90-99: The Importance of Numbers in the Bible

Ninety: the number of minutes in a football match; the number of degrees in a right angle. Unlike other multiples of ten, the number ninety appears very little in the Bible. In fact, I have only found three examples.  
 
Twice, the number is written in Genesis:

• Genesis 5:9 (NIV): When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan.
• Genesis 17:17 (NIV): Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 

What is strange about these two examples is Abraham does not believe he could be a father at the age of one hundred and yet, eight chapters earlier, Enosh became a father at ninety. 
 
The third example of the number ninety I found is in Ezekiel’s description of the New Temple he was shown in a vision.

• Ezekiel 41:12 (NIV): The building facing the temple courtyard on the west side was seventy cubitswide. The wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.

 
Ninety-one is the sum of the numbers one to thirteen. Some people claim this means the number is linked to the Son of God, i.e. thirteen people at the Last Supper. The actual number, however, does not appear in the Bible.
 
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the longest place name in the world consists of ninety-two characters: Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu. This is the name of a hill in New Zealand. Before you panic, I can give you the pronunciation: Toe-mah-tah-fah-kah-tah-ngi-hah-nga-kaw-oh-oh-aw-ta-ma-te-a-too-ri-poo-ka-ka-pee-kee-mow-nga-haw-raw-noo-koo-paw-kai-feh-noo-ah-kee-tah-nah-tah-hoo. If that is still too much of a tongue twister you will be pleased to know they often shorten the name to Taumata. 
 
Ninety-two does not appear in the Bible. Nor does the number ninety-three. According to the visions of Augustinian Canoness Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), the apostle Thomas was ninety-three when he died.
 
The number ninety-four does not appear in the Bible either. Once again, we can turn to the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich for a fun “fact” about the number. Apparently, the apostle John died in 101 AD at the age of ninety-four. She claimed the remains of John’s physical body are not on Earth because it had been transported to somewhere else, a place between the Orient and the North, “a resplendent place like a sun.” 
 
The number ninety-five is written twice in the Bible. The first is found in a list of descendants of the people of Israel who returned to Jerusalem from exile:

• Ezra 2:20 (NIV): of Gibbar 95

The second mention records the same thing, however, the name given is different:

• Nehemiah 7:25 (NIV): of Gibeon 95

 
The number ninety-six also appears twice in the Bible. 

• Ezra 8:35 (NIV): Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven male lambs and, as a sin offering,twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord.
• Jeremiah 52:23 (NIV): There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the total number of pomegranates above the surrounding network was a hundred.

 
Alas, the number ninety-seven, the twenty-fifth prime, gets no mention. Some theological historians claim that the apostle James the less was ninety-seven when he died. Did you know, there are ninety-seven pyramids in Egypt?
 
The number ninety-eight appears three times. Eli, a leader of Israel, was ninety-eight when he died:

• 1 Samuel 4:15 (NIV): who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes had failed so that he could not see.

 
The second and third mention of the number ninety-eight occurs in the same list of exiles as mentioned above. Ezra 2:16 (NIV) records “of Ater (through Hezekiah) 98.” Nehemiah 7:21 records the same.
 
Finally, we reach ninety-nine, of which there are six mentions in the Bible. It is the atomic number of Einsteinium, named after the famous scientist. It is also the name of a particularly tasty ice cream. 

In the Old Testament, ninety-nine is mentioned twice in relation to Abraham’s age.

• Genesis 17:1 (NIV): When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
• Genesis 17:24 (NIV): Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised

 
In the New Testament, the number is mentioned in the Parable of the Wandering Sheep. This parable is written in two gospels. Matthew:

• Matthew 18:12 (NIV): “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?
• Matthew 18:13 (NIV): And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.

And Luke:

• Luke 15:4 (NIV): Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
• Luke 15:7 (NIV): I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

 
That ends the nineties. Once again, these number have no particular meaning in the Bible, however, I hope you have found it as interesting as I have in discovering these little snippets of information.