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Bible Encyclopedias
Number
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
or
I.
II.
1. By Words
2. By Signs
3. By Letters
III.
IV.
V.
1. Seven and Its Multiples
(1) Ritual Use of Seven
(2) Historical Use of Seven
(3) Didactic or Literary Use of Seven
(4) Apocalyptic Use of Seven
2. The Number Three
3. The Number Four
4. The Number Ten
5. The Number Twelve
6. Other Significant Numbers
VI. GEMATRIA
I. Number and Arithmetic.
The system of counting followed by the Hebrews and the Semites generally was the decimal system, which seems to have been suggested by the use of the ten fingers. Hebrew had separate words only for the first nine units and for ten and its multiples. Of the sexagesimal system, which seems to have been introduced into Babylonia by the Sumerians and which, through its development there, has influenced the measurement of time and space in the western civilized world even to the present day; there is no direct trace in the Bible, although, as will be shown later, there are some possible echoes. The highest number in the Bible described by a single word Isaiah 10,000 (
II. Notation of Numbers.
1. By Words:
No special signs for the expression of numbers in writing can be proved to have been in use among the Hebrews before the exile. The Siloam Inscription, which is probably the oldest specimen of Hebrew writing extant (with the exception of the ostraca of Samaria, and perhaps a seal or two and the obscure Gezer tablet), has the numbers written in full. The words used there for 3,200,1,000 are written as words without any abbreviation. The earlier text of the Moabite Stone which practically illustrates Hebrew usage has the Numbers 30,40 , 50,100 , 200,7,000 written out in the same way.
2. By Signs:
After the exile some of the Jews at any rate employed signs such as were current among the Egyptians, the Arameans, and the Phoenicians - an upright line for 1, two such lines for 2, three for 3, and so on, and special signs for 10,20, 100. It had been conjectured that these or similar signs were known to the Jews, but actual proof was not forthcoming until the discovery of Jewish papyri at Assuan and Elephantine in 1904,1907. In these texts, ranging from 494 to circa 400 BC, the dates are stated, not in words, but in figures of the kind described. We have therefore clear evidence that numerical signs were used by members of a Jewish colony in Upper Egypt in the 5th century BC. Now, as the existence of this colony can be traced before 525 BC, it is probable that they used this method of notation also in the preceding century. Conjecture indeed may go as far as its beginning, for it is known that there were Jews in Pathros, that is Upper Egypt, in the last days of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 44:1 , Jeremiah 44:15 ). Some of the first Jewish settlers in Elephantine may have known the prophet and some of them may have come from Jerusalem, bringing these signs with them. At present, however, that is pure hypothesis.
3. By Letters:
In the notation of the chapters and verses of the Hebrew Bible and in the expression of dates in Hebrew books the consonants of the Hebrew alphabet are employed for figures, i.e. the first ten for 1-10, combinations of these for 11-19, the following eight for 20-90, and the remainder for 100,200, 300,400. The letters of the Greek alphabet were used in the same way. The antiquity of this kind of numerical notation cannot at present be ascertained. It is found on Jewish coins which have been dated in the reign of the Maccabean Simon (143-135 BC), but some scholars refer them to a much later period. All students of the Talmud are familiar with this way of numbering the pages, or rather the leaves, but its use there is no proof of early date. The numerical use of the Greek letters can be abundantly illustrated. It is met with in many Greek papyri, some of them from the 3century
