Chapter XXXVII: Appendix: E: the Symbolism of Numbers

(A Key to Scripture Interpretation)

The value of the symbolism of numbers in the general interpretation of Scripture is variously estimated, but its importance in interpreting the Revelation is almost universally conceded, for without it we cannot understand aright the symbolic teaching of the book. The attentive student will not fail to notice the wide use of numbers throughout, and the effect of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, upon the symbolism of the simpler numbers. The author believes that a cautious use can often be made of numbers in the interpretation not only of the Revelation where their use is so manifest, but of many other parts of Scripture, if not too much stress be laid on the symbolic meaning, for the Hebrew mind delighted itself in symbols. The value of this knowledge lies in the fact that an additional thought may often be caught in this way that would otherwise escape our attention, though it is usually subordinate and does not occupy so prominent a place as in the Revelation. The symbolism of the numbers used in the book is concisely stated in this appendix for the convenience of the reader.

ONE (a unit), the Primary Number. The symbol of that which is single, alone, or representative. One hour, and one day, in the Revelation stand for a relatively short time, and a half‐hour for a clearly limited period, even though these may not be actually short from the human point of view. The fractions one‐half, one‐third, and one‐fourth do not represent definite parts, but in a general way portions less than the whole, that which is of limited extent in relation to the whole.

TWO (a pair), the Lowest Plural Number. The symbol of confirmation, of added strength and surety, especially the number of confirmation in witness‐bearing. The Two Witnesses in chapter eleven, and the Two Beasts in chapter thirteen, it will be seen, serve to strengthen each other.

THREE (a triad), the Divine Number. The symbol of the Trinity; of the spiritual as contrasted with the material; of blessing in the Old Testament. A small total that is deemed sufficient; a limited plurality; spiritual completeness. The smallest number with a beginning, a middle, and an end—a fact that impressed the Jewish mind.

THREE AND ONE‐HALF (one‐half of seven), a Broken Number, the half of the Perfect Number. The symbol of the finite or undetermined; a broken and uncertain period without a fixed limit; a shortened period of time when applied to duration, and usually one of tribulation; a period of trial and judgment. Three and a half years is the period of the church’s conflict in the Revelation, the age of the church militant, the church‐eon; and three and a half days is the short and indefinite period of world‐triumph in which the church suffers oppression—the equivalent of the half‐week in Daniel. Three and a half years, the period of drought in Elijah’s time, of the little horn in Daniel, and of Christ’s public ministry, is introduced four times in the Revelation, viz. it is the period of the Two Witnesses (ch. 11:3), of the Woman in the wilderness (ch. 12:6, 14), of the Dragon’s rage (ch. 12:14), and of the power of the Beast (ch. 13:5), each of which is a time of tribulation.

FOUR (the four corners or sides of a square), the Earth Number. The symbol of the physical creation, having relation to this present world which is usually thought of as evil; also used of world‐wideness, universality of extent, as all parts of the earth without any moral significance.

FIVE (one‐half of ten), an Incomplete Number. The symbol of the indefinite, the uncertain, with the suggestion of smallness; as a measure of time an incomplete period.

SIX (one less than seven; and one‐half of twelve), an Imperfect Number. The symbol of evil, of incompleteness of quality, or of imperfection; Satan’s number, the signature of non‐perfection; the representative of that which is earthly as opposed to that which is heavenly; falling short of the fulness of seven, the perfect number, and but the half of twelve, the church number.

SEVEN (the number of days in a week; also four plus three), the Perfect Number. The symbol of perfection, or completeness of quality; of totality of kind, fulness, or universality. A sacred number with the Jews; the number of the covenant in the Old Testament; the ethical number, for it often has a moral significance, and, as will be seen, is composed of the earth number (four) added to the divine number (three). The number seven occurs _fifty‐four_ times in the Revelation, indicating that it occupied an important place in the mind of the writer, and should receive special attention.

EIGHT (seven plus one), a Reinforced Number. The symbol of culmination, of resurrection, or of a new life or period begun.

