The Significance of Forty

• The number FORTY is representative of trials that an individual or a nation endures. • It is the period of full probation, full punishment, complete testing; a period of temptation.

• Genesis 7:1-5 • The LORD then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.” • 5 And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

• Due to the corruptness of man and his propensity towards violence and evil, rain was sent for forty days to flood the earth. This flood was to exact God’s measure of full probation towards the offenders on the earth, with only Noah and his family being saved because of their righteousness.

• Acts 7:30-32 • 30 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’[f] Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. • After Moses killed an Egyptian, he spent 40 years in Midian as a shepherd. Following this 40 year period, God spoke to Moses through the burning bush.

• Furthermore, Moses’ life can be viewed as three 40 year intervals. • Acts 7:23-24 • 23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. • Exodus 7:7 • 7 Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh. • Deuteronomy 34:7 • 7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. 8

• Exodus 24:18 •

18 Then

Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

• When Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai, he was gone for forty days and nights. • What happened during this time period of Moses’ absence?

• Exodus 32:1-4 • When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” • 2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,[b] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

• Notice that the nation of Israel fell under this forty days of testing while Moses was gone.

• Numbers 32-35 • Because the Israelites lacked faith when they spied out the land, they were placed on a forty year probation by the Lord. During this time period they experienced a variety of trials in the desert. • Hebrews 3:7-9; 16-17 • 7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice,8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. •

16 Who

were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness?

• What was the purpose of this probationary time? • Why did God exact this on the nation of Israel?

• Notice now that while the nation of Israel succumbed to temptation while in the desert, the Son on God triumphed over temptation in the desert. • Luke 4: 1-2 • Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted[a] by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

• The Son of God was led by the Spirit and was tempted by the devil for forty days. • It is also interesting to note that both trials (for Israel during the exodus and Jesus) occur in the desert following their “baptism.” (The nation of Israel crossing the Red Sea and Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist.) • Do you think the location has any significance in these two contexts? • Why were the Israelites (led by God) and Jesus( led by the Spirit) both taken into the wilderness? • Is it common for us to sometimes be tested while we are in the “desert of life?”

• Judges 13:1 • Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

• Prior to Samson’s deliverance of Israel, the nation was subjected to Philistine rule for forty years.

• 1 Samuel 17:16 •

16 For

forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

• The Philistine champion Goliath defied and tested the faith of the army of Israel for a forty day period. Following this time, God’s servant David showed the power God has over temptation by defeating Goliath.

• 1 Kings 19:8 • So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

• Elijah was feed one meal by an angel, which provided enough nourishment for a forty day journey to Horeb.

• Ezekiel 4:6-8 • 6 “After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. 7 Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. 8 I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege. • Ezekiel laid on his right side with a block of clay underneath him to symbolize the sins of the people of Judah. The iniquity of the house of Judah is borne for 40 days, one for each year. • During this time, Jerusalem is bound with ropes until it finishes its probationary period.

• Ezekiel 29:13-16 • 13 “‘Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were scattered. 14 I will bring them back from captivity and return them to Upper Egypt, the land of their ancestry. There they will be a lowly kingdom. 15 It will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the other nations. I will make it so weak that it will never again rule over the nations. 16 Egypt will no longer be a source of confidence for the people of Israel but will be a reminder of their sin in turning to her for help. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.’” • Following 40 years the Egyptians are gathered into upper Egypt and the nation is restored, albeit a lowly kingdom, but their time served under trial is ended following 40 years.

• Jonah 3:4-5 • 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. • When Jonah preached in Nineveh 40 days were given to repent.

• It seems that following a period of 40 (days or years) whatever probation or trial that was endured is ended. • Thus restoration occurs after the number 40. • The nation of Israel entered the promise land after 40 years. • After being under Philistine control for 40 years, Samson is sent to deliver the Israelites from their oppressors. • The Israelites faith in God is restored once David defeats Goliath after being taunted for 40 days. • Jesus was attended by angels following his 40 day temptation in the desert. (Matthew 4: 11) • 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

• Deuteronomy 25:2- 3 • 2 If the guilty person deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make them lie down and have them flogged in his presence with the number of lashes the crime deserves, 3 but the judge must not impose more than forty lashes. If the guilty party is flogged more than that, your fellow Israelite will be degraded in your eyes.

• 2 Corinthians 11:24 •

24 Five

times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

• The maximum number of stripes or lashes that could be inflicted upon someone for punishment was forty. • Why? • Forty is symbolic of full probation, the full extent of punishment and judgment.

• Isaiah 53: 5;10 • 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his stripes we are healed. • 10Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes[c] his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. • Matthew 27:26 • 26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. • 1 Peter 2:24 • 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

• While the Bible is not explicit as to the number of lashes Jesus received, we are told that by the stripes of Jesus we are healed. • Many Bible scholars suggest that Jesus did in fact endure the 40 lashes minus one. • Regardless of the exact number of lashes, God exacted his full punishment, wrath, propitiation(the act of appeasing) upon His own Son at the cross, so that we may be healed. • Our salvation is dependent on the fact that Jesus bore the stripes that you and I deserve to bear. • Isaiah's prophecy shows the judgments of God were poured out upon Jesus for our healing and that Jesus paid the full price.