If you read through revelation you will find that it contains a lot of numbers, from its use of 7 or 10 to the 144,000 spoken of in later chapters. These numbers have been interpreted in different ways and taken to mean different things. It is probably important to try to fathom why numbers are important in the book of revelation and why this may be important for understanding what is going on in the unfolding vision.
First an aside as to why I will be looking at Hebrew numbers and not Greek. Revelation after all is written in Greek so you may ask surely that is the more important language? The reason why it is to Hebrew numbers I turn is that the book of revelation is a book written for Jewish Christians who would have been steeped in the Jewish scriptures and the Jewish (therefore Hebrew) understanding of numbers. Although many of the readers may have only heard there scriptures read from the LXX they would still be aware of the significance of Hebrew numbers and why they where used.
Hebrew does not have digits like we use today instead they use the letters of their alphabet as symbols for their numbers. For example א or Aleph which is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet stands for number 1 and ב or Bet is number 2. To get higher numbers letters are combined together so that they would add up to the desired number. So קפט or Kuf-Pei-Tet = 189 (100+80+9=189).
This linking of letters and numbers meant that Jewish scholars would work out the value of words and then link them to other words of the same value in a process known as Gematria. This process as I will no doubt point out at some time has been used in the interpretation of numbers within revelation and has brought about some amusing insights.
The big thing with Hebrew numbers though is how they became linked with certain meanings so that when a number was used the hearer or reader would automatically understand what was being spoken of. An example of this for us today comes from the world of sport (a great source of imagery for me). In football (that's soccer if you are American) certain numbers are linked with certain positions in a game of football. If you were to hear a crowd chanting 'England's number 9' you would now they were talking about the teams leading striker as this number is linked to the likes of Shearer, Rooney or Charlton. In Basketball the number 23 shirt has significant meaning as it was worn by Michael Jordan at the Chicago Bulls.
Below then is a list of important numbers in revelation and some explanation about the meaning connected to the number to help explain its importance. As time goes on I will add to the list and fill out the explanations to give the fullest insight I can.
7 - 7 days of creation (Gen2:2, 3), Cain's death would be avenged 7 times (Gen 4:15), 7 of each clean animal on the ark (Gen 7:2), the passover was celebrated on the 7th day (Ex 13:6), the 7th day is a day of rest (Ex 16:30) 7 priests marched on the 7th day 7 times (Jos 6:4). Revelation has 7 churches, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls, 7 beatitudes, and 7 thunders. Of all the numbers in the bible 7 is the important one. The reason for this is the number 7 became closely linked with the idea of wholeness, completion and perfection. When we read the number 7 in revelation we have to take into account that what we are being offered is a whole, complete and perfect image. There are letters for 7 churches but maybe these 7 churches represent the church as a whole.
10 -
144,000 -
3 and a half -
