According to the Hebrew Bible, Methuselah lived 969 years
(Gen. 5:27) and Noah 950 years (Gen.9:29). These numbers are highly
exaggerated, and humanly impossible. Furthermore, in the Bible, numbers are
often used as literary devises in parallel to each other. Such as, “Three
things are beyond me; Four I cannot fathom” (JPS, Prov.30: 18). This type of
parallelism is especially favored in Ugaritic poems, such as “Seven years, let
Baal fail; eight, the Cloud Rider” (Inter. Dict. of the Bible, 3/564). The question for us is
this: how do we deal with numerology in the Bible?
A critical analysis of the biblical numbers shows that they
are not always reliable. For example, two different kinds of time reckoning is
used in the Flood story. (See, analysis by Sarna, in JPS, Genesis, 376).
Also, the Jewish historian Josephus (1st cent.) expressed some
reservations regarding the veracity of the biblical numbers. On the one hand,
he stated that some biblical personalities could have lived much longer than
us, because “their food was then fitter for the prolongation of life; and
besides God afforded them a longer life on account of their virtue.” Furthermore,
he reminded his readers that in Greek literature a number of heroes lived a
thousand years. But he still concluded by saying, “as to these matters, let
everyone look upon them as he thinks fit” (Ant. III/9). Others, in our time,
point out that “Numbers in the biblical world have more sophisticated vocations
than counting” (Joseph A. Callaway in Ancient Israel, ed. by Hershel
Shanks, p.89). In other words, they are not to be taken literally. Presently,
except for the most fundamentalists who take the Bible literally, most critics
say that these numbers only have symbolic value.
In the ancient Near Eastern literature, which includes the
Hebrew Bible, one of the most popular numbers is 7. Examples: the world is created in 7 days (Gen
1). In Joseph’s dream, we have 7 good years and 7 lean years (Gen. 41: 25-30). The
Israelites were commanded to march around the city of Jericho 7 times
(Jos.6:15). The righteous individual falls and gets up 7 times (Prov. 24: 16). This
is a popular number in many ancient texts as well. For example, in the Epic
of Gilgamesh, 7 sages brought civilization to 7 of the oldest cities in the
land (Tablet 1; ANE Texts, Pritchard, 73). Similarly, ancient Egyptians
spoke of 7 lean years in their land (ANE Texts, 31-32). Scholars point
out that the etymology of the Semitic word for 7 is unclear (Anchor Bible,
IV/1143). One suggests that the number 7 has the symbolic meaning of “innumerable.”
Others argue that it stands for “completeness.”
Another popular number is 40: In
ancient Sumer, the number 40 appears as an ideogram for the gods. In the Hebrew
Bible, Moses spent 40 days and nights on Mt. Sinai (Ex.34: 27-28). Similarly, the
Israelite spies explored the land of Canaan for 40 days (Num. 13:25). Elijah
went 40 days without food or water at Mt. Horeb (I K 19:18). Eli judged the people of Israel for 40 years (I
Sam. 18). David (2 Sam. 5:4) and Solomon (1K 11:42), each reigned for 40 years.
In the Bible, the number 40 represents a generation, or a long period of time.
In Jewish mysticism, especially in
the Lurianic Kabbalah, there is a tendency to see in numbers hidden meanings. This
is called Gematria. A good example is the popular view today that the number
18, which is represented in Hebrew by the word HAI (the letter YUD is 10, and
HET is 8), means “life.” So, it is
customary to make donations to charities in the multiples of $18.
So, when we read the various numbers
in the Hebrew Bible, we need to take these figures as representing certain ideas
or values. We cannot rely on them as if they were mathematically accurate.
Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.
Jan. 2018
