Ar’baim: FORTY in the Story

Forty: arbaim (Strong’s 705) from ar’ba.

Root: אַרְבַּע (ar’ba, meaning “four”)

Sounds like: ar’ba’eem

This week we’re going to take a quick scan through the Bible and look at the number 40. Forty is often associated with testing and trials.

The number shows up for the first time in Genesis 7 and 8 during the great flood story. When the world’s inhabitants were wholly wicked, God sent a flood to wash away the evil that had permeated the earth. Noah and his family were on the ark during the forty days and forty nights of rain (Genesis 7-8). Noah’s faith was certainly tested and they were eventually rewarded with dry land.

Forty takes a back seat for a while until wickedness rears its ugly head again, this time in the town of Sodom where violence and rape were prevalent. Abraham asked God to save the people of Sodom if he was able to find forty faithful people. God agreed to the condition, but forty faithful humans were not found and Sodom was destroyed (Gen 18:29).

Go ahead a few centuries and the Hebrew people were under the enslavement of Egypt. Siblings , Moses, Aaron and Miriam, helped guide the people out of Egypt after the ten plagues convinced the Pharaoh to let them go… well, kind of.

When they finally crossed the Reed (not Red) Sea they began a new chapter of their lives. It would be a forty year chapter, wandering in the wilderness (Deut. 1:3, 2:7, 8:1-10; 29:5-6; Joshua 5:6, Neh 9:21, Amos 2:10, 5:25). The Bible tells us they ate manna for those forty years (Exodus 16:35).

During that time, Moses communicated with God. He climbed Mount Sinai and stayed there for forty days and forty nights during which he received the Ten Commandments (Exodus 24:18). After the tablets were broken, Moses went to Mount Sinai again for forty days and forty nights where he received the Ten Commandments a second time (Exodus 34:28, Deut. 9 & 10:10).

After the forty years, spies were sent into Canaan for forty days (Numbers 13:25). One of those spies was Caleb who was forty years old the year they were sent to spy the land of Canaan (Joshua 14:7)

Because the people feared going into Canaan, YHWH pronounced that they would wander for another forty years and no one from the first generation would enter the promised land:

Numbers 14:30-35

[YHWH:] “By no means will you come into the land where I swore to settle you, except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Your children, however, whom you said would become plunder—I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness. Also, your sons will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years [ar’baim shanah אַרְבָּעִ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה], and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your bodies perish in the wilderness. In accordance with the number of days that you spied out the land, forty days [ar’baim yom אַרְבָּעִ֣ים יֹום֒], for every day you shall suffer the punishment for your guilt a year, that is, forty years [ar’baim shanah אַרְבָּעִ֖ים שָׁנָ֑ה], and you will know My opposition. I, YHWH, have spoken, I certainly will do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. They shall be worn out in this wilderness, and there they shall die.”

Numbers 32:13

So YHWH’s anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness for forty years [ar’baim shanah אַרְבָּעִ֖ים שָׁנָ֑ה], until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of YHWH came to an end.

Only once is the number forty mentioned in the Psalms:

Psalm 95:10-11

[YHWH:] “For forty years [ar’baim shanah אַרְבָּ֘עִ֤ים שָׁנָ֨ה] I was disgusted with that generation, and said they are a people who err in their heart, and they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger, they certainly shall not enter My rest.”

Life Events at Forty

Some interesting life events took place for people during their 40th year. Isaac married Rebekah when he was forty (Gen 25:20). Their son, Esau, married Judith when he was forty. Judith was the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite (Gen 26:34-35).

Forty had a few connections to death as well. Forty days were required for the Egyptian-style embalming of Jacob, as requested by his son Joseph (Genesis 50:1-3). Moses was forty when he murdered an Egyptian while defending an Israelite (Acts 7:23-24). Aaron died on Mount Hor forty years after they left Egypt (Numbers 33:38).

