Why is the number 40 so frequently present in the Bible?

Answer 1

A:

The number 40 is a nice round number, easy to remember for oral story telling. The number is most common during the legendary period, down to the reign of King Solomon, because this assisted the tradents who passed down the stories on which the books of the Old Testament were based. Other multiples of the number 20 are also common, especially in the stories taken into the Book of Judges. Another memory aid was the use personal names relevant to the theme of the story being told. So, the first man was called 'man' (Heb: Adam), Abram meant 'Exalted father' but as the story progressed this was changed to Abraham or 'Father of many', and so on.

The number 40 is also present in the New Testament, but for different reasons. For example, 1 Kings 19:5-7 says that Elijah was ministered by an angel and in the wilderness forty days. Exodus 34:28 says that Moses also fasted for 40 days while he wrote the words of the Ten Commandments on tablets. The gospels then draw a very strong parallel between those events and the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness.