Numbers in the Bible

Some numbers in the Bible

Seem particularly special,

That they contain secrets

Are believed by some people.

Some people use them

To try to tell the future,

This is biblical numerology:

A dangerous endeavour.

Some use them to predict

The coming of the Lord

But no man knows this

As is stated in God’s Word.

Come and walk with me

As some numbers we explore:

Take the significance given

And try to predict no more.

Let’s start at the beginning

In the beginning God…

Created heaven and earth

Spread that abroad.

The Lord God is one

Besides Him, there’s no other,

Read Deuteronomy 6 verse 4

And clear up that matter.

Recorded in Genesis 1 verse 16

God made two great lights:

The greater to rule the day

And the lesser to rule the night.

There are three in the Trinity

The Father, the Word and the Spirit,

Read Genesis 1 and John 1

And there you will see it.

Four heads to the river

Than extended out of Eden,

Genesis chapter 2 shows this

In describing the Garden.

Five virgins were wise

And the other five were not,

Read about it in Matthew 25

And then choose your lot.

Six is the number of days

Allotted to God’s creative acts,

Study Exodus 20 verse 11

To avoid the evolution trap.

On day seven God rested

His work was complete

Genesis 2 verse 2 asserts this

Hence I need not repeat.

Eight days were given

For the circumcising of a child,

Such was the case of Jesus

As Luke chapter 2:21 describes.

Of ten lepers Jesus cleansed

Just one had returned,

Nine of them did not say thanks

In Luke 17 of this we learn.

There are Ten Commandments

Which Jesus précis into two

Look up Exodus chapter 20

And get the ten within view.

When Jesus ascended

Eleven disciples were left,

Matthew 27 tells about Judas:

His betrayal and his death.

Twelve tribes, twelve disciples

There’s so much more of twelve,

In the Old Testament and the New

Check it out if you care to delve.

Four and twenty or twenty-four

Are the elders in Revelation:

Read chapters 4 through 19

And you will get the explanation.

  

Thirty pieces of silver

To effect the betrayal of Christ

Matthew chapter 26 and verse 15

Tells about Judas and his vice.

Let me now jump to forty

A very significant number indeed

Re: the temptations of Jesus Christ

Which Matthew and Luke reveal.

Fifty is about Pentecost

A shifting from the Old to the New,

The birth of the church is now in view

Read about it in Acts chapter 2.

Seventy years of captivity

Israel was banished to Babylon,

Read Jeremiah chapter 25

Of Israel’s pending desolation.

One hundred is symbolic

Of the abundance of fruit produced,

From a reading of Mark chapter 4

This we can deduce.

In Genesis 5 verse 27

Is nine hundred and sixty-nine:

That is the age of Methuselah

The oldest man of any time.

One thousand is my final number

It speaks of the coming millennium

Go to Revelation 20 and read

About Jesus’ millennium kingdom.

But note the unknown number

In Revelation 7 verse 9:

A multitude that no man can number

That number is mine.

Stewart Russell © October 2018

An Ominous Sound

He’d been away a long time

They longed for his return

They waited and they waited

And in them impatience burned

He had been their shoulder

Their counselor and their friend

He had been their guide

Without him all this would end

He had gone up the Mount

At the insistence of their God

Not likely to return they thought

And spread this news abroad

No word was heard from him

For more than forty days

And the people decided

To do something about the delay

Since he had been gone

It appeared that God had gone too

So they communicated to Aaron

What they thought he should do

Make us a golden calf they said

So that we may have a God

For there is certainly none

Since Moses went abroad

Well Aaron in his weakness

Acceded to their demand

And as we all surely know

This was against God’s plan

Of course God was always aware

Of all that they were doing

And this he told to Moses

And insist that he be going

God was mighty angry

And thought to destroy them all

But because of his promise to Abraham

He wouldn’t make that call

  

And so Moses left the Mount

And later with Joshua connected

Who had journeyed part of the way

Since at the top he was not expected

Moses would hear from God

This was at God’s request

So while Joshua stopped midway

Moses went all the rest

While on their way to the camp

They heard a peculiar sound

To Joshua it was the noise of war

Moses felt he was wrong

It was not the sound of victory

Or the cry of the vanquished

Rather is was the noise of something

That neither of them would wish

It was the sound of idol worship

The sound of revelry

The people were eating and drinking

And playing immorally

They professed to worship the Lord

By means of the golden calf

God had given his word to them

But they chose a different path

This was the sound of rebellion

And many of the people died

It is God’s word we must obey

And not that which men decide

Stewart Russell © May 2018

The Bible in Poetry: The Exodus

Extracted from the Bible In Poetry

From Genesis to Revelation

The Exodus

Then another Pharoah who knew not Joseph rose,

Mistreating all of Israel whom he viciously opposed;

The work he gave was hard and the hours too were long,

There was not a joyous moment not even a single song.

But not far in the river Nile hidden among the reeds,

There was a special baby found to meet their needs;

His mother fearing for his life hid him in the Nile,

While Miriam kept up vigil watching all the while.

As Moses' name suggested he was 'taken from the water',

Right where he was discovered by the Pharoah’s daughter;

Growing up in the palace he was treated as royalty,

Soon this very family would become his sworn enemy.

Defending a Hebrew slave, he killed a man one day,

And so to far off Midian he was forced to run away;

Not long after he arrived he saw a marvelous light,

Bush burning, not consumed, what a wondrous sight!

"Take off your shoes," the voice of God had sound,

"For the place where you are standing is holy ground."

Moses did not hesitate but hastened to obey,

God was bringing deliverance, beginning from that day.

He was told, "Go!" Command Pharoah to let My people go."

Pharoah laughed and wondered who would dare to tell him so.

“I'm the only God in Egypt and even your God should know,

So dear old Moses go back and tell him Pharoah said no."

Pharoah was up against it though he was not aware,

God is greater that any Pharaoh; that was made very clear.

He lost face rapidly as God displayed His power,

No refuge for Egyptians, not even in the strongest tower.

On that dreaded night the loudest of screams was heard

As Pharoah learnt a lesson about the power of God’s word;

Every first born perished where the blood was not applied,

Pharoah’s house was no different, his first born had also died.

Just as was expected, Pharoah forced to eat his word,

Commanded all Israel to leave but they’d already heard;

The Egyptians tried one last time to stop the Hebrew’s flight,

But drowned in the Red Sea; that was a horrible plight!

 

But in the same Red Sea over the smoothened stones,

The Israelites walked securely carrying Joseph’s bones;

God had proven once again His promises he will keep,

Even when they look delayed, our God does not sleep.

Wilderness Wanderings

And so began the wandering of Israel the Bible tells,

Of the Hebrew children so unruly they started to rebel;

They argued oft with Moses his word they often spurned,

And they yearned the more for Egypt, even longing to return.

What should’ve been a journey of just eleven days,

Became as many as forty years as the wilderness became a maze;

They wandered and they wandered from one place to another,

And Moses had a troubled time just keeping them together.

They grumbled and they fret, they quarreled and complained,

God sent then fiery serpents that caused them death and pain;

“Make a brazen serpent, Moses, suspend it from a pole,”

And as those bitten beheld it, they were made completely whole.

Of those who were in Egypt none would enter Canaan land,

Except for Joshua and Caleb, there was not another man;

All the others would pass away because of their unbelief,

And so their life in the wilderness was one of torturous grief.

Even Moses, the view he had was from Pisgah’s Mountain

Because in anger struck the rock as to create a fountain;

He should have spoken as instructed but rather gave it a lash,

And so he was was forbidden entry for being this rash.

Eventually they had arrived at the foot of the Mount Sinai,

God had warned them keep away unless they want to die;

He beckoned Moses up the mount so he could meet with Him,

And Joshua also went along part way up the mountain.

When Moses returned what he saw made him mad,

There and then he threw a tantrum just like a little lad;

The law, slammed to the ground simply broke apart,

And up the mountain again Moses made a fresh start.

The Decalogue

And finally the commandments to the Israelites were given,

They were only ten in all, just one short of eleven;

But the children of Israel broke them time and time again,

And often they were punished suffering much unneeded pain.

The first commandment was to have no other gods but me

Second, make no graven image in the sky on land or sea;

Third, never take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,

The seventh day remember, was the fourth law in the chain.

First commandment with promise, honour father and mother,

The sixth commandment instructs do not commit a murder;

The seventh commandment states do not commit adultery,

The eighth commands us not to steal, today it’s larceny.

Do not bear false witness is commandment number nine,

Covet not the neighbour’s own, from this you should decline.

Ten commandments in all was the Decalogue comprised,

Given to the nation Israel to teach them how to thrive.

In the Promised Land

Eventually the time did come and they crossed over Jordan,

With Joshua at the head they entered the land of Canaan;

They overthrew great Jericho and so the conquering began,

All who had come against them were defeated or just ran.

 

But then they made a slip that caused an awful mess,

Defeated by an army whose numbers had been less;

Achan was the one that caused it, his heart on sin was bent,

He took of the accursed thing then hid it in his tent.

Joshua went before the Lord, so saddened by disgrace,

That Israel had turned in flight before the enemy’s face;

Achan was arrested and was sentenced to be stoned

Along with his whole household, so he did not die alone.

The land was then divided just as God had prescribed,

All received their portion except for the Levite tribe;

To them a tenth was given of all the other’s wealth,

Though caring for the temple, they still enjoyed good health.

Stewart Russell © 2013