Number (continued) – Numbering

Number (continued)

The 4 points of the compass and the 4 phases of the moon will have been early noticed, and the former at any rate will have suggested before Biblical times the use of 4 as a symbol of completeness of range, of comprehensive extent. As early as the middle of the 3rd millennium BC Bah rulers (followed long afterward by the Assyrians) assumed the title "king of the 4 quarters" meaning that their rule reached in all directions, and an early conqueror claimed to have subdued the 4 quarters. There are not a few illustrations of the use of 4 in some such way in the Bible. The 4 winds (referred to also in the cuneiform texts and the Book of the Dead) are mentioned again and again (Jeremiah 49:36; Ezekiel 37:9), and the 4 quarters or corners (Isaiah 11:12; Ezekiel 7:2; Revelation 20:8). We read also of the 4 heads of the river of Eden (Genesis 2:10), of 4 horns, 4 smiths, 4 chariots, and horses of 4 colors in the visions of Zechariah (1:8, Septuagint; 1:18 ff; 6:1 ff), the chariots being directly connected with the 4 winds; 4 punishments (Jeremiah 15:3; Ezekiel 14:21, the latter with a remarkable Assyrian parallel), the 4 kingdoms in Nebuchadnezzar's dream as interpreted (Daniel 2:37) and Daniel's vision (Daniel 7:3); the 4 living creatures in Eze (1:5 ff; compare 1:10), each with 4 faces and 4 wings, and the 4 modeled after them (Revelation 4:6, etc.). In most of these cases 4 is clearly symbolical, as in a number of passages in Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. Whether the frequent use of it in the structure of the tabernacle, Solomon's temple, and Ezekiel's temple has anything to do with the symbolic meaning is not clear, but the latter can probably be traced in proverbial and prophetic speech (Proverbs 30:15,Proverbs 30:18,Proverbs 30:21,Proverbs 30:24,Proverbs 30:29; Amos 1:3,Amos 1:6, etc.). The 4 transgressions of the latter represent full-summed iniquity, and the 4-fold grouping in the former suggested the wide sweep of the classification. Perhaps it is not fanciful to find the idea in the 4 sets of hearers of the gospel in the parable of the Sewer (Matthew 13:19–23 parallel). The rabbis almost certainly had it in mind in their 4-fold grouping of characters in six successive paragraphs (Ab v.16-21) which, however, is of considerably later date.

4. The Number Ten:

As the basis of the decimal system, which probably originated in counting with the fingers, 10 has been a significant number in all historical ages. The 10 antediluvian patriarchs (Genesis 5:1–32; compare the 10 Babylonian kings of Berosus, and 10 in early Iranian and far-Eastern myths); the 10 righteous men who would have saved Sodom (Genesis 18:32); the 10 plagues of Egypt; the 10 commandments (Exodus 20:2–17 parallel Deuteronomy 5:6–21; the 10 commandments found by some in Exodus 34:14–26 are not clearly made out); the 10 servants of Gideon (Judges 6:27); the 10 elders who accompanied Boaz (Ruth 4:2); the 10 virgins of the parable (Matthew 25:1); the 10 pieces of silver (Luke 15:8); the 10 servants entrusted with 10 pounds (Luke 19:13), the most capable of whom was placed over 10 cities (Luke 19:17); the 10 days' tribulation predicted for the church of Smyrna (Revelation 2:10); the use of "10 times" in the sense of "many times" (Genesis 31:7; Nehemiah 4:12; Daniel 1:20, etc., an idiom met with repeatedly in Tell el-Amarna Letters); and the use of 10 in sacred measurements and in the widely diffused custom of tithe, and many other examples show plainly that 10 was a favorite symbolic number suggestive of a rounded total, large or small, according to circumstances. The number played a prominent part in later Jewish life and thought. Ten times was the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) uttered by the high priest on the Day of Atonement; 10 persons must be present at a nuptial benediction; 10 constituted a congregation in the synagogue; 10 was the usual number of a company at the paschal meal, and of a row of comforters of the bereaved. The world was created, said the rabbis, by ten words, and Abraham was visited with 10 temptations (Ab v.1 and 4; several other illustrations are found in the context).

5. The Number Twelve:

The 12 months and the 12 signs of the zodiac probably suggested to the old Babylonians the use of 12 as a symbolic or semi-sacred number, but its frequent employment by the Israelites with special meaning cannot at present be proved to have originated in that way, although the idea was favored by both Josephus and Philo. So far as we know, Israelite predilection for 12 was entirely due to the traditional belief that the nation consisted of 12 tribes, a belief, it is true, entertained also by the Arabs or some of them, but with much less intensity and persistence. In Israel the belief was universal and ineradicable. Hence, the 12 pillars set up by Moses (Exodus 24:4); the 12 jewels in the high priest's breast-plate (Exodus 28:21); the 12 cakes of showbread (Leviticus 24:5); the 12 rods (Numbers 17:2); the 12 spies (Numbers 13:1–33); the 12 stones placed by Joshua in the bed of Jordan (Joshua 4:9); the 12 officers of Solomon (1 Kings 4:7); the 12 stones of Elijah's altar (1 Kings 18:31); the 12 disciples or apostles (26 t), and several details of apocalyptic imagery (Revelation 7:5 Revelation 12:1; Revelation 21:12,Revelation 21:14,Revelation 21:16,Revelation 21:21; Revelation 22:2; compare also Matthew 14:20 parallel Matthew 19:28 parallel Matthew 26:53; Acts 26:7). The number pointed in the first instance at unity and completeness which had been sanctioned by Divine election, and it retained this significance when applied to the spiritual Israel. Philo indeed calls it a perfect number. Its double in Revelation 4:4, etc., is probably also significant.

