NUMBER

the seven-branched candlestick; sevenfold sprinkling (Lv 4« etc.); seven lambs offered (Nu 28"^-); forgive-ness till 70 times 7 (Mt 18^); the seven churches of Asia; seven angels; seven stars, etc.; fourteen generations (Mt 1"); 70 descendants of Jacob (Ex 1»); 70 years' captivity, etc. (Jer 25", Dn Q\ Zee 7'); 70 missioners (Lk 10')- A similar use of 'seven' is found in the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Persian religions, and is often derived from astral worship of the seven heavenl.v bodies, the sun, moon, and the five planets known to the ancients. It is also connected with the seven-day week as roughly a quarter of the lunar month, seven being the nearest integer to the quarter of 29i. The Pleiades also were thought of as seven (cf. Am 5').

Eight. — There were eight persons in the ark; a boy was circumcised on the eighth day. Ezekiel's ritual has a certain predilection for the number eight.

Forty. — This number apparently owes its vogue to the view that 40 was the approximate or perhaps average length of a generation; at least this is a common view. It is a Uttle difficult to reconcile with the well-known Oriental custom of early marriage. The number might perhaps be obtained by taking the average of the years of a man's age at which his children were born, though such an explanation does not appear very probable. Or the use of 40 for a generation might be a relic of the period when the youngest born succeeded to the family tent and sacra. At any rate 40 is well estabhshed as a moderate round number between 'a few' and 'a very great many.' Thus, in addition to the numerous reigns, oppressions, and deliverances of 40, 80 years, etc., Isaac and Esau marry at the age of 40; there are 40 years of the wandering; Ezekiel's 40 years' captivity (29"); 40 days was the period Moses spent in the Mount, Elijah and Christ fasted In the wilderness, etc.

A certain mystical value is attached to numbers in later Jewish and Christian ptiilosophy and superstition, perhaps due partly to theideas suggested by the relations of numbers to each other, and to the practical power of arithmetic; the symbols which aided men so effectually seemed to have some inherent force of their own. Or, again, if 'seven' is sacred, to pronounce a formula seven times must be more effective than to pronounce it six or eight times.

Great importance is attached to numbers in the mediaeval Jewish mystical system, the Kabbala. There are ten sephiroth or primary emanations from God, one original sephira, and three derivative triads; there are twelve channels of Divinegrace; 613 commandments, etc.

8. Gematria, a Hebraized form of the Greek geometria, used to mean 'reckoning by numbers,' was a late de-velopment of which there are traces in the OT. It consisted in indicating a word by means of the number which would be obtained by adding together the nu-merical values of the consonants of the word. Thus in Gn 14" Abraham has 318 'trained servants,' 318 is the sum of the consonants of the name of Abraham's steward EUezer in its original Hebrew form. The number is apparently constructed from the name.

The Apocalypticnumber o£ the Beast is often explained by Gematria, and 666 has been discovered to be the sum of the numerical values of the letters of some form or other of a large number of names written either in Hebrew, or Greek, or Latin. Thus the Beast has been identified with hundreds of persons, e.g. Mohammed, Luther, the Pope, Napoleon i.. Napoleon iir. etc., each of whom was specially obnoxious to the ingenious identifier. Probably by a Mttle careful manipulation, any name in some form or other, in Hebrew, Greek, or Latin, could be made by Gematria to yield 666. The two favourite explanations are Latm,nos=LaMnus (the Roman Empire or Emperor), and Nero CoBsar. The latter has the special advantage that it accounts not only for 666, but also for the various reading 616 mentioned above; as Neron Casar it gives 666, and as Nero Caesar, 616. W. H. Bennett.

