numbers

[Johnny Pneumatic]

why is the bible obssessed with the numbers 3 1/2, 7, 12, 14, 40, 49 and 50?

[El Greco]

Maybe it's the Biblonacci sequence

[geni]

Originally posted by bewareofdogmas
why is the bible obssessed with the numbers 3 1/2, 7, 12, 14, 40, 49 and 50?

well I think that even back then they were on a seven day week and 40 means a long time. I don't know about the others (and where does 3 1/2 come from?)

[triadboy]

Originally posted by bewareofdogmas
why is the bible obssessed with the numbers 3 1/2, 7, 12, 14, 40, 49 and 50?

I believe '40' is a generation in number talk. (Don't forget they didn't live that long back then)

[hgc]

Originally posted by bewareofdogmas
why is the bible obssessed with the numbers 3 1/2, 7, 12, 14, 40, 49 and 50? Bible nothing. Check out Kabbalah, or as I call it, The Great Big Book of Midieval Jewish Numerology, updated for the modern credophiles.

[Johnny Pneumatic]

isn't there a verse in the bible that says to not practice numerology?

[Yahweh]

No mention of "666"?

[c4ts]

Originally posted by El Greco
Maybe it's the Biblonacci sequence

:hit:

[Johnny Pneumatic]

Originally posted by SkepticJ
isn't there a verse in the bible that says to not practice numerology?


Bumped before two years pass by without an answer.

[Hutch]

Originally posted by SkepticJ
why is the bible obssessed with the numbers 3 1/2, 7, 12, 14, 40, 49 and 50?

God likes to play Keno when he's in Vegas?

[Lisa Simpson]

Perhaps it's just good old humans-seeking-patterns. Put numbers to something, it becomes a pattern.

[c4ts]

Originally posted by hgc
Bible nothing. Check out Kabbalah, or as I call it, The Great Big Book of Midieval Jewish Numerology, updated for the modern credophiles.

Years ago I took a course in Kaballah. It's mostly that friggin' Tree of Life, with obvious advice on the branches like "be nice to your family" and "stay healthy." The numerology part comes from assigning Hebrew letters numerical values (because the Ancient Hebrew language didn't have separate symbols for digits or something like that). So if you add up certain words you get certain numbers. Favorite words translate into favorite numbers, and then you add them up to get multiples or exponents of the same numbers or something like that. I figure you could do the same thing with a bowl of alphabet soup.

[Achán hiNidráne]

Originally posted by c4ts
Years ago I took a course in Kaballah.

Did you get to create a golem?;)

[c4ts]

Originally posted by Mark A. Siefert
Did you get to create a golem?;)

You don't get to do anything fun, just focus on that stupid tree all day.

[Kopji]

Originally posted by SkepticJ
Bumped before two years pass by without an answer.

The passage you might be thinking of is Deuteronomy 18:9-12

9 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you.

Nice to know Sylvia Browne and John Edwards get their tickets to hell punched here... :)

I think a better one against hidden messages in the Bible is this passage from Isaiah:

Isaiah 48:16
"Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning..."

The distastefulness I have for a lot of numerology is that it takes 'true understanding' of scripture out of the reach of the simple childlike believer and places it in the hands of well educated authorities ("clergy"). Numerology seems like going the wrong direction.

The other word for this number stuff is "Gematria", and you might find more by searching on that.

[Beerina]

Originally posted by SkepticJ
why is the bible obssessed with the numbers 3 1/2, 7, 12, 14, 40, 49 and 50?

Well, for 7 anyway, there were seven visible heavenly bodies -- the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn -- and we basically named each day of the week after one (albeit in a somewhat cryptic way in some cases. But the tortured etymology still exists.)

Had there been eight, or six, that would be the length of our week. (Ironically, Uranus is also visible to the naked eye, but it moves so slowly 'gainst yon stars that no culture on earth recognized it.)

Why the Bible's importance on 7 does not embarass modern Christians I don't know...

14 = two, count 'em, two 7's! This is the count of something really important!

And 49, let's not even go there (to say nothing of crap like "seven times seventy generations" and whatnot...)