18: The Importance of Numbers in the Bible

Eighteen: the age when one becomes an adult and can vote in public elections. It is an important, even life-changing, age in the United Kingdom. No longer constricted by parental consent, eighteen-year-olds have legal control of their lives, actions and decisions. In Chinese tradition, eighteen is also a lucky number because it sounds similar to a word that means, “Definitely get rich”. 
 
In chemistry, the periodic table is comprised of several groups. The eighteenth group is known as the Noble Gases. These include Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon and Radon. The number eighteen is also the atomic number of Argon. 
 
Traditionally, there are eighteen holes on a golf course and in Australian football each team has eighteen players on the pitch during a game. Some countries refer to the penalty area on a football pitch as “the 18” due to it extending 18 yards in front and to either side of the goal.
 
The Hebrew word for “life” (chai) has the numerical value (gematria) of eighteen. As a result, it has become customary for Jews to give donations in multiples of eighteen as an expression of a blessing for long life. The American author Joseph Heller was initially going to name his well-known novel Catch-18due to the Hebrew meaning of the number, however, it was changed to Catch-22to avoid confusion with another book of a similar name.
 
In the Bible, the number eighteen has come to mean bondage or slavery. Before Saul was made king of Israel, the Israelites were made slaves to many nations. A couple of their enemies, Eglon the Moabite king and the Philistines and Ammonites, held them in bondage for eighteen years:

• Judges 3:14 (NIV): The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.
•  Judges 10:7-8 (NIV): He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.

God eventually freed his people from their oppressors with the help of Ehud, Jephthah and Samson. 
 
In the King James Version of the Bible, the word “bondage” in relation to the Israelites is mentioned eighteen times. In all these instances, it is through God that they are saved:  I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:2-3, KJV)
 
Another form of bondage has a more spiritual nature. Many people in the Bible are slaves to the demons that possess them or are influenced by other people. During his ministry, Jesus healed many of these people including a crippled woman. “… a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteenyears. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.” When Jesus healed her he announced, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” (Luke 13, NIV)
 
There are other occasions when the number eighteen is mentioned in scripture, but not all of these relate to bondage and slavery. Here are a few examples I have found:

• Jeremiah 52:21 (NIV): Each pillar was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference; each was four fingers thick, and hollow.
• 2 Kings 22:3 (NIV): In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the Lord.
• 2 Kings 23:23 (NIV): But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.
• Jeremiah 32:1 (NIV): This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
• Luke 13:4 (NIV): Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?
• 2 Samuel 8:13 (NIV): And David became famous after he returned from striking down eighteen thousand Edomitesin the Valley of Salt.
• 1 Chronicles 18:12 (NIV): Abishai son of Zeruiah struck down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
• Judges 20:25 (NIV): This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites, all of them armed with swords.
• Judges 20:44 (NIV):Eighteen thousand Benjamites fell, all of them valiant fighters.
• 1 Kings 15:1 (NIV): In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah became king of Judah
• 2 Kings 24:8 (NIV): Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months.
• 2 Kings 3:1 (NIV): Joram son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years.

 
When reading the Bible, you will have noticed that buildings are often described in great detail, down to the exact measurements. You will have also noticed that these measurements are usually recorded in cubits. This was the length of a man’s forearm from the tip of his middle finger to the point of his elbow. It is believed the average man’s forearm is about 18 inches long. 
 
The book of the New Testament 1 Corinthians has references or content from eighteen books of the Old Testament. One of these is Psalm 110:1, which throughout the New Testament, plus the original verse itself, is referenced eighteen times.

1. Psalm 111:1 (NIV): The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
2. Matthew 22:44 (NIV): ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’
3. Matthew 26:64 (NIV): “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
4. Mark 12:36 (NIV): David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’
5. Mark 14:62 (NIV): “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
6. Mark 16:19 (NIV): After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.
7. Luke 20:42-43 (NIV): David himself declares in the Book of Psalms: “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’
8. Luke 22:69 (NIV): But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.
9. Acts 2:34-35 (NIV): For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,“‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’
10. Romans 8:34 (NIV): Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
11. 1 Corinthians 15:25 (NIV): For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
12. Ephesians 1:20 (NIV): he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms
13. Colossians 3:1 (NIV): Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
14. Hebrews 1:3 (NIV): The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
15. Hebrews 1:13 (NIV): To which of the angels did God ever say, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?
16. Hebrews 8:1 (NIV): Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
17. Hebrews 10:12 (NIV): But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.
18. Hebrews 12:2 (NIV): fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 
Finally, I’ll leave you with the knowledge that there are two eighteen-lettered names in the Bible:Jonathelemrechokim and Mahershalalhashbaz, the latter being Isaiah’s son.