Chiasm on 40 Years in Deuteronomy 1:1-3

• V1 - The words
• dabar Moshe kol Israel (spoke Moses to all Israel)
• V2 - echad asher yom (eleven days)
• V3 - vayehi b'arba'im (Fortieth Year)
• bashtey asher chodesh (eleventh month)
• dabar Moshe el bnei Israel, k'kol (spoke Moses to the sons of Israel, all...)
• Commandments of YHWH

In Scripture, the number 40 is associated with periods of transformation and preparation for ministry. Moses spent 40 years in Midian preparing for his confrontation with Pharaoh. Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness preparing to occupy the Promised Land. Yeshua spent 40 days int he wilderness preparing for his ministry.

The number 11 is often associated with an apostate Israel, the 12 tribes with one removed because of sin. This is also reflected in the 12 disciples without Judas.

The direct words of God (prophecy), the instruction of Moses concerning those words (teaching), and even disobedience and apostacy (11) in the camp all work together for the transformation of the Hebrew people into who God needs them to be in order to take the Promised Land from the Canaanites (40). This is a pattern for us. We shouldn't seek out sin and heresy, but we do need to acknowledge that conflict within our communities and being forced to deal with sin and heresy is a big part of our journey to becoming the people God needs us to be.

The Biblical Symbolism of Seventy

Bullinger's Number in Scripture says that the number 70 "signifies perfect spiritual order carried out with all spiritual power and significance" because it is 7 (spiritual perfection) multiplied by 10 (order). I believe he's correct, but possibly not in the precise way that he thought. Look at these 70s:

• 70 nations of Genesis 10
• 70 persons of the house of Jacob in Genesis 46:27
• 70 days of mourning by the Egyptians for Jacob in Genesis 50:3
• 70 anointed elders of Israel in Numbers 11
• 70 palm trees in Numbers 33:9
• 70 kings subdued by Adoni-bezek in Judges 1:7
• 70 sons of Gideon in Judges 8:30
• 70 silver paid to Abimelech to depose the sons of Gideon in Judges 9:4
• 70 sons of Abdon the judge in Judges 12:14
• 70 men struck by God for mishandling the Ark in 1 Samuel 6:19
• 70 sons of Ahab in Samaria in 2 Kings 10
• 70 Shemitot not observed by Israel in 2 Chronicles 36:21
• 70 years of life in Psalm 90:10
• 70 years that Tyre will be forgotten in Isaiah 23
• 70 years for the days of a king in Isaiah 23:15
• 70 years to serve the king of Babylon in Jeremiah 25
• 70 elders of Israel in Ezekiel 8:11
• 70 cubits for the building wall in Ezekiel 41:12
• 70 years of exile in Daniel 9:2
• 70 weeks of judgment in Daniel 9:24
• 70 years of judgment in Zechariah 1:12 and 7:5
• 70 disciples sent out by Yeshua in Luke 10

I see two common themes in almost all of these instances, and they do seem to be associated with divine order imposed on the affairs of mankind:

First, seventy represents the delegation of authority. God delegated authority to the 70 elders of Israel, while judges and kings delegated authority to their 70 sons, and Yeshua delegated authority to 70 disciples. Several times, God assigned one people to punish another for a period of 70 years or 70 weeks, effectively delegating his authority for a period of 70 units of time rather than to 70 individuals.

Second, seventy represents the transformation of patriarchs into nations. Noah became 70 nations in Genesis 10 and Jacob grew from one man who left Canaan to four wives who bore twelve sons and finally to seventy descendants who entered Egypt. This might even constitute another kind of delegation.

Of course, these two possibilities don't explain every instance of the number seventy. For example, what are the 70 cubits measured in Ezekiel 41:12? A metaphor of the 70 elders, perhaps?

Materials of the Mishkan

If you're following the annual Torah readings, then you've been reading about the Tabernacle (aka Mishkan) for weeks. Here are some of my thoughts on the metaphorical meaning of some of the physical materials:

• Gold = righteousness, purity, divinity
• Silver = blood, atonement, redemption
• Bronze = repentance, judgment
• Wood = flesh, life, humanity
• White linen = purity, simplicity
• Blue = Heaven, God, divinity, the Kingdom of God
• Scarlet = mankind, earth, blood
• Purple = heaven+earth, God+man, Messiah Yeshua

And some of the numerical values:

• 2 - Division, separation, revelation of truth
• 4 pillars - Life, light, the entirety of anything, messiah.
• 5 pillars - God's actions to establish relationship with his people. Torah, divine grace.
• 7 branches on the Menorah = 7 spirits of God and the holiness inspired and aided by the anointing and indwelling of the Ruach haKodesh.
• 10 curtains = Orderly government. Covenant and creation.
• 11 curtains = Incomplete Israel. The 12 tribes with one missing, whether through betrayal (of the one missing, as in Judas, or the cause of one missing, as in Joseph), sin (e.g. Dan), or exile.
• 12 loaves for the Shewbread Table = 12 tribes of Israel, living in righteous submission.
• 50 loops and clasps = The critical number of righteous men and/or years to establish a sustainable community and/or restoration of righteousness in a city.

Consider also these sets of two:

• Two Arks of the Covenant were originally made, one by Moses and one by Bezalel
• Two sets of two tablets came down from Sinai and one set was placed in the Ark.
• There might have been two jars of manna.
• Two poles were set in each of several of the Mishkan furnishings
• Two cherubim were set atop the Ark.

Two witnesses? Two media on which the Torah is written (stone and flesh)? Two choices (life vs death)? The first letter of the Torah (bet)?

Some numbers associated with the Temple:

• Two sets of 200 bronze pomegranates = an appeal for mercy from God's judgment

One day Is as a Thousand Years

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Peter 3:8 ESV)

Peter originally wrote this in reference to this prayer written by Moses:

For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. (Psalm 90:4 ESV)

In context, neither of these writers meant that a thousand of our years is actually just one day to God. Both writers were trying to describe God's ageless perspective. If "a thousand years is as one day" is to be taken literally, then what do we do with the first half of Peter's statement, "one day is as a thousand years?" They can't both be literally true. The only reasonable conclusion is that he meant it as a rhetorical device to illustrate how God is never impatient or in a hurry. Like Gandalf, He arrives precisely when He means to.

In Genesis 2:17, God told Adam that he would die in the day that he ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, yet Adam didn't drop dead on the day he ate. In fact, he lived for another 930 years. Some explain this discrepancy by pointing to Psalm 90 or 2 Peter 3. Yet using 2 Peter 3, one could also say that Adam lived for 339,450,000 years because one day is as a thousand years.

When God told Abraham that Sarah would have a son in one year, did He mean one of Abraham's years or one of God's years? If He meant God's years, did He mean the short one or the long one? As you can see, taking a metaphorical passage literally leads to absurd conclusions.

There are clearly prophetic implications to God's inhuman perspective of time, but I very much doubt that they are mathematically dependent on the 1:1000 ratio. It's a theological principle, not an algebraic one.