6. Other Significant Numbers:

Five came readily into the mind as the half of 10. Hence, perhaps its use in the parable of the Virgins (Matthew 25:2). It was often employed in literary division, e.g. in the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the part of the Hagiographa known as the Meghilljth, the Ethiopic Enoch and Matthew (7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1; compare Sir J. Hawkins, Horae Synopticae(2), 163 ff). It seems to have been occasionally suggestive of relative smallness, as in Leviticus 26:8, the 5 loaves (Matthew 14:17 parallel), 1 Corinthians 14:19, and perhaps in Tell el-Amarna Letters. It has been remarked (Skinner, "Gen," ICC, 483) that the number occurs repeatedly in reference to matters Egyptian (Genesis 41:34; Genesis 45:22; Genesis 47:2; Isaiah 19:18), but there seems to be no satisfactory explanation. Sixty: Although, as was before observed, there is no direct trace in the Bible of the numerical system based on 60, there are a few passages where there may be a distant echo. The 60 cities of Argob (Deuteronomy 3:4; Joshua 13:30; 1 Kings 4:13); the 60 mighty men and the 60 queens of Song of Songs 3:7; Song of Songs 6:8, the double use of 60 of Rehoboam's harem and family (2 Chronicles 11:21), the 3 sacrifices of 60 victims each (Numbers 7:88), and the length of Solomon's temple, 60 cubits (1 Kings 6:2 parallel 2 Chronicles 3:3), may perhaps have a remote connection with the Babylonian use. It must be remembered that the latter was current in Israel and the neighboring regions in the division of the talent into 60 minas. A few passages in the Pseudepigrapha may be similarly interpreted, and the Babylonian Talmud contains, as might be expected, many clear allusions. In the Bible, however, the special use of the number is relatively rare and indirect. One hundred and ten, the age attained by Joseph (Genesis 50:22), is significant as the Egyptian ideal of longevity (Smith, DB2, 1804 f; Skinner, "Gen," ICC, 539 f). One hundred and fifty-three: The Greek poet Oppian (circa 171 AD) and others are said to have reckoned the number of fishes in the world at this figure (compare Jerome on Ezekiel 47:1–23), and some scholars find a reference to that belief in John 21:11 in which case the number would be symbolic of comprehensiveness. That is not quite impossible, but the suggestion cannot be safely pressed. Throughout this discussion of significant numbers it must be borne in mind that writers and teachers may often have been influenced by the desire to aid the memory of those they addressed, and may to that end have arranged thoughts and facts in groups of 3, or 4, or 7, or 10, and so on (Sir John Hawkins, Horae Synopticae2, 166 f). They will at the same time have remembered the symbolic force of these numbers, and in some cases, at least, will have used them as round numbers. There are many places in which the round and the symbolic uses of a number cannot be sharply distinguished.

VI. Gematria.

(GemaTriya'). A peculiar application of numbers which was in great favor with the later Jews and some of the early Christians and is not absolutely unknown to the Bible, is Gematria, that is the use of the letters of a word so as by means of their combined numerical value to express a name, or a witty association of ideas. The term is usually explained as an adaptation of the Greek word geometria, that is, "geometry," but Dalman (Worterbuch, under the word) connects it in this application of it with grammateia. There is only one clear example in Scripture, the number of the beast which is the number of a man, six hundred sixty and six (Revelation 13:18). If, as most scholars are inclined to believe, a name is intended, the numerical value of the letters composing which adds up to 666, and if it is assumed that the writer thought in Hebrew or Aramaic. Nero Caesar written with the consonants nun (n) equals 50, resh (r) equals 200, waw (w) equals 6, nun (n) equals 50, qoph (q) equals 100, camekh (c) equals 60, resh (r) equals 200: total equals 666, seems to be the best solution. Perhaps the idea suggested by Dr. Milligan that the 3-fold use of 6 which just falls short of 7, the number of sacred completeness, and is therefore a note of imperfection, may have been also in the writer's mind. Some modern scholars find a second instance in Genesis 14:14 and 15:2. As the numerical value of the consonants which compose Eliezer in Hebrew add up to 318, it has been maintained that the number is not historical, but has been fancifully constructed by means of gematria out of the name. This strange idea is not new, for it is found in the Midrash on Genesis 43:1–34 in the name of a rabbi who lived circa 200 AD, but its antiquity is its greatest merit.

LITERATURE.

In addition to other books referred to in the course of the article: Hehn, Siebenzahl und Sabbath bei den Babyloniern und im Altes Testament; Konig, Stilistik, Rhetorik, Poetik, etc., 51-57, and the same writer's article "Number" in HDB; Sir J. Hawkins,. Horae Synopticae2, 163-67; Wiener, Essays in Pentateuchal Criticism, 155-69; "Number" in HDB (1-vol); EB; Jewish Encyclopedia;Smith, DB; "Numbers" in DCG; "Zahlen" in the Dicts. of Wiener, Riehm2, Guthe; "Zahlen" and "Sieben" in RE3.

William Taylor Smith

Number, Golden

See GOLDEN NUMBER.

Numbering

See DAVID; QUIRINIUS.