Part 6

Other forms are ?o' rf/ia6/idr, "not anything" (Gen 19 8); lo'khol, "not anylthing]" (Gen 11 6; Prov 13 7); Id' [Aram.], "no," "nothing" (Dnl 4 35, "as nothing") ; 'ephes, "end," "cessation" (Isa 34 12); bilti, "without," "save'" "not" (Isa 44 10; Am 3 4); 'ayin, "there is not" (Isa 41 24); once tohu, "emptiness" (Job 6 18); bal mah, "not anything" (Prov 9 13); hinndm, "free." "gratis" (2 S 24 24) ; ma'a/, "to make small," "bring to nothing" (Jer 10 24); rak, "only" (Gen 26 29); le'al, "for nothing" (Job 24 25).

In 2 Maco 7 12, we have "nothing," adverbially

(ere oudeni), "he nothing regarded the pains" (cf

1 K 15 21); 9 7 [oudamos), RV "in no wise" ; Wisd 2 11, "nothing worth" (dchrestos), RV "of no service"; Bar 6 17.26. For "nothing" RV has "none" (Ex 23 26; Joel 2 3), "never" (Neh 5 8), "not wherewith" (Prov 22 27), "vanity and nought" (Isa 41 29); for "answered nothing" (Mk 15 5) , "no more answered anything"; "answered nothing" in ver 3 is omitted; "anything" for "nothing" (1 Tim 6 7), "not anything" (Acts 20 20), "not" (1 Cor 8 2), "no word" (Lk 1 37), "not wherewith" (7 42); for "to nothing" (Job 6 18), "up into the waste"; for "it is nothing with" (2 Ch 14 11), "there is none besides," m "like"; for "lacked nothing" (1 K 4 27), "let nothing be lacking," for "nothing doubting" (Acts 11 12), "making no distinction"; for "hoping for nothing again" (Lk 6 35), "never despairing"; for "are nothing" (Acts 21 24), "no truth in"; for "nothing shall offend them" (Ps 119 165), "no occasion of stumbling" ; for "bring to nothing" (1 Cor 1 19), ERV "reject," ARV "bring to nought"; "nothing better" for "no good" (Eccl 3 12), for "not" (Mt 13 34, different text), for "no man" (Acts 9 8), "for nothing," for "free" (Ex 21 11); "miss nothing" for "not sin" (Job 5 24), m "shalt not err"; "and shall have nothing" for "and not for himself" (Dnl 9 26, m "there shall be none belonging to him"). W. L. Walker NOUGHT, not (Djn, hinnam; Karapyim, katarged): "Nought" is to be distinguished from "naught" implying "badness" (see Naught). "Nought" in the sense of "nothing," etc, is the tr of hinnam, "gratis" (Gen 29 15), and of various other words occurring once only, e.g. 'awen "vanity" (Am 5 5); Idhu, "vacancy," "ruin" (Isa 49 4); 'epha\ "nothing" (Isa 41 24); nabhel, "to fade" (Job 14 18, m "fadeth away")- pur, "to make void" (Ps 33 10); katarged, "to make without effect" (1 Cor 1 28; 2 6); oudels,

[15]).

The nose-jewel was made of gold or of silver, usually, and worn by many women of the East. It was a ring of from an inch to about three inches (in extreme cases) in diameter, and was passed through the right nostril. Usually there were pendant from the metal ring jewels, jjeads or coral. Such ornaments are still worn in some parts of the East. See also Amulet; Jewel.

Edward Bagbt Pollard NOTABLE, no'ta-b'l (PITn , hazuth; yvaa-rdi,

gnostds): "Notable" is the tr of hazidh, "conspicuous" (haz&h., "to see"), e.g. Dnl 8 5, "a notable horn," i.e. "conspicuous," AVm "a horn of sight"; ver 8, "notable [horns]"; of gnbstos, "known," "knowledge" (Acts 4 16); of episemos, "noted," "notable" (Mt 27 16; in Rom 16 7, "of note"); of epiphants, "very manifest," "illustrious" (cf "Antiochus Epiphanes"); Acts 2 20, "that great and notable day," quoted from Joel 2 31; LXX for yare', "to be feared," AV and RV "terrible"

2157 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Nose-Jewels Number

(2) Historical Use of Seven (3) Didactic or Literary Use of Seven (4) Apocalyptic U.«e of Seven 2. The Number Three 3. The Number Pour 4. The Number Ten 5. The Number Twelve 6. Other Significant Numbers VI. Gematria Literature

"not even one" (Acts 6 36); apelegmos, "refutation" (Acts 19 27, RV "come into disrepute"); doredn, "without payment" (2 Thess 3 8, RV "for nought"); eremdo, "to desolate" (Rev 18 17, RV "made desolate"); kalaluo, "to loose down" (Acts 5 38, RV "be overthrown"). In Apoo we have "set at nought" and "come to nought," etc

(1 Esd 1 56; 2 Esd 2 33; 8 59). For "nought" RV has "perish" (Dt 28 63); for " come to nought " (Job 8 22), "be no more"; "nought"

/. Number and Arithmetic. — The system of counting followed by the Hebrews and the Semites generally was the decimal system, which seems to have been suggested by the use of the ten fingers. Heb had separate words only for the first nine units and for ten and its multiples. Of the sexagesimal system, which seems to have been introduced into Babylonia by the Sumerians and which, through

for " not ought " (Ex 5 11), for "no might" (Dt 28 32);- for "brought to silence," bia (Isa 16 1). "brought to nought"; ARV "bring to nought" (1 Cor 1 19) for "bring to nothing" (ERV "reject"); "nought but terror" (Isa 28 19) for "a vexation only"; "brought to nought" (Isa 16 4) for "is at an end"; "come to nought" for "taken none effect" (Rom 9 6); "set at nought" for "despise" (Rom 14 3). W. L. Walkeb NOURISH, nur'ish (b'la, giddel, H^n, hiyyah,

its development there, has influenced the measurement of time and space in the western civilized world even to the present day, there is no direct trace in the Bible, although, as will be shown later, there are some possible echoes. The highest number in the Bible described by a single word is 10,000 (ribbo or ribho' , murids). The Egyptians, on the other hand, had separate words for 100,000, 1,000,- 000. 10,000,000. The highest numbers referred to in any way in the Bible are : "a thousand thousand"

53!33 , kilkel, HS"! , ribbdh; rpi^a, trepho, avarp^cfxi),

anatrepho, (KTpi^io, ektrepho, Ivrp^cfxa, enlripho) While the word "nourish" was ordinarily an appropriate rendering in the time of the AV, the word has since become much less frequent, and some senses have largely passed out of ordinary use, so that the meaning would now in most cases be better expressed by some other word. Giddel means "to bring up," "rear [children]" (Isa 1 2, m "made great"; 23 4; Dnl 1 5); "cause [a tree] to grow" (Isa 44 14). Hiyyah means "to preserve alive" (with some implication of care) (2 S 12 3; Isa 7 21, ARV "keep alive"). Kilkel means "to support," "maintain," "provide for" (esp. with food) (Gen 45 11; 47 12; 50 21). Rihhah means "to bring up," "rear [whelps]," in a figurative use (Ezk 19 2). Trepho means "to feed" (transitively) (Acts 12 20, RV"feed"; Rev 12 14); "to fatten" (Jas 5 5, the context indicating an unfavorable meaning). Anatrepho is "to bring up," "rear,"

(1 Ch 22 14; 2 Ch 14 9); "thousands of thousands" (Dnl 7 10; Rev 5 11); "thousands of ten thousands" (Gen 24 60); "ten thousand times ten thousand" (Dnl 7 10; Rev 5 11); and twice that figure (Rev 9 16). The excessively high numbers met with in some oriental systems (cf Lubbock, The Decimal System, 17 ff) have no parallels in Heb. Fractions were not unknown. We find i (2 S 18 2, etc); i (Ex 25 10.17, etc); i (1 S 9 8); i (Gen 47 24); i (Ezk 46 14); ^ (Ex 16 36); A (Lev 23 13); A (Lev 14 10), and T^TT (Neh 5 11). Three other fractions are

less definitely expressed: | by "a double portion,"

lit. "a double mouthful" (Dt 21 17; 2 K 2 9; Zee 13 8); f by "four parts" (Gen 47 24), and A by "nine parts" (Neh 11 1). Only the simplest rules of arithmetic can be illustrated from the OT. There are examples of addition (Gen 5 3-31; Nu 1 20-46) ; subtraction (Gen 18 28 if) ; multiplication (Lev 25 8; Nu 3 46ff), and division (Nu 31 27 ff). In Lev 25 50 If is what has been said to imply a kind of rule-of-three sum. The old Babylonians had tables of squares and cubes intended no doubt to facilitate the measurement of land (Sayce, Assyria, lis Princes, Priests and People, 118; Bezold, Ninive und Babylon, 90, 92); and it can scarcely be doubted that the same need led to similar results among the Israelites, but at present there is no evidence. Old Heb arithmetic and mathematics as known to us are of the most elementary kind (Nowack, HA, 1,298).

like giddel (Acts 7 20.21); ektrepho is "to take care of" (Eph 5 29); entrepho means "to bring up in," "train in" (1 Tim 4 6). George Ricker Berry NOVICE, nov'is (v«64"jtos, neiphutos, "newly planted"): In this sense it is found in LXX of Job 14 9 and Isa 5 7. In the NT it occurs once only

(1 Tim 3 6), where it means a person newly planted

in the Christian faith, a neophyte, a new convert, one who has recently become a Christian. This term occurs in the list which Paul gives of the qualifications which a Christian bishop must pos-

sess. The apostle instructs Timothy, that if any man desires the office of a bishop, he must not be a "novice," must not be newly converted, or recently brought to the faith of Christ "lest he be lifted up with pride, and fall into the condemnation of the

devil."

//. Notation of Numbers.—No special signs for the expression of numbers in writing can be proved

This means that a recent convert runs the very serious risk of being wise In his own eyes, of despising those who are stlU on the level from which, by his conversion, he has been lifted ; and so he becomes puffed up with high ideas of his own importance. He has not yet had time to discover his limitations, he is newly planted, he does not fully understand his true position in the Christian community, he overestimates hunself. For these reasons he is peculiarly liable to instability, and to the other weaknesses and sins connected with an inflated opinion of his own powers. His pride is a sure indication of a coming fall. A novice, therefore, must on no account be appointed to the office in question, for he would be sure to bring disgrace upon it.

to have been in use among the He-

1. By brews before the exile. The Siloam Words Inscription, which is probably the oldest specimen of Heb writing extant (with the exception of the ostraca of Samaria, and perhaps a seal or two and the obscure Gezer tablet), has the numbers written in full. The words used there for 3,200, 1,000 are written as words without any abbreviation. The earlier text of the M S which practically illustrates Heb usage has the numbers 30, 40, 50, 100, 200, 7,000 written out in the same way.

John Rutherfurd NUMBER, numTjer:

I. Number and Arithmetic II. Notation of Numbers

After the exile some of the Jews at any rate employed signs such as were current among the Egyptians, the Aramaeans, and the

1. By Words 2. By Signs 3. By Letters III. Numbers in OT History IV. Round Numbers V. Significant Numbers

2. By Signs Phoenicians—an upright line for 1, two such lines for 2, three for 3, and

1. Seven and Its Multiples

so on, and special signs for 10, 20, 100. It had

(1) Ritual Use of Seven

Number THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2158

been conjectured that these or similar signs were knowTi to the Jews, but actual proof was not forthcoming until the discovery of Jewish papyri at Assuan and Elephantine in 1904 and 1907. In these texts, ranging from 494 to c 400 BC, the dates are stated, not in words, but in figures of the kind described. We have therefore clear evidence that numerical signs were used by members of a Jewish colony in Upper Egypt in the 5th cent. BC. Now, as the existence of this colony can be traced before 525 BC, it is probable that they used this method of notation also in the preceding century. Conjecture indeed may go as far as its beginning, for

50 for 50,000 (2 6), and 100 for 100,000 (yer 16).

It is easy to see how mistakes may have originated

in many cases. The Heb numerals for 30, etc, are

the plurals of the units, so that the former, as

written, differ from the latter only by the addition

of the two letters yodh and mem composing the sylla-

ble -im. Now as the mem was often omitted, 3 and

30, 4 and 40, etc, could readily be confused. If

signs or letters of the alphabet were made use of,

instead of abbreviated words, there would be quite

as much room for misunderstanding and error on

the part of copyists. The high numbers above

referred to as found in Ex and Nu have been ingeniously accounted for by Professor Flinders

it is known that there were Jews in Pathros, that is Upper Egypt, in the last days of Jeremiah (Jer 44

Petrie (Researches in Sinai) in a wholly different way. By understanding 'eleph not as "thousand," but as "family" or "tent," he reduces the number

1.15). Some of the first Jewish settlers in Elephantine may have known the prophet and some of them may have come from Jerus, bringing these signs with them. At present, however, that is pure hypothesis.

to 5,550 for the first census, and 5,730 for the second. This figure, however, seems too low, and the method

of interpretation, though not impossible, is open

In the notation of the chapters and verses of the Heb Bible and in the expression of dates in Heb books

to criticism. It is generally admitted that the number as usually read is too high, but the original number has not yet been certainly discovered. When, however, full allowance has been made for the intrusion of numerical errors into the Heb text,

the consonants of the Heb alphabet are

3. By employed for figures, i.e. the first ten Letters for 1-10, combinations of these for 11-

it is difficult to resist the belief that, in the Books of Ch, at any rate, there is a marked tendency to exaggeration in this respect. The huge armies again and again ascribed to the little kingdoms of Judah and Israel cannot be reconciled with some of the facts revealed by recent research; with the following, for instance: The army which met the Assyrians at Karkar in 854 BC and which represented 11 states and tribes inclusive of Israel and the kingdom of Damascus, cannot have numbered at the most more than about 75,000 or 80,000 men {HDB, 1909, 656), and the Assyrking who reports the battle reckons the whole levy of his country at only 102,- 000 (Der alte Orient, XI, i, 14, note). In view of these figures it is not conceivable that the armies of Israel or Judah could number a million, or even half a million. The contingent from the larger kingdom contributed on the occasion mentioned above consisted of only 10,000 men and 2,000 chariots (HDB,

19, the following eight for 20-90, and the remainder for 100, 200, 300, 400. The letters of the Gr alphabet were used in the same way. The antiquity of this kind of numerical notation cannot at present be ascertained. It is found on Jewish coins which have been dated in the reign of the Maccabean Simon (143-135 BC), but some scholars refer them to a much later period. All students of the Talm are familiar with this way of numbering the pages, or rather the leaves, but its use there

is no proof of early date. The numerical use of the Gr letters can be abundantly illustrated. It is met with in many Gr papyri, some of them from the 3d cent. BC (Hibeh Papyri, nos. 40-43, etc); on several coins of Herod the Great, and in some MSS of the NT, for instance, a papyrus fragment of Mt

(Oxyrhynchus Pap., 2) where 14 is three times represented by iota delta with a line above the letters, and some codices of Rev at 13 18 where 666 is given by the three letters chi xi vau (or digamma).

ib). The safest conclusion, therefore, seems to be that, while many of the questionable numbers in the present text of the OT are due to copyists, there is a residuum which cannot be so accounted for.

It is possible that two of these methods may have been employed side by side in some cases, as in the Punic Sacrificial Tablet of Marseilles, where (1. 6) 150 is expressed first in words, and then by figures.