III. Numbers in Old Testament History.
Students of the historical books of the Old Testament have long been perplexed by the high numbers which are met with in many passages, for example, the number ascribed to the Israelites at the exodus (Exodus 12:37; Numbers 11:21 ), and on two occasions during the sojourn in the wilderness (Nu 1; 26) - more than 600,000 adult males, which means a total of two or three millions; the result of David's census 1,300,000 men (2 Samuel 24:9 ) or 1, 570,000 (1 Chronicles 21:5 ), and the slaughter of half a million in a battle between Judah and Israel (2 Chronicles 13:17 ). There are many other illustrations in the Books of Chronicles and elsewhere. That some of these high figures are incorrect is beyond reasonable doubt, and is not in the least surprising, for there is ample evidence that the numbers in ancient documents were exceptionally liable to corruption. One of the best known instances is the variation of 1, 466 years between the Hebrew text and the Septuagint (text of Codex Vaticanus) as to the interval from the creation of Adam to the birth of Abram. Other striking cases are 1 Samuel 6:19 , where 50, 070 ought probably to be 70 (Josephus, Ant. , VI, i, 4); 2 Samuel 15:7 , where 40 years ought to be 4 years; the confusion of 76 and 276 in the manuscripts of Acts 27:37 , and of 616 and 666 in those of Revelation 13:18 . Hebrew manuscripts furnish some instructive variations. One of them, number 109 of Kennicott, reads (Numbers 1:23 ) 1, 050 for 50,000; 50 for 50,000 (Numbers 2:6 ), and 100 for 100,000 (Numbers 2:16 ). It is easy to see how mistakes may have originated in many cases. The Hebrew numerals for 30, etc., are the plurals of the units, so that the former, as written, differ from the latter only by the addition of the two Hebrew letters
IV. Round Numbers.
The use of definite numerical expressions in an indefinite sense, that is, as round numbers, which is met with in many languages, seems to have been very prevalent in Western Asia from early times to the present day. Sir W. Ramsay (Thousand and One Churches, 6) remarks that the modern Turks have 4 typical numbers which are often used in proper names with little or no reference to their exact numerical force - 3,7, 40,1, 001. The Lycaonian district which gives the book its name is called Bin Bir Kilisse, "The Thousand and One Churches," although the actual number in the valley is only 28. The modern Persians use 40 in just the same way. "Forty years" with them often means "many years" (Brugsch, cited by Konig, Stilistik, 55). This lax use of numbers, as we think, was probably very frequent among the Israelites and their neighbors. The inscription on the Moabite Stone supplies a very instructive example. The Israelite occupation of Medeba by Omri and his son for half the reign of the latter is there reckoned (II.7 f) at 40 years. As, according to 1 Kings 16:23 , 1 Kings 16:29 , the period extended to only 23 years at the most, the number 40 must have been used very freely by Mesha's scribe as a round number. It is probably often used in that way in the Bible where it is remarkably frequent, especially in reference to periods of days or years. The 40 days of the Flood (Genesis 7:4 , Genesis 7:17 ), the arrangement of the life of Moses in three periods of 40 years each (Acts 7:23; Exodus 7:7; Deuteronomy 34:7 ), the 40 years' rule or reign of Eli (1 Samuel 4:18 ), of Saul (Acts 13:21; compare Josephus, Ant. , VI, xiv, 9), of David (1 Kings 2:11 ), of Solomon (1 Kings 11:42 ) and of Jehoash (2 Kings 12:1 ), the 40 or 80 years of rest (Judges 3:11 , Judges 3:30; Judges 5:31; Judges 8:28 ), the 40 years of Philistine oppression (Judges 13:1 ), the 40 days' challenge of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:16 ), the 40 days' fast of Moses (Exodus 34:28 ), Elijah (1 Kings 19:8 ), and Jesus (Matthew 4:2 and parallel), the 40 days before the destruction of Nineveh ( Jonah 3:4 ), and the 40 days before the Ascension (Acts 1:3 ), all suggest conventional use, or the influence of that use, for it can hardly be supposed that the number in each of these cases, and in others which might be mentioned, was exactly 40. How it came to be so used is not quite certain, but it may have originated, partly at any rate, in the idea that 40 years constituted a generation or the period at the end of which a man attains maturity, an idea common, it would seem, to the Greeks, the Israelites, and the Arabs. The period of 40 years in the wilderness in the course of which the old Israel died out and a new Israel took its place was a generation (Numbers 32:13 , etc.). The rabbis long afterward regarded 40 years as the age of understanding, the age when a man reaches his intellectual prime (Ab, v, addendum). In the Koran (Sura 46) a man is said to attain his strength when he attains to 40 years, and it was at that age, according to tradition, that Muhammad came forward as a prophet. In this way perhaps 40 came to be used as a round number for an indefinite period with a suggestion of completeness, and then was extended in course of time to things as well as Seasons.
