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Bible Encyclopedias
Numbers and Numerals

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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Numerical Notation.

The letters of the alphabet were used as numerical symbols as early as the Maccabean period (comp. Numismatics). Whether such a usage was known in earlier times also, whether there existed in Israel, as among kindred nations, special signs for figures, or whether numerical notation was entirely unknown, can not be decided by direct proof. That there were no numerical signs at all is hardly possible. The necessities of daily life require such signs, and the example of surrounding nations could not but have suggested their introduction. For an assumption that there were special signs there is no basis. It must, therefore, be assumed that the numerical value of the alphabet was known in earlier times. The fact that figures are not found in the Bible nor in the Siloam inscription, nor on the Moabite Stone, would not militate against such an assumption. In monumental inscriptions the use of figures might have been avoided for various reasons, while the earlier use of figures in the Bible is rather probable, since the discrepancies in numbers which now exist can thus be best explained. Other considerations strengthen such a hypothesis (comp. Gemaṭria).

The use of alphabetical signs was doubtlessly practically the same as in the Talmud, where numbers higher than 400 are formed by composition, as (for 500), (for 900), etc. Such a way of forming higher numbers could not in the end be found other than clumsy, and, therefore, the Masorites introduced the use of the final letters for indicating 500, 600, 700, 800, and 900 respectively; to indicate the thousands the letters representing the corresponding number of units was used. In writing any numerical combination, since the thousands were written before and the units were written after the hundreds and tens (the latter letters of the alphabet), they were easily distinguishable. About 800 C.E. the Jewish scholar Mashallah introduced into the Mohammedan world the use of the so-called Arabic figures (see Harkavy's note to the Hebrew transl. of Grätz's "Gesch." 3:213), which since then have occasionally been used in Hebrew literature also (Oppenheim, in "Monatsschrift," 13:231,462; 15:254,376).

System of Numbers.

The Hebrew system of counting is, like that of all the Semites and like the Egyptian hieroglyphic system, the decimal, which is a later development of a more original quintal system based on the fingers of one hand (L. Reinisch, "Das Zalwort Vier und Neun in den Chamitischen-Semitischen Sprachen"). The blending of the Semitic decimal system with the Sumerian sexagesimal is found in earliest Babylonian times. But in course of time the decimal system prevailed. A trace of the sexagesimal system may still be found in the use of the number sixty (see below). The use of the fingers for numbering occurs in traditional literature (see Yoma 22a, b). In Talmud and Midrash numbers are sometimes formed by subtraction, as in Latin, French, etc.—for example 100 - 2 = 98 (Lam. R. 3:12), 50 - 1 = 49 (Levias, "Aramaic Grammar," § 141)—the reason for which is not clear.

Symbolism of Numbers.

At an early time in the history of man certain numbers were regarded as having a sacred significance or were used with symbolical force, the origin of their symbolism lying in their connection with primitive ideas about nature and God. Such a use of numbers is found also in the Bible, although the Biblical authors were hardly conscious of their origin. In later Jewish literature, however, with Pythagorean doctrines was introduced the use of numbers as symbols, based on their mathematical qualities. The most prominent exponent of the latter custom is R. Abraham ibn Ezra. In cabalistic literature both systems are used. The rhetorical or stylistic use of numbers is largely due to an obsolete symbolism. Even numbers were thought to be unlucky (Pes. 110a). Attempts to find in Biblical numbers references to ideas were made by Aristobulus and Philo, and since their time by many allegorists. Nevertheless, a distinct connection between any given number and a certain idea can not be proved. Among the "thirty-two rules" of the son of R. Jose the Galilean, two refer to numbers—one to gemaṭria, the other, the twenty-seventh, to the symbolism of numbers (see Bacher, "Tannaitische Terminologie," s. ). According to this hermeneutic canon, any number may be explained as corresponding to (, e., "symbolizing") another equal number or sum of numbers. Thus, the "40 days" in Numbers 13:25 correspond to the "40 years" in ib. 14:34; and the number 36 in 2 Chronicles 16 I corresponds to three things in connection with which the same number of years is mentioned (Bacher, c.).

The following numbers occur in Hebrew literature either as symbols or as round numbers:

Ascending Enumeration.

The tendency to indicate somewhat more exactly an undetermined number of objects led to the use of two definite numbers instead of one indefinite expression. The smaller numbers are paired in this way in the following passages: one or two: Deuteronomy 32:30; Jeremiah 3:14; Psalms 62:11; Job 33:14, 5; two or three: 2 Kings 9:32; Isaiah 17:6; Amos 4:8; Job 33:29; Ecclus. (Sirach) 23:16, 26:19, 25; three or four: Jeremiah 26:3; Amos 1:3, 2:6; Proverbs 30:15,18,21,29; Ecclus. (Sirach) 26:5; four or five: Isaiah 17:6; five or six: 2 Kings 13:19; six or seven: Proverbs 6:16; Job 5:19; seven or eight: Micah 5:5; Ecclesiastes 11:2. In all these instances the use of a second number calls attention to the fact that the first number is merely approximate; hence such an arrangement of numbers is employed in the so-called "middah" a kind of riddle (Proverbs 6:16-19, 30:15 et seq.; Ecclus. [Sirach] 23:16;; 26:5 et seq., 19; 25 et seq.).

Numerical Grouping.

As an aid to the memory, the ancients frequently grouped themes of traditional law or of haggadah according to numbers; see, for instance, Abot , where various subjects in which the number ten is prominent are grouped together. Such groups are found frequently in Talmud and Midrash. The entire contents of some books were at times arranged in numerical groups, as in the "Pirḳe de Rabbenu ha-Ḳadosh" and, probably, in the "Forty-nine Middot de-R. Nathan," a work now lost.

Bibliography:
  • Hastings, Dict. Bible;
  • Cheyne and Black, Encyc. Bibl.;
  • Schwab, Répertoire, Index, s. Nombres Bibliques.
  • On the synthetic division of numbers in poetry, see I. Goldziher in J. Q. R. 14:728;
  • on "friendly numbers," see Steinschneider in Z. D. M. G., and Grünhut in R. E. J. 39:310.
  • On Ibn Ezra's symbolism of numbers, see Olitzky, Zahlensymbolik des Abraham Ibn Esra in Hildesheimer's Jubelschrift, pp. 99-120, and Rosin in Monatsschrift, 13:156, 43:80 et seq.
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Bibliography Information
Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Numbers and Numerals'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​tje/​n/numbers-and-numerals.html. 1901.
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