IV. Round Numbers.—The use of definite numerical expressions in an indefinite sense, that is, as round numbers, which is met with in many languages, seems to have been very prevalent in Western Asia from early times to the present day. Sir W. Ramsay (Thousand and One Churches, 6) remarks that the modern Turks have 4 typical numbers which are often used in proper names with little or no reference to their exact numerical force —3, 7, 40, 1,001. The Lycaonian district which gives the book its name is called Bin Bir Kilisse, "The Thousand and One Churches," although the actual number in the valley is only 28. The modern Persians use 40 in just the same way. "Forty years" with them often means "many years" (Brugsch, cited by Konig, Stilistik, 55). This lax use of numbers, as we think, was probably very frequent among the Israelites and their neighbors. The inscription on the M S supplies a very instructive example. The Israelitish occupation of Medeba by Omri and his son for half the reign of the latter is there reckoned (11. 7 f) at 40 years. As, according to 1 K 16 23.29, the period extended to only 23 years at the most, the number 40 must have been used very freely by Mesha's scribe as a round number. It is probably often used in that way in the Bible where it is remarkably frequent, esp. in reference to periods of days or years. The 40 days of the Flood (Gen 7 4.17), the arrangement

///. Numbers in OT History.—Students of the historical books of the OT have long been perplexed by the high numbers which are met with in many passages, for example, the number ascribed to the Israelites at the exodus (Ex 12 37; _ Nu 11 21), and on two occasions during the sojourn in the wilderness (Nu 1, 26)—more than 600,000 adult males, which means a total of two or three millions; the result of David's census 1,300,000 men (2 S 24 9) or 1,570,000 (1 Ch 21 5), and the slaughter of half a million in a battle between Judah and

Israel (2 Ch 13 17). There are many other illustrations in the Books of Ch and elsewhere. That some of these high figures are incorrect is beyond reasonable doubt, and is not in the least surprising,

for there is ample evidence that the numbers in ancient documents were exceptionally liable to corruption. One of the best known instances is the variation of 1,466 years between the Heb text and the LXX (text of B) as to the interval from the creation of Adam to the birth of Abram. Other striking cases are 1 S 6 19, where 50,070 ought probably to be 70 (Jos, Ant, VI, i, 4); 2 S 15 7, where 40 years ought to be 4 years; the confusion

of 76 and 276 in the MSS of Acts 27 37, and of 616 and 666 in those of Rev 13 18. Heb MSS furnish some instructive variations. One of them, no. 109

of Kennicott, reads (Nu 1 23) 1,050 for 50,000;

2159 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA number

Am Tab (Konig, ib). Six and seven: "He will deliver thee in six troubles; yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee" (Job 5 19). Seven and eight: "Seven shepherds, and eight principal men" (Mic 5 5), that is, "enough and more than enough" (Cheyne) ; "Give a portion to seven, yea, even unto eight" (Eccl 11 2). In one remarkable phrase which occurs (with slight variations of form) 24 t in the OT, two Heb words, meaning respectively "yesterday" and "third," are mostly used so as together to express the idea of vague reference to the past. RV renders in a variety of ways: "beforetime" (Gen 31 2, etc), "aforetime" (Josh 4 18), "heretofore" (Ex 4 10, etc), "in time [or "times"] past" (Dt 19 4.6; 2 S 3 17, etc). V. Significant Numbers.—Numerical symbolism, that is, the use of numbers not merely, if at all, with their literal numerical value, or as round numbers, but with symbolic significance, sacred or otherwise, was widespread in the ancient East, esp. in Babylonia and regions more or less influenced by Bab culture which, to a certain extent, included Canaan. It must also be remembered that the ancestors of the Israelites are said to have been of Bab origin and may therefore have transmitted to their descendants the germs at least of numerical symbolism as developed in Babylonia ip the age of Hammurabi. Be that as it may, the presence of this use of numbers in the Bible, and that on a large scale, cannot reasonably be doubted, although some writers have gone too far in their speculations on the subject. The numbers which are unmistakably used with more or less symbolic meaning are 7 and its multi-

of the life of Moses in three periods of 40 years each

(Acts 7 23; Ex 7 7; Dt 34 7), the 40 years' rule or reign of Eli (1 S 4 18), of Saul (Acts 13 21; ef Jos, Ant, VI, xiv, 9), of David (1 K 2 11), of Solomon (1 K 11 42) and of Jehoash (2 K 12 1), the 40 or 80 years of rest (Jgs 3 11.30; 5 31; 8 28), the 40 years of Phili oppression (Jgs 13 1), the 40 days' challenge of Goliath (1 S 17 16), the 40 days' fast of Moses (Ex 34 28), Elijah (1 K 19 8), and Jesus (Mt 4 2 and |1), the 40 days before the destruction of Nineveh (Jon 3 4), and the 40 days before the Ascension (Acts 1 3), all suggest conventional use, or the influence of that use, for it can hardly be supposed that the number in each of these cases, and in others which might be mentioned, was exactly 40. How it came to be so used is not quite certain, but it may have originated, partly at any rate, in the idea that 40 years constituted a generation or the period at the end of which a man attains maturity, an idea common, it would seem, to the Greeks, the Israelites, and the Arabs. The period of 40 years in the wilderness in the course of which the old Israel died out and a new Israel took its place was a generation (Nu 32 13, etc). The rabbis long afterward regarded 40 years as the age of understanding, the age when a man reaches his intellectual prime {Ab, v, addendum). In the Koran (Sura 46) a man is said to attain his strength when he attains to 40 years, and it was at that age, according to tradition, that Muhammad came forward as a prophet. In this way perhaps 40 came to be used as a round number for an indefinite period with a suggestion of completeness, and then was extended in course of time to things as well as seasons.

ples, and 3, 4, 10 and 12.

By far the most prominent of these is the number 7, which is referred to in one way or another in nearly 600 passages in the Bible, as

Other round numbers are: (1) some of the higher numbers; (2) several numerical phrases. Under

1. Seven well as in many passages in the Apoc and Its and the Pseudepigrapha, and later Multiples Jewish literature. Of course the number has its usual numerical force in many of these places, but even there not seldom with a glance at its symbolic significance. For the determination of the latter we are not assigned to conjecture. There is clear evidence in the cuneiform texts, which are our earliest authorities, that the Babylonians regarded 7 as the number of totality, of completeness. The Sumerians, from whom the Sem Babylonians seem to have borrowed the idea, equated 7 and "all." The 7-storied towers of Babylonia represented the universe. Seven was the expression of the highest power, the greatest conceivable fulness of force, and therefore was early pressed into the service of religion. It is found in reference to ritual in the age of Gudea, that is perhaps about the middle of the 3d millennium BC. "Seven gods" at the end of an enumeration meant "all the gods" (for these facts and the cuneiform evidence cf Hehn, Siebenzahl und Sabbath bei den Babyloniern und im AT, 4 ff) . How 7 came to be used in this way can only be glanced at here. The view connecting it with the gods of the 7 planets, which used to be in great favor and still has its advocates, seems to lack ancient proof. Hehn

(1) come the following numbers. One hundred, often of course to be understood literally, but evidently a round number in Gen 26 12; Lev 26 8; 2 S 24 3; Eccl 8 12; Mt 19 29 and |1. A thousand (thousands), very often a literal number, but

in not a few cases indefinite, e.g. Ex 20 6 |1 Dt 5 10; 7 9; IS 18 7; Ps 50 10; 90 4; 105 8; Isa 60 22, etc. Ten thousand (Heb ribbo, ribboth, r'bhabhah; Gr murids, murioi) is also used as a round number as in Lev 26 8; Dt 32 30; Cant 6 10; Mic 6 7. The yet higher figures, thousands

of thousands, etc, are, in almost all cases, distinctly hyperbolical round numbers, the most remarkable examples occurring in the apocalyptic books (Dnl 7 10; Rev 5 11; 9 16; EthiopicEn 40 1). (2) The second group, numerical phrases, consists of a number of expressions in which numbers are used roundly, in some cases to express the idea of fewness. One or two, etc: "a day or two" (Ex 21 21), "an heap, two heaps" (Jgs 15 16 RVm), "one of a city, and two of a family" (Jer 3 14), "not once, nor

twice," that is "several times" (2 K 6 10). Two or

three: "Two or three berries in the [topmost] bough"

(Isa 17 6; cf Hos 6 2), "Where two or three are gathered together in my name," etc (Mt 18 20). Konig refers to Assyr, Syr, and Arab, parallels. Three or four: the most noteworthy example is the formula which occurs 8 t in Am (1 3.6.9.11.13; 2 1.4.6), "for three transgressions .... yea for

(op. cit., 44 ff) has shown that the number acquired

its symbolic meaning long before the earliest time for which that reference can be demonstrated. As this sacred or symbolic use of 7 was not peculiar to the Babylonians and their teachers and neighbors, but was more or less known also in India and China, in classical lands, and among the Celts and the Germans, it probably originated in some fact of common observation, perhaps in the four lunar phases each of which comprises 7 days and a frac-

four." That the numbers here are round numbers

is evident from the fact that the sins enumerated

are in most cases neither 3 nor 4. In Prov 30 15.

