forty days and forty nights Deu_9:11 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant. Deu_9:18 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. Deu_9:25 Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the LORD had said he would destroy you. Deu_10:10 And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also, and the LORD would not destroy thee. 1Ki_19:8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God. Mat_4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. In the history of biblical interpretation, the many numbers given in the Bible have often been interpreted symbolically. While such interpretations are often fanciful, sometimes numerical symbolism is present. We have seen some examples in the genealogy in Genesis 5; another is the frequent use of the number forty in designation of time. Often a period of forty days (and nights) or forty years serves as a transitional marker, separating two distinct epochs in biblical narrative. Thus, the Flood (in J) lasts for forty days and forty nights (Gen7.12), and it marks a new beginning. Likewise, in their journey from Egypt to Canaan, the Israelites spend forty years in the wilderness (Num 14.33; Deut 2.7; 29.5) and Moses twice spends forty days and forty nights on top of Mount Sinai (Ex 24.18; 34.28). Several of the judges have terms of forty years (Judg 3.11; 5.31; 8.28; 1 Sam 4.18), and that is also the span of the reigns of David (1 Kings 2.11) and Solomon (1 Kings 11.42). In some of the latter texts the numbers either may be accurate or may simply be round numbers.[1] This symbolism is picked up in the New Testament where, before his ministry begins, Jesus is in the wilderness for forty days (Mark 1.13), a period that in Luke is paralleled by the forty days between his being raised from the dead and taken up to heaven (Luke 4.2; Acts 1.3).[2]
Posted on: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 14:53:19 +0000
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