6 Mysterious Numbers in the Bible and What They Mean

Even the naysayer Davis has to admit that of all the numbers mentioned in the Bible, 7 is clearly symbolic and likely the most sacred. And it wasn't only the ancient Israelite authors of the Bible that felt that way. Davis writes that cuneiform texts from the Sumerians and the Babylonians confirm that across the Ancient Near East the number 7 meant totality, completeness and perfection.

The number 7 appears more than 600 times in the Bible, but here are some of the most significant mentions:

As a sign of the spiritual significance of 7, many people cite the poignant exchange in Matthew 18:22, when Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother. Peter asks, "As many as seven times?" And Jesus responds, "Not seven times, but seventy-seven times" or "seventy times seven" in some translations. Here, the idea is that Jesus uses these large multiples of 7 to show that forgiveness should be as "complete" and "perfect" as the number itself and that there was no limit on how many times someone should be forgiven. Repeating 7s is also one of the angel numbers that promotes being more spiritual.

Like 7, the number 12 seems to be imbued with special meaning by the authors of both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Jacob has 12 sons, for example, who go on to become the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel.

When Jesus chose his disciples from among his early Jewish followers, it seems more than coincidental that he picked 12. Some interpret the number 12 as representing authority and governmental rule. So the 12 sons and the 12 apostles are symbols of authority both in ancient Israel and in the Christian church.

And again, the book of Revelation doubles down on the symbolism of 12, mentioning it 22 times in relation to the New Jerusalem that will descend to Earth after the Second Coming of Christ. In Revelation 7, the infamous 144,000 are "sealed" for salvation with 12,000 chosen from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. New Jerusalem will have 12 gates each manned by 12 angels, and the new city will be 12,000 furlongs squared.

The number 40 is another recurring figure in the Bible and seems to be closely associated with times of trial and testing that lead to transformation.

When God commands Noah to build the ark, the rains flood the Earth for 40 days and 40 nights. When the Israelites are punished for lacking faith, they are forced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years before reaching the promised land. Moses went on a 40-day fast before he received the 10 commandments from God. And before Jesus was tempted by Satan, he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights.

Some scholars note that 40 days in the Bible doesn't always mean 40 days literally, but may be a symbolic way of saying "a long time."

In Revelation 13:18, it reads: "Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is 666."

Of all of the numbers in the Bible, this one is just begging for mathematical speculation. And over the centuries, there have been endless attempts to use gematria and isopsephy (Hebrew and Greek number values) to calculate the true name of the "beast," also known as the "Antichrist."

The standard explanation is that the authors of Revelation were throwing shade on Nero, a ruthless Roman emperor who liked to martyr Christians. If you add up the values of "Caesar Nero" in Greek, you'll get 666. The same thing happens if you translate Caesar Nero to Hebrew as "Neron Kesar," where it also adds up to 666.

Since there are a lot of candidates for the antichrist, modern preachers have concocted mathematical equations identifying Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, even Pope Paul VI as the "beastly" 666.

The number 6 usually has a negative connotation in the Bible. For instance, Christ suffered on the cross for six hours and men were commanded to work six days a week in Exodus. In the Greek alphabet the number 6 is represented by a symbol called the "stigma."

In the Bible, there are numbers that are repeated often. But there are also numbers that only show up once. One of those is 153. In the New Testament, Jesus returns and visits his disciples after his death and resurrection. He tells his disciple Peter to cast his net into the water. When he drags it ashore, the bulging net contains 153 fish.

Why such a specific number? The number 153 has puzzled and intrigued Christian thinkers for centuries. St. Jerome, who lived in the fifth century C.E., said that a zoologist told him that there were exactly 153 species of fish in the world, so the meaning of the 153 fish was that there was room in the Church (the "net") for all of the races of mankind.

St. Augustine, a fan of Pythagoras, took a more mathematical approach. Augustine, writes Davis, believed that the number 17 represented "grace supervening upon the law," or the power of God's grace to save even the worst sinner. If you add up all of the numbers between 1 and 17 (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14+15+16+17) it equals 153.

Davis dismisses numerology as fooling around with numbers until they fit your theological worldview. The number 318 in the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible is a great example of the mental gymnastics some religious thinkers have employed to back up their arguments.

New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman points to the Epistle of Barnabas, an early Christian text that wasn't ultimately included in the biblical canon. Erhman calls Barnabas a "virulently anti-Jewish book" that attacks, among other things, the Jewish practice of circumcision.

To make his point that circumcision was supplanted by Jesus Christ, the author of Barnabas focuses on Genesis 14 and the story of Abraham (then known as Abram) rescuing his nephew Lot from captivity. Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram. To defeat the enemy, the Bible tells us, Abraham brought an army of 318 trained (and circumcised) servants. Why 318?

Barnabas explains that 318 in Greek is written using letters tau-iota-eta, which is Τ-Ι-Η. The T-shaped letter tau, to Barnabas, is obviously a symbol of the cross. And I-H are the first two letters in the Greek spelling of Jesus, which is ΙΗΣΟΥΣ.

Barnabas uses this creative logic to conclude that Abraham, the father of circumcision, didn't save Lot through a "barbaric" practice of the Jews, but through Jesus Christ. The numbers don't lie!

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