complete in relation to God.
We have looked at the first three numbers and I
have sought to show the essential symbolic meaning of them. To
summarise: One suggests uniqueness or
unity, two indicates
difference or division and
three what is complete in relation to
God. One, two and three are primary numbers and are unique in that
they are the only primary numbers that follow one another in an
unbroken sequence.
FOUR
When we come to four we have the first number that can be
divided.
However, its only possible division is by two, which, as we have
seen, is the number of difference and
division. Indeed, four is
unique among numbers in that it is the only number in which a sum
(two plus two) gives the same result as the same number multiplied
by itself (two by two) and this serves to intensify the thought of
division that is associated with two. It was on the fourth day that
the sun and the moon were set in the heavens to divide between day
and night and between light and darkness (four things) and to be for
signs, seasons, days and years (again, four things) (Gen. 1: 14–18).
The number four is the great number of creation and its divisions.
The earth has four regions: North, South, East and West (see Gen.
28: 14). The year has four seasons, which in Biblical terminology
are seed time, harvest, summer and winter (Gen. 8: 22). The night
has four divisions, given in Mark 13: 35 as evening, midnight,
cockcrow and morning. The nations have a fourfold division
“according to their land, every one after his tongue, after their
families, in their nations” (Gen. 10: 5, 20, 31). The order of land,
tongue, family and nation varies but the number of the division is
always four. The number four thus has regard to what is
universal in
relation to man on the earth but which can be divided. It is the
world’s number.
Often when four things are given, they divided into three plus
one
in which the one is the outstanding part of the four. The river that
went out of Eden was parted into four
main streams (see Gen. 2:
10–15). Only one of the rivers (Euphrates) has retained its original
name throughout time (see Rev. 16: 12). Creation’s
division into its
four heads is expressed by the living creatures of Ez. 1: 5–12 and
Rev. 4: 6–8 which have four faces. Of these three (lion, ox and
eagle) are animal but the dominating one is man (see Gen.1 : 26). In
Daniel’s dream of the four beasts (Dan. 7) representing the
four
great world–powers, three are named (lion, bear and leopard) but the
dominant fourth power is only described. There are four Gospels,
which divide into three plus one, since John’s Gospel is distinct
from the other three. All four present the Lord as man in the world
but John uniquely presents Him as God manifest in flesh.
Thus four
is the universal number of the world and man in it. There are many,
many more examples of the number four in the Bible but these few
examples should be sufficient to indicate its meaning.
As three is the number of what is complete in relation to God, and
four is the number of man’s world, we will next look at the two
numbers that are composed of these rather than go on to consider
five. These are seven, which is four plus
three, and twelve, which
is four multiplied by three.
SEVEN
There is no other number that occurs so often in the Scriptures as
the number seven. In the book of Revelation alone we have more than
50 sevens! If three denotes what is divinely complete,
seven denotes
what is spiritually complete. Indeed, the Hebrew word used for
seven
has a root meaning of “full” or “satisfied”. As mentioned
previously, the week has seven days and the musical scale has
seven
notes––both examples giving the idea of completeness. In nature too
the rainbow has seven colours, three of which are primary colours
(red, green and blue) and four secondary colours (orange, yellow,
indigo and violet). Like the seven colours of the rainbow, the major
sevens in Scripture often divide into three and
four. However,
firstly let us consider this number as it is––seven. It is the
number of spiritual perfection (whether in things good or bad).
Abraham’s complete blessing was seven fold (Gen. 12: 2, 3) and the
Lord gave seven things that spiritually defile a man (Matt. 15: 19).
Rom. 12: 6–8 lists seven spiritual gifts and Eph. 4: 4–6 gives
seven
spiritual unities. As already mentioned most of the major sevens of
the Bible are presented as three plus four. The spiritual
completeness of God’s ways is seen in the typical teaching of the
seven feasts of Jehovah as given in Lev. 23, the spiritual
completeness of the kingdom of the heavens in the seven parables of
Matt. 13 and the spiritual completeness of the Church’s testimony on
earth in the seven assemblies of Rev. 2, 3. These and other major
sevens are divided into three and four. Consider the parables of
Matt. 13 to illustrate this. The first four (Sower, Wheat, Darnel
and Mustard seed) were given by the sea (Matt. 13: 1, 2) to the
crowds, and embrace what is external and
universal in the kingdom in
relation to man (as suggested by the number
four); the last three
(Treasure, Pearl and Net) were given inside the house (Matt. 13: 36)
to the disciples alone, and give what is complete in the kingdom in
relation to God.
