Calel) was 40 years old when sent out as one of the sjjies (Jos 14^). Hillel is said to have entered on his Rabbinic career at 40 {Si/re referred to in Jewish Encyc. art. 'Forty'), and Jochanan ben Zakai to have exchanged commerce for study at 40 {Bosh hu-shanfih, 316 : the same is affirmed of 'Akiba in tlie late writing, the 'Aboth of Rabbi Nathan, c. 6). Mohammed, according to a tradi- tion referred to by Koiiig (Hastings' DB iii. 563'', Stilistik, 55 ; cf. Muir, The Coran, its Composition and Teachinr/, 11), appeared as a prophet at or about 40. These pas.sages suggest that 40 was regarded in the ancient East as tlie age of in- tellectual maturity, and there are not wanting direct declarations of that belief. In the addendum to tlie fifth chapter of 'Aboth, 40 is described as the age of reason or understanding (m'nS □•ymx p), and a passage in the Koran cited by Konig (II. cc.) runs : ' until he reached his full strength and attained the age of 40 years.' Forty years, there- fore, repres^ented a generation, and thus the number 40 became a round number for a full period, a complete epoch, and more generally for ' many.'
It is still used in this way to some extent in the modern East. There is a Syrian proverb : ' If you live 40 days with people, you will then either lea\'e them or become like them ' (Mackie, Bible Manners and Customs, 111 ; Bauer, Volksleben im Lande der Bibel, 236, gives it rather differently, but with the same use of 40). As the ancient star-gazers noted the disappearance of the Pleiades for 40 days, some recent writers (Cheyne, perhaps, Bible Problems and their Solution, 114 f., and Winckler cited there ; Zimmern, too, in KAT[ZW], 389, thinks the reference possible) connect the interval between tlie Passion and the Ascension, through a pre-Christian myth, with this astronomical period. This need not be seriously debated. The explanation given above - is (juite sufficient to account for the 40 days of the Temptation and ' the Great Forty Days.'
A Hundred [iKarov, iKaTOVTaTfKaffiwv). — That the product of 10 by 10 .should be frequently used in a general way to express a large number, could be expected only in a civilization Avhich was ac- quainted with the decimal as well as the sexa- gesimal system. There are instances in the OT, etc. J Lv 268, 2 S 24^, Pr W\ Ec 6* S'^, Sir IS* (RV: ' The number of man's days at the most are 100 years'), and the Moabite Stone (lines 28 f. ; ' I reigned over 100 chiefs '). In the Gospels the number is used mainly in this way : in the parable of th- Sower (Mt 138-23, Mk 48- "20, Lk 88), in the parable of the Lost Sheep (Mt 18'2, Lk 15^), and in Mt 1828 \T\ (not WH), Mk lO^^, Lk 16«-. In Mk 6^^, Jn 19'^ it is emplojed in the ordinary way.
The division of 100 into 99 and 1 (Mt 18i2f-, Lk 15^- '), with the preference of the 1, is found in the Mishna, Peak iv. If. The same division is also met with in a remarkable passage in the Jerus. Talmud (Shabbat/i xiv. 3), which, however, is not earlier than the 3rd cent. a.d. Perhaps the contrast of 99 and 1 was not unknown to the Rabbinic teaching of our Lord's da.y.
Ten Thousand. — In the two passages in the Gospels in which the mtiltiple of 10 by 1000 occurs {fj-vpios, Mt 182^ ; fivpids, Lk 12'), it is best regarded as hyperbolical. The intention in the one case is to name an amount quite inconceivable in ordinary life, a debt which could not possibly be discharged by a private person ; in the other, to impress on the reader the enormous magnitude of the crowds which gathered round .Jesus at that period of His ministry. There are many examples of this use in the OT (Lv 268, Dt 323o, 1 S 18^*-, Ca 5'», Ezk 16'' R\^m, Dn 1 1'2, Mic 6^ etc. ). In the Tell el-Amarna letters 100,000 is used in this way. Dushratta, king of Mitani, prayed that Ishtar might protect him and his royal brother the Pliaraoh for a hundred thousand years (No. xx. in Winckler's edition).
Two. — There seems to be no special significance of the number 2 in the Gospels, unless, with Konig [Stilistik, 51 f.), we regard it as, in some passages, an equivalent for ' a f oav. ' This idiom seems to be proved for the OT. ' Two days,' in Nu 922, may Avell mean ' a feAv days ' ; and ' the 2 sticks ' of the Avidow of Zarephath (1 K 17'^) can hardly be under-
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stood literally. It maif be illustrated in the NT by the 2 fishes (Mt r4''- ", Mk 6^- ^\ Lk 9'»; '«, J 11 6"), and the 2 who agree in jiraj-er concerning anything (Mt 18^"); but the ordinary interpreta- tion seems not inadmissible in both these cases. The custom of sending out representatives in pairs, of M lii(-h tliere are several examples in the Gospel story (the 2 disciples sent by tlie Baptist to Jesus [Lk 7'^], the 12 sent out by two and two [Mk 6"], the 70 sent out by two ami two [Lk lU'], tlie 2 sent out near Jerusalem [Mt 2P, Mk 11', Lk 19-"], and the 2 sent out to make preparations for the Paschal supper [Mk 14'^ Lk 22« ; cf. the 2 going to Emmatis, Lk 24'<«'- .Mk IGi'-l], the 2 angels at the se]»ulclire [Lk 24^ Jn 20'-], and the 2 on Olivet [Ac 1'"]), was probably known to the Jewish society of our Lords time.