18.21.29, on the other hand, where we have the same rhetorical device, climax ad majus, 4 is followed by four statements and is therefore to be taken

literally. Again, Konig (ib) points to classical and Arab, parallels. Four or five: "Four or five in the outmost branches of a fruitful tree" (Isa 17 6). Five

tion. Conspicuous groups of stars may have helped

to deepen the impression, and the fact that 7 is made up of two significant numbers, each, as will

or six: "Thou shouldest have smitten [Syria] five or

six times" (2 K 13 19), an idiom met with also in

Number THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2160

be shown, also suggestive of completeness—3 and 4—may have been early noticed and taken into account. The Bib. use of 7 may be conveniently considered under 4 heads: (1) ritual use; (2) historical use; (3) didactic or literary use; (4) apocalyptic use.

ber 7, of what Zbckler (iJE', "Sieben") calls "latent heptads," are not infrequent. The 7-fold use of the expression " the voice of Jeh " in Ps 29, which has caused it to be named " The Psalm of the Seven Thunders," and the 7 epithets of the Divine Spirit in Isa 112, cannot be accidental. In both cases the number is intended to point at full-summed completeness. In the NT we have the 7 beatitudes of character (Mt 5 3-9); the 7 petitions of the Paternoster (Mt 6 9 f ) ; the 7 parables of the Kingdom in Mt 13; the 7 woes pronounced on the Pharisees (Mt 23 13.15.16.23.25.27.29), perhaps the 7 savings of Jesus, beginning with "I am" (eg6 eimi) in the Fourth Gospel (Jn 6 35; 8 12; 10 7.11; 11 25; 14 6; 15 1), and the 7 disciples at the Lake alter the Resurrection (Ju 2l 2). Several groups of 7 are found in the Epp. and in Eev: 7 forms of suffering (Rom 8 35); 7 gifts or charismata (12 6-9); 7 attributes of the wisdom that is from above (Jas 3 17) ; 7 graces to be added to faith (2 Pet 1 5 Ef) ; two doxologies each containing 7 words of praise (Eev 5 12; 7 12), and 7 classes of men (6 15). Other supposed instances of 7-fold grouping in the Fourth Gospel are pointed out by E. A. Abbott

(1) Ritual use of seven.—The number 7 plays a conspicuous part In a multitude of passages giving rules for worship or purification, or recording ritual actions. The 7th day of the week was holy (see Sabbath). There were 7 days of imleavened bread (Ex 34 18, etc), and 7 days of the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev 23 34). The 7th year was the sabbatical year (Ex 31 2, etc). The Moabite Balak built Balaam on three occasions 7 altars and provided in each case 7 bullocks and 7 rams (Nu 23 1.14.29). The Mosaic law prescribed 7 he-lambs for several festal offerings (Nu 28 11.19.27, etc). The 7-fold sprinkling of blood is enjoined in the ritual of the Day of Atonement (Lev 16 14.19), and elsewhere. Seven-fold sprinkling is also repeatedly mentioned in the rules for the purification of the leper and the leprous house (Lev 14 7.16.27.51). The leprous Naaman was ordered to bathe 7 times in the Jordan (2 K 5 10). In cases of real or suspected uncleanness through leprosy, or the presence of a corpse, or for other reasons, 7 days' seclusion was necessary (Lev 12 2, etc). Circumcision took place after 7 days (Lev 12 3). An animal must be 7 days old before it could be offered in sacrifice (Ex 22 30). Three periods of 7 days each are mentioned in the rules for the consecration of priests (Ex 29 30.3o.37). An oath seems to have been in the first instance by 7 holy things (Gen 2l 29 IT and the Heb word for "swear"). The number 7 also entered into the structure of sacred objects, for instance the candlestick or lamp-stand in the tabernacle and the second temple each of which had 7 lights (Nu 8 2; Zee 4 2). Many other instances of the ritual use of 7 in the OT and many instructive parallels from Bab texts could be given.

(Johannine Grammar, 2624 fl), but are of uncertain value.

(4) Apocalyptic use of seven.—As might be expected, 7 figures greatly in apocalyptic lit. , although it is singularly absent from the apocalyptic portion of Dnl. Later works of this kind, however—the writings bearing the name of Enoch, the Testaments of Reuben and Levi, 2 Esd, etc—supply many illustrations. The doctrine of the 7 heavens which is developed in the Slavonic Enoch and elsewhere and may have been in the first instance of Bab origin is not directly alluded to in the Bible, but probably underlies the apostle's reference to the third heaven (2 Cor 12 2). In the one apocalyptic writing in the NT, 7 is employed with amazing frequency. We read of 7 churches (1 4. etc) : 7 golden candlesticks

(1 12, etc); 7 stars (1 16); 7 angels of the churches

(1 20); 7 lamps of fire (4 5); 7 spirits of God (1 4; 3 1: 4 5) : a book with 7 seals (5 1); a lamb with 7 horns and 7 eyes (5 6); 7 angels with 7 trumpets (8 2); 7 thimders (10 3) ; a dragon with 7 heads and 7 diadems (12 3); a beast with 7 heads (13 1): 7 angels having the 7 last plagues (15 1); and 7 golden bowls of the wrath of God (15 7) and a scarlet-colored beast with 7 heads (17 3) which are 7 mountains (ver 9) and 7 kings (ver 10). The writer, whoever he was, must have had his imagination saturated with the numerical symbolism which had been cultivated in Western Asia for millenniums. There cannot be a shadow of doubt that 7 for him expressed fulness, completeness. As this inquiry will have shown, the significance of the number is practically the same throughout the Bible. Although a little of it may have been rubbed off in the course of ages, the main idea suggested by 7 was never quite lost sight of in Bil>. times, and the number is still used in the life and song of the Holy Land and Arabia with at least an echo of its ancient meaning.

(2) Historical use of seven.—The number 7 also figures prominently in a large number of passages which occur in historical narrative, in a way which reminds us of its symbolic significance. The following are some of the most remarkable; Jacob's 7 years' service for Rachel (Gen 29 20 ; cf vs 27 f ) , and his bowing down 7 times to Esau (Gen 33 3) ; the 7 years of plenty, and the 7 j'ears of famine (Gen 41 531); Samson's 7 days' marriage feast (Jgs 14 12a; cf Gen 29 27), 7 locks of hair (.7gs 16 19), and the 7 withes with which he was bound ( vs 7 f ) ; the 7 daughters ofJethro(Ex 2 16), the 7 sous of Jesse (1 S 16 10),the7 sons of Sard (2 S 21 6), and the 7 sons of Job (Job 1 2; cf 42 13); the 7 days' march of the 7 priests blowing 7 trumpets roimd the walls of Jericho, and the 7-fold march on the 7th day (Josh 6 8 ff) ; the 7 ascents of Ehjah's servant to the top of Carmel (1 K 18 43 1); the 7 sneezes of the Shunammitish woman's sou (2 K 4 35); the heating of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace 7 times more than it was wont to be heated (Dnl 3 19), and the king's madness for 7 times or years (4 16.23.25.32); Anna's 7 years of wedded life (Lk 2 36); the 7 loaves of the 4,000 (Mt 15 34-36 11) and the 7 baskets fuU of fragments (Mt 15 37 11); the 7 brothers in the conundrmn of the Sadducees (Mt 22 25 11); the 7 demons cast out of Mary Magdalene (Mk 16 9 II Lk 8 2) ; the 7 ministers in the church at Jerus (Acts 6 3 ff), and the 7 sons of Sceva (19 14, but the Western text represents them as only 2) . The number must no doubt be understood lit. in many of these passages, but even then its symbolic meaning is probably hinted at by the historian. When a man was said to have had 7 sons or daughters, or an action was reported as done or to be done 7 times, whether by design or accident, the number was noted, and its symbolic force remembered. It cannot indeed be regarded in all these cases as a sacred number, but its association with sacred matters which was kept alive among the Jews by the institution of the Sabbath, was seldom, if ever, entirely overlooked.

