Religious numerology is predominantly the system of finding out the importance and meaning behind numbers in the Bible and other Judeo-Christian writings. Some take a more literal stance and believe this to be literal amounts or numbers of things with no special meaning other than how many of something was present.
Common Numbers In The Bible
The most commonly known Biblical numbers are 40, as in Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness or the Israelites wandered the desert for forty years, and the number 666 which is almost universally recognized as the number of the beast from the Book of Revelations. There are, however, many other numbers that are less recognized though no less obvious.
Of the many numbers in religious numerology, there are ten that are most common or most important. Many of the numbers are tied to other numbers making religious or biblical numerology incredibly interesting.
The Number 1 – The first number, this number is used to refer to singularities in the Bible, for example one God, having no other gods before Him as seen in the Ten Commandments.
The Number 3 – Perhaps the most important number, three is the number of the trinity. It is seen both in the Bible and in our natural lives for example: Father, Son and Holy spirit, past, present and future, the divine attributes of omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence. There are trinities constantly mentioned throughout the Bible and you don’t have to look all that hard to find them! Obviously the number three bears significant importance in religious numerology.
The Number 4 – This number can be considered the number of Creation. There are four cardinal directions, the fourth verse of the ten commandments mentions the earth, there are also four Gospels, four beasts mentioned in the vision of Daniel and even four points to the cross used to crucify Christ which was unusual for the time as that shape was considered unnecessary in most cases.
The Number 6 – Considered the number of man or the number of imperfection, it is one number off the number of spiritual perfection, or seven. Everyone, of course, knows that 666 is the numerological number of the name of the antichrist. There were six days to the week till God perfected it with seven. Man was made on the sixth day.
The Number 7 – Seven is the number of spiritual perfection, there are seven days in the week, seven colors in the visual spectrum, seven seals and trumpets in Revelation and seven parables in the book of Matthew! Noah led seven pairs of each clean animal into the ark. The menorah has seven candles to reference the seven-fold spirit of God!
The Number 10 – There are too many instances of the number ten’s appearance in the Bible to mention but we can look at the 10 Commandments, Noah was the 10th patriarch, John 3:16 is often considered to be the thesis of the Bible and the numbers, added together, create 10. Out of Sodom and Gomorrah only 10 people survived!
The Number 12 – This number indicates a total group, a finished group, much like three, ten and the number forty. It is a number of completion. There are 12 tribes of Israel, 12 disciples. When Jesus fed the 5000 the disciples picked up twelve baskets of food!
The Number 21 – Many of the number in the Bible come together to make the number 21. For example there are three epistles by John whose numbers add up to equal 7 which when multiplied by three is 21. There are seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls of wrath mentioned in Revelations, 3 x 7 is 21!
The Number 22 – There are twenty-two chapters in Revelations! There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. From Adam to Jacob is 22 names and Jeroboam reigned as King in the Old Testament for 22 years!
The Number 40 – Forty is the number of trials. The Israelites wandered forty years in the desert before the were allowed to enter the Promised Land and Christ suffered 40 days alone in the wilderness before going through the temptation!
Religious numerology is an interesting topic and should be learned to have a broad understanding of Numerology as a whole.
