Meaning of Numbers: The Number 19
The English word "nineteen" used for the number 19 is recorded 3 times in 3 King James Bible verses. The word is found once in the books of Genesis, Joshua and 2Samuel. The word "nineteenth" for 19th is found four times in four KJV verses (2Kings 25:8, 1Chronicles 24:16, 25:26 and Jeremiah 52:12).
The meaning of 19, which is the combining of 10 and 9, revolves around God's perfect order concerning his judgment in the Bible. The names Job and Eve, if we substitute letters for numbers, add up to 19.
Israel and Nineteen
How is 19 related to Israel? The Judges of Israel were inspired men and women who served from the time the Promised Land was divided up amongst the children of Israel until the first human king (Saul) is anointed. Nineteen people (eighteen men and one woman) served as a Judge.
This first Judge was Joshua who fulfilled this responsibility from 1398 to 1380 B.C. The last were Samuel's two corrupt sons Joel and Abiah who served from 1053 to 1050 B.C. The Judges between them included Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Barak, Eli, Gideon, Abimelech, Tola, Jephthah, Samson, Samuel, Ibzan, Jair, Elon and Abdon for nineteen total.
The united Israelite kingdom split into two pieces after the death of Solomon. The piece referred to as Israel, or the Northern Ten Tribes, had Jeroboam as their first king (930 to 909 B.C.). Judah's first king, after the split, was Solomon's son Rehoboam (930 to 913 B.C.).
During Judah's history as a kingdom, which ran from 930 to 586 B.C., it was governed by 19 men and 1 woman. The woman, Queen Athaliah, was a particularly devilish ruler who was in power for roughly six years. Judah, in 586, is conquered by Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar. He destroys the kingdom, burns Jerusalem and its temple to the ground, and then takes most of the people as captives back to Babylon.
Appearances of Number Nineteen
Discovered in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls were found east of Jerusalem. Among all the scrolls unearthed over the years, nineteen copies of Isaiah the prophet have been identified. Of the ten most frequently mentioned women in the Bible, Mary (Jesus' mother) is listed 19 times.
In the Old Testament, the Biblical chapters of Leviticus 5, Deuteronomy 25, 26, 2Samuel 10, 1Chronicles 22, 2Chronicles 10, 15, 17, Nehemiah 5, 6, Psalm 51, 80, 116, Isaiah 63, Jeremiah 1, 35, Hosea 4, Nahum 3 and Habakkuk 3 contain 19 verses in the King James translation.
In the New Testament, the chapters Hebrews 3, 1Peter 4 and Revelation 11 have 19 verses in the KJV.
Nahor, the father of Terah, lived one hundred and nineteen years after he begat Abraham's father (Genesis 11:25). He lived to the ripe old age of 148.
Parables
Chronologically, the 19th parable Jesus gave during his ministry is the one concerning a mustard seed. He gave it between October 28 A.D. and early 29 A.D. This parable is one of five Jesus gave twice during his ministry. The second time he offers it was between mid-November and December 18 of 29 A.D. (Luke 13:18 - 19).
Another parable He presented to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is compared to a tiny mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field;
"Which indeed is very small among all the seeds; but after it is grown, it is greater than all the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of heaven come and roost in its branches." (Matthew 13:31 - 32, HBFV, see also Mark 4:30 - 32).
Joab Versus Abner
A civil war existed after David was made King over Judah. David's commander Joab and his men battled Abner and his forces who wanted Saul's son Ishbosheth to rule all Israel. In one battle twelve of Joab's soldiers fought twelve of Abner's men.
Abner's twelve men are badly beaten in the battle. Abner, while fleeing Joab's army, ends up killing Asahel, Joab's brother, in order to escape. Although David's army loses 19 soldiers, not including Asahel, in the pursuit, Abner's forces lose 360 (2Samuel 2:12 - 32).
And Joab returned from following Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, nineteen men and Asahel were missing from David’s servants (2Samuel 2:30, HBFV).
Number Nineteen and Prophecy
The Israelite tribe of Naphtali received 19 cities, with their villages, as part of their inheritance in the Promised Land (Joshua 19:38). Their gift of land, from God, was in the northern most part of what would become Israel. It encompassed the entire western section of the Sea of Galilee.
Isaiah prophesied that the land of Naphtali and Zebulon would someday see a shining beacon in their lands (Isaiah 9:1 - 2). This prophecy, which only the book of Matthew records as being fulfilled, came true during the life of Jesus.
