Nudipedalia (Lat. nudus, "bare," and ^;e«, pedis, " a foot"), a procession and ceremonies observed at Eome in case of drought, in ^vhicli the worshippers walked with bare feet in token of mourning and humiliation before the gods. This practice was followed at Rome in the worship of Cybele, and seems also to have been adopted in the worship of Isis.
Nudipedes orExcalceati is the name of a super- stitious sect mentioned generally by the ancient heresi- ologists under the name of Excalceati. They thought it a duty of religion to walk barefoot, pleading in support of their notion the command given to Moses and Joshua, and the example of Isaiah (Philostorgius, Be Ilmres. Ixxxl; Augustine, De Ilceres. Ixviii). Thej' are called Ot/mnopodiB by the author of Prcedestinatiis (Ixviii).
Nullatenenses (i. e. nowhere located) is the name of titular bishops without a see.
Number is the rendering in the A. V. of several Hebrew words, but especially of ri3?3 and "ISO; Gr. api^pog.
1. Mode of Expressing Numbers.^We know very little of the arithmetic of the Hebrews, save that their trades and public service required some skill at least in numeration (Lev. xxv, 27, 50; Matt, xviii, 23 sq.), and that large sums arc sometimes mentioned which could only be obtained by addition and subtraction. Indeed, they seem to have been somewhat versed even in frac- tions ((Jesenins, Lehrgeh. p. 704). After the captivity the Jews used letters to express numbers, as on the so- called " Samaritan coins"' (Eckhel, Doctr. j\um. vol. i, c. iii, p. 468; Gesenius, Lehrgeh. p. 24 sq.) ; and they had probably done so in earlier ages, since the Greeks, who received their alphabet from the Phoenicians, al- ways practiced the same method (Faber, Progr. Literas oliin pro vocib. in num. a script. V. T. esse adhibitas [Onoldi, 1775]). Yet it has been thought that the He- brews sometimes used distinct characters for numbers, as such arc actually found on Phoenician coins (Swinton, in the Philosnph. Trans. 1, 701 sq.) and in the Pal- myrene inscriptions {ibid, xlviii, 11, p. 721, 728 sq., 741 ; Gesenius, Monument. Phcen. p. 85 sq. ; Hoffmann, Grnmm, Syr. p. 83; comp. Des Vignoles, Chron. de IHistoire Sainte, vol. i, § 29 ; Wahl, Gesch. d. Morg. Sprachen, p. 537 ; Movers, Chron. p. 54, 61). But the analogies ad-
duced do not prove the use of such characters before the captivity ; the letters of the alphabet served the pur- pose sufficiently well ; and the instance of the Greeks is an indirect proof that the Phoenicians had at tirst no figures. It is by this use of letters to express numbers, and by the interchange in copying of one with another (as 5, T, and 1, etc.), that we can best explain some of the too vast numbers in the earliest books of Scripture, as well as the discrepancies in some of the statements (Cappelli, Crit. Sacra, i, 102 sq., ed. Yogel) ; for in- stance, in the length of the threatened famine (2 Sara. xxiv, 13, and 1 Chron. xxi, 12), and in the age of Aha- ziah at his accession (2 Chron. xxii, 2, and 2 Kings viii, 26). Yet great prudence is requisite in applying this principle to details. (See Eichhorn, Einl. ins. A, T. i, 289 sq. ; Gesenius, Gesch. d. Ileb. Sjn: p. 174 sq. ; INIovers, vt sup. p. 60 sq.) Nor is it always easy to ex- plain even thus the great number of people given in some of the enumerations without supposing a tendency to exaggeration in some copyist. It is not necessary, however, to suppose any error in the 600,000 men who went out of Egypt (Exod. xii, 37), or the 603,550 who were numbered before Sinai (Exod. xxx, 12). But the statement that there were 1,300,000 fighting men in Is- rael and Judah in the time of David (2 Sam. xxiv, 9) seems very strange. This would require at the least a population of four millions in Palestine, or more than ten thousand to each square mile. Of the same nature are the 1,160,000 men in the army of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xvii, 14), besides the garrisons in walled cities. In these and a few other instances we must suppose a corruption of the letters representing the numbers, such as often occurred in the early Roman history (Movers, C'hi-on. p. 209; comp. Niebuhr, Hist, of Rome, ii, 78, 2d ed.). See Macdougal, Numbers of the Bible (Lond. 1840).
2. Sacred Numbers. — The frequent and significant use of certain jiumbers in the Scriptures demands notice. See Biihr, Symbol, i, 128 sq. ; Kurtz, in the Studien u. Krit. (1844), p. 315 sq. ; and on the symbolical use of Biblical numbers, see ibid. 1842; ii, 80 sq. ; Jahrb.fiir deutsche Theologie (1864), vol. ii.
First, the number seven, which was also considered holy by other ancient nations; as by the Persians, the Hindus (Bohlen, Ind. ii, 247), and the early Germans (Grimm, Deutsche Rechtsalterth. p. 213 sq.). Among the Hebrews every seventh day was hallowed to the Lord, every seventh j-ear, after the time of Moses, was ac- counted a Sabbath, and the seventh new moon of the year was celebrated with peculiar solemnities. Between the great feasts of the Passover and Pentecost seven weeks intervened ; the Passover itself lasted seven days, and on each day a sacrifice of seven lambs was offered. The feast of Tabernacles and the great day of Atonement also occurred in the seventh month, and the former occupied seven days. Seven days was the legal time required for many Levitical purifications, as well as for the consecration of priests. The blood of the most im- portant sin-offerings was sprinkled seven times. Seven days was the usual time for mourning the dead, or for wedding festivities. The Jewish doctrine of later times numbered seven archangels (as the Zendavesta has seven amshaspands). In the oldest books the number seven is continually made prominent, (See Gen. vii, 2 sq. ; viii, 10, 12 ; xxix, 27, 30 ; xxiii, 3 ; xli, 2 sq. ; Exod. vii, 22 ; Numb, xxiii, 1 ; Josh, vi, 4, 6, 8, 13, 15 ; Judg. xvi, 8, 13, 19 ; 1 Sam. x, 8 ; xi, 3 ; xiii, 8 ; 1 Kings viii, 65 ; xviii, 43 ; 2 Kings v, 10, 14. On the Samaritan reck- oning of seven covenants between God and his people, see Gesenius, Carm. Sama7: p. 47.) The same number is frequent in the prophetic symbols (Ezek. xxxix, 9, 12, 14 ; xl. 22, 26 ; xliii, 25 sq. ; xliv, 26 ; xlv, 21. 23, 25 ; Zech. iii, 9; iv, 2, 10). The seventy weeks of Daniel (ix, 24 sq.) are well known (comp. Dan. iv, 20, 22). The number seven is also frequent in the apocryphal books of Esdras, as well as in the New Testament (comp. Matt. XV, 34, 36 sq. ; Acts vi, 3 ; xxi, 8 ; Rev. i, 4, 12 sq. ; viii,