Many people think of numerology, and they imagine superstitions. But the Bible uses numbers to strengthen theological concerns in an interesting fashion.

Like many ancient peoples, Hebrews believed certain numbers had significance. The following list will give you a brief idea of what they believed: 1 – God, 2 – society, 3 – heavenly, divine, Trinity , 4 – earth, worldly, 5 – man, imperfection, 6 – evil, incompleteness,  7 – perfection, 12 – harmony, completeness, 40 – completing, finishing.

Consider places where these numbers pop up in the Bible. In Genesis 1, for example, there are several repetitions in Hebrew of the number seven as God creates. In Revelation, the number of the beast is 666. You can probably see why. Then there is the number 40, used often in both the Old and New Testaments. Take a look the next time you are reading the Bible and see how often key numbers are used and repeated for a shorthand method of revealing deeper issues.