The significance of 7 extends to its multiples. Fourteen, or t'wice 7, is possibly symbolic in some cases. The stress laid in the OT on the 14th of the month as the day of the Passover (Ex 12 6 and 16 other places), and the regulation that 14 lambs were to be offered on each of the 7 days of the Feast of Tabernacles (Nu 29 13.15) hint at design in the selection of the number, esp. in view of the fact that 7 and 7 occur repeatedly in cuneiform literature—in magical and liturgical texts, and in the formula so often used in the Am Tab : "7 and 7 times at the feet of the king my lord .... I prostrate myself." The arrangement of the generations from Abraham to Christ in three groups of 14 each (Mt 1 17) is probably intentional, so far as the number in each group is concerned. It is doubtful whether the number has any symbolic force in Acts 27 27; 2 Cor 12 2; Gal 2 1. Of course it must be remembered that both the Heb and Gr words for 14

(3) Didactic or literary use of seven.—The symbolic use of 7 naturally led to its employment by poets and teachers for the vivid expression of multitude or inten-

sity. This use is sometimes evident, and sometimes latent, (a) Evident examples are the 7-fold curse predicted for the murderer of Cain (Gen 4 15); fleeing 7 ways (Dt 28 7.25): deliverance from 7 troubles (Job 6 19); praise of God 7 times a day (Ps 119 164); 7 abominations (Prov 26 25; cf 6 16); silver purified 7 times, that is. thoroughly purified (Ps 12 6); 7-fold sin: 7-lold repentance, and 7-fold forgiveness (Lk 17 4; cf Mt 18 21); 7 evil spirits (Mt 12 45 II Lk ll 26). The last of these, as well as the previous reference to the 7 demons cast out of Mary Madgalene reminds us of the

('arba'ah 'asar; dekatessares) suggest that it is made up of 10 and 4, but constant use of 7 in the sense above defined will have influenced the application of its double, at least in some cases.

Forty-nine, or 7X7, occurs in two regulations of the Law. The second of the three great festivals took place on the 50th day after one of the days of unleavened bread (Lev 23 15 ff), that is, after an interval of 7X7 days; and two years of Jubilee were separated by 7X7 years (Lev 25 8ff). The combination is met with also in one of the so-called Penitential Psalms of Babylonia: "Although my sins are 7 times 7, forgive me my sins."

7 spirits of Beliar (XII P, Reuben chs 2 and 3) and of the 7 e\'il spirits so often referred to in Bab exorcisms (cf Helm op. cit., 26 fl), but it is not safe to connect Our Lord's words ivith cither. The Bab belief may indeed have influenced popular ideas to some extent, but there

is no need to find a trace of it in the Gosnels. The 7 demons of the latter are sufficiently accounted lor by the common symbolic use of 7. For other passages which come under this head cf Dt 28 7.25; Ruth 4 15; 1 S 2 5; Ps 79 12. (6) Examples of latent use of the num-

Seven multiplied by ten, or 70, was a very strong

2161 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Number

expression of multitude which is met with in a large number of passages in the OT. It occurs of persons: the 70 descendants of Jacob (Ex 1 5; Dt 10 22); the 70 elders of Israel (Ex 24 1.9; Nu 11 16.24 f ) ; the 70 kings ill treated by Adonibezok (Jgs 1 7); the 70 sons of Gideon (Jgs 8 30; 9 2); the 70 descendants of Abdon who rode on 70 asscolts (Jgs 12 14); the 70 sons of Ahab (2 K 10 1. 6 f ) ; and the 70 idolatrous elders seen by Ezekiel (Ezk 8 11). It is also used of periods: 70 days of Egyp mourning for Jacob (Gen 50 3) ; 70 years of

is often found of persons and things sacred or secu-

lar, e.g. Noah's 3 sons (Gen 6 10); Job's 3 daughters (Job 1 2; 42 13) and 3 friends (Job 2 11); Abraham's 3 guests (Gen 18 2) ; and Sarah's 3 measures of meal (vcr 6; cf Mt 13 33 |i); 3 in military tactics (.Igs 7 16.20; 9 43; 1 S 11 11; 13 17; Job 1 17); 3 great feasts (Ex 23 14); the 3 daily prayers (Ps 55 17; Dnl 6 10.13); the 3 night watches (Jgs 7 19); God's 3-fold call of Samuel (1 S 3 8); the 3 keepers of the temple threshold (Jer 62 24) ; the 3 presidents appointed by Darius (Dnl 6 2); the 3 temptations (Mt 4 3. 5f.S f II); the 3 prayers in Gethsemane (Mt 26 39. 42.44 11); Peter's 3 denials (Mt 26 34.75 H); the Lord's 3-fold question and 3-fold charge (Jn 21 15 ff); and the 3-fold vision of the sheet (Acts 10

trial (Isa 23 15.17; Jer 25 11 f; Dnl 9 2; Zee 1 12; 7 5); the 70 weeks of Daniel (Dnl 9 24); and the 70 years of human life (Ps 90 10). Other noticeable uses of 70 are the 70 palm trees of Elim (Ex 15 27

II Nu 33 9) ; the offering of 70 bullocks in the time of Hezekiah (2 Ch 29 32), and the offering by the heads of the tribes of 12 silver bowls each of 70 shekels (Nu 7 13 ff). In the NT we have the 70 apostles (Lk 10 1.17), but the number is uncertain B, D and some VSS reading 72, which is the product, not of 7 and 10, but of 6 and 12. Significant seventies are also met with outside of the Bible. The most noteworthy are the Jewish belief that there were 70 nations outside Israel, with 70 languages, under the care of 70 angels, based perhaps on the list in Gen 10; the Sanhedrin of about 70 members ; the tr of the Pent into Gr by LXX (more exactly 72), and the 70 members of a family in one of the Aram, texts of Sendschirli. This abundant use of 70 must have been largely due to the fact that it was regarded as an intensified 7.

16). (2) In a very large number of passages 3 is used of periods of time: 3 days; 3 weeks; 3 months and 3 years. So in Gen 40 12.13.18; Ex 2 2; 10 22f; 2 S 24 13; Isa 20 3; Jon 1 17; Mt 15 32; Lk 2 46; 13 7; Acts 9 9; 2 Cor 12 8. The frequent reference to the resurrection "on the 3d day" or "after 3 days" (Mt 16 21; 27 63, etc) may at the same time have glanced at the symbolic use of the number and at the belief common perhaps to the Jews and the Zoroastrians that a corpse was not recognizable after 3 days (for Jewish testimony cf Jn 11 39; Y'hhdmolh, xvi.3; Midr, Gen, ch c; S'mahoth, viii; for Pers ideas cf Expos T, XVlIl, 536). (3) The number 3 is also used in a literary way, sometimes appearing only in the structure. Note as examples the 3-fold benediction of Israel (Nu 6 24 ff) ; the Thrice Holy of the seraphim (Isa 6 3) ; the 3-fold overturn (Ezk 21 27 [Heb 32]); the 3-fold refrain of Pss 42,43 regarded as one psalm (Ps 42 5.11; 43 5); the 3 names of God (the Mighty One, God, Jehovah, Josh 22 22; cfPs 50 1); the 3 graces of 1 Cor 13; the 3 witnesses (1 Jn 6 8); the frequent use of 3 and 3d in Rev; the description of God as "who is and who was and who is to come" (Rev 1 4); and 'the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit' (Mt 28 19). In some of these cases 3-fold repetition is a mode of expressing the superlative, and others remind us of the remarkable association of 3 with deity alluded to by Plato and Philo, and illustrated by the triads of Egypt and Babylonia and the Far East. It cannot, however, be proved, or even made probable, that there is any direct connection between any of these triads and the Christian Trinity. All that can be said is, that the same numerical symbolism may have been operative in both cases.