TEN (the ten digits; the ten commandments), the Complete Number. The symbol of completeness of all the parts, of totality of portions, entirety, and absoluteness; a finite number as contrasted with infinity; in its larger multiples implying indefiniteness and magnitude. Ordinarily used of things that are earthly, though not necessarily implying any moral significance. It is a relevant fact, however, that nothing which is described in heaven is ten in number, though its multiples are constantly introduced. The combination of seven with ten in the seven heads and ten horns of the Dragon and the Beast, is unusual and has an evil significance throughout, which is probably intended to indicate that that which was originally designed for moral perfection (seven) has been prostituted for earthly ends (ten), as is signified by joining one to the other.

TWELVE (the twelve sons of Jacob; four multiplied by three), the National Number of Israel. The symbol of the covenant nation, the church number—the number of the earth (four) multiplied by the number of the divine (three) becoming the sign of God’s people divinely chosen out of the earth. By some it is interpreted as the number of world‐witness for divine truth, as the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles, putting the purpose of the church first.

TWENTY‐FOUR (twelve multiplied by two), the National Number Doubled. The symbol in the Revelation of the church of both Dispensations united, the Jewish and Christian, the church of all the ages. The glorified church in heaven is ideally represented by the four and twenty elders that are before the throne, i. e. the elders represent one phase of that life.

FORTY (ten multiplied by four), the Probational Number. The symbol of temptation, or of the power of the earthly; often connected with the divine test of character, the earth number (four) multiplied by the complete number (ten) signifying the complete power of the earthly which is ever testing men. Also, as forty years was regarded as the period of intellectual maturity in man, it sometimes stood for a full period, a complete epoch, especially a complete period of stress or trial.

FORTY‐TWO (twelve multiplied by three and a half; or seven multiplied by six), a Broken Number. The symbol of the church‐historic period of trial, the world‐age, the duration of the rule of wickedness. Three and a half years in months,—the source from which this number is derived in the Revelation,—serves to indicate the incomplete period of the church (twelve multiplied by three and a half), and also the full or complete period of evil (six multiplied by seven).

SEVENTY (ten multiplied by seven), the Cosmopolitan Number. The symbol of world‐wideness; of a two‐fold completeness that is all embracing and comprehensive, comprising both seven and ten; the number of the nations. [The numbers forty and seventy, strange to say, do not occur in the Revelation, though forty is common in the Old Testament, and occurs also in the New, and the square of forty (1600) is found in chapter fourteen (v. 20); seventy also had a well‐known meaning to the Hebrew mind, especially from the period of the Captivity which lasted seventy years, and was also the number of disciples sent forth by our Lord for wider service during his Perean ministry. It is quite probable, however, that these numbers are not used in the Revelation, where so much stress is laid on the symbolism of numbers, simply because their symbolism was not needed, just as one hundred is not used except in combination with other numbers].

ONE HUNDRED (ten multiplied by ten), the Complete Number Squared; ten multiplied by itself. The symbol of a multiple completeness that is usually applied to the earthly.

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY‐FOUR (twelve multiplied by twelve), the National Number of Israel Squared. The symbol of the completeness of the redeemed church—the multiplying of a number by itself conveying the idea of a multiple fulness or completeness; Israel, God’s people, made complete.

Six Hundred and Sixty‐six (six hundred, plus sixty, plus six), the Number of the Beast. The symbol of the threefold form of the world’s evil which culminates in the Second Beast. Six, the number of imperfection (one short of the mystic seven), thrice repeated, six, six, six, (666), represents the combined force of the Dragon, the First Beast, and the Second; or, differently stated, six hundred may be taken as the symbol of the Dragon, sixty as the symbol of the First Beast, and six as the symbol of the second, which gives a total of six hundred, and sixty, and six, representing the combined power of evil incarnated in the Second Beast. In this symbolism there may also be included the thought of a triune power in antagonism to the divine Trinity—a trinity of sin.

