The Meaning of Numbers: The Number 135
The possible meaning of the number 135 is derived primary from history related to ancient Israel.
Samuel is the 14th most commonly mentioned name in Scripture. It is recorded 135 times in the King James Bible.
135 is equal to (1 + 3 + 5) x (1 x 3 x 5). It is also equal to 1 + (3 x 3) + (5 x 5 x 5) or 1 + 9 + 125.
The numbers 3, 5, 9, 15, 27 and 45 are factors of 135. There are also 135 prime numbers between 1,000 and 2,000.
Rebellion and Number One Hundred Thirty Five
The Bar Kokhba revolt began in Judea in 132 A.D. as an uprising against the Roman Empire. The revolt was named after Simon ben Koseba, also known as Bar Kokhba, a Jewish military leader who led the rebellion. Spurring the uprising was Rabbi Akiba, who declared Kokhba the fulfillment of the messianic prophecy in Numbers 24:17 - 18.
Simon won several early victories that made Judea independent from Rome for three years. This independence, however, was destined to collapse under the military superiority of the Romans. Although Emperor Hadrian's forces, in 135 A.D., retook Judea, the loss of life was huge. The estimated causalities of the war vary from 500,000 to 985,000 (Holman Bible Handbook).
Hadrian, after his victory, instituted several policies. Jewish captives were sold into slavery and sent to various parts of the empire. All racial Jews were forbidden to enter Jerusalem. The practice of anything that resembled the Jewish religion (e.g. keeping Passover or Saturday Sabbath) was also forbidden in Judea. The reading of the Scriptures was also outlawed.
The war of 132 to 135 A.D. marks the second time Jerusalem was attacked and conquered after the death and resurrection of Jesus in 30 A.D.
Number 135 and David's Tomb
John Hyrcanus I, in 135 B.C., becomes High Priest and Ethnarch over Judea after the assassination of his father Simon Thassi (Maccabee). Seleucid King Antiochus VII (Sidetes), seeking to reclaim lost territory, attacks Jerusalem the following year in 134.
Hyrcanus eventually negotiates a truce with Antiochus. He agrees to immediately pay 3,000 talents of silver, valued today at $68.9 million dollars (assuming $21 per troy ounce), which he is able to pay by raiding King David's tomb!
"And now Antiochus was so angry at what he had suffered from Simon, that he made an expedition into Judea . . . but Hyrcanus opened the sepulcher of David . . . and took thence about three thousand talents in money, and induced Antiochus . . . to raise the siege" (Wars of the Jews, Book 1, Chapter 2, Section 5).
"He (Hyrcanus) is said to have taken this sum from the treasure in David's sepulcher" (1906 Jewish Encyclopedia).
More Info on Biblical Meaning of 135
From 115 to 135 A.D. a man named Simeon b. Gamaliel II helped preserve the Old Testament text.
The first chapters of the general epistles (James, Peter, John and Jude) total 135 verses.