Seiienty and seven, or 77, a combination found in the words of Lamech (Gen 4 24) ; the number of the princes and elders of Suceoth (Jgs 8 14); and the number of lambs in a memorable sacrifice (Ezr 8 35) , would appeal in the same way to the oriental fancy.

The product of seven and seventy (Gr hebdomekontdkis heptd) is met with once in the NT (Mt 18 22), and in the LXX of the above-quoted Gen 4 24. Moulton, however (Gram, of Gr NT Prolegomena,

98), renders in both passages 70-|-7; contra, Allen, "Mt," 7CC, 199. The number is clearly a forceful equivalent of "always."

Seven thousand in 1 K 19 18 1| Rom 11 4 may be a round number chosen on account of its embodiment of the number 7. In the M S the number of Israelites slain at the capture of the city of Nebo by the Moabites is reckoned at 7,000.

The half of seven seems sometimes to have been regarded as significant. In Dnl 7 25; 9 27; 12 7; Lk 4 25

II Jas 5 17; Rev 11 2; 13 5 a period of

The 4 points of the compass and the 4 phases of the moon will have been early noticed, and the

distress is calculated at 3j years, that is, half the period of sacred completeness.

former at any rate will have suggested

The number three seems early to have attracted attention as the number in which beginning, middle

3. The before Bib. times the use of 4 as a Number symbol of completeness of range, of Four comprehensive extent. As early as the middle of the 3d millennium BC Bab rulers (followed long afterward by the Assyrians) assumed the title "king of the 4 quarters," meaning that their rule reached in all directions, and an early conqueror claimed to have subdued the 4 quarters. There are not a few illustrations of the use of 4 in some such way in the Bible. The 4 winds (referred to also in the cuneiform texts and the Book of the Dead) are mentioned again and again (Jer 49 36; Ezk 37 9), and the 4 quarters or comers (Isa 11 12; Ezk 7 2; Rev 20 8). We read also of the 4 heads of the river of Eden (Gen 2 10 ff), of 4 horns, 4 smiths, 4 chariots, and horses of 4 colors in the visions of Zechariah (1 8 LXX, 18 ff; 6 1 ff), the chariots being directly connected with the 4 winds; 4 punishments (Jer 15 3; Ezk 14 21, the latter with a remarkable Assyr

and end are most distinctly marked,

2. The and to have been therefore regarded Number as symbolic of a complete and ordered Three whole. Abundant illustration of its use in this way in Bab theology, ritual and magic is given from the cuneiform texts by Hehn (op. cit., 63 ff), and the hundreds of passages

in the Bible in which the number occurs include many where this special significance either lies on the surface or not far beneath it. This is owing in some degree ' perhaps to Bab influence, but will have been largely due to independent observation

of common phenomena—the arithmetical fact mentioned above and familiar trios, such as heaven,

earth, and sea (or "the abyss"); morning, noon and

night; right, middle, and left, etc. In other words, 3 readily suggested completeness, and was often used with a glance at that meaning in daily life and

daily speech. Only a selection from the great mass of Bib. examples can be given here. (1) Three

parallel), the 4 kingdoms in Nebuchadnezzar's

Number Numbers, Book of THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2162

the 12 officers of Solomon (1 K 4 7); the 12 stones of Elijah's altar (1 K 18 31); the 12 disciples or apostles (26 t), and several details of apocalyptic imagery (Rev 7 5ff; 12 1; 21 12.14.16.21; 22 2;

dream as interpreted (Dnl 2 37 ff) and Daniel's vision (7 3 ff) ; the 4 living creatures in Ezk (1 5 ff;

cf 10), each with 4 faces and 4 wings, and the 4 modeled after them (Rev 4 6, etc). In most of these cases 4 is clearly symbolical, as in a number of passages in Apoo and Pscudepigrapha. Whether the frequent use of it in the structure of the tabernacle, Solomon's temple, and Ezekiel's temple has anything to do with the symbolic meaning is not

cf also Mt 14 20

|| 19 28 || 26 53; Acts 26 7). The number pointed in the first instance at unity and completeness which had been sanctioned by Divine

election, and it retained this significance when applied to the spiritual Israel. Philo indeed calls it a perfect number. Its double in Rev 4 4, etc, is probably also significant.

clear, but the latter can probably be traced in proverbial and prophetic speech (Prov 30 15.18.21. 24.29; Am 1 3.6, etc). 'The 4 transgressions of the latter represent full-summed iniquity, and the 4-

Five came readily into tlie mind as the half of 10. Hence perhaps its use in the parable of the Virgins (Mt 25 2). It was often employed in 6 Other literary division, e.g. in the Pent, the Pss.

fold grouping in the former suggested the wide sweep of the classification. Perhaps it is not fanci-

c_.fl_„_i the part of the Hagiographa known as oignmcant ^.j^g Wghilloth, the Ethiopic Enoch and Numbers Mt (7 28; 11 l; 13 53; 19 1; 26 1; of Sir J. Hawkins, Horae Synopticae'^, 163 ff). It seems to have been occasionally suggestive of relative smallness, as in Lev 26 8, the S loaves (Mt 14 17 ID, 1 Cor 14 19, and perhaps in Am Tab. It has been remarked (Skinner, "Gen," ICC. 483) that the number occurs repeatedly in reference to matters Egyp (Gen 41 34; 45 22; 47 2; Isa 19 IS), but there seems to be no satisfactory explanation. Sixty: Although, as was before observed, there is no direct trace in the Bible of the nmnerical system based on 60, there are a few passages where there may be a distant echo. The 60 cities of Argob (Dt 3 4; Josh 13 30; 1 K 4 13) ; the 60 mighty men and the 60 queens of Cant 3 7; 6 8, the double use of 60 of Rehoboam's harem and family (2 Oh 11 21), the 3 sacrifices of 60 victims each (Nu 7 88), and the lengthof Solomon'stemple, eocubits (1K6 2 1[2Ch 3 3), may perhaps have a remote connection with the Bab use. It must be remembered that the latter was current in Israel and the neighboring regions in the division of the talent into 60 minas. A few passages in the Pscudepigrapha may be similarly interpreted, and the Bab Talm contains, as might be expected, many clear allusions. In the Bible, however, the special iise of the number is relatively rare and indirect. One hundred and ten, the age attained by Joseph (Gen 50 22), is significant as the Egyp ideal of longevity (Smith, DB'^, 1804 f; Skinner, "Gen, 7CC, 539 f). One hundred and fiftythree: The Gr poet Oppian (c 171 AD) and others are said to have reckoned the number of fishes in the world at this figure (cf Jerome on Ezk 47), and some scholars find a reference to that belief in Jn 21 11 in which case the number would be symbolic of comprehensiveness. That is not quite impossible, but the suggestion cannot be safely pressed. Throughout this discussion of significant numbers it must be borne in mind that writers and teachers may often have been influenced by the desire to aid the memory of those they addressed, and may to that end have arranged thoughts and facts in groups of 3, or 4, or 7, or 10, and so on (.Sir John Hawkins,

ful to find the idea in the 4 sets of hearers of the gospel in the parable of the Sower (Mt 13 19-23 1|). The rabbis almost certainly had it in mind in their 4-fold grouping of characters in six successive paragraphs (Ab, v. 16-21) which, however, is of considerably later date.

