It's not the way the Bible uses numbers that makes them weird. It's what people do with the numbers that makes them say weird things. Actually, numbers in the Bible are most often used in a normal fashion to simply count things such as a military census, population statistics etc.. However, sometimes numbers are used in symbolic way to represent things such as the mysterious man of Revelation 13:18. Additionally some feel that the numbers found in the Bible can be used in mystical ways that have secret religious meanings. Taken to the outer limits, some even say that numbers can interpret a person's character or divine the future.
The Symbolic Use of Numbers
First, consider the symbolic use of the number 7. The number 7 occurs in one way or another in nearly 600 passages of the Bible. Many people feel based on selected Bible texts that seven is a number that is symbolic of completeness. For instance, God finished the Creation in six days and rested on the seventh. This, the beginning of the seven day weekly cycle, seems to be at the root of the abundant use of the number seven in the Scriptures. (see Chapter 19 "The Seven Day Week" for a clearer picture).
Seven is used throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, Naaman is told to dip in the Jordan 7 times and his leprosy will be cured. (2 Kings 5:10). Obviously, God could have healed Naaman after any number of times, but Naaman is told to dip seven times, as a symbolic act of faith. Likewise in the New Testament, the number 7 is used symbolically in the message to the seven churches. (Revelation 1:11). In this case it is known that there were many more than seven churches, however the use of 7 is symbolic, indicating completeness in that the message was intended for all of the churches of that area. Indeed, numbers are used in interesting ways in the Bible, but the interpretation of their meaning is always derived by the way the number's usage in speaking, or the setting it is in. However, this cannot be said of mystical numbers. Imagination, speculation and plain old guessing make up large parts of the mystical definitions of numbers. A person should carefully consider what one is told a number means or stands for, before accepting the idea as truth.
Why One Should Be Cautious
Numbers are like statistics, if you squeeze them hard enough they will tell you anything. For example some say the number one is the number of God while the number two means division or separation. However, another says the number one means unity and the number two means discord and death. Who is right? Maybe neither one! But, scholars think we know who started all of the confusion with numbers; his name was Pythagoras.
As far as scholars can tell, this whole idea of numerology got a big boost around 6 B.C. when an ancient scholar named Pythagoras developed the idea that all things can be expressed in numbers because everything in the universe can ultimately be reduced to a series of numbers. Pythagoras and his followers gave divine significance to most of the numbers up to 50. Even numbers were feminine and the odd were masculine.
Pythagoras was not alone in his fascination of numbers. The Babylonians, Egyptians and Aramaeans seem to have earlier used mystical numbers, but it was Pythagoras that created a highly organized system. His thoughts spread to Italy and Greece and then eventually to the Bible land of Palestine. The influence of Pythagoras' number systems shows up in the non-biblical writings called the Apocrypha (see Chapter 2 "Rejected Books") and in the writings of the Gnostics (a split-off group of Christians) in the times of the Apostles.
The teachings of Pythagoras saw a rapid growth in influence as the early Christian Church leader, Augustine (died 430 A.D.), showed an intense interest in numerology. Later on, interest spread to the Jews and their writings called Cabalistic literature. They taught that there was a deeper meaning to the names, words and letters of the Bible and that hidden mysteries about the divine could be discovered, the saga continues today.
Thoughtful people must wonder if the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to go to all of the world, why would knowledge be hidden? Why would the Holy Scriptures, formed by the inspiration of God contain hidden information? Why would someone have to have some special knowledge or wisdom to understand the Scriptures? The Apostle Paul wrote to the young Timothy and instructed him, "Study to shew thyself approved of God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." II Timothy 2:15. Paul did not tell him to "speculate" to show himself approved.
The writer feels that Bible students should accept the Scriptures for what they say at face value and follow the thoughts of the English philosopher called Ockham's Razor, "Consider the simplest version as the most probable."
For Further Study
Cambridge History of the Bible, Volume 1, Numerology, pp. 559-60.
A New Standard Bible Dictionary, Funk and Wagnalls, 1936, Sacred Numbers p.628. and Jeremiah 25:26, "Sheshack", a form or Athbash, where the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet was used for the first, the next to the last for the second, etc.
Biblical Numerology, John J. Davis, Baker Book House, 1968
Blessings in your study of God's Word!

Marvin Hunt

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Blessings!
Marvin Hunt

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