The Biblical Forty: Part Two

You can’t read much about Biblical lore without running across the pure number forty. It appears very often. Why? Was it a lack of imagination on the part of the mortals who penned the texts? Was it coincidence? Is it just statistical probability? Does it have some deeper significance? There’s no apparent obvious answer to this – it just is and it just is interesting.

The number 40 appears quite frequently in the Bible (at least in the King James Version anyway). You’d think that there would be equally as good a probability that 39 or 41 would appear as frequently, but no, apparently not. 39 and 41 hardly get a mention. That alone is a bit odd. Anyway, here are some more of the numerous examples of “40” in the Bible (King James Version).

Continued from yesterday’s blog…

NEHEMIAH

*Forty shekels of silver get mentioned.

*Yet again some further references to those 40 years in the wilderness.

PSALM

*Someone suffered a grievance about a certain generation for 40 years.

EZEKIEL

*Some reference to the inequity of the House of Judah being beared for 40 days.

*The land of Egypt shall be laid waste and desolate for 40 years.

*The length of a temple was 40 cubits.

AMOS

*Yet again more details about those 40 years spent by the Israelites in the wilderness.

JONAH

*It will be 40 days before the city of Nineveh is overthrown and cooked like a Xmas turkey.

MATTHEW

*Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights.

MARK

*Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days, threatened by beasts and tempted by Satan and went on a starvation diet to boot!

LUKE

*More about Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days.

ACTS

*Some rather vague reference to Jesus and his 40 days while speaking of things relating to the kingdom of God.

*Back to Moses, that burning bush and 40 years that had elapsed prior to that flaming event.

*Yet again, references to those 40 years in the wilderness. 

*Now its Saul’s turn for his 40 years.

HEBREWS

*Some comparisons are made between Moses and Jesus and temptations, with special reference to those 40 years. 

Interestingly, the pure number 40 doesn’t appear in the most anomalous of Biblical books – Revelation. Anyway, back to 40!

We note that in the Bible it’s not 39.5 or 40.5 but precisely 40 (days, years, cubits, etc.) on the dot. You’d think there would be some slight variation. I mean if it rained for 40 days but only 39 nights, what’s the problem? 

Some numbers have special significance: the number 7 is lucky or perfect; the number 13 is however unlucky; we all know what 666 means, but 40?

The number 40 doesn’t really seem to have any real significance in the real world. None of the physical constants equal 40. The mathematical concept of Pi, the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of any circle is, (rounded off) equal to 3.1416. Forty certainly doesn’t equal the human lifespan, then or now. Forty isn’t the square (1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, and 49) or cube (1, 8, 27, and 64) of any whole number. Time tends to be measured in multiples of 12 (60 seconds/minute; 60 minutes/hour; 24 hours/day; 12 months/year). No month has 40 days. We have 5 fingers and toes for a total of 20 digits. 100 is a common and significant number, and quarters of 100 are 25, 50 and 75. Few if any monetary denominations come in bills or coins equal to 40 units. The musical octave is 8. There are 360 degrees in a circle, and when quartered (the four points on the compass) you have going clockwise 90 (east), 180 (south), 270 (west), and of course 0/360 (north). 40 is just a very ho-hum number of no special significance. It has no real symbolic numerology.

In some contexts 40 is significant. Minus 40 degrees Centigrade equals minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Forty is also the sum of the first four pentagonal numbers (1, 5, 12 & 22). It is also a pentagonal pyramidal number (1, 6, 18, 40, 75, etc.). Venus returns to the exact same point in the sky every 40 years. A woman is pregnant for roughly 40 weeks. Forty has significance in some sports, none of which were played in Biblical times. Forty appears in some common phrases like “forty winks” or “life begins at forty”. Forty years of marriage is the ruby wedding anniversary. Then there’s “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”.

I’ve seen some suggestion that the 40 year cycle of Venus might have some significance, but the word “Venus” doesn’t appear in the Bible, and neither does “evening star”. “Morning star” does appear, but it’s made clear that Jesus is referring to himself (pat, pat, and pat some more) as the “morning star”. A common adjective for Venus, “Cytherean” fails to get a mention either.

All up, there seems little basis here to attribute the special significance to 40 that the Bible apparently gives it.

Of course maybe it’s some sort of Biblical code, sort of cryptic. Maybe it’s a clue to string together every 40^th letter or word in the Bible. I haven’t actually tried that on the assumption it would be a waste of time. I’d bet dimes to donuts that the result would be gibberish in any translation or in the original for that matter.

There are a final few Biblical bits that relate to 40; though I’m sure way more could be found if one looked hard enough. 

Moses' life is divided into three 40-year segments, separated by his fleeing from Egypt, and his return to lead his people out.

Forty days was the period from the resurrection of Jesus to the ascension of Jesus.

In modern Christian practice, Lent consists of the 40 days preceding Easter.