What is so special about four

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NoelFitz

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Recently I became interested in numbers and their meaning in the Bible and in general.

The numbers 1, 2 and 3 have obvious meanings, but I am interested now in 4.

One thinks of the four Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The four corners of the world - north, south, east and west.

Also one thinks of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Wikipedia tells us
the four beasts that ride on white, red, black, and pale horses which each symbolize Conquest, War, Famine, and Death, respectively.
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The Apocalypse also has four other beasts, now used to represent the evangelists.

I read:
The First beast was like a LION
The Second was like a CALF
The Third was like the face of a MAN
The fourth was like a flying EAGLE.
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It was considered there were four elements - earth, air, fire and water.

A square has 4 sides.

YHWH has four letters (tetragrammaton).

Four rivers flowed into Eden.

Ezekiel considered four living creatures.

In Peter’s vision a sheet was held down by its four corners.

Please suggest more examples of the use of four, especially in the Bible.
 
NoelFitz said:
Recently I became interested in numbers and their meaning in the Bible and in general.

The numbers 1, 2 and 3 have obvious meanings, but I am interested now in 4.

One thinks of the four Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The four corners of the world - north, south, east and west.

Also one thinks of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Wikipedia tells us

The Apocalypse also has four other beasts, now used to represent the evangelists.

I read:

It was considered there were four elements - earth, air, fire and water.

A square has 4 sides.

YHWH has four letters (tetragrammaton).

Four rivers flowed into Eden.

Ezekiel considered four living creatures.

In Peter’s vision a sheet was held down by its four corners.

Please suggest more examples of the use of four, especially in the Bible.
Click to expand...
The four cardinal directions, or “ends of the earth” --N, E, S, W

The four faces, and four wings, of the Seraphim (?) in the book of Isaiah.

The human body’s four limbs; e.g. our LORD’s hands and feet, which gave proof that HE had died and resumed life. Luke 24:39, “Behold my hands and my feet”; four limbs.

A cross likewise has four arms.

While this is not Biblical, the Jerusalem cross, said to date to the 100s, has 4 small crosses around the large one. This is said to represent the 4 ends of the earth.

God Bless and ICXC NIKA.
 
NoelFitz said:
In Peter’s vision a sheet was held down by its four corners.
Click to expand...
Held up, lowered down 😉
  • Also there are four major prophets,
  • four corners on the altar in the tent/temple, four feet, four bands for the poles, etc.
  • four brothers among the apostles,
  • four hundred years in Egypt,
  • four hundred years between Malachi and John the Baptist
  • agricultural produce is kosher in the fourth year
  • God visits iniquity unto the fourth generation
  • Joseph’s economic plan allowed Israelite farmers to keep four parts of their produce
  • Forty years in the desert
  • Moses was fourscore years old when he confronted Pharaoh
  • Four rows of jewels on the breastplate
  • Grasshoppers are kosher because in a sense the only have four legs, the exception among creepy-crawlies
  • Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene when Jesus was born
  • Four giants slain by David and his men
  • Solomon laid the foundations of the first temple in the fourth year
  • Elijah had them dump three sets of four barrels of water on the altar in the showdown with the Baalists
Anyway the rest can be found with an online concordance.
 
4- the stars, the sun, and the moon, to be the lights on the earth, and to be the signs for the seasons, the days, and the years. created on day 4
 
In sensus plenior, four represent the four voices of God as prophet, priest king and judge.

The four faces and the four gospels map directly into it.

Matthew Priest
Mark Judge
Luke King
John Prophet

40 is the complete word of God through Christ.
400 is the complete word of God through the church

The stones are in four rows by three columns… The complete word by each member of the Trinity

The altar has the four corners and is a shadow of Christ. He is consumed and the consumer of the sacrifice, the very incarnate full word of God. He is a prophet, priest, king and judge.

Four barrels of Water… water is the word, so this is the same as the breastplate.
 
Four in the Apocalypse represents: cosmos, creation and creatures. Four is a number commonly associated with judgments on the world. Zechariah talks about the four horsemen of judgment in his time (Zech 1:8-17). Ezekiel saw a four part judgment in his age (Ezek 5:17; 14:21). John talks about the four horsemen of judgment in his time (Rev 6:1-8) that arrive with the opening of the first four seals.

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on land or sea or against any tree. (Rev 7:1)

In this case the four angels and winds of judgment are held back long enough for the servants of God to be sealed with salvation and divine protection.
 
I was told during a Judaica lesson that four is the number of the Created, and three the number of the Creator, so that 7 is the number of wholeness, or of perfection.

Numbers had a significant meaning in Scripture - as well as in daily life for semitic peoples. Numbers still do - just the other day, I was at a store and overhead the cashier saying the total was $6.65. The customer laughed and said “at least it’s not six-sixty-six.” There’s still this fear of that number. For how many people is 7 lucky and 13 unlucky?

I’d think there are separate functions for narrative (ie, the Ark and Jesus both wandered the wastes for 40 days while Moses led the Hebrews through the desert for 40 years) and meta-narrative (four Gospels, four Major Prophets) numbers. So the four faces in Isaiah’s vision and the Four Beasts of Revelation tie to one meaning while the Four Gospels and Four Major Prophets tie to another.
 
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