Meaning of Numbers
in the Bible

An essential key to understanding the design of God’s Word is biblical numerics. Such numeric connections and patterns, when searched out and understood, reveal the handiwork of God. Some numeric patterns are obvious, while others are hidden.

God has numbered and named all of the galaxies — literally every celestial body of the universe:

Just as God has employed mathematical laws in creating the universe, He has used biblical numerics in the design of the Bible. Indeed, the Scriptures exhibit a numerical design that can only be explained by the direct, divine inspiration of the Creator God.

Dr. Edward F. Vallowe, in his book Biblical Mathematics, writes:

"Numbers are the secret code of God’s Word. Only to the students of the Word, those to whom God’s Spirit has given spiritual insight, will the code be made plain. God has been called ‘The Great Geometrician’ and is said to do everything after a plan by number, weight and measure. If God is the Author of the Scriptures and the Creator of the Universe, and He is, then the Words of God and the Works of God should and will [numerically] harmonize" (p. 19).

Imagine what the Bible would be like without the direct inspiration of a single Author:

"[The] various writers of the different books, men who lived in different ages, and most of whom never saw the others, would have crossed up each other had they not all been guided by a master mind, ONE, Who never makes a mistake, and Whose knowledge and wisdom comprehend the events of all time. The precision with which the Bible numbers all fall into their places cannot be accounted for except by the supernatural power and wisdom of a God Who is infinite" (Ibid., p. 20).

From creation to about 90 AD, some 40 key writers were involved in compiling the Scriptures. A single author would have to be an absolute genius to develop the numerical design found in the Bible. But 40 separate authors, writing over a period of nearly 3800 years, consistently following a complex pattern of numerics — the odds would be beyond calculation. It would simply be impossible — apart from the direct inspiration of God.

It is interesting to note that, on average, ONE in every FIVE verses in the Bible contains a number. Many of these numbers have significance — revealing the mind of God in the Scriptures and the divine design of His revelation to mankind.

We will first define and explain the spiritual significance of the number, and then illustrate its meaning, its teaching as applied to its use, the numbers of occurrences of words and things, the numbers of words used for a thing, and the numbers formed by the letters of the words themselves. The numbers formed by letters within words is called GEMATRIA.

The Hebrews and Greeks used their alphabets as follows below.

What are the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet?

The Hebrew Alphabet consists of twenty-two (22) primary letters, plus five (5) others which are variations of existing letters, for a total of twenty-seven (27).

What are the letters of the ancient Greek Alphabet?

There were twenty-seven (27) letters in the ancient Greek alphabet. Three (3) of the letters with a numerical equivalent (Digamma, Qoppa, and Sampi - which represented the numbers 6, 90 and 900 respectively) were used only in certain Greek dialects and are now obsolete.