forty is very biblical... lots of forty, because 40 = a lot. It is a complete unit, significant and ordered. (unlike the chaotic & grotesque 60...)
days & nights of rain/water falling & rising in the Flood
age Moshe left Egypt, then 40 years with Yitro, then led the Israelits for 40 years
no of days Moshe was up Mt Sinai to receive the first set of tablet, theat he then smashed, then spent another 40 days up Mt Sinai praying for the people to be forgiven, and then went up for another 40 days to receive the second set of tablets.
Saul, David and Shlomo all reigned for 40 years
40 se'ahs in a mikvah
R. Akiva was 40 when he started to study Torah
&
no of weeks of human pregnancy
No comments:
Post a Comment