Other round numbers are: (1) some of the higher numbers; (2) several numerical phrases. Under (1) come the following numbers. One hundred, often of course to be understood literally, but evidently a round number in Genesis 26:12; Leviticus 26:8; 2 Samuel 24:3; Ecclesiastes 8:12; Matthew 19:29 and parallel. A thousand (thousands), very often a literal number, but in not a few cases indefinite, e.g. Exodus 20:6 parallel Deuteronomy 5:10; Deuteronomy 7:9; 1 Samuel 18:7; Psalm 50:10; Psalm 90:4; Psalm 105:8; Isaiah 60:22 , etc. Ten thousand (Hebrew
V. Significant Numbers.
Numerical symbolism, that is, the use of numbers not merely, if at all, with their literal numerical value, or as round numbers, but with symbolic significance, sacred or otherwise, was widespread in the ancient East, especially in Babylonia and regions more or less influenced by Babylonian culture which, to a certain extent, included Canaan. It must also be remembered that the ancestors of the Israelites are said to have been of Babylonian origin and may therefore have transmitted to their descendants the germs at least of numerical symbolism as developed in Babylonia in the age of Hammurabi. Be that as it may, the presence of this use of numbers in the Bible, and that on a large scale, cannot reasonably be doubted, although some writers have gone too far in their speculations on the subject. The numbers which are unmistakably used with more or less symbolic meaning are 7 and its multiples, and 3,4, 10,12.
1. Seven and Its Multiples:
By far the most prominent of these is the number 7, which is referred to in one way or another in nearly 600 passages in the Bible, as well as in many passages in the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha, and later Jewish literature. Of course the number has its usual numerical force in many of these places, but even there not seldom with a glance at its symbolic significance. For the determination of the latter we are not assigned to conjecture. There is clear evidence in the cuneiform texts, which are our earliest authorities, that the Babylonians regarded 7 as the number of totality, of completeness. The Sumerians, from whom the Semitic Babylonians seem to have borrowed the idea, equated 7 and "all." The 7-storied towers of Babylonia represented the universe. Seven was the expression of the highest power, the greatest conceivable fullness of force, and therefore was early pressed into the service of religion. It is found in reference to ritual in the age of Gudea, that is perhaps about the middle of the 3millennium BC. "Seven gods" at the end of an enumeration meant "all the gods" (for these facts and the cuneiform evidence compare Hehn, Siebenzahl und Sabbath bei den Babyloniern und im Altes Testament, 4 ff). How 7 came to be used in this way can only be glanced at here. The view connecting it with the gods of the 7 planets, which used to be in great favor and still has its advocates, seems to lack ancient proof. Hehn (op. cit., 44 ff) has shown that the number acquired its symbolic meaning long before the earliest time for which that reference can be demonstrated. As this sacred or symbolic use of 7 was not peculiar to the Babylonians and their teachers and neighbors, but was more or less known also in India and China, in classical lands, and among the Celts and the Germans, it probably originated in some fact of common observation, perhaps in the four lunar phases each of which comprises 7 days and a fraction. Conspicuous groups of stars may have helped to deepen the impression, and the fact that 7 is made up of two significant numbers, each, as will be shown, also suggestive of completeness - 3,4 - may have been early noticed and taken into account. The Biblical use of 7 may be conveniently considered under 4 heads: (1) ritual use; (2) historical use; (3) didactic or literary use; (4) apocalyptic use.
(1) Ritual Use of Seven.