660

NUMBERS, BOOK OF

NTTUBERS, BOOK OP. — 1. The Book of Numbers forms the sequel to the Book of Exodus; it carries on the history of the IsraeUtes from' the stay at Sinai till the arrival at the borders of Moab. The name ' Numbers' is due to the repeated numberings in chs. 1.3.4. 26. The book is composed of writings from the prophetic schools of J and E, and the Priestly school of P. One passage is from D — 2133-M=Dt 3"-=. A minute analysis of the sources, not only distinguishing J, E, and P, but also separating the different strata of P, is necessary for a full understanding of the book. The present article, however, can only accept in broad outUne the results reached by scholars. The reader is referred to The Hexateuch ed. by Carpenter and Battersby, the art. 'Numbers' by the latter in Hastings' DB ill., and Gray's Com. on Numbers.

2. Although the narrative begins at Sinai and ends in Moab, the period of the 40 years' wanderings is a blank, and the events are confined to the two periods before and after it. The book consists of three parts: I-IO'", 10"-2is, 21'»-36is.

A. I'-IO'". Ordinances at Sinai. — The section is entirely from P.

Contents. — Chs. 1-4: (a) The census; (6) arrangement of the camp; (c) functions of the Levites. Chs. 5. 6: Laws concerning (d) three unclean classes of persons who must be excluded from the camp (5'-«); (e) some priestly dues ('-i"); (/) the ordeal of jealousy ("-''): (g) the law of the Nazirite (6'-"); (A) the priests' formulas of blessing C^-"). (i) Ch. 7: The offerings (identical in each case) of the twelve tribal princes, (j) Ch. 8'-': The golden lampstand. (k) Ch. 8s-2«: Dedication of the Levites, and age of their service. (!) Ch. 9'-": The supplementary Passover, (m) Ch. 9"-23: The cloud over the Tabernacle. (») Ch. lO'-'": The two silver trumpets.

Notes. — Two passages in this section are retrospective, viz. 7 and 9'-". The rest cover the last 19 days (1' 10") spent at Sinai.

(a) The census is referred to by anticipation in Ex 30'2 38^. The strange position of Gad in the lists ( l^"-*' 26) is explained by the position assigned to it in ch. 2, next to Reuben and Simeon on the S. of the camp. Tlie figures of the census are artificial and impossible; they are investigated by Gray, Numbers, pp. 10^15. (&) The arrangement of the camp is based upon the same principle as that in the ideal picture of Ezeldel (ch. 48). (c) "The Levites are instituted as a class of priests' servants — a conception quite at variance with all earlier representations. Tney are accepted by J" in lieu of the firatbom of Israel. The transport duties of the three Levitical f amihes, Kohath ,Geishon, and Merari, are detailed. Notice that the period of service in 42-2" differs from that in 823-26. (d) The three classes are dealt with in detail in Lv 13. 15 and Nu 19 respectively, (e) 'The section is supple-mentary to Lv 5™-2i>. It deals with the cases in which the injured party is dead, and there is no next-of-kin. It further lays down that every sacred gift is to belong to the particular priest to whom it is paid, (f) A woman suspected by her husband of adultery which cannot be proved, is made to drink apotion which will be harmful if she is guilty, but will result in fruitfulness if she is innocent. This and the Nazirite vow (g) are instances of very ancient practices which have survived, in the form of law, only in P. (ft) The

Eriestly blessing is probably earlier in origin than P, and may ave been used in the Temple before the Exile. Ps 67 appears to be infiuenced by it. (i) See Ex 25"-*" 2T""-; (j) rea3s like a later expansion of the commands in clis. 3. 4.

B. 1011-219. From Sinai to the desert W. of the ■Arabah.

Contents. — (a) 10"-'» P. The move to the Wilder-ness of Paran in marching order. (6) lO^'-s' J. De-parture from the mountain; Moses asked Hobab to accompany them. Words which Moses used to address to the ark. (c) ll'-s E. Taberah. (d) n>-^ JE. Kibroth-hattaavah; the 70 elders, Eldad and Medad; the quails; Hazeroth. (e) 121-15 E. Aaron and Miriam attacked Moses; Miriam's leprosy. (/) 12" J. The move to the wilderness of Paran. (a) 13. 14 JEP. The sending of the spies; their evil report, and its sequel. 15 P. Laws concerning: (ft) Meal-offerings and libations ('-"), (i) cake of first of 'artsBth l"-^).