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.


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