30: The Importance of Numbers in the Bible

Thirty: the minimum age for senators in the United States of America. Did you know a shape with thirty sides is called a tricontagon? I have looked it up online and at glance, a regular tricontagon could be mistaken for a circle. All its interior angles are 168°. 

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​Written as -30-, this is a copy editor’s typographical notation indicating the end of a newspaper article. In years of marriage, a thirtieth wedding anniversary is represented with pearls. In tennis, the number thirty represents the second point gained in a game.
 
Thirty days has September, April, June and November. The Thirty Years War lasted, would you believe it, thirty years. The address of The Gherkin in London is 30 St Mary Axe.
 
In the Bible, it has been calculated that there are approximately eighty-seven instances of the number thirty. Scholars have interpreted the number’s meaning as a symbol of devotion to a particular task or calling. According to Numbers 4, Aaronic priests were allowed to serve from the age of thirty. It was believed that this was the age when a person reached both physical and mental maturity and, therefore, could be trusted with major responsibilities. 
 
The link between maturity and responsibilities or callings continues throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament where we know from Luke 3:23 (NIV) that “Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry.” It is also believed John the Baptist was thirty when he began to preach.
 
In Genesis, Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh (41:46). In 1 Samuel, we are told that Saul became king at the age of thirty (13:1), as did David (2 Samuel 5:4). Ezekiel was thirty years old when he received his first vision of God (Ezekiel 1:1). 
 
The first book of the Bible also reveals three men who became fathers at the age of thirty:

• Genesis 11:14 (NIV): When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber.
• Genesis 11:18 (NIV): When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu.
• Genesis 11:22 (NIV): When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor.

 
The number thirty can also represent the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. It is generally believed that Jesus was crucified in the year AD 30. Prior to his death, Judas had betrayed Jesus in return for thirty silver coins (Matthew 26:15), which Judas tried to return after he saw that he was condemned (27:3). 
 
Judas’ betrayal for thirty pieces of silver had been alluded to in Zechariah 11:12:

• Zechariah 11:12 (NIV): I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.

 
It appears in the Old Testament that the period of mourning was thirty days long. Numbers 20:29 tells us that when the Israelites heard about Aaron’s death, they mourned for thirty days. In Deuteronomy 34:8, it is recorded that the Israelites grieved for Moses for thirty days “until the time of weeping and mourning was over.” (34:8)
 
In 2 Samuel 23, there is a list of names that make up King David’s mighty warriors. They are known as “The Thirty”.

1. Asahel
2. Elhanan
3. Shammah the Harodite
4. Elika the Herodite
5. Helez the Paltite
6. Ira
7. Abiezer
8. Sibbekai the Hushathite
9. Zalmon the Ahohite
10. Maharai the Netophathite
11. Heled
12. Ithai
13. Benaiah the Pirathonite
14. Hiddai
15. Abi-Albon the Arbathite
16. Azmaveth the Barhumite
17. Eliahba the Shaalbonite
18. Jonathan
19. Ahiam
20. Eliphalet
21. Eliam
22. Hezro the Carmelite
23. Paarai the Arbite
24. Igal
25. Zelek the Ammonite
26. Naharai the Beerothite
27. Ira the Ithrite
28. Gareb the Ithrite
29. Uriah the Hittite 
30. Abishai

 
Let’s look at some other examples of the number thirty in the Bible. I won’t bore you by listing them all:

• Genesis 6:15 (NIV): This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.
• Genesis 18:30 (NIV): Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
• Genesis 32:15 (NIV): thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.
• Exodus 21:32 (NIV): If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death
• Exodus 26:8 (NIV): All eleven curtains are to be the same size--thirty cubits long and four cubits wide.
• Leviticus 27:4 (NIV): for a female, set her value at thirty shekels
• Judges 10:4 (NIV): He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair
• Judges 12:9 (NIV): He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan. Ibzan led Israel seven years.
• Judges 14:12-13 (NIV): “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”
• Judges 20:39 (NIV): The Benjamites had begun to inflict casualties on the Israelites (about thirty), and they said, “We are defeating them as in the first battle.
• 1 Samuel 9:22 (NIV): Then Samuel brought Saul and his servant into the hall and seated them at the head of those who were invited—about thirty in number.
• 1 Kings 4:22 (NIV): Solomon’s daily provisions were thirty cors of the finest flour and sixty cors of meal
• Esther 4:11 (NIV): “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold sceptre to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”
• Proverbs 22:20 (NIV): Have I not written thirty sayings for you, sayings of counsel and knowledge
• Daniel 6:7 (NIV): The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.

 
The number thirty has appeared in a number of visions during the past millennia. Of course, we cannot assume these are correct since there is no means of backing up these claims, however, they are interesting nonetheless.
 
Mary of Jesus of Ágreda (1602-65) claimed that when the Virgin Mary reached the “perfect” (i.e. physically and mentally mature) age of thirty, she stopped ageing. The visions of Maria Valtorta (1897-1961), a Franciscan tertiary, revealed that Joseph was thirty when he married the then twelve-year-old Mary. Anne Catherine Emmerich’s (1774-1824) vision told her that Jesus was thirty-years-old when his (step) father Joseph passed away. 
 
The little known Saint Epiphane began the tradition that Lazarus was thirty when he died and was subsequently resurrected by Jesus. Lazarus went on to live for an additional thirty years after this event. 
 
I finish this article with one word that occurs thirty times in the Bible: empire. Whilst it appears twenty-seven times in the Old Testament, it only appears three times in the New Testament.