TWELVE
The Lord Jesus asked the question “Are there not twelve hours in the
day” (John 11: 9), the day that the sun was to rule in the heavens
(Gen 1: 16). A fact that Nebuchadnezzor had to be reminded of was
the word that “the heavens do rule” (Dan. 4: 26). Accordingly, there
are twelve signs of the Zodiac and twelve months in the year. The
number twelve signifies rule––it is the number of
governmental
perfection. The Lord Jesus chose twelve disciples (Luke 6: 13) who
in a day to come will “sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of Israel” (Matt. 19: 28). Israel as a nation was divided
into twelve tribes and the woman representing that nation in Rev.
12: 1 had twelve stars in the crown on her head.
Twelve occurs often
in the Bible and like three, seven and ten is a perfect number. The
sealed of the twelve tribes in Rev. 7: 5 and onwards are twelve
thousand. In Rev. 21: 10, the holy city, Jerusalem, is marked by the
number twelve: there are twelve gates, twelve pearls,
twelve angels,
twelve names, twelve foundations and in them the names of the
twelve
apostles. The thought of a city in Scripture is administration and
rule and here we have perfection in that the city is a perfect cube
whose height, breadth and length are all equal at twelve thousand
stadia (Rev. 21: 16). (Incidentally while a cube has six faces, it
requires exactly twelve lines to make a cube.) Twelve is the product
of four and three just as seven is the addition of
four and three.
Thus in the city of Rev. 21, we have four walls, each of which have
three gates. Israel in the wilderness were arranged in four sets of
three tribes in their encampments (see Num. 2: 1–31). There is thus
in twelve the thought of the product of what is divine (three) and
what involves man (four). God’s perfect administration in the world
to come will be ”to head up all things in the Christ” (Eph. 1:
10)––the Man (four) in whom all the fullness of the Godhead (three)
was pleased to dwell (see Col. 1; 19).
TEN
Before looking at the number five, it is as well to complete the
list of numbers associated with the thought of perfection.
Ten is
that number. It is a number that occurs often in the Bible and like
three, seven and twelve, it is a number symbolic of perfection.
Ten
is the number of perfection in
divine order. The complete counting
system consists of so many tens. Hence ten is the
completeness of
divine order with nothing wanting. However, in parallel with this,
ten indicates man’s responsibility to recognise and to keep that
order. Thus ten is also the number of
human responsibility. Man has
ten fingers on his hands and ten toes on his feet, and is
responsible for what he does and where he goes. The antediluvian age
was completed in Noah who was the tenth generation. God’s
order for
man under law and man’s responsibility is set out in the
ten
commandments (Ex. 20). Ten times Pharaoh was said to have hardened
his heart––his complete failure in responsibility (Ex. 7–11).
Likewise in Num. 14: 22 we read that Israel tempted God ten
times––again showing failure in responsibility. In contrast Daniel
and his companions fully met their responsibility after he had
requested the prince of the eunuchs to “Prove thy servants, I
beseech thee, ten days” (Dan. 1: 12) with the result that at the end
they were “ten times better than all the scribes” (Dan. 1: 20). In
the NT man’s responsibility to go to meet the bridegroom is seen in
the ten virgins (Matt. 25: 1–13); to return and give thanks in the
ten lepers (Luke 17: 11–19); and to use what he is given profitably
in the ten bondmen (Luke 19: 11–27).
Previously we have considered the numbers, one,
two, three, four, seven, twelve, and
ten. One speaks of uniqueness
or unity, two indicates
difference or division and
three what is
complete in relation to God. The number
four suggests what is
universal in relation to man on the earth but which can be divided,
seven is what is spiritually complete,
twelve is governmental
perfection and ten is perfection in divine order and hence the
number of human responsibility. We will now consider
five, six,
eight, nine, eleven and thirteen.
FIVE
Man has five senses but people often speak of certain persons having
a sixth sense. When they do so, they infer that there is an
inadequacy in man with just five senses. In Scripture five very
often does indicate human weakness but not always. On the fifth day
of creation we have the thought of excess and extremity introduced.
