Why is it always 40 days and 40 nights in the Bible?

Answer 1

A:Many of the Old Testament stories were handed down orally by storytellers, until finally written down during the first millennium BCE, and the number 40 was easy to remember. In Noah's Flood it rained for forty days and forty nights, Moses spent 40 days on the mountain and Elijah spent 40 days in the wilderness. In a similar way, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, then Kings David and Solomon both reigned for 40 years.

The most important period of 40 days in the New Testament occurs when Jesus spent forty days and forty nights in the wilderness, which is actually an allusion to the prophet Elijah and also to Moses. Mark 1:13 tells of Jesus in the wilderness forty days, ministered to by angels, just as Elijah was ministered by an angel and in the wilderness forty days (1 Kings 19:5-7). The Gospels of Matthew and Luke follow the allusion to Elijah in a subtly different way, taking the angel out of the gospel story and instead having Jesus fast for forty days in the wilderness, just as Elijah did after the angel ministered to him. Early students of the gospels would also have recognised the parallel to Moses when (Exodus 34:28) he fasted for 40 days while he wrote the words of the Ten Commandments on tablets. Thus, this passage draws parallels to two of the most revered characters in the Old Testament, and even indirectly to the giving of the Law to Moses.

The Christian Pentecost occurs 40 days after Easter, just as the Jewish Pentecost occurred 40 days after the Passover.

Answer:

The Bible reveals that one full 24-hour day [from sunrise to sunrise] is divided into a "daytime" portion and a "nighttime" portion -- the "day" and the "night."

"God called the light 'day' and the darkness He called 'night.' And there was evening [night], and there was morning [day] -- the first day." (Gen.1:5 NIV)

The reason, therefore, for saying "40 days and 40 nights" is to demonstrate that they are forty FULL 24-hour days... the entire night and day divisions of a day, and not fractions of a day.

For instance when the Bible says someone fasted forty days and forty nights -- it was for forty full 24-hour days. They didn't just fast during the daytime, then chow down at night.