Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: hall@vice.ico.tek.com (Hal Lillywhite) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: important biblical numbers Message-ID: Date: 24 Jul 90 08:07:18 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR. Lines: 16 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article st0o+@andrew.cmu.edu (Steven Timm) writes: >... As for 14, with 3 times 14 >generations from Abraham to Christ in Matthew 1 (double-counting the people >at the ends of the 14) I suspect this number was important because it >was a multiple of seven. Seven is the number used to signify perfection, >while eight signifies victory. I believe Matthew's emphasis on 14 generations has to to with the Hebrew language. It was written without vowels and letters were used to express numbers. Thus David, the Jewish arch-hero is written "DVD" (actually of course the Hebrew equivalent). The number 14 can be expressed as 4 + 6 + 4. The letter equivalents are 4=D and 6=V, thus 14 represents David = DVD. Matthew was emphasizing the Davidic descent of Jesus and that he would sit upon the throne of His father David.