23: The Importance of Numbers in the Bible

The number twenty-three is the ninth prime number and the atomic number of the chemical element Vanadium, a rare, soft, grey metal. A human cell has twenty-three pairs of chromosomes and the earth’s axis is tilted at an approximately 23° angle. The soft drink Dr Pepper apparently contains twenty-three different flavourings – who knew there were so many?
 
In Islam, Muslims believe the entire Qur’an was revealed to the prophet Muhammad over a period of twenty-three years. They also believe that the first five verses of the Qur’an were received on the 23rd night of the 9th Islamic month.
 
In the Bible, one of the most quoted passages is the “Shepherd Psalm”, or Psalm 23. 
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right pathsfor his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4, NIV)
 
It takes a great deal of searching for the number twenty-three in scripture and there appears to be no meaning attached. Here is what I have managed to find:

• Judges 10:1-2 (NIV): After the time of Abimelek, a man of Issachar named Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim. He ledIsrael twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.
• 2 Kings 23:31 (NIV): Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. 
• 2 Kings 12:6 (NIV): But by the twenty-third year of King Joash the priests still had not repaired the temple.
• 2 Kings 13:1 (NIV): In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years.
• 1 Chronicles 2:22 (NIV): Segub was the father of Jair, who controlled twenty-three towns in Gilead.
• Jeremiah 25:3 (NIV): For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.

 
Out of interest, I have looked up chapters 23, verse 23 in the books of the Bible to see if there are any words of wisdom hidden in them. Here are a few of them:

• Exodus 23:23 (NIV): My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.
• Jeremiah 23:23 (NIV): “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the Lord, “and not a God far away?”
• Deuteronomy 23:23 (NIV): Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.
• Proverbs 23:23 (NIV): Buy the truth and do not sell it—wisdom, instruction and insight as well.
• Matthew 23:23 (NIV): Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
• Luke 23:23 (NIV): But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed.

 
How many children did Adam and Eve have? We know from Genesis 5 that they had more than the three named sons:  After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. (Genesis 5:4) The first-century historian Josephus wrote in his works (The Works of Josephus) that Adam had a total of fifty-six children, twenty-three of whom were girls.  
 
Finally, did you know that Jezebel is mentioned twenty-three times in the Bible? She is the evilest woman mentioned in scripture and yet she gets more mentions than the holier characters, for instance, Mary, the mother of Jesus!