Numbers in the world of the Bible
Monday, November 24, 2014
*Rogelio Zelada
In the world of the Bible, numbers were part of the symbolic content of everyday language, as they not only represented amounts but, above all, qualities.
When the sacred author divides creation into six days, he is not only framing the work of God within a week, but he also wants to emphasize what is unfinished and incomplete in human reality. That is why he has placed the creation of man on the sixth day.
Sometimes it is difficult to decipher the meaning that the author intended to give a number in a story. When Jesus speaks with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, he reminds her that she is not single, but that she has “had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband.” Even though in the story’s context, the number 5 would remind us of the five idolatrous tribes that replaced the captives that were taken to Babylon, normally this number indicates ambiguity, vagueness or the equivalent of “several.”
Similarly, we are told that five birds (quite a few) were sold at the marketplace for two coins; or that in the multiplication of the loaves of bread and the fishes, Jesus took five loaves (several) in his hands; or that five thousand men (a large, indefinite number of people) were present.
The number 1 refers to the one God, and encompasses the concepts of unity, importance, excellence, the divine world, supremacy. Christ replies to the rich young man, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only One who is good.”
The number 2 recalls the duality that is inherent in the human being: man and woman, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac.
The number 3 indicated reality, or the way that the believer in Israel could grasp the reality of God known as Word, Spirit and Wisdom. Although the revelation of God as Trinity in the New Testament had not been reached then, the number 3 pointed towards the divine nature. For that reason, the number, so present throughout all of Scripture, signified the revelation of an event that was permeated by the strength and the extraordinary power of God: Jonah will stay three days inside the belly of the leviathan; a young Jesus stays for three days in the temple as his parents search everywhere for him; Peter will deny him three times before the rooster crows; Christ will rise on the third day; and at the end of the Gospel of John, the Risen One will ask Peter three times if he loves him.
The number 4 tells us about the act of creation, when the Word of God emerges from time (the separation of the days from the nights) and space to place all the inhabitants of heaven, the seas and the earth. The number 4 is time: spring, summer, autumn and winter; and the number 4 is space: north, south, east and west. Time and space are creatures, realities that do not exist in God, for Whom there is no time or space.
The number 5, as we previously mentioned, is the indefinite.
The number 6 is what remains unfinished, incomplete, imperfect: Six were the vessels for the purification of the Jews that were filled with water for the miracle that Jesus performed at Cana. The number of the wicked and lying beast, mentioned in Revelation, is 666, that is, the utmost imperfection that could ever exist or be imagined.
The number 7 is the sum of the divine fullness (3) and the whole of creation (4). For that reason, this is the perfect number, whole and all-encompassing. The seventh day is the day when God rested, a day that Israel must observe.
The number 8 denotes new life, or new beginning: circumcision had to be performed on the eighth day; David was the eighth son, and Solomon as well.
The number 9 seems to indicate that which is necessary, that for which there is a purpose: The Letter to the Galatians mentions nine fruits of the Holy Spirit, and I Corinthians, nine gifts of the Spirit.
The number 10 brings to mind what we must not forget, such as the Ten Commandments. The book of Exodus asks that the Paschal lamb be taken from the flock on the tenth day of the month of Nissan. (Do not stop doing it.)
The number 12, which is the multiplication of God’s wholeness (3) by that of creation (4), means the election made by God for a mission that is part of His plan for salvation; twelve tribes will be chosen, twelve the number of the apostles.
The number 40 indicates change: the flood lasted 40 days (passage to a new humanity); for 40 years Israel will wander in the desert (going from being tribes to a people); Jesus will fast for 40 days in the desert to mark the crossing from his private life to his public life.
The number 1,000 was the supreme number: a large multitude.
The number of those saved at the end of the world will be 144,000; this means the 12 tribes multiplied by the 12 apostles: 144. This is multiplied by 1,000 (multitude), which is more than the limited amount of 144,000: It is the totality of believers who will obtain the salvation generously offered by Jesus to anyone who is faithful to Him.
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