33&34: The Importance of Numbers in the Bible

Once again, I am combining two numbers in one post. There may not be many appearances of the numbers thirty-three and thirty-four in the Bible but it is worth looking at some of the theories and examples and judging for ourselves whether there is any correlation.
 
Thirty-three is the atomic number of arsenic. Water boils at thirty-three degrees on the Newton scale. The human spine is made up of thirty-three vertebrae. 
 
In Islam, prayer beads are arranged in sets of thirty-three. In the Vedic religion, there are thirty-three deities. In Buddhism, the second level of heaven is called Trāyastrimśa, which means “of the thirty-three (gods)”. 
 
In Christianity, it is believed that Jesus was thirty-three when he was crucified, although there is no direct acknowledgement of this in the Bible. The number thirty-three is only written six times:

• Genesis 46:15 (NIV): These were the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram,besides his daughter Dinah. These sons and daughters of his were thirty-three in all.
• Leviticus: 12:4 (NIV): Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over.
• 2 Samuel 5:5 (NIV): In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
• 1 Kings 2:11 (NIV): He had reigned forty years over Israel—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem.
• 1 Chronicles 3:4b (NIV): David reigned in Jerusalem thirty-three years
• 1 Chronicles 29:27 (NIV): He ruled over Israel forty years—seven in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem.

 
The number thirty-three is sometimes linked to the promises of God. The thirty-third time that Noah’s name is mentioned in the Bible is Genesis 9:8 in which He tells Noah and his sons that He wishes to establish a covenant with Noah, setting a rainbow in the sky as a symbol of His promise. 
 
The thirty-third time that Abraham’s name is mentioned in the Bible is Genesis 21:2 just after God had fulfilled his promise: Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. (NIV)
 
In Genesis 28, Jacob had a dream in which he saw a “stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” (28:12 NIV) It is then that Jacob promises to God a tenth of all he owned. This was also the thirty-third time Jacob’s name was mentioned in the Bible.
 
Let’s have a look at our next number, thirty-four – the atomic number of selenium.
 
The number thirty-four only appears once in the Bible:

• When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg.

Although some theologians have made various claims about the meaning of the number, it is unlikely that it held any significance in scripture.
 
It has been calculated that the word “devil” appears thirty-four times in the Bible. Interestingly, some versions of the Bible translate the original word as “enchanter”.
 
Leah, Jacob’s first wife was mentioned thirty-four times in the Bible. Thirty-three of these instances were in the Book of Genesis, the other can be found in Ruth 4:11 (NIV): Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.”
 
Finally, the last thing I will mention is the Book of Deuteronomy. This is the eighth longest book of the Bible and contains a total of thirty-four chapters.