ONE THOUSAND (ten multiplied by ten multiplied by ten), the Cube of Ten. The symbol of multi‐completeness; a number that is great but indefinite in its symbolism, and often used of the heavenly. The thousand years of chapter twenty is a great period of time of unknown length, stretching out to untold generations, the millennium of the church’s history, the period of the church’s triumph and victory.

TWELVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY (forty‐two multiplied by thirty; or twelve multiplied by three and a half and this again by thirty), the Time Number. The symbol of the indefinite period of present‐world duration; the age of persecution. Twelve hundred and sixty days are equivalent to forty‐two months of thirty days each, or three and a half years of three hundred and sixty days each, the symbol of the incomplete period of trial during which the church suffers oppression. To this may perhaps be added the combination of twelve multiplied by five, representing the incompleteness of the church as one factor, and seven multiplied by three, representing the completeness of the divine as the other factor, these multiplied together equalling twelve hundred and sixty and symbolizing God working out perfect results through the incomplete period of the church.

SIXTEEN HUNDRED (forty multiplied by forty; or one hundred multiplied by sixteen), the Square of Forty; or the Square of Ten multiplied by the Square of Four. The symbol of that which is coextensive with the created world. Forty is composed of four, the earth number, multiplied by ten, the number of completeness; and sixteen hundred, the square of forty, is the sign of completeness so far as this world is concerned. The square of four multiplied by the square of ten gives the same result, and conveys the same idea of world‐completeness.

SEVEN THOUSAND (one thousand multiplied by seven), the Number of Multi‐ Completeness, one thousand, multiplied by seven, the Number of Fulness or Perfection. The symbol of a great number that is fully complete; the number of those put to death in the fall of the great city (ch. 11:13).

TEN THOUSAND (one thousand multiplied by ten; the square of one hundred), the Superlative Number. The symbol of innumerability, or of an innumerable multitude. This is the highest _single_ number in the system of notation used in the New Testament; ten raised to the fourth power, a myriad (μυριὰς).

TWELVE THOUSAND (one thousand multiplied by twelve), the Number of Multi‐ Completeness (one thousand) multiplied by the Number of the Tribes of Israel (twelve). The symbol of the complete number saved out of Israel from each tribe; or, as others interpret it, the complete number saved out of all the nations, included here under the twelve tribes, twelve thousand from each tribe; also the measure of one side of the wall of the New Jerusalem which is multi‐complete and encircles the redeemed of Israel.

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY‐FOUR THOUSAND (one thousand multiplied by one hundred and forty‐four; or twelve thousand multiplied by twelve; or the cube of ten multiplied by the square of twelve), the Number of Redemption. The symbol of the multiple completeness of the redeemed church, whether applied to the redeemed from the Old Dispensation, or by synecdoche to those from all ages and nations.

TEN THOUSAND TIMES TEN THOUSAND (ten thousand multiplied by ten thousand), the Number of Multi‐Completeness (one thousand) multiplied by the Number of Completeness of Parts (ten), and this again multiplied by itself; the Square of a Myriad, one hundred millions in number. The symbol of an innumerable multitude which is made more intense by squaring it; the multiple and innumerable number of the angels in heaven.

TWICE TEN THOUSAND TIMES TEN THOUSAND (ten thousand multiplied by ten thousand, and this again doubled), the Double Square of a Myriad, two hundred millions in number—the largest multiple number in the book of Revelation, and the largest number mentioned in the Bible. The symbol of an innumerable multitude made more intense by multiplication, becoming thereby an _innumerably_ innumerable multitude, and this again doubled. The countless number of the vast invading army of horsemen under the sixth trumpet which destroy a third part of men from the earth; the world‐forces which under direction of the world‐rulers of the darkness work world‐ruin among men—a significant figure of the mighty power and destructive agency of the heathen world as it appeared to John’s mind in the great Apocalyptic vision.

APPENDIX F: THE LITERARY STRUCTURE OF THE APOCALYPSE

A Diagram showing the relation of its several parts.

The Literary Structure of the Apocalypse