Many leaders had forty year appointments or reigns:

• Eli judged for forty years (1 Samuel 4:18)
• Saul reigned for forty years (Acts 13:21)
• David reigned for forty years (2 Samuel 5:4, 1 Kings 2:11, 1 Chr 29:26-27)
• Solomon reigned for forty years (1 Kings 11:42, 2 Chr 9:30)
• Jehoash reigned in Judah for forty years (2 Kings 12:1, 2 Chr 24:1)
• Although he did not have a forty year reign, Saul’s son, Ishbosheth, began to reign at the age of forty (2 Sam 2:10)
• Absalom rebelled against David “at the end of forty years” (2 Sam 15:7) but did not live to ever sit on the throne

Forty and Peace; Forty and Judgement

Forty was usually a time of testing and trial, but occasionally there were forty years of rest and peace.

After Othniel, Caleb’s brother, led the people to defeat the king of Mesopotamia, the land was at rest for forty years (Judges 3:11)

After the battle against the Canaanites was won by Deborah and Barak, the land was at peace for forty years (Judges 5:31)

After Gideon and the Israelite army defeated Midian, the land was at peace for forty years (Judges 8:28).

However, things did not always go as smoothly. Due to their evil actions, God handed the Israelites over to the Philistines for forty years (Judges 13:1).

Years later, still under the threat of the Philistines, one of the great Philistine champions, Goliath, challenged the Israelite army twice a day for forty days (1 Sam 17:16).

Ezekiel prophesied that Egypt would become desolated for forty years (Ezekiel 29:9-16).

Finally, Jonah warned Assyria that they would be destroyed in forty days unless they repented (Jonah 3:4). Assyria did repent and were saved.

Other Forty’s in the Tanakh

A gift of forty things was recorded twice. When Jacob reunited with his brother Esau, after years of estrangement, Jacob gave Esau forty cows (amongst many other things) (Genesis 32:15). Also Hazael brought forty camel loads of gifts to Elisha (2 Kings 8:9).

Not surprisingly forty played a part in the design of the Tabernacle/Temple. Forty sockets of silver were made for the two sides of the Tabernacle (Exodus 26:18-21 & Exodus 36:23-26), and the inner sanctuary of the Temple was forty cubits long (1 Kings 6:17, Ezek 41:2, Ezek 46:22).

The Bible informs us that Abdon the Judge had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys (Judges 12:14).

Elijah, desperate and suicidal, had a meal provided by the Angel of YHWH that gave him strength for forty days and forty nights (1 Kings 19:8).

Ezekiel was instructed to lay on his right side for forty days in order to symbolically bear the sins of Judah (Ezekiel 4:6). This was much easier than his first instruction, to lay on his left side for 390 days to bear the sins of Israel (Ezekiel 4:4-5).

Nehemiah noted that governors before his leadership taxed the community by taking bread, wine, and forty shekels of silver from the people (Neh 5:15).

Forty in the New Testament

Yesua fasted for forty days and forty nights (Matthew 4:2), and was tested in the wilderness for forty days (Luke 4:2, Mark 1:13). Symbolically this should remind us of the forty years of wilderness wandering experienced by the early Hebrew community.

After his death and resurrection, Yeshua continued to teach his disciples for forty days (Acts 1:3) before He went home to be with the Father and the Holy Spirit was delivered to the people.

Paul also had some connections to the number forty. More than forty Jews banded together to kill Paul (Acts 23:12-13) and, according to his letter to the Corinthians, five times Paul received forty lashes, minus one, from those threatened by his ministry (2 Corinthians 11:24). The Law of Moses stated that no more than forty lashes were to be given for punishment (Deut 25:3). Paul was given forty lashes minus one. Although some translations just say 39, the text specifically states it was forty minus one, highlighting that the law of Moses was maintained.

Life is full of tests and trials, which forty is meant to represent. Just like the early people had to wander in the wilderness for forty years, we are wandering on this beautiful planet. I hope you can see its beauty, but I also hope you understand it is a type of wilderness for those of  us who put our faith in God. 

We’ve been exiled from the place where YHWH resides, but as His followers we’re on the path that takes us home. That is what awaits us at the end of our personal wilderness wandering. Our forty days/nights/years are different for each of us, but we’ll reach our cleared destination when we’re meant to. Just like Moses and the people at the Sea of Reeds, the waters will part and we’ll stand, face to face, with the God who created us. We will see God’s resting place designed for us, our wandering will be over, and it will be glorious.

Next week: Learning Psalm 3:3