BIBLE NUMERICS
The Number TWO
Now we get to Two. The number Two in the Bible is used like it is used
anywhere, and of course the number Two immediately implies division.
Amos chapter 3, verse 3, "Can two walk together, except they be
agreed?" Why, in Genesis 2 Adam has his side divided; he's cut open.
The unity is marred of his body and out comes a woman, Two. The Bible
says in Genesis 2 that no help meet was found for Adam, so Adam became
two in Genesis 2. You say, "Well, that's kind of stretching it." Yes,
it is. Isn't it strange, though. You don't suppose the King James
translators knew that when they put the chapter and verse markings in,
do you? No, of course they didn't. We find the same phenomenon in
other places in two's in the Bible. But two doesn't need a great deal
of expounding on. Two plainly gives division. Now, the wise man says
in the book of Ecclesiastes that "two is better than one," referring
of course to a man and woman; but even though those are two they're
said to be one, and there should be no division between them. If there
is, that isn't an ideal situation, and it's not a scriptural
situation. Two, as it stands, implies division.
Isn't it strange that the division of the tribes of Israel began way
back there in the book of Numbers and continues right slap on through,
clean up to the time of Christ? Do you realize that there are two
spies that came back in the book of Numbers, and ten of them were not
faithful and two of them were and that divided the camp right down the
middle? It was divided again under Rehoboam after Solomon; into two
southern tribes and ten northern tribes, and so help me if James and
John (two brothers!) didn't come to Jesus and say, "Grant us that we
may sit at your right hand and your left hand in the kingdom."
Do you realize the Old Testament is divided, and the main division is
between the law and the prophets? Jesus speaks about the law and the
prophets and the Psalms in His exact division, but where Paul is
speaking before his witnesses and gives the divisions he simply says,
"the law and the prophets." That is the usual division. I realize that
technically there are three divisions: the writings, and the law, and
the prophets; but we find very often the expression "the law and
prophets," just the two given as the main divisions. The main
representatives of the law and the prophets, of course, are Elijah and
Moses. That's division. Elijah divides off the prophets; Moses divides
off the law. As a matter of fact, with three sections in the Old
Testament, there are two dividing marks in them. One demarcation is
between the law and the prophets; the other demarcation is between the
prophets and the writings. The two men who stand in these two
divisions are Moses and Elijah. Isn't that a strange thing? I guess
you realize when Moses and Elijah come back before the Second Coming
of Christ, they'll herald the Second Coming of Christ, and when Christ
returns (Zech. 14), the Mount of Olives shall cleave in Two. The word
Two clearly implies division. As a matter of fact, a schizophrenic is
a split personality, implying two people in one person or two
personalities in one person.
It was two angels who came to Sodom and got Lot out of town. That
split his family up pretty good, too, if you'll remember. He had two
daughters. We find two daughters a lot; Laban had two daughters.
There is a superstition, of course, among natives that twins are no
good, and they are to be buried or killed. In many African tribes
twins are still killed, and so is the mother killed. Why? Two is
division. Two is division. And this is clear. You don't find many good
meanings on the word Two.
The first time the word Two occurs in your Bible is Genesis 1:16. God
made two lights, a reference to the sun and the moon. You know what
the Lord said they were for? They were to divide, brother, to divide
the day from the night, the light from the darkness. One was Lord of
the daytime, the sun; one was Lord of the night, the moon. Two then
clearly stands for division, and most any place you find it, that will
be the basic idea behind it. One is unity, Two is division.
Index of Preacher's Help and Notes
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