The number 7 plays a conspicuous part in a multitude of passages giving rules for worship or purification, or recording ritual actions. The 7th day of the week was holy (see SABBATH ). There were 7 days of unleavened bread (Exodus 34:18 , etc.), and 7 days of the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:34 ). The 7th year was the sabbatical year (Exodus 21:2 , etc.). The Moabite Balak built Balaam on three occasions 7 altars and provided in each case 7 bullocks and 7 rams (Numbers 23:1 , Numbers 23:14 , Numbers 23:29 ). The Mosaic law prescribed 7 he-lambs for several festal offerings (Numbers 28:11 , Numbers 28:19 , Numbers 28:27 , etc.). The 7-fold sprinkling of blood is enjoined in the ritual of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:14 , Leviticus 16:19 ), and elsewhere. Seven-fold sprinkling is also repeatedly mentioned in the rules for the purification of the leper and the leprous house (Leviticus 14:7 , Leviticus 14:16 , Leviticus 14:27 , Leviticus 14:51 ). The leprous Naaman was ordered to bathe 7 times in the Jordan (2 Kings 5:10 ). In cases of real or suspected uncleanness through leprosy, or the presence of a corpse, or for other reasons, 7 days' seclusion was necessary (Leviticus 12:2 , etc.). Circumcision took place after 7 days (Leviticus 12:3 ). An animal must be 7 days old before it could be offered in sacrifice (Exodus 22:30 ). Three periods of 7 days each are mentioned in the rules for the consecration of priests (Exodus 29:30 , Exodus 29:35 , Exodus 29:37 ). An oath seems to have been in the first instance by 7 holy things (Genesis 21:29 ff and the Hebrew word for "swear"). The number 7 also entered into the structure of sacred objects, for instance the candlestick or lamp-stand in the tabernacle and the second temple each of which had 7 lights ( Numbers 8:2; Zechariah 4:2 ). Many other instances of the ritual use of 7 in the Old Testament and many instructive parallels from Babylonian texts could be given.
(2) Historical Use of Seven.
The number 7 also figures prominently in a large number of passages which occur in historical narrative, in a way which reminds us of its symbolic significance. The following are some of the most remarkable: Jacob's 7 years' service for Rachel (Genesis 29:20; compare Genesis 29:27 f), and his bowing down 7 times to Esau ( Genesis 33:3 ); the 7 years of plenty, and the 7 years of famine (Genesis 41:53 f); Samson's 7 days' marriage feast ( Judges 14:12 ff; compare Genesis 29:27 ), 7 locks of hair (Judges 16:19 ), and the 7 withes with which he was bound (Judges 16:7 f); the 7 daughters of Jethro ( Exodus 2:16 ), the 7 sons of Jesse (1 Samuel 16:10 ), the 7 sons of Saul (2 Samuel 21:6 ), and the 7 sons of Job (Job 1:2; compare Job 42:13 ); the 7 days' march of the 7 priests blowing 7 trumpets round the walls of Jericho, and the 7-fold march on the 7th day (Joshua 6:8 ff); the 7 ascents of Elijah's servant to the top of Carmel ( 1 Kings 18:43 f); the 7 sneezes of the Shunammitish woman's son ( 2 Kings 4:35 ); the heating of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace 7 times more than it was wont to be heated (Daniel 8:19 ), and the king's madness for 7 times or years (Daniel 4:16 , Daniel 4:23 , Daniel 4:25 , Daniel 4:32 ); Anna's 7 years of wedded life (Luke 2:36 ); the 7 loaves of the 4,000 (Matthew 15:34-36 parallel) and the 7 baskets full of fragments ( Matthew 15:37 parallel); the 7 brothers in the conundrum of the Sadducees ( Matthew 22:25 parallel); the 7 demons cast out of Mary Magdalene ( Mark 16:9 parallel Luke 8:2 ); the 7 ministers in the church at Jerusalem (Acts 6:3 ff), and the 7 sons of Sceva ( Acts 19:14 , but the Western text represents them as only 2). The number must no doubt be understood literally in many of these passages, but even then its symbolic meaning is probably hinted at by the historian. When a man was said to have had 7 sons or daughters, or an action was reported as done or to be done 7 times, whether by design or accident, the number was noted, and its symbolic force remembered. It cannot indeed be regarded in all these cases as a sacred number, but its association with sacred matters which was kept alive among the Jews by the institution of the Sabbath, was seldom, if ever, entirely overlooked.
