3: The Importance of Numbers in the Bible

In modern society, people tend to group things in sets of three, for instance, the Rule of Three (Latin: omne trium perfectum) in which things, whether good or bad, come in threes.  The number three has been considered by mathematicians to be a perfect numeral. When three is multiplied by any number, the sum of the resulting digits will also be a multiple of three. For instance, 3 x 24 = 72, (7 + 2 = 9), 9 is divisible by three; and 3 x 5446 = 16338, (1+6+3+3+8 = 21), 21 is divisible by three. This process only occurs with the number three. 
 
Some sources claim the number three is used 467 times in the Bible and other sources claim there are more. There are 27 books in the New Testament, which, using the process mentioned above, is a number divisible by three. It is also the result of 3 x 3 x 3 or 3 to the power of three. 
 
Many things in the Christian faith come in sets of three, for instance, the Holy Trinity (“tri” meaning three) that is an amalgamation of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Also, God is considered to have three attributes: omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence. There are considered to be three Patriarchs: Abel, Enoch and Noah, and after the Great Flood, three righteous Father’s: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel)
 
Most significant, perhaps, were the three days Christ lay dead until his Resurrection: “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’” (Matthew 27:63, NIV) Prior to this, Jesus had prayed three times in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest (Matthew 26:36-46) and, during hiscrucifixion, darkness covered the land for three hours. Matthew 27:45 (NIV) “From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.”
 
At Christmas time, our Nativity plays usually feature three Wise Men or Magi. The Bible, however, does not state how many of magi visited the infant Jesus, however, they brought with them three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. 
 
Let’s take a look at the other examples of the number three I have found:

• Three people witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration on Mount Hermon. “After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.” (Matthew 17:1 NIV)
• Paul quoted directly from three Greek poets. Epimenides and Aratus in Acts 17:28; Menander in 1 Corinthians 15:33; and Epimenides once again in Titus 1:12.
• In Genesis 12, God gave Israel three gifts: his law, the land of their inheritance, and their calling.
• The Bible only mentions the names of three angels: Archangel Michael (Jude 9 NIV), Gabriel (Luke 1:19 NIV) and Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12 KJV). There is a fourth, Raphael, but he is only mentioned in the Apocrypha (Tobit). 
• Revelation 21:13 (KJV): “On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.”
• Revelation 16:13-14 (NIV): “Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.”
• Exodus 10:22 (NIV): “So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days.”
• Genesis 6:10 (NIV): “Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.”
• Matthew 12:40 (NIV): “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
• In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus was tempted three times by the devil while he was fasting for forty days in the Judaean desert. 
• All four Gospels record that Saint Peter denied Jesus three times, and in John 21, Peter affirmed his faith in Jesus three times. 
• There are three Synoptic Gospel (Matthew, Mark and Luke) and three epistles of John.
• In Acts 9, Paul the Apostle was blinded for three days during his conversion to Christianity. 

 
Do you have any other Biblical examples of the number three? What do you think the significance is if any?