Subject: 40 in the bible |
Bible Note: Hi Doc, Numerology seems to have a somewhat different meaning that what you have stated. According to the American Heritage Dictionary Numerology is: "The study of the occult meanings of numbers and their supposed influence on human life." According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica Numerology is: "the use of numbers to interpret a person's character or to divine the future. The theory behind numerology is based on the Pythagorean idea that all things can be expressed in numerical terms because they are ultimately reducible to numbers." Wikipedia elaborates with: "Numerology is the pseudoscience that studies the purported mystical or esoteric relationship between numbers and the character or action of physical objects and living things. Numerology and numerological divination were popular among early mathematicians such as Pythagoras, but are no longer considered to be part of modern-day mathematics and are now regarded as pseudomathematics by most mathematicians. Numerologists often apply distinct definitions to individual digits. These definitions and the resulting permutations between individual digits, or in a mathematical equation, will result in multi-fold meanings." I can see your misunderstanding this in that we are saying that there appear to be certain associations with certain numbers, but that's as far as it goes. So while we sometimes notice trends and patterns in the way certain numbers are used in the Bible, we do not, generally speaking, attempt to use this understanding to influence or control the created universe. Nor, when we notice that, say, 7 seems to be often associated with completeness, that we are going to turn the words into their numerical equivalants, in order to find some hidden message, or derive some occult power. We're not trying to fortune-tell, or cast spells, practice divination, nor are we trying to claim to be more authoratative than Scripture. Personally, I find the suggestion somewhat ridiculous. It's just one of those things, "we couldn't help but notice." A non-numerical example of this is the similarity between "How Isaac got his wife", and "How Christ got the Church". The father sends his un-named servant to a foreign land, to seek a bride for his son. The servant obtains the agreement of the bride-to-be, because she is to be a willing bride, and upon her agreement, gives her gifts. Then after a bit of time, he takes her back to be wed to the son. The son meets her part-way, where they meet for the first time, and live happily ever after. Stated in the Scriptures as a type? No. But which story did I tell, Isaac and Rebecca, or Jesus and the Church? We couldn't help but notice the similarity. Love in Christ, Mark |