As the basis of the decimal system, which probably originated in counting with the fingers, 10 has

been a significant number in all his-

4. The torical ages. The 10 antediluvian Number patriarchs (Gen 5; cf the 10 Bab kings Ten of Berosus, and 10 in early Iranian and far-Eastern myths); the 10 righteous men who would have saved Sodom (Gen 18 32); the 10 plagues of Egypt; the 10 commandments (Ex 20 2-17

II Dt 5 6-21 ; the 10 commandments found by some in Ex 34 14-26 are not clearly made out) ; the 10 servants of Gideon (Jgs 6 27)

the 10 elders who accompanied Boaz (Ruth 4 2)

the 10 virgins of the parable (Mt 25 1); the 10 pieces of silver (Lk 15 8) ; the 10 servants intrusted with 10 pounds (Lk 19 13 ff), the most capable of whom was placed over 10 cities (ver 17); the 10 days' tribulation predicted for the church of Smyrna (Rev 2 10); the use of "10 times" in the sense of "many times" (Gen 31 7; Neh 4 12; Dnl 1 20, etc, an idiom met with repeatedly in Am Tab); and the use of 10 in sacred measurements and in the widely diffused custom of tithe, and many other examples show plainly that 10 was a favorite symbolic number suggestive of a rounded

Horae Synopticae-, 166 f). They will at the same time have remembered the symbolic force of these numbers, and in some cases, at least, will have used them as round numbers. There are many places in which the round and the symbolic uses of a number cannot be sharply distinguished.

total, large or small, according to circumstances. The number played a prominent part in later Jew-

ish life and thought. Ten times was the Tetragrammaton uttered by the high priest on the Day of Atonement; 10 persons must be present at a nuptial benediction; 10 constituted a congregation in the synagogue; 10 was the usual number of a company at the paschal meal, and of a row of com-

VI. Gematria {gematriya') —A peculiar application of numbers which was in great favor with the later Jews and some of the early Christians and is not absolutely unknown to the Bible, is Gematria, that is the use of the letters of a word so as by means of their combined numerical value to express a name, or a witty association of ideas. The term is usually explained as an adaptation of the Gr word geometrla, that is, "geometry," but Dalman (Wbrlerhuch, s.v.) connects it in this application of it with grammaleia. There is only one clear example in Scripture, the number of the beast which is the number of a man, six hundred sixty and six (Rev 13 18). If, as most scholars are inclined to believe, a name is intended, the numerical value of the letters composing which adds up to 666, and if it is assumed that the writer thought in Heb or Aram. Nero Caesar written with the consonants niin = 50, resh=200, wmv=6, nun =50, koph = 100, samekh = 60, resh =200: total = 666, seems to be the best solution. Perhaps the idea suggested by Dr. Milligan that the 3-fold use of 6 which just falls short of 7, the number of sacred completeness, and is therefore a note of imperfection, may have been also in the writer's mind. Some modern scholars find a second instance in Gen 14 14 and 15 2. As the

forters of the bereaved. The world was created, said the rabbis, by ten words, and Abraham was visited with 10 temptations (Ab, v.l and 4; several other illustrations are found in the context).

The 12 months and the 12 signs of the zodiac probably suggested to the old Babylonians the use

of 12 as a symbolic or semi-sacred

6. The number, but its frequent employment Number by the Israelites with special meaning Twelve cannot at present be proved to have originated in that way, although the idea was favored by both Jos and Philo. So far

as we know, Israelitish predilection for 12 was entirely due to the traditional beUef that the nation consisted of 12 tribes, a beUef, it is true, entertained

also by the Arabs or some of them, but with much

less intensity and persistence. In Israel the belief was universal and ineradicable. Hence the 12

pillars set up by Moses (Ex 24 4); the 12 jewels

in the high priest's breast-plate (Ex 28 21); the 12 cakes of shewbread (Lev 24 5); the 12 rods (Nu 17 2); the 12 spies (Nu 13); the 12 stones placed by Joshua in the bed of Jordan (Josh 4 9)

2163 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Number Numbers, Book of

(2) From Sinai to Kadesh, 10 11—14 45 (a period of 10 days, from the 20th to the 30th of the 2d month), narrating

numerical value of the consonants which compose Eliezer in Heb add up to 318, it has been maintained that the number is not historical, but has been fancifully constructed by means of gemalria out of the name. This strange idea is not new, for

(a) The departure from Sinai, 10 11-35.

(6) The events at Taberah and Kibroth-hattaavah,

ch 11.

it is found in the Midrash on Gen (ch 43) in the name of a rabbi who lived c 200 AD, but its antiquity is

(3) The wanderings in the desert, chs 15-19 (a period of 37 years, from the end of the 2d to the beginning of the 40th year), recording:

its greatest merit.

LiTERATUHE.—In addition to other books referred to in the course of the art. : Hehn, Siebenzahl und Sabbath bei den Babylaniern und im AT; Konig, Stilistik, RheloTik, Poetik, etc, 51-57, and the same writer's art. "Number" in HDB; Sir J. Hawkins, Horae Synopiicae", 163—67 ; Wiener, Essays in Pentateuchal Criticism, 15569; "Number" in Wi)B (1-vol); EB; Jew Enc: Smith, DB; "Numbers" in DCQ; "Zahlen" in the Diets, of Wiener, Riehm=, Guthe; "Zahlen" and "Sieben" in RE'.

(a) Sundry laws and the punishment of a Sabbath

breaker, ch 15.

(6) The rebellion of Korah, ch 16,

(e) The water of separation for the imclean, ch 19.

(4) From Kadesh to Moab, chs 20, 21 (a period of 10 months, from the beginning of the 40th year), reciting:

William Taylor Smith NUMBER, GOLDEN. See Golden Number.

(a) The story of Balaam, 22 2—24 25.

NUMBERING. See David; Quirinius.

C(>) The zeal of Phinehas, ch 25.

(d) Directions for dividing the land, 26 52—27 11.

NUMBERS, num'berz, BOOK OF:

(e) Appointment of Moses' successor, 27 12-23,

I. Title and Contents 1. Title 2. Contents II, Literary Structure

(/) Concerning offerings and vows, chs 28-30.

(b) War with Midian, ch 31. (h) Settlement of Reuben and Gad, ch 32.

1. Alleged Grounds of Distribution 2. Objections to Same

(i) List of camping stations, 33 1-49. 0) Canaan to be cleared of its inhabitants and divided, 33 50—34 29.

(1) Hypothesis Unproved

(2) Written Record Not Impossible (3) No Book Ever Thus Constructed

(fc) Cities of refuge to be appointed, ch 35. (0 The marriage of heiresses, ch 36.

