What is the biblical meaning of the number 3?

Answer 1

It is a divine number. The number 3 carries a very significant meaning, for it is connected to the cross of Christ. His death on the cross for everyone's sins, His rest in the tomb of burial, and His ressurection back to life. So Christians should look for the number 3 in spiritual meanng in their lives. Death - Surrender / Rest - a peace Given by God / Ressurection - revelation of heart to feel free is one example of spiritual understanding. Another example might be the death of a job, a rest, a newer more fulfilling job that comes in answer to prayer; but in any case, the more you look for the number 3, the more you see reminders of what Christ did for us.

Answer 2

There are many 'interpretations' of what the number 3 signifies if indeed it does. Many of these hold that the number has a sense of completion or finality and sometimes expectations of a further significant event/development. Some think the latter was a reason why biblical writers so often referred to it.

But the number 3 appears numerous times and in many varied ways. Consider this:

Deuteronomy 16:16New King James Version (NKJV)

16 "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.

Also consider how Christ asked Peter 3 times if he loved Him in the re-instatement event post-resurrection. There are many other examples as well.

Perhaps the most important use of the number 3 comes as the only sign Jesus gave of His Messiahship - being 3 full days and nights in the belly of the earth (tomb) like Jonah was in the belly of the great fish.

Of course, some in Christianity associate the number 3 with the 'trinity' concept which is not Scriptural. Read more deeply, one would see many peoples hold to the concept of 3 in 1 for their god beliefs and many associate Greek via Egyptian via Bablyonian religious concepts as the basis for this Christian concept.