(3) Didactic or Literary Use of Seven.
The symbolic use of 7 naturally led to its employment by poets and teachers for the vivid expression of multitude or intensity. This use is sometimes evident, and sometimes latent. (a) Evident examples are the 7-fold curse predicted for the murderer of Cain (Genesis 4:15 ); fleeing 7 ways (Deuteronomy 28:7 , Deuteronomy 28:25 ); deliverance from 7 troubles (Job 5:19 ); praise of God 7 times a day (Psalm 119:164 ); 7 abominations (Proverbs 26:25; compare Proverbs 6:16 ); silver purified 7 times, that is, thoroughly purified (Psalm 12:6 ); 7-fold sin; 7-fold repentance, and 7-fold forgiveness (Luke 17:4; compare Matthew 18:21 ); 7 evil spirits (Matthew 12:45 parallel Luke 11:26 ). The last of these, as well as the previous reference to the 7 demons cast out of Mary Magdalene reminds us of the 7 spirits of Beliar (Testament to the Twelve Patriarchs, Reuben Job 2:1-13 and 3) and of the 7 evil spirits so often referred to in Babylonian exorcisms (compare Hehn, op. cit., 26 ff), but it is not safe to connect our Lord's words with either. The Babylonian belief may indeed have influenced popular ideas to some extent, but there is no need to find a trace of it in the Gospels. The 7 demons of the latter are sufficiently accounted for by the common symbolic use of 7. For other passages which come under this head compare Deuteronomy 28:7 , Deuteronomy 28:25; Rth 4:15; 1 Samuel 2:5; Psalm 79:12 . (b) Examples of latent use of the number 7, of what Zockler (RE3, "Sieben") calls "latent heptads," are not infrequent. The 7-fold use of the expression "the voice of
(4) Apocalyptic Use of Seven.
As might be expected, 7 figures greatly in apocalyptic literature, although it is singularly absent from the apocalyptic portion of Daniel. Later works of this kind, however - the writings bearing the name of Enoch, the Testaments of Reuben and Levi, 2 Esd, etc. - supply many illustrations. The doctrine of the 7 heavens which is developed in the Slavonic Enoch and elsewhere and may have been in the first instance of Babylonian origin is not directly alluded to in the Bible, but probably underlies the apostle's reference to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2 ). In the one apocalyptic writing in the New Testament, 7 is employed with amazing frequency. We read of 7 churches (Revelation 1:4 , etc.); 7 golden candlesticks (Revelation 1:12 , etc.); 7 stars (Revelation 1:16 ); 7 angels of the churches (Revelation 1:20 ); 7 lamps of fire (Revelation 4:5 ); 7 spirits of God (Revelation 1:4; Revelation 3:1; Revelation 4:5 ); a book with 7 seals (Revelation 5:1 ); a lamb with 7 horns and 7 eyes (Revelation 5:6 ); 7 angels with 7 trumpets (Revelation 8:2 ); 7 thunders (Revelation 10:3 ); a dragon with 7 heads and 7 diadems (Revelation 13:3 ); a beast with 7 heads (Revelation 18:1 ); 7 angels having the 7 last plagues (Revelation 15:1 ); and 7 golden bowls of the wrath of God (Revelation 15:7 ) and a scarlet-colored beast with 7 heads (Revelation 17:3 ) which are 7 mountains (Revelation 17:9 ) and 7 kings (Revelation 17:10 ). The writer, whoever he was, must have had his imagination saturated with the numerical symbolism which had been cultivated in Western Asia for millenniums. There cannot be a shadow of doubt that 7 for him expressed fullness, completeness. As this inquiry will have shown, the significance of the number is practically the same throughout the Bible. Although a little of it may have been rubbed off in the course of ages, the main idea suggested by 7 was never quite lost sight of in Biblical times, and the number is still used in the life and song of the Holy Land and Arabia with at least an echo of its ancient meaning.