(4) Inherent Difficulties of Analysis

//. Literary Structure.—According to modem criticism, the text of Nu, like that of the other books of the Pent (or Hex), instead of being regarded as substantially the work of one writer (whatever may have been his sources of information and whoever may have been its first or latest editor), should be distributed—not always in solid blocks of composition, but frequently in fragments, in sentences, clauses or words, so mysteriously put together that they cannot now with certainty be separated—among three writers, J, E and P with another D (at least in one part)—these writers, individuals and not schools (Gunkel), belonging, respectively: J to the 9th cent. BC (c 830), E to the 8th cent. BC (c 750), P to the 5th cent.BC (c 444), and D to the 7th cent. BC (c 621). The grounds upon which this distribution is made are principally these: (1) the supposed preferential use of the Divine names, of

(o) The Story of the Spies

(6) KebeUion of Korah (c) Story of Balaam III. Historical Credibility

1. Seeming Chronological Inaccuracies

(1) The Second Passover

(2) The Thirty-seven Years' Chasm

(3) Fortieth Year 2. So-called Statistical Errors (I) Number of the Fighting Men

(2^ Size of the Congregation (a) Multiplication of People

(()) Exodus in One Day

(e) Slow Conquest of Canaan

(3) Number of the Firstborn 3. Alleged Physical Impossibilities

(1) Duties of the Priests

(2) Assembling of the Congregation

(3) Marching of the Host (4) Victory over Midian rV. Authorship

1. Against the Mosaic Authorship

(1) Alternating Use of Divine Names

(2) Traces of Late Authorship

1. Alleged Jeh (Lord) by J, and of Elohim (God) Grounds of by E and P—a theory, however, which Distribution hopelessly breaks down in its application, as Orr {POT, ch vii), Eerdmans (St, 33 ff) and Wiener {EPC, I) have conclusively shown, and as will afterward appear;

2. For the Mosaic Authorship

(1) Certain Passages Have the Appearance of Having Been Written by Moses

(2) Acquaintance with Egyptian Manners and

Customs Literature

/. Title and Contents.—Styled in the Heb Bible "131T23, b'midhbar, "in the wilderness," from the

(2) distinctions in style of composition, which are not always obvious and which, even if they were, would not necessarily imply diversity of authorship unless every author's writing must be uniform and monotonous, whatever his subject may be; and

5th word in 1 1, probably because of

1. Title recording the fortunes of Israel in the

Sinaitic desert. The 4th book of the Pent (or of the Hex, according to criticism) was

designated ' Apt-Biwi., Arilhmoi, in LXX and Numeri

(3) perhaps chiefly a preconceived theory of religious development in Israel, according to which the people in pre-Mosaic times were animists, totemists and polytheists; in Mosaic times and after, henotheists or worshippers of one God, while recognizing the existence of other gods; and latterly, in exilic and post-exilic times, monotheists or worshippers of the one living and true God—which theory, in order to vindicate its plausibility, required the reconstruction of Israel's religious documents in the way above described, but which is now rejected by archaeologists (Delitzsch and A. Jeremias) and by theologians (Orr, Baentsch [though accepting the analysis on other grounds] and Konig) as not supported by facts.

in the Vulg, and from this last received its name "Numbers" in the AV, in all 3 evidently because of

its reporting the 2 censuses which were taken, the one at Sinai at the beginning and the other on the

plains of Moab at the close of the wanderings.

Of the contents the following arrangement will be

sufficiently detailed

, „ , „ , (1) Before leaving Sinai, 1 1—10 10 (a o /-I 4. *„ period of 19 days, from the 1st to the J. contents 20th of the 2d month after the exodus)

describing (a) The numbering and ordering of the people, chs

1—4.

(6) The cleansing and blessing of the congregation,

altar, chs 7, 8. , „ „ , , ^ (d) The observance of a second Passover, 9 1-14.

Without denying that the text-analysis of criticism is on the first blush of it both plausible and

<e) The cloud and the trumpets for the march, 9 15 —10 10.

Numbers, Book of THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2164

exactly (or nearly so) what parts, whether paragraphs, sentences, clauses or words, were supplied by J, E, P and D respectively. Credat Judaeus Apella!

attractive and has brought to light valuable information relative to Scripture, or without overlooking the tact that it has behind it the 2. Objecnames of eminent scholars and is suptions to ported by not a few considerations of Same weight, one may fairly urge against it the following objections.

(4) Inherent difficulties of analysis.—The critical

theory, besides making of the text of Nu, as of the other books of the Pent, such a patchwork as is unthinkable in any document with ordinary preten-

(1) Hypothesis itnproved.-^At the best, the theory is an unproved and largely imaginary hypothesis, or series of hypotheses—"hypothesis built on hypothesis" (Orr); and nothing more strikingly reveals this than (a) the frequency with which in the text-analysis conjecture ("perhaps" and "probably") takes the place of reasoned proof

sion to historical veracity, is burdened with inherent

difficulties which make it hard to credit, as the following examples, taken from Nu, will show.

(a) The story of the spies: Chs 13 and 14 are thus distributed by Cornill, Driver, Strack and EB:

JE, 13 176-20.22-24.266-31.326.33; 14 3.4.8.9.11-

(b) the arbitrary manner in which the supposed documents are constructed by the critics who, without reason given, and often in violation of their own rules and principles, lift out of J (for instance) every word or clause they consider should belong to E or P, and vice versa every word or clause out of E or P that might suggest that the passage should be assigned to J, at the same time explaining the presence of the inconvenient word or clause in a document to which it did not belong by the careless or deliberate action of a redactor; and (c) the failure even thus to construct the documents successfully, most critics admitting that J and E cannot with confidence be separated from each other—Kuenen himself saying that "the attempt to make out a Jehovistic and an Elohistic writer or school of writers by means of the Divine names has led criticism on a wrong way" ; and some even denying that P ever existed as a separate document at all, Eerdmans {St, 33, 82), in particular, maintaining, as the result of elaborate exegesis, that P could not have been constructed in either exilic or post-exilic times "as an introduction to a legal work."

25..39-45. P, 13 l-17a.21. 25.26a (to Paran).32a; 14 1.2 (in the main). 5-7.10.26-38 (in the main).

Kautzsch generally agrees; and Hartford-Battersby in HDB professes ability to divide between J and E.

(i) According to this analysis, however, up to the middle of the 5th cent. BC, either JE began at 13 176, in which case it wanted both the instruction to search the land and the names of the searchers, both of which were subsequently added from P (assuming it to have been a separate document, which is doubtful) ; or, if JE contained both the instruction and the names, these were supplanted by 1-17(1 from P. As the former of these alternatives is hardly likely, one naturally asks why the opening verses of JE were removed and those of P substituted? And if they were removed, what has become of them? Does not the occurrence of Jeh in \-\7a, on the critical principles of some, suggest that this section is the missing paragraph of JE?

(ii) If the JE passages furnish a nearly complete narrative (Driver), why should the late compiler or editor have deemed it necessary to insert two whole verses, 21 and 25, and two halves, 26a and 32a, if not because without these the original JE narrative would have been incomplete? Ver 21 states in general terms that the spies searched the whole land, proceeding as far N. as Hamath, after which ver 22 mentions that they entered the country from the S. and went up to Hebron and Eshcol, without at all stating an incongruity (Gray) or implying (Driver) that they traveled no farther N. —the reason for specifying the visit to Eshcol being the interesting fact that there the extraordinary cluster of grapes was obtained. Vs 25.26a relate quite naturally that the spies returned to Kadesh after 40 days and reported what they had found to Moses and Aaron as well as to all the congregation. Without these verses the narrative would have stated neither how long the land had been searched nor whether Moses and Aaron had received any report from their messengers, although ver 26b implies that a report was given to some person or persons unnamed. That Moses and Aaron should not have been named in JE is exceedingly improbable. Ver 32a is in no way inconsistent with vs 266-31, which state that the land was flowing with milk and honey. What ver 32a adds is an expression of the exaggerated fears of the spies, whose language could not mean that the land was so barren that they would die of starvation, a statement which would have expressly contradicted ver 27 (JE)—in which case why should it have been inserted?—but that, notwithstanding its fruitfulness, the population was continually being wasted by internecine wars and the incursions of surrounding tribes. The starvation theory, moreover, is not supported by the texts (Lev 26 38; Ezk 36 13) usually quoted in its behalf.

(2) Written record not impossible.—It is impossible to demonstrate that the story of Israel's "wanderings" was not committed to writing by Moses, who certainly was not unacquainted with the art of writing, who had the ability, if any man had, to prepare such a writing, whose interest it was, as the leader of his people, to see that such writing, whether done by himself or by others under his supervision, was accurate, and who besides had been commanded by God to write the journeyings of Israel (33 2). To suppose that for 500 years no reliable record of the fortunes of Israel existed, when during these years writing was practised in Egypt and Babylon; and that what was then fixed in written characters was only the tradition that had floated down for 5 cents, from mouth to mouth,

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