for February 18, 2024

The Number 40
from wikipedia.com

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40 (forty) is the natural number following 39 and preceding 41.

Though the word is related to four (4), the spelling forty replaced fourty during the 17th century[1][2] and is now the standard form.

(Note: This content has been taken from the wikipedia article on the topic. The original article has many internal links to elaborate on special terms and footnote references [nn].)

In religion the number 40 is found in many traditions without any universal explanation for its use. In Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and other Middle Eastern traditions it is taken to represent a large, approximate number, similar to "umpteen".

Judaism

In the Hebrew Bible, forty is often used for time periods, forty days or forty years, which separate "two distinct epochs".[15]

• Rain fell for "forty days and forty nights" during the Flood (Genesis 7:4).
• Noah waited for forty days after the tops of mountains were seen after the flood, before releasing a raven (Genesis 8:5–7).
• Spies were sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan (promised to the children of Israel) for "forty days" (Numbers 13:2, 25).
• The Hebrew people lived in the lands outside of the promised land for "forty years". This period of years represents the time it takes for a new generation to arise (Numbers 32:13).
• Several early Hebrew leaders and kings are said to have ruled for "forty years", that is, a generation. Examples include Eli (1 Samuel 4:18), Saul (Acts 13:21), David (2 Samuel 5:4), and Solomon (1 Kings 11:42).
• Goliath challenged the Israelites twice a day for forty days before David defeated him (1 Samuel 17:16).
• Moses spent three consecutive periods of "forty days and forty nights" on Mount Sinai:
  1. He went up on the seventh day of Sivan, after God gave the Torah to the Jewish people, in order to learn the Torah from God, and came down on the seventeenth day of Tammuz, when he saw the Jews worshiping the Golden Calf and broke the tablets (Deuteronomy 9:11).
  2. He went up on the eighteenth day of Tammuz to beg forgiveness for the people's sin and came down without God's atonement on the twenty-ninth day of Av (Deuteronomy 9:25).
  3. He went up on the first day of Elul and came down on the tenth day of Tishrei, the first Yom Kippur, with God's atonement (Deuteronomy 10:10).
• A mikvah consists of 40 se'ah (approximately 200 U.S. gallons or 760 liters) of water
• The prophet Elijah had to walk 40 days and 40 nights before arriving at mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8).
• 40 lashes is one of the punishments meted out by the Sanhedrin (Deuteronomy 25:3), though in actual practice only 39 lashes were administered.[16]
• (Numbers 14:33–34) alludes to the same[clarification needed] with ties to the prophecy in The Book of Daniel. "For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have Me against you."
• One of the prerequisites for a man to study Kabbalah is that he is forty years old. "The registering of these men was carried on cruelly, zealously, assiduously, from the rising of the sun to its going down, and was not brought to an end in forty days" (3 Maccabees 4:15).
• Jonah warns Nineveh that "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." (Jonah 3:4)

Christianity

Christianity similarly uses forty to designate important time periods.[15]

• Before his temptation, Jesus fasted "forty days and forty nights" in the Judean desert (Matthew 4:2, Mark 1:13, Luke 4:2).
• Forty days was the period from the resurrection of Jesus to the ascension of Jesus (Acts 1:3).
• According to Stephen, Moses' life is divided into three 40-year segments, separated by his growing to adulthood, fleeing from Egypt, and his return to lead his people out (Acts 7:23, 30, 36).
• In modern Christian practice, Lent consists of the 40 days preceding Easter. In much of Western Christianity, Sundays are excluded from the count, there are 46 days in total of Lent; in Eastern Christianity, Sundays are included.
• The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste
• Kirk Kilisse, "Forty Churches" (Sa???ta ?????s???) in Eastern Thrace
• Rain fell for "forty days and forty nights" during the Flood (Genesis 7:4).

Islam

• Muhammad was forty years old when he first received the revelation delivered by the archangel Gabriel.
• Masih ad-Dajjal roams around the Earth in forty days, the first day length is like one year, the second day is like one month, the third day is like one week and the next day (until the 40th day) is like one day.
• God forbade the Israelites from entering the Holy Land for 40 years to separate them from Musa (Moses) and his brother.[17] Musa (Moses) spent 40 days on Mount Sinai where he received the 10 commandments.[18]

Funerary customs

• Some Russians, Bulgarians, and Serbