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When God created numbers, He created types of numbers. One
type of number is known as prime numbers. Prime numbers are simply numbers that
are divisible by the number 1 or themselves.
The other type of number is known as even or non-prime numbers. These
type of numbers are divisible by many numbers.
He is One and He
chose one type of number above the others to highlight His mighty acts in the
Bible. God chose to use prime numbers to number many of His mighty acts in the
Bible.
There are many examples in the Bible where God used the
prime number 3. For example, in Luke 9:32, Jesus said:
32 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and
be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be
raised the
third
day.
And in Luke 13:32, Jesus said:
32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox,
Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to
day and to
morrow, and the
third
day
I shall be perfected.
God raised Him from the grave on the 3rd day. This is just one of the many ways that that God used the prime number 3 in the Bible. God used the prime number 3 to highlight the resurrection of Christ.
Another prime number that God used in the Bible is the
prime number 7. An example of this can be found in
Exodus 31:15, here the Bible states:
15 Six days may work be done; but in the
seventh
is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD:
whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath
day, he shall
surely be put to death.
Another example of the sabbath as the 7th day is found in Exodus
31:17:
17 It is a sign between me and the
children of Israel for ever: for in six
days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the
seventh
day he rested,
and was refreshed.
God rested on the 7th day and made it a holy day. God made the first
holy day in the Bible to fall on a prime number, the prime number 7.
The Bible also contains examples where God used the prime
number 12+1=13 to number. For
example, God used this number to number the first disciples to accompany Jesus.
In Matthew 3:14, the Bible states
14 And he ordained
twelve, that they
should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,
Christ also went forth to preach and when He is counted, He
is the 13th . The number 13 is a prime number.
God also used the number 40 to number the days of rain in
the great flood. For example, in Genesis 7:12, the Bible states:
12 And the rain was upon the earth
forty
days and
forty nights.
On the 41st day the rains stopped, the number 41 is a prime number.
God also used the number 40 to number days in Matthew 4:2.
2 And when he had fasted
forty
days and
forty nights, he
was afterward an hungred.
It was on the 41st day that Satan came to tempt Him. 41 is a prime
number.
God also used the number 40 to number years in the Bible.
One example
is
found in the book of Numbers. In this event, Israel angered God by
doubting Him. God sentenced Israel
to walk in the desert for 40 years. In Numbers 14:34, God told Israel:
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.
In Number 32:13, the Bible states:
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.
In the following year, the 41st year,
God commanded Joshua to prepare Israel to enter the Promised Land.
Israel entered the Promised Land in their 41st year after leaving
Egypt. The number 41 is a prime number.
God also used the number 70 to number events in the Bible.
For example, in Jeremiah 25:12, the Bible states
12 And it shall come to pass, when
seventy years are
accomplished, that I will punish the king
of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of
the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
God used this number again in prophecy in Jeremiah 29:10.
10 For thus saith the LORD, That after
seventy years be
accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you,
in causing you to return to this place.
After the 70 years is the 71st year, Israel began to return to the
land. The number 71 is a prime
number.
In Genesis 15:13, God gave Abraham a prophecy that His
children would be in bondage in Egypt for 400 years.
13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger
in a land that is not theirs, and shall
serve them; and they shall afflict them
four hundred
years;
After the 400th year is the year 401. The number 401 is a prime
number.
The Bible notes the total number of years that Israel spent
in the land of Egypt. For example in Exodus 12:41, the Bible states:
41 And it came to pass at the end of the
four hundred and
thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts
of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.
Therefore, in the 431st year God led Israel out of Egypt. The number
431 is a prime number.
In Genesis 7:6, the Bible states the age of Noah at the
time of the great flood:
6 And Noah was
six
hundred years old
when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
As the scripture notes, He was 600 years old when God
flooded the earth. Therefore, it is during His 601st year of his life
that God spared him and his family during the great flood. The number 601 is a
prime number.
This is just one of the many ways that God used prime
numbers in His Word. The books of the Bible Number Series contain detailed
examples of the many ways that God used prime numbers to highlight events in the
Bible.