BIBLE NUMERICS

The Number NINE

We now come to the number Nine. The number Nine is going to be a little bit

tougher to get into and work out. You may find books of numerology which

profess to have run down this number Nine, but I must confess that in all my

dealings with the number, I can't find anything absolutely conclusive. I'll

tell you what I have found and give you the findings, and you can run them

down. Nine seems to be connected with fruitfulness and evidently has some

connection with covenants, although I don't fully understand everything

about it. Nine is one short of the Gentile number, which can be proved very

quickly. It is one number beyond the new man, the new creation, which is

eight. It is also what is kept for self when you give God a tenth. Now this

may give some hint as to how the number works out as Abraham is ninety-nine

years old when God makes a covenant with him--ninety-nine. He is said to be

dead in Romans 4 and yet bearing fruit. And Christ said, "Except a corn of

wheat fall in the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it

bringeth forth much fruit."

Nine seems to be connected with fruitfulness. I'll tell you why I say that,

because there are nine fruits of the Spirit given in Galatians 5:22-23.

(5:22? 5 plus 2 plus 2 equals nine!) Three are inward; three are outward;

and three are Godward. Notice too that there are nine gifts of the Holy

Spirit in I Corinthians 12 for power and for character in Galatians. There

are nine in each one of these cases that have to deal with the fruit of the

Holy Spirit, and nine is the number that follows eight which is the new

line.

In Genesis 9:9 we clearly have a covenant--"I establish my covenant with

you, and with your seed after you." I take this to be of some significance

as it seems like the numbers in Genesis (the first book) seem to settle the

meaning thereafter. Abraham is ninety-nine years old when that covenant is

made with him; but as I said before, there is not a great deal that's

conclusive on this thing. In Genesis 17:1 (one plus seven plus one) the

covenant with Abraham is made when he is ninety-nine, and of course here he

is said to be "dead."

There are other nines in the Bible which don't seem to fall in line with

this. We read of the 900 chariots of iron in Judges 4:3, and we read some

connection of this iron with giants in other places in the word of God. The

bedstead of Og, the king of Bashan (Deut. 3:11) was "nine cubits in the

length thereof." The number nine is very prominent in the age of the

Patriarchs in Genesis 5, where we read 900, 900, 900, 900, 900, seven or

eight times in one chapter. So I say this thing here is not too clear. When

we studied the number five I mentioned the Mayday--the fifth month; I

mentioned the #5 breakdown in water of a ship in dry dock; I mentioned the

distress frequency of 500 kilocycles for an SOS--the international distress

frequency, and some other things which may not seem very related to Bible

truth. But in all heresies there is some truth, and every superstition has a

background in absolute truth as God is the author of all truth. Therefore He

is the one who sets up the absolute standard from which all the imitations

and counterfeits have to be made. I say that because of the peculiar

expression used universally--"Cloud Nine." I don't fully understand it, but

it is an expression meaning joyfulness or happiness. They say, "That fellow

is on Cloud Nine," meaning he is in a happy, joyful condition.

Other famous nines are the ninety-nine good sheep and the one that got lost.

Jerusalem was destroyed in the ninth month in Jeremiah 52:4-6. The Bible was

cut up in Jeremiah 36:23 in the ninth month. Nine is the period of

gestation--nine months--for women in producing fruit. Peter's vision is

around the ninth hour; Ezekiel 24 speaks of the ninth year, and there are a

few other places. None of these of course give us conclusive evidence as to

what the number means. It probably has a good meaning as it is plainly three

times three. That much is clear. You can also make up combinations. For

example:

1. Six and three--Six is the number of man and three is the Trinity. This

would say plainly, "Bring forth fruit."

2. Eight and one--Eight is the new creature and one is unity. This would

bring forth fruit.

3. Seven and two--Seven is the number of completion and two is the number of

divisions. This is a very odd combination which doesn't yield anything

numerically.

4. Five and four--Five, as it stands, is death and four, as it stands of

course, has no absolute meaning fixed that we've been able to locate. Now if

it is the earth, it is the earth plus death, which gives a bad connotation

to nine.

Strangely enough, most of the connections of Nine in the Bible are good

connotations. They indicate the longest lives that men have ever lived. If

they indicate giants, at least they indicate the biggest men who ever lived.

Its peculiar connection with the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians, and the

gifts of the Spirit in I Corinthians, plainly indicate some kind of a

spiritual thing that has to do with bearing fruit. Abraham's case has

already been cited. He doesn't bear fruit until he is ninety-nine, and the

fact that it is a gestation period for women is highly significant--nine

months. But I wouldn't make a final statement on it because all the evidence

has not been accumulated, and it may have more than one meaning. It seems to

have that primary meaning.


Index of Preacher's Help and Notes

These documents are free from BelieversCafe.com, the complete christian resource site with more than 5000 webpages.