The significance of 7 extends to its multiples. Fourteen, or twice 7, is possibly symbolic in some cases. The stress laid in the Old Testament on the 14th of the month as the day of the Passover (Exodus 12:6 and Exodus 12:16 other places), and the regulation that 14 lambs were to be offered on each of the 7 days of the Feast of Tabernacles ( Numbers 29:13 , Numbers 29:15 ) hint at design in the selection of the number, especially in view of the fact that 7 and 7 occur repeatedly in cuneiform literature - in magical and liturgical texts, and in the formula so often used in the Am Tab: "7 and 7 times at the feet of the king my lord ... I prostrate myself." The arrangement of the generations from Abraham to Christ in three groups of 14 each (Matthew 1:17 ) is probably intentional, so far as the number in each group is concerned. It is doubtful whether the number has any symbolic force in Acts 27:27; 2 Corinthians 12:2; Galatians 2:1 . Of course it must be remembered that both the Hebrew and Greek words for 14 (
Forty-nine, or 7 10 7, occurs in two regulations of the Law. The second of the three great festivals took place on the 50th day after one of the days of unleavened bread (Leviticus 23:15 ff), that is, after an interval of 7 X 7 days; and two years of Jubilee were separated by 7 X 7 years ( Leviticus 25:8 ff). The combination is met with also in one of the so-called Penitential Psalms of Babylonia: "Although my sins are 7 times 7, forgive me my sins."
Seven multiplied by ten, or 70, was a very strong expression of multitude which is met with in a large number of passages in the Old Testament. It occurs of persons: the 70 descendants of Jacob (Exodus 15; Deuteronomy 10:22 ); the 70 elders of Israel (Exodus 24:1 , Exodus 24:9; Numbers 11:16 , Numbers 11:24 f); the 70 kings ill treated by Adoni-bezek ( Judges 1:7 ); the 70 sons of Gideon (Judges 8:30; Judges 9:2 ); the 70 descendants of Abdon who rode on 70 asscolts (Judges 12:14 ); the 70 sons of Ahab (2 Kings 10:1 , 2 Kings 10:6 f); and the 70 idolatrous elders seen by Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 8:11 ). It is also used of periods: 70 days of Egyptian mourning for Jacob (Genesis 50:3 ); 70 years of trial (Isaiah 23:15 , Isaiah 23:17; Jeremiah 25:11 f; Daniel 9:2; Zechariah 1:12; Zechariah 7:5 ); the 70 weeks of Daniel (Daniel 9:24 ); and the 70 years of human life (Psalm 90:10 ). Other noticeable uses of 70 are the 70 palm trees of Elim (Exodus 15:27 parallel Numbers 33:9 ); the offering of 70 bullocks in the time of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29:32 ), and the offering by the heads of the tribes of 12 silver bowls each of 70 shekels (Numbers 7:13 ff). In the New Testament we have the 70 apostles ( Luke 10:1 , Luke 10:17 ), but the number is uncertain with Codices Vaticanus and Bezae and some versions reading 72, which is the product, not of 7 and 10, but of 6 and 12. Significant seventies are also met with outside of the Bible. The most noteworthy are the Jewish belief that there were 70 nations outside Israel, with 70 languages, under the care of 70 angels, based perhaps on the list in Gen 10; the Sanhedrin of about 70 members; the translation of the Pentateuch into Greek by Septuagint (more exactly 72), and the 70 members of a family in one of the Aramaic texts of Sendschirli. This abundant use of 70 must have been largely due to the fact that it was regarded as an intensified 7.
