Click here (catholic-resources.org) for a handy overview of Biblical numerology, and the purported symbolism involved with particular digits and their combinations...
Do you detect any persistent influences from this ancient world view into modern times, especially regarding apocalyptic motifs?
6 comments:
This is interesting.
The time span for our week is seven days.
We have 30 days in our month.
We have 12 months in our year.
Lisa
It was very interesting to learn that specific numbers could be used to refer to specific periods of time (e.g. an unspecified long time could be referred to by stating “40 days” or “40 years”). This knowledge of numeric protocol certainly clarifies a lot when interpreting scriptures.
The number 12 is associated with human completion in the Bible. Perhaps this adds to the evidence for those who believe in the 2012 apocalypse, which is purported to take place on 12/21/12. The number 13, associated with Judas, is still often considered unlucky today. However, this association with the number 13 apparently developed after the completion of the Bible and is never mentioned in the Bible itself.
Max Hesser-Knoll
With regard to the author's opening statement, I don't think much has changed. Where the Israelites used "40" to indicate a long time, we use made up numbers like "a gajillion" or, in the case of the movie The Sandlot things may be gone "FOR-EV-ER". The use of numbers for emphasis rather than exactitude hasn't diminished in the slightest over the years, I don't think.
But back on topic, I was struck that the number 42 made the list. If I didn't know any better, I would say that the inclusion of this number in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was based on any biblical numerology, but I believe Douglas Adams himself has stated that he chose it randomly to illustrate the absurdity of such things (or WAS it random? Was his hand divinely guided to choose that number!?? Dun, dun, dunnnnn!!!!). That people subsequently FOUND meaning in his choice was unsurprising. I think the same need to find symbolism where none was necessarily intended applies just as well to the Mayan end times predictions, Nostradamus, etc.
I do wonder if the recent tendency for Islamic attacks to fall on or about the 11th has anything to do with Islamic numerology. (Sept 11th, obviously but also the 3/11/04 Madrid bombings, the 7/11/06 Mumbai train bombing, the 10/11/12 embassy attacks, the 10/12/00 USS Cole bombing)
~Megan Allen
Nice comments, folks. Megan, your observation is intriguing with regard to how human beings effectively seem 'hard-wired' to look for (and to impose) meaning upon their environments. I wonder: does the sheer ability to categorize something (and thereby to exercise some degree of control over it) sometimes outweigh the necessity for objective accuracy??
pdk
I have always found the use of numbers to be coincidental. Many cultures do follow numerology though and it has a long historic use and following. The fact that so many cultures refer to like numbers is interdesting even though I personally do not believe in this.
Bob
There are a a lot of influences from the ancient world that we still use today. The influences are so widely accepted i'm sure there are some people who don't know the origin of some terms. The Bible words its time differently which makes it a little harder to understand.
-Taylor E.
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