The creation of the fifth day had nothing to do with the earth but
with the depths of the seas and the heights of the heavens––spheres
where, even today, man, who was created for the earth, is at his
weakest. Twice we read the word multiply and three times we have the
word swarm or swarms (Gen. 1: 20–23). If five is the number that
identifies man at his weakest, it also sets the scene for an excess
of divine grace, as perhaps indicated by the apostle’s word in 2
Cor. 12: 9 “My grace suffices thee; for [my] power is perfected in
weakness”. Human inadequacy and grace Paul knew for he could “desire
to speak five words with my understanding” in the assembly rather
“than ten thousand words in a tongue” (1 Cor. 14: 19). The impotent
man lay with a “multitude of sick…” (John 5: 3) at the pool of
Bethesda with its five porches and the Lord in grace healed him. The
great example of the excess of divine grace in the OT is seen in the
story of Mephibosheth (dead dog to king’s son) which begins when he
fell at the age of five and was subsequently lame on both his feet
(2 Sam. 4: 4). Such human weakness is again seen with David’s five
stones when he met Goliath (1 Sam. 17: 40) and in the inadequacy of
the five loaves of 1 Sam. 21: 3. Yet it is the excess of grace that
is seen in Benjamin’s portion being five times greater than that of
his brethren in Gen 43: 34. The weakness of the flesh was seen in
the five husbands of the woman at the well along with the excess of
grace in that the Lord deigned to converse with her, a Samaritan, on
the subject of worship (John 4: 5–30). Thus while five expresses
man’s weakness and inadequacy it also often leads on to the
expression of divine grace.
SIX
The number six is identified with labour and
secular (non spiritual or physical) completeness: “For in six days
Jehovah made the heavens and the earth…” (Ex. 20: 11). Yet it was
also the day on which man was created (Gen. 1: 26, 27) and it is his
number in a distinctive way. In Rev. 13: 18 we have 666, the number
of the beast and we are told that it is a man’s number. In regard to
work we are told that man was to work for six days (Ex. 23: 12), the
land was to be sown and harvested for six years (Ex. 23: 10), a
Hebrew bondman was to serve for six years (Ex. 21: 2), and in the
wilderness manna was to be gathered for six days (Ex. 16: 26).
Viewed negatively, six is seven minus one and as we have seen seven
is the number of spiritual perfection. Thus six is often used for
imperfection. The Lord spoke of Solomon in all his glory (see Luke
12: 27) and yet it was a glory that came short of the glory of God
(see Rom. 3: 23). In 1 Kings 10: 23 we read that “king Solomon was
greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom”,
but a few verses later we have one of the pointed “buts” of the
Bible: “But king Solomon loved many foreign women…” (1 Kings 11: 1).
Material greatness, but along with it spiritual imperfection. Thus
we find that Solomon’s throne had six steps (1 Kings 10: 19) and the
weight of gold that came to him in one year was 666 talents (1 Kings
10: 14). Six is also the number used when man is seen in opposition
to God. Pharaoh pursued Israel with six hundred
chariots (Ex. 14: 7), Goliath was six
cubits high and a span, and had a spear’s head weighing six hundred
shekels (1 Sam. 17: 4, 7), and the man who defied Israel, as
recorded in 2 Sam. 21: 20, had six fingers on each hand and six toes
on each foot. The Lord Jesus was charged six times with having a
demon: Matt. 12: 24 (and Mark 3: 22); Luke 11: 15; John 7: 20; John
8: 48; John 8: 52; John 10: 20. If five is man’s weakness, six is
man’s power and labour, which is sadly often exercised in opposition
to God.
EIGHT
The number eight is seven plus one and the eighth note on the
musical scale is a repetition of the first only an octave higher.
There is thus an identity between the eighth and the first although
the eighth begins the new octave. Thus the Sabbath is the seventh
day of the week, making the Lord’s Day the eighth day as well as the
first day of the week. Eight is therefore identified with what is
new. Noah is described as “[the] eighth” (2 Pet. 2: 5) as he was one
of “eight souls” (1 Pet. 3: 20) who stepped out on to a new earth.
Circumcision was on the eighth day and was first given in Gen. 17:
12 as the sign of the covenant that God made with Abram when he got
a new name––Abraham (Gen. 17: 5). David was the eighth son of Jesse
(1 Sam. 17: 12, 14) and significantly the kingdom was taken up anew
in him. (Saul, the first king, being of the tribe of Benjamin,
whereas David was of the tribe of Judah.) The cleansing of the leper
was completed on the eighth day (Lev. 14: 10, 23) allowing him to
start a new life. Finally the feast of Tabernacles was the only
feast that was kept for eight days (Lev. 23: 33–36) and it was on
the last of those days (the eighth day), the great day of the feast,
that the Lord made the new offer (John 7: 37).
