What's in a Number?

Reflecting back on some past posts I think I could come across as one of those people who are currently getting lost in the significance of particular numbers in scripture, even taken outside the influence of the prompts of promise given by the Spirit. But I think this morning I disproved that, at least for myself.



I do pay attention to numbers, and God does lead me with the way they appear in my life. For instance, I taught 7 7th graders 7th period last year and took that set of 3 7's as a pointer of import, especially so when an 8th player, a 6th grader and my own son, often came in for rehearsals because he was our only trumpet--7 being a number of perfection and 8 a number of regeneration, renewal and new beginnings...these said things to me about that group and my work with them, and those things proved to be true. Likewise, this year, my junior high group started as 13 members and after Christmas went to 12 members, and this, too, says something to me. But I am not a slave of the numbers; rather I see the numbers as servant to God, I believe firmly He manipulates them and not the opposite. My interactions with the numbers this morning was a good case in point.





We are out of school on a snow day today, not that it mattered so much for me as I'm out on an extended leave due to health issues. But it makes a difference for the children, and for my own morning as I had time to leisurely watch the news and read my Bible without morning "prep work" getting in the way. One thing I noticed as unusual was the fact that everywhere on the weather map read the same temperature: 19 degrees. I've never seen that happen before...always there is a degree or two of variance, but not so today as snow is falling, snow on snow...to quote an old Christmas carol. So I googled the meaning of 19 in the Bible and elsewhere and found interesting information.



On the secular or extra-Christian side--I found such things as claims that the number 19 supports the Quran's predictions that the theory of evolution would rise up in the 19th century. I found that among tarot cards, 19 represents the sun card, where two children in a walled garden play a musical instruments together under the sun in perpetual bliss and harmony. I saw atomic number 19, a light metallic element that "oxidizes rapidly in air and reacts violently with water."





But looking to scripture, numerologists talk of 19 as a combination of 10 and 9 noting their meanings which are divine order and judgment. A deeper search into these numbers showed all sorts of lists of things that "prove" the given interpretation of these numbers in scripture, things that could make your head spin after an initial sense of mild interest. But one thing turned me away from these lists--as I chased rabbits through that website. I came to a list of 12 judges given to "prove" the numbers 8 and 13, by claiming that every righteous line God recognizes with their having names that "add up" to 8 while the unrighteous lines add up to 13. Many lists or lineages are offered, but one gave me pause: this list of 12 judges and their relationships with both 8 and 13 as they were raised up to save Israel in a time of apostasy. My problem was that this list of judges struck me as odd--because Deborah was notably absent. I re-read the list and realized that Barak, the warrior she called to action, was listed in her stead--presumably to make the numbers work, proving that the list of judges names "added up" to 3848, which is to say 8 x 13 x 37. But scripture plainly says "Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time." I guess the numbers didn't "work" with her name, or else her being female was the problem...either way, a manipulation of the truth of the list was made to "prove" the validity of the numerology, an adjustment to any utter accuracy made for the sake of what was apparently perceived as a greater good. Or else, the words of the verses themselves are wrong, but ironically, to say that would topple this numerology concept in its entirety like some great house of cards.



On a personal note, that I'd recognize such a manipulation is a very good thing, as I have been prone in the past to such a "sin" myself--but now I can see it for what it is when it is put before me: it is in its barest form a statement that God's work/word needs human interpretation, human improvement in a way, a restatement in a way that "fits" our needs better. Such is a prevailing attitude I find right now in many fronts and ask that God reveal if it be any influence in me, that secret sin that the Psalmist begs God to reveal that it might be rectified. I think of how deceptive this practice can be, because it parades as an angel of light, like is found in the changing of the lyrics of great historic hymns: changing "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me" to ..."that saved a soul like me" as I found it sung in a church recently. Frankly, that which was changed so as to not offend me was the very thing that did offend me.



So I put aside my google run with a sigh and went to my regular Bible reading for the day, feeling a little sheepish for how easily the distraction of the weather had pulled me off my daily reading. My mind returned to the things that plague me before God now, as I find it wise to allow the concerns of my heart regarding life in this world to be bathed in the Word I read. So my mind laid my concerns in one tray of the balance and I looked for what You'd lay in the other: what do You want for me work wise? Is my failing health a sign I am to make a career move? Will you open doors for me to do something else? Part of me wants to go back to finish this year and part of me doesn't, but I lean toward wanting to return--especially for my children's sake, who would like to finish the year as students at the school where I teach. (My youngest even prayed to go back to school yesterday as he's recovering from his own bout with mono.)

All these questions swirl up as fears every time I get my eyes off You, but this time, I find it is easier to return to my remembrances of unfailing leadership and provision for me, I find my peace again even before I collapse into fears of impending days spent comfortless. It is I hope one of the testimonies that I walk a more mature walk with You as I approach days of change again after this long season of sameness. So, as I read and came across this verse in Psalm 94 I felt a glow of commonality between the heart of King David and my own heart, and I felt You confirm my feeling that if I were to look over my shoulder, I'd see the road stretch out a long way behind me:



In the multitude of my anxious thoughts, within me Thy comforts delight my soul.


And to bring it full circle, guess which verse number classifies those words...