The people who were sitting in darkness have seen a great light; and to those who were sitting in the realm and shadow of death, light has sprung up (Matthew 4:16, HBFV).
The fulfillment of this prophecy related to 19 occurred when Christ, who had lived in Nazareth all his life, moved at the age of 30 to the Galilean city of Capernaum. Once in the city he started his ministry and began to preach the gospel (Matthew 4:14 - 17).
The Biblical Calendar
The Hebrew calendar is the inspired method for determining when God's seven annual Feast days should be kept. It was the calendar that Jesus, the apostles, and the early church considered authoritative concerning when to keep such celebrations as Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Trumpets (Calendar of Christ and Apostles by C. Franklin, revised 2004).
This method of tracking time is based on a repeating time cycle of 19 years. The Hebrew civil calendar adds an additional month (making 13 months total) in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19 of each cycle. Such leap periods are necessary in order to help the lunar and solar years stay in sync. Postponement rules are also used to declare the first day of each civil year.
Each year it takes 19 days to observe all of God's annual Feast (Holy) days. These commanded yearly celebrations are the Passover (1), Days of Unleavened Bread (7), Pentecost (1), Day of Trumpets (1), Day of Atonement (1), Feast of Tabernacles (7) and Last Great Day (1).
Jesus' Unknown Writing and 19
Jesus, at dawn on Wednesday, October 19 in 29 A.D., leaves the Mount of Olives and enters Jerusalem to teach at the temple (John 7:53 - 8:2). While teaching he is brought an adulterous woman caught by some religious leaders (John 8:3). They seek to entrap him by asking how he would judge her and her sin.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought to Him a woman who had been taken in adultery; and after setting her in the center, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.
"And in the law, Moses commanded us that those who commit such a sin should be stoned. Therefore, what do You say?" (John 8:3 - 5, HBFV).
Jesus' brilliant response to such known hypocrites (who also did not bring the man who committed adultery!) was to write unknown words in the dirt. Whatever these words were, they likely pointed to the leaders' own "hidden" sins that would have brought upon them the same harsh judgment they wanted for the woman!
Now they said this to tempt Him, so that they might have cause to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger.
And as they continued to ask Him, He lifted Himself up and said to them, "Let the sinless one among you cast the first stone at her." And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
But after hearing this, they were convicted each by his own conscience, and went out one by one, beginning with the older ones until the last. (John 8:6 - 9, HBFV).
More Info on Biblical Meaning of 19
The tenth generation of humans in the Bible is represented by Noah. The fifteenth generation is Peleg. Generation 19 of humans is represented by Terah who was the father of Abraham.
There are 81 words and phrases in the Bible's original languages that are recorded exactly 19 times.
The number 19 is the 8th prime. The primes before it are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 and 17, while those after it are 23, 29, 31 and so on.
The Hebrew word perath, Strong's Concordance #H6578, is found 19 times in 19 Hebrew Old Testament verses. It is written the most in the book of Jeremiah (8 times) followed by the books of Genesis, Deuteronomy, 2Kings, and 1Chronicles (two each). The word, which means "rushing" or "fruitfulness," is translated as "Euphrates" in the King James.
The Euphrates River is one of four rivers that parted from the main waterway that nourished the Garden of Eden. The other rivers were the Pishon, Gihon and Tigris (Genesis 2:10 - 14). It is also the northern boundary of the land God promised to Abraham and his descendants.
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads . . . And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates (perath) (Genesis 2:10, 14, KJV).
In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates (perath) (Genesis 15:18, KJV).
The Hebrew word yonah, Strong's #H3124, is recorded 19 times in 17 Hebrew Old Testament verses. It is used only in the books of Jonah (18 times) and 2Kings (once). The word, which means "dove," is translated as the name "Jonah" in the King James.
Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. (Jonah 1:1 - 2, KJV).
Jonah, one of the Minor Prophets, was tasked with warning Nineveh it would be destroyed. After his foolish attempt to avoid his responsibility as a prophet failed, he finally did what he was told.
So Jonah (yonah) arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. And Jonah (yonah) began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown (Jonah 3:3 - 4, KJV).
Psalm 19, written by King David, declares that the heavens and everything else humans see is a living testament to the existence, glory and power of God. The Apostle Paul reiterates this fact in Romans 1 when he writes the following.
"Because that which may be known of God is manifest among them, for God has manifested it to them" (Romans 1:19, HBFV).