NINE
If eight indicates a new beginning then nine suggests the very
opposite––what is final. It is the last number that is expressed by
a single digit––all other numbers have two or more (for example, 10,
153 etc.). The significance of nine is that it is the conclusion of
a matter and that conclusion will often end in judgement. The reason
for this is that nine is one short of ten, which is the number of
man’s responsibility, and when there is a coming short in meeting
that responsibility, the result is judgement. Except in gematria,
nine is a fairly rare number in Scripture on account of judgement
being God’s strange work (see Is. 28: 21). In Deut. 3: 11 we read of
Og and his bedstead which had a length of nine cubits (and a width
of four cubits) and it is recorded there “For only Og the king of
Bashan remained of the residue of giants”––he was the last of the
giants. Nine generations (Adam, Seth, Enosh, Cainan, Mahaleleel,
Jared, Enoch, Methushelah and Lemech) ended before the judgement of
the flood. (Perhaps I should point out a little something to those
who are not mathematically minded, namely that the number nine has
unique properties possessed by no other number. One of these is that
the sum of the digits that form its multiples are themselves always
a multiple of nine. For example, 3x9=27 and 2+7=9. Again,
2x4x6x9=432 and 4+3+2=9.) Now the flood occurred in the six
hundredth year of Noah’s life which was exactly 1656 years from the
creation of Adam. But 1+6+5+6=18 and 1+8=9––the number of judgement!
God’s judgement on the land given in Hag. 1: 11 had nine features.
Nine people are recorded in the Bible as being stoned: the reviler
(Lev. 24: 23); the sabbath–breaker (Num. 15: 32–36); Achan (Josh. 7:
25); Abimilech (Jud. 9: 53); Adoram (1 Kings 12: 18); Naboth (1
Kings 21: 10); Zechariah (2 Chron. 24: 21); Stephen (Acts 7: 59) and
Paul (Acts 14: 19). However, the greatest judgement of all took
place at the cross. There the judgement of God against sin fell on
the Lamb of God and was exhausted at the ninth hour when Jesus cried
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27: 46).
ELEVEN
If ten is the number of perfection in divine order, then eleven is
an addition to it and is thus subversive of that order. Again, if
twelve is perfection in divine government, then eleven, being one
short of twelve, suggests a defection in that government. Hence the
thoughts that are identified with the number eleven are
disorganisation, imperfection, disorder, incompleteness and
disintegration. While God’s order in government was to be seen in
the twelve tribes of Israel, Jacob’s brother Esau, who despised his
birthright (Gen. 25: 34), married Hittites who “were a grief of mind
to Isaac and to Rebecca” (Gen. 26: 35), and the nation of Edom that
developed from him was marked by eleven chiefs ” (Gen. 36: 40–43).
Even though Jacob had twelve sons, eleven of them were marked by
disorder and warranted Joseph’s word to them “Do not quarrel on the
way” (Gen. 45: 24). The dream of Joseph in which the eleven stars
bowed down to him (Gen. 37: 9) is but an incomplete type of the One
to whom in a day to come every knee shall bow (Phil. 2: 10). The
break up of Israel’s administration centred in Jerusalem is stamped
with the number eleven. Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem in the days
of Jehoiakim who reigned eleven years (see 2 Kings 23: 36–24: 1) and
the city was besieged until the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign
when it was finally broken into (2 Kings 25: 2). Finally the thought
of incompleteness is clearly seen in the actions of the eleven
disciples to find a replacement for Judas in order to administer the
truth of the Lord’s resurrection (Acts 1: 15–26).
THIRTEEN
This is the addition of one to twelve––the number of government and
rule. Its essential meaning is seen in its first mention in the
Bible: “Twelve years had they served Chedorlaomer; and in the
thirteenth year they rebelled” (Gen. 14: 4). Thirteen is thus
indicative of rebellion, of apostasy, of defection and of opposition
to established government. Ishmael was thirteen years old when
Abraham circumcised him and thus admitted him into the covenant to
which he was a stranger at heart, and before long he was marked by
rebellion and rejection (see Gen. 17: 25; 21: 9). While Solomon took
seven years to build the house of the Lord, he took thirteen years
to build his own house (1 Kings 7: 1) a house that was ultimately to
be so full of apostasy. Finally, it was in the thirteenth year of
Josiah (Jer. 1: 2) that the prophet began to prophesy against the
apostasy of Judah.
We have looked at the first thirteen numbers and I have sought to
indicate their significance in the Word of God. Other numbers such
as twenty, twenty–four, thirty and forty frequently occur and carry
their own individual significance. However, I leave these and other
numbers to the further study of the reader trusting that, whatever
the reader may have gained from this article, he might have gained a
deeper appreciation of the fact that “Every scripture [is] divinely
inspired…” (2 Tim. 3: 16).