Seventy and seven , or 77, a combination found in the words of Lamech ( Genesis 4:24 ); the number of the princes and elders of Succoth (Judges 8:14 ); and the number of lambs in a memorable sacrifice (Ezra 8:35 ), would appeal in the same way to the oriental fancy.
The product of seven and seventy (Greek
Seven thousand in 1 Kings 19:18 parallel Romans 11:4 may be a round number chosen on account of its embodiment of the number 7. In the Moabite Stone the number of Israelites slain at the capture of the city of Nebo by the Moabites is reckoned at 7,000.
The half of seven seems sometimes to have been regarded as significant. In Daniel 7:25; Daniel 9:27; Daniel 12:7; Luke 4:25 parallel Luke 5:17; Revelation 11:2; Revelation 13:5 a period of distress is calculated at 3 1/2 years, that is, half the period of sacred completeness.
2. The Number Three:
The number three seems early to have attracted attention as the number in which beginning, middle and end are most distinctly marked, and to have been therefore regarded as symbolic of a complete and ordered whole. Abundant illustration of its use in this way in Babylonian theology, ritual and magic is given from the cuneiform texts by Hehn (op. cit., 63 ff), and the hundreds of passages in the Bible in which the number occurs include many where this special significance either lies on the surface or not far beneath it. This is owing in some degree perhaps to Babylonian influence, but will have been largely due to independent observation of common phenomena - the arithmetical fact mentioned above and familiar trios, such as heaven, earth, and sea (or "the abyss"); morning, noon and night; right, middle, and left, etc. In other words, 3 readily suggested completeness, and was often used with a glance at that meaning in daily life and daily speech. Only a selection from the great mass of Biblical examples can be given here. (1) Three is often found of persons and things sacred or secular, e.g. Noah's 3 sons ( Genesis 6:10 ); Job's 3 daughters (Job 1:2; Job 42:13 ) and 3 friends (Job 2:11 ); Abraham's 3 guests (Genesis 18:2 ); and Sarah's 3 measures of meal (Genesis 18:6; compare Matthew 13:33 parallel); 3 in military tactics ( Judges 7:16 , Judges 7:20; Judges 9:43; 1 Samuel 11:11; 1 Samuel 13:17; Job 1:17 ); 3 great feasts (Exodus 23:14 ); the 3 daily prayers (Psalm 55:17; Daniel 6:10 , Daniel 6:13 ); the 3 night watches (Judges 7:19 ); God's 3-fold call of Samuel (1 Samuel 3:8 ); the 3 keepers of the temple threshold (Jeremiah 52:24 ); the 3 presidents appointed by Darius (Daniel 6:2 ); the 3 temptations (Matthew 4:3 , Matthew 4:5 f, 8 f parallel); the 3 prayers in Gethsemane ( Matthew 26:39 , Matthew 26:42 , Matthew 26:44 parallel); Peter's 3 denials ( Matthew 26:34 , Matthew 26:75 parallel); the Lord's 3-fold question and 3-fold charge ( John 21:15 ff); and the 3-fold vision of the sheet ( Acts 10:16 ). (2) In a very large number of passages 3 is used of periods of time: 3 days; 3 weeks; 3 months and 3 years. So in Genesis 40:12 , Genesis 40:13 , Genesis 40:18; Exodus 2:2; Exodus 10:22 f; 2 Samuel 24:13; Isaiah 20:3; Jonah 1:17; Matthew 15:32; Luke 2:46; Luke 13:7; Acts 9:9; 2 Corinthians 12:8 . The frequent reference to the resurrection "on the 3rd day" or "after 3 days" (Matthew 16:21; Matthew 27:63 , etc.) may at the same time have glanced at the symbolic use of the number and at the belief common perhaps to the Jews and the
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Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'Number'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/isb/n/number.html. 1915.
