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28: The Importance of Numbers in the Bible

7/7/2019

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Twenty-eight is the atomic number of nickel - a metal that can be found in a number of coins, including the 20p, 50p, £1 and £2. There are twenty-eight days in February (yes, there are twenty-eight days in all months!) except in Leap Years. There are twenty-eight letters in the Danish, Swedish, Arabic and Esperanto alphabets. There are approximately twenty-eight grams in an ounce. 
 
In India, there is a trick-taking card game called Twenty-Eight, although, some people confusingly also call it Twenty-Nine! There are twenty-eight Domino tiles in a standard Domino set. 
 
Apparently, twenty-eight is the age when a man finishes growing, and women will know that a menstrual cycle is roughly twenty-eight days. If you have been married for twenty-eight years (congratulations to you), you are celebrating your tourmaline-wedding anniversary. 
 
In the Hebrew alphanumeric code Gematria, koakh, which means either “power” or “energy”, corresponds to the number twenty-eight. Whether or not this influences the use of the number twenty-eight in the Bible is undisclosed, so let’s look at a few examples and see if there is any link.
 
  • Exodus 26:2 (NIV): All the curtains are to be the same size--twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide.
  • Exodus 36:9 (NIV): All the curtains were the same size--twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide.
  • 2 Kings 10:36 (NIV): The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.
  • 2 Chronicles 11:21 (NIV): Rehoboam loved Maakah daughter of Absalom more than any of his other wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
  • Ezra 8:11 (KJV): And of the sons of Bebai; Zechariah the son of Bebai, and with him twenty and eight males.
These are the only uses of twenty-eight in the Bible. Since there are so few, it is impossible to tell if there is any meaning attached, however, the fact that Exodus records the precise length of the curtains implies there may have been some significance.
 
Twenty-eight known authors wrote the Old Testament:
  1. Amos
  2. Daniel
  3. David
  4. Esther
  5. Ezekiel
  6. Ezra
  7. Habakkuk
  8. Haggai
  9. Hezekiah
  10. Hosea
  11. Isaiah
  12. Jeremiah
  13. Job
  14. Joel
  15. Jonah
  16. Joshua
  17. Malachi
  18. Micah
  19. Mordecai
  20. Moses
  21. Nahum 
  22. Nehemiah
  23. Obadiah
  24. Ruth
  25. Samuel
  26. Solomon
  27. Zechariah
  28. Zephaniah
 
The Gospel of Matthew and the book of Acts contain twenty-eight chapters, making them the longest in the New Testament – although, from previous articles, you will know that Luke is longer by word count.
 
According to the visions of Ann-Catherine Emmerich, twenty-eight armed Pharisees escorted Jesus whilst he carried his cross to Golgotha. 
 
The name David appears in twenty-eight different books of the Bible. The phrase “the Lamb” in reference to Jesus Christ appears twenty-eight times as does the word “Hallelujah”. The words “discipline” and “celestial” are also used twenty-eight times. 
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    Author

    Rev'd Martin Wheadon
    I have been ordained as a minister since 2001, working on my own and within a team. I was the minister at Gants Hill URC until 30th September 2021. I also have 34 years of banking behind me, during which I enjoyed developing teams and working to deadlines. Pastoral care, preaching, being alongside people and journeying with members of congregations on their spiritual journeys are my delights. 

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