The importance of the number 40 in scripture

[DianeSachs]

There are many uses of the number 40 in scripture, 40 years in the desert, 40 days and nights, etc. Can anyone explain its significance? Thanks, Diane

 

[spockrates]

40 = the number of years given to a generation of people

5 = something incomplete

6 = something derived from man and imperfect

7 = something derived from God and perfect

12 = something that is complete

 

[NHInsider]

There are many uses of the number 40 in scripture, 40 years in the desert, 40 days and nights, etc. Can anyone explain its significance? Thanks, Diane

Generally it means “a really long time.”

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Forty is usually a time of preparation, e.g. Jesus’ forty days of fasting before embarking on His public ministry.

It can also be a time of punishment, e.g. forty years in the desert for doubting God’s command to enter the Promised Land, forty years from Jesus Crucifixion to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.

8 Harden not your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who err in heart, and they do not regard my ways.” 11 Therefore I swore in my anger that they should not enter my rest.

Psalm 95:8-11

7* Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, when you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” 12 Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end, 15* while it is said, “Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16* Who were they that heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? 17* And with whom was he provoked forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they should never enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Hebrews 3:7-19

One might note that we ignored His work in Humanae Vitae in 1968. The last 42 years have been downhill.

 

[His_little1]

40 of anything seems to be a long time of testing, or preparation as in 40 years wondering in the desert, or 40 days in the wilderness preparing for Jesus’s ministry, or even our 40 days of Lent.

I thought it interesting what Spockrates wrote about the numbers. Notice that when you start with imperfection (5) and add something from man (6) you fall short in perfection or completeness (11) but when you start with imperfection (5) and incompleteness but add something from God (7) or perhaps even GOD HIMSELF, only then can you add up to perfection and completeness (12). I guess that shows we can’t do it on our own. DUH!

 

[Major_Tom]

There are many uses of the number 40 in scripture, 40 years in the desert, 40 days and nights, etc. Can anyone explain its significance? Thanks, Diane

Well, not exactly… ! But a few thoughts.

1. I was perusing the beginning of a Rick Warren book at a neighbor’s house, and he had some kind of mention to it, but I couldn’t get the jist of it.
2. I read an author suggesting that it was all about parallels; just as the the Israelites trekked in the desert for 40 years, so did Jesus spend 40 days in the desert…
3. It must have some cultural/oral tradition link. The Sumerians had a flood myth story that pre-dated the Noah story. In it, it rained for six days and six nights, six being a number of significance to them. To me, it suggests that there are certain commonalities between peoples (like in common myth themes), and as they are expressed, they find their voice with details that have meaning to that culture.

 

[DianeSachs]

Thank you everyone, your answers were timely and thoughtful

 

[steelboss]

The number 40 in scripture is not only meant to represent a long period of time, but a transition from unholy to holy, a period of purification, a sanctification.

Israel 40 years in desert: the time it took for God to teach them the law, for those who partook in the idolatry at the foot of Mt. Horeb to pass and for the people to become ready to pass into the promised land.

40 days and nights of rain: the amount of time it took God to wipe man’s sin from the face of the earth and to start anew.

40 days of Moses on Mt. Sinai: The amount of time it took for God to give the Israelites the law, a transition from a nation of slaves to a free people with a singular Godhead.

Christ 40 days of fasting in the desert: A time of preparation from God child to Christ. When Christ came out of the desert, his ministry began in earnest, the temptations of Lucifer behind him. A transition from perfect son to perfect teacher.

Jonah prophecies Ninevah’s destruction in forty days unless the repent. They do - and the city is saved. A clear transition from worldly evil to Godly worship.

This use of numbers is similar to others (previously mentioned in other posts) such as 7, 12, 5, etc. They are not meant to represent actual values, but instead a representation of a greater meaning, in the instance of 40, a transition to holiness. 7 represents perfection, such as the seven days of creation.

There are many uses of the number 40 in scripture, 40 years in the desert, 40 days and nights, etc. Can anyone explain its significance? Thanks, Diane

 

[dellacroce]

A total of forty days of uncleanness and purification appear here as well:

Leviticus 12 drbo.org/chapter/03012.htm

The purification of women after childbirth.

*1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: If a woman having received seed shall bear a man child, she shall be unclean seven days, according to the days of the separation of her flowers. 3 And on the eighth day the infant shall be circumcised: 4 But she shall remain three and thirty days in the blood of her purification. She shall touch no holy thing, neither shall she enter into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification be fulfilled. *