Why is 40 such a special number in the Bible?

Answer 1

A:Many of the earliest stories of Israel were handed down by word of mouth for centuries before finally being committed to writing. These include the number of days it rained before the Flood, the years wandering in the desert, the reigns of both David and Solomon, and so on. Forty was a commonly used number, simply because it was easy for the storyteller to remember. In the same way, the number of years of peace brought about by each of the major judges, or the number of years of their ruling, is a multiple of 20, except in the case of Jephthah, who is said to have ruled Israel for only 6 years. In these cases, the use of multiples of 20 probably provided enough variety to appear to be literally true, while remaining easy to remember.