Happy Birthday, BR!

012013

If Bible Review were a male Israelite, today it would leave adolescence behind and officially become an adult. That’s because with this issue, Bible Review turns 20—a significant milestone in the Bible.

Twenty may well be the most overlooked number in the Good Book, however. Numbers like 7 and 40 seem to get all the attention. So, in celebration of Bible 013Review’s 20th birthday, let’s take a closer look at the number 20 in the Bible:

At the age of 20, Israelite boys became men. They were counted in the census (Numbers 1:3; 1 Chronicles 23:24) and eligible to serve in the army (2 Chronicles 25:5). Abraham was the 20th person in his genealogy (Genesis 5–11; Luke 3:34–38), and God wouldn’t destroy Sodom if 20 righteous people were 014found there (Genesis 18:31). Jacob worked for Laban for 20 years: 7 for Rachel plus 7 for Leah plus 6 for the herds (Genesis 31:38, 41). I’m sure his wives never forgave him for valuing them hardly more than a bunch of goats! Later, Jacob gave his brother Esau 20 male goats, 20 male sheep, and 20 female donkeys at their reunion (Genesis 32:14–15). Joseph was sold to Ishmaelite traders by his brothers for 20 shekels of silver (Genesis 37:28), and Joseph later placed 20 measures of silver in their sacks as payback (Genesis 37:28, 42:3–5, 34:15–44:1).^a

Personal religious vows for male Israelite adolescents under the age of 20 cost 20 shekels (Leviticus 27:5), with each shekel being equal to 20 gerahs (Exodus 30:13). More important, there were actually not just 10 commandments, but 20. This is because Moses smashed the first set (Exodus 32:19), and God had to produce another 10 (Exodus 34:1). This preference for an icosalogue over the traditional decalogue was apparently shared by Cecil B. DeMille, who made two movies about the 10 commandments, in 1923 and 1956.

And that’s not all. King Jabin of Hazor oppressed Israel for 20 years until Deborah and Barak ended his tyranny (Judges 4:3). Jephthah smote 20 cities in Ammon before killing his daughter (Judges 11:33). Samson judged Israel for 20 years to the dismay of the Philistines (Judges 15:20; 16:31). Before King David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, it rested for 20 years at Kiriath Yearim (1 Samuel 7:2), which is now the home of the Elvis Presley Inn on the road from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.

Jonathan and his armor bearer snuck up on and killed 20 Philistines at Michmash (1 Samuel 14:14). Solomon’s daily provisions included 20 pasture-fed cattle (1 Kings 4:23), which I hope he shared with his court, as that’s quite a bit of red meat. Solomon annually gave King Hiram of Tyre 20 measures of oil (1 Kings 5:11) along with 20 cities in Galilee called the Cabul (1 Kings 9:10–11). Why? Because Hiram sent workmen to build Solomon’s palace-temple complex in Jerusalem, which by the way took 20 years to build (1 Kings 9:10; 2 Chronicles 8:1).

The number 20 plays further significant roles in God’s house. Solomon’s Temple was 20 cubits wide (1 Kings 6:2), and in the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary, it was a perfect cube with all three dimensions measuring 20 cubits (1 Kings 6:20). Inside the Holy of Holies, the wings of two wooden cherubim spanned 20 cubits (2 Chronicles 3:11). God’s previous home, the Tabernacle, rested upon a frame of 20 boards placed on opposing sides (Exodus 26:18–20). The Tabernacle’s courtyard had a gate 20 cubits long (Exodus 27:16), and the 20 pillars of the courtyard’s long sides stood upon 20 bronze bases (Exodus 27:10–11). Ezekiel saw in a vision God’s new home, a Temple with a vestibule 20 cubits long (Ezekiel 40:49), and the new Holy of Holies remained 20 cubits wide and 20 cubits long (Ezekiel 41:4).

On a more disgusting note, Ezekiel every day while lying on his side ate 20 shekels worth of bread (Ezekiel 4:10) that was baked with a fire made with cow’s dung—and you should read what God originally wanted him to cook with (Ezekiel 4:15)!

The significance of 20 continues with Elisha, who miraculously made 20 loaves of bread, enough to feed 100 men with leftovers (2 Kings 4:42). Zechariah saw a flying scroll 20 cubits long (Zechariah 5:2). King Artaxerxes reigned for 20 years before Nehemiah asked and received permission to rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:1). Ezra took 20 golden bowls to donate to the Temple of Jerusalem (Ezra 8:27).

Years later, there were actually 20, not 12, members of Jesus’ entourage, if you include Jesus and don’t forget to count John the Baptist, Matthias, Lazarus, Martha and the three Maries. Years later, Paul and some sailors found that the water was 20 fathoms deep just before they were shipwrecked on Malta (Acts 27:28).

The number 20 was also symbolic in Mesopotamia, as it was associated with the sun-deity Shamash, and in Akkadian 20 was a common ideogram for

šarru

, meaning “king.” For Israelites, the number 20 was represented by the letter kaph, which originally was a picture of a hand. This eventually became Greek kappa, our letter K. The significance of the number 20 appears to be related to the number of fingers and toes on most humans (except of course for the polydactylic giant of 2 Samuel 21:20 who had 24 toes and fingers).^b

In this day and age, an exploration of the number 20 in the Bible wouldn’t be adequate without some “Bible code” insights. So, in the King James Bible, the 20th book is Proverbs, and Proverbs 20:20 reads: “Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.” Further, the names Cain and Rome are used 20 times each in the Bible. And the 20th word on page 20 of some editions of Michael Drosnin’s bestseller The Bible Code is “code.” Freaky—although I’m not quite sure what this might signify. In any case, happy 20th anniversary Bible Review. In another 20 years you will be a generation.

If Bible Review were a male Israelite, today it would leave adolescence behind and officially become an adult. That’s because with this issue, Bible Review turns 20—a significant milestone in the Bible. Twenty may well be the most overlooked number in the Good Book, however. Numbers like 7 and 40 seem to get all the attention. So, in celebration of Bible 013Review’s 20th birthday, let’s take a closer look at the number 20 in the Bible: At the age of 20, Israelite boys became men. They were counted in the census (Numbers 1:3; 1 Chronicles 23:24) and eligible to […]