BIBLE NUMERICS
The Number FOUR
We have come to the number Four. Now the number Four is far more
elusive than the number Three. The number Four occurs for the first
time in your Bible in Genesis 2:10 where it speaks about the ancient
river being parted into "four heads." Then we find the four kings
battling against five a little later on in Genesis, around chapter 14.
The word Four, as it stands, is also kin to the word Fourth. The word
Fourth occurs the first time (by itself) in your Bible in I Kings
22:41, "In the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel." We have the fourth
part occurring in Exodus 29:40, the fourth part of an hin of wine,
talking about the measurement put out for the sacrifice.
The number four doesn't yield too much. I've heard many things about
the number four. In most of the books on numerology which you can buy
(Christian numerology, like the list by Clarence Larkin in the middle
of Dispensational Truth, and the book called Bible Numerics, and the
work by Bullinger), we find the number four associated with the earth.
It is supposedly the earth number. This may or may not be true. The
Bible certainly doesn't put too much on it. It is called the "earth
number" because the earth is supposed to have four seasons: summer,
winter, spring, and fall. This isn't too conclusive as in the Bible
there are six, not four. Notice the winter, summer, seed time,
harvest, cold, and heat given in Genesis 8. You find six seasons and
not four. Then we read about "the four corners of the earth," a true
expression from the compass, and of course, recently discovered to be
a true expression of the land surface itself. They found definitely
four elongated bumps on the earth's surface--not mountain ranges--but
four places where the spheroid isn't shaped quite right. It has kind
of an edge to it. Then we have the four corners of the compass: north,
south, east, and west. This coupled with the four seasons is supposed
to indicate that the number four is an "earth number." It may be; I
don't know. You have the basic elements: fire, wind, earth, and water,
which may be significant. That about covers it, but of course the
ancients went by this and then you found out that there was more to it
than that in the way of chemicals. The number four is very elusive
when you get to actually tracking it down in the Bible. I'm not
satisfied on it at all.
The ancient Hebrew is told to restore four sheep for a sheep, if he
stole one, in Exodus 22:1. He was told to cast four rings of gold
around the corners of all the articles of furniture in the tabernacle
to carry them with. And there were four rows of stones (three in each
one), for the children of Israel, and certainly three by four is
connected with the children of Israel, and we know what the number
three is. The number three is connected with the Trinity. The number
four might possibly be an earth number. It is certain that the twelve
tribes of Israel were called out for an earthly inheritance and an
earthly kingdom. That's for certain. But the evidence is not too
conclusive. We read about animals that go on all four a number of
times in Leviticus 11.
The fourth chapter in the Bible deals with the murder of Abel by Cain.
It is hard to locate any one thing in the chapter that is significant.
If a man wants to locate anything, I suppose he would locate "your
brother's blood cries to me from the ground," or from the earth. Then
you could tie this in with the earth number, but it is not too
conclusive. A lot happens in that chapter besides the earth getting
soaked with blood--an awful lot happens. In Exodus chapter 4, we have
the call of Moses. In John 4 we have the conversation with the woman
at the well. The number four just doesn't yield very much. You may
say, "Well what do you mean by using those chapters"? Because the
further we get in Bible numbers, the more we realize that the chapters
have something to do with the definition of numbers as well as the
verses as well as the numbers in the verses. Four evidently hasn't
been worked out.
The word "four" occurs more times in Ezekiel 1 than any other chapter
in the word of God. In this chapter it occurs pretty close to ten
times when it speaks of four living creatures which have four faces,
four wings, and the four had this, and the four had that, and the four
had the other thing. The number four occurs more times there than any
other chapter in the word of God--Ezekiel 1. Of course it is there
dealing with the cherubim, and again there may be some reference to
the earth. As we find out later in our study, there were five cherubim
and one fell and lost his place over the throne, leaving four cherubim
and those four cherubim undoubtedly represent things on the earth. For
example:
1. The four had the face of a man (that's the king or crown of God's
creation).
2. They had the face of an ox (the ox is the undisputed king of the
domestic animals, the bull, even so much that the white cow is
considered a sacred animal).
3. The four had the face of an eagle (which is undoubtedly king of the
flying animals).
4. They had also the face of the lion (which is undoubtedly the king
of the wild beasts).
There is some reference to earth and especially to creation in the
four beasts of Ezekiel 1. It may be that the number four has less to
do with the earth itself and more to do with creation than one might
think. But again this doesn't follow through as the periods of
gestation among animals and human beings won't be connected with four;
they're closer to nine. The number four is still a mystery to me, and
I don't profess to know exactly what it is.
They divided Christ's garment into four parts but of course they took
the poncho, the one that was woven throughout from the top, making
five parts, and shot dice over the fifth part after they divided the
four parts. I don't know what the significance of this is--the four
pieces of the clothing that Christ wore. The court has four corners to
it in Ezekiel chapter 46. We read about the four winds of the earth in
Revelation 7:1. We run into the four beasts again in Revelation 6:1
and that about winds the thing up. The altar of burnt sacrifices was
foursquare and New Jerusalem is foursquare. But what this has to do
with the earth, I don't know.
We read about Daniel's fourth kingdom in Daniel 2. That fourth kingdom
in Daniel 2 is the Roman Empire, the one of iron. We read about the
fourth beast in Daniel 7, and the fourth beast is not the Roman
Empire, but the Antichrist's empire that comes out of the Roman
Empire. And of course the fourth being in Daniel 3:25 is like the Son
of God. There must be some significance in the fact that Jesus comes
in the fourth watch of the night to the disciples as a type of the
Second Coming in Matthew 14:25 and Mark 6:48; but what that has to do
with the earth, I don't know. Perhaps He is coming to the earth; one
might say, but I think this is stretching the point a little.
The Passover is killed in the fourteenth day of the month and this is
a combination of ten and four; but when we get into the number Ten,
we're going to find out beyond the shadow of a doubt that the number
Ten is connected with the Gentiles. How you would add a four to a
Gentile to get a passover I don't know, and I don't profess to be able
to find out. The number Four in the Bible is still a mystery; I have
not mastered it. I do not profess to have mastered it; I know there is
something lacking or something wanting in the dissertations of those
who profess to have located it. There is some material they don't
have. I don't know what is missing, but it is not conclusive evidence
by any means.
Index of Preacher's Help and Notes
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