What is the significance of 40 days in the Bible?

Answer 1

Jesus was fasting for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. And the Jews spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness as well.

Answer 2

A:In the Old Testament, 40 days was not so much significant as convenient. 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 also spent 40 days in the wilderness.

The forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness can be seen as significant at both a theological and a literary level.

Mark 1:13 tells the story of Jesus going into the wilderness for forty days immediately after his baptism by John. He was ministered by angels, an allusion to Elijah (1 Kings 19:5-7) who was ministered by an angel and in the wilderness forty days. There is no actual suggestion that Jesus fasted for this time, but those familiar with the story of Elijah are likely to have assumed he did do so. This brings into play another allusion, to Moses when (Exodus 34:28) he fasted for 40 days while he wrote the words of the Ten Commandments on tablets. Matthew and Lukefollow 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, just as Elijah did after the angel ministered to him. In this version, the further allusion to Exodus 34:28 is more readily recognised.