The Number 40 in the Bible

The Number 40 in the Bible:  The Number of Trials, Troubles, Testing and Judgment
God’s universe is filled with numbers.  Some folk (many, but certainly not all scientists) worship the “number” and others worship the Creator who made those numbers.  I liken it to other “religions” where in they worship a thing, rather than the One who Made It (and ALL).  As for me, I will worship the Potter and not the pot!   Who am I, the clay, to speak?  
Today, I’d like to take a brief look at the number 40.  I was speaking to my brother the other day and we got to talking about this number and found many amazing connections.   A little research and I found that this precious number was listed 146 times in the Bible.  To be sure, I am not the originator of all of these findings.  Nor are these connections a total listing of all of them.  I encourage others to do their own investigations (be Berean) and seek out other messages brought forth by this most interesting number.
Genesis 7:4
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
Here we see God using the number 40 as a number of judgment.  Mankind was found to be so corrupt that all were wiped out.  Eight people alone were saved with two of every kind of animal in order to start again.   Here is God’s mercy.  We deserved utter destruction, but He did not give us what we had earned through our sinful ways.
Numbers 13:25
And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
This is where Moses sent the freed Hebrew slaves into Canaan to spy out the land.  God had ordered them to re-enter and re-take the land from whence they had come.  This is the only land on the planet which was deeded by GOD in perpetuity to one particular people, the Hebrews.  The men sent, returned after searching t he land for forty days.  Interestingly, only two, Joshua and Caleb, stood firm in their faith to God and believed the land of giants (for that is who dwelt there, not “normal” men) would be given to them by God, regardless that it seemed impossible to men to overcome such giants.  All of those who had scouted the land were killed by plague, except Joshua and Caleb.  God spared them for their faith.
Numbers 14:34
After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
However, the number of days that the Hebrews searched out Canaan was rendered unto them as years of trial and judgment for their lack of faith.
Numbers 32:13
And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the Lord, was consumed.
This was a time that God took the Hebrews protection and continuation solely upon Himself.  He isolated them from their previous slave owners, the Egyptians (to whom many wished to return) and from the giants in Canaan (hybrid offspring of the fallen angels who were trying to prevent their return and reason for the original flood).  God fed them, taught them, led them and strengthened them so that the next generation would no longer have a slave’s mentality (ruled by masters who would use them and kill them), but would instead rely upon God (who would empower them and free them).
Deuteronomy 9:9
When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:
Before leaving their wanderings in the wilderness, God calls Moses to Mount Sinai to obtain His Laws.  Mind you there were only ten and we still can’t keep them today.  That is the whole point of the law, you know.  WE CAN’T KEEP THEM.  Even “thinking” about breaking one IS breaking all of them!  He gave us the law to remind us of our inability to keep the laws of God (and be perfect).  You would think that a couple thousand years later, they would have figured that out as they were waiting for their Messiah.)
Deuteronomy 9:25
Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the Lord had said he would destroy you. (Moses speaking)
To prevent another final judgment upon his people, Moses withstood the testing of God.  He interceded for his people (This is a foreshadowing of what God’s Own Son, Yeshua, did for us!).  Again, the number forty acts as a FULL STOP and commands the attention of the reader.  In order to obtain God’s mercy, Moses completely separated himself from the world.  It is impossible to live without food and water (especially water) for forty days and nights.  It was through a miracle provided by God that Moses was able to do this.  You will see this done again through our Savior, Yeshua.
Deuteronomy 25:3
Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
Here is the limit allowed for whipping a man.  The number is significant, is it not.  Again, a number of trial and judgment.
2 Samuel 5:4
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
David, that is King David, is known as Israel’s greatest king, a man after God’s own heart.  Was he perfect?  Certainly not!  But his ability to immediately repent and turn to God in faith was amazing.  Isn’t it interesting that God gave him forty years to rule.  As a man God wanted us to emulate, we got to see David undergo many trials, troubles, testing and judgment.  It is how he endured these and repented of his sins that we are to emulate.
1 King 2:11
And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem.
I added this verse to note that thirty three years were accounted to David to reign in Jerusalem.  Yeshua did not begin his ministry until he was thirty three?  A coincidence?  No, God knows the end from the beginning.  He stands outside of time.  With God, there are no coincidences.  This is a bold red flag message!
2 Chronicles 9:30
And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
David’s son, Solomon, is considered one of the wisest men to have ever lived.  Again, he ruled for forty years, just as his father did.  His rule began and ended in Jerusalem, a city given to him by his father, David.  This is a reminder that God HIMSELF gave the land to His people, the Hebrews and He wishes them to rule in it wisely.  God has again placed His people in the Land of their forefathers to rule it wisely.  Are they doing this?  No.  However, when God returns Yeshua (His Son) to the land, THEN, they will be the people He has always known them to be.  The nation of Israel has always represented a microcosm of all of us.  They have been persecuted from day one and yet, unlike all other peoples, they still exist.  That is because God’s hand is on them.  Not because they deserve it.  Certainly not because they are “good” people.  The Bible clearly says that NONE are “good”,  no not one.  Through the Hebrew people, God made promises to save every single one of us.  Despite their many sins and shortcomings (and who among us is perfect, may I ask?), they have continued in their purpose.  They provided the world with the Messiah, Yeshua!  The Bible says that they WILL accept Him in their final testing found in the book of Revelation.  Judge not, lest ye be judged.
Jonah 3:4
And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
As Moses before him, Jonah was sent to pray for a headstrong and sinning people.  If Jonah’s message from God was denied, the people of Nineveh would be killed.  Now Jonah hated the Ninevites and was just fine with that judgment, but God would not hear of it.  He wants ALL mankind saved.  This is yet another reminder of His love for everyone.  Jonah’s heart was hardened and he tried to run away from God.  He spent three days in the belly of a great fish for this (another fine number study!) and when he came out, he did a God commanded him.  He prayed for forty days AND Nineveh was spared judgment.  The Bible says it is easy to pray for those we love.  It is hard to pray for those we hate.  Jonah was asked to pray for those he hated and he obeyed God.  Can we do less?
Matthew 4:2
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward and hungered.
Yeshua fasted forty days and nights (like Moses) in order to divorce Himself entirely from the world.  As before, it is impossible to go without food and water for this length of time, yet Yeshua did.  He accomplished this because God, the Father, accomplished it IN Him.  Only through God is such a thing possible.  As Christ would later say, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God.”  At this point, truly, Yeshua stood before the world’s Enemy and drew His strength from God, HIMSELF! 
Luke 4:2
Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
Yeshua stood before Satan and was offered everything a mortal man could ever want, but Yeshua’s strength flowed completely and directly from God.  Satan couldn’t touch Him or Tempt Him, though  he had incarnated as a vulnerable and mortal man.  It is this image that we are left with when we see our Christ standing (seemingly alone) for each and every one of us and showing that only through the Father are we able to overcome the Enemy.  Fasting and prayer avail much if the reason behind such activity is to draw closer to Our Father and serve Him ALONE.
Acts 1:3
To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
After overcoming death itself, Yeshua remained on Earth forty days revealing Himself to the apostles and many, many others.  He continued to teach them and spoke to them often of heaven.  Yet many of this world (despite the thousands of witnesses) still say He did not live, die, and resurrect.  A popular song says it well, “You can nail Him to the cross by His hands and His feet.  You can put Him in the ground.  But three days later everybody found out.  You can’t.  NO YOU CAN’T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN!”  All other “so-called” religious icons remain rotting in the grave.  YESHUA IS ALIVE TODAY!
Yeshua is alive and well and calling out to you.  Yes, YOU!  If you are reading this message, there is a reason.  Many will turn away and disregard this call to their heart, believing themselves “wise” by today’s standards and desiring to be “like the world”.  It is hard to step away from friends who mock you.  Christ did.  It is hard to hear one lone voice crying in the wilderness.  Christ is that voice.  It is so easy to pretend you have made your own decision, when in fact you are merely trying to be accepted by your peer group.
Galileo was a man of God.  He was also a man of truth.  They wanted to kill him for revealing that the sun did not go around the Earth.  But he was too popular and they could only lock him up for life.  He refused to lie about the truth. 
That truth is still true today.  We Earthlings go around the Son, whether we wish to accept it or not.  WE ARE NOT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE. 
Will you follow TRUTH”?  Or will you choose to follow the herd?  If you deny Christ, He will deny you before the Father.
ETERNITY IS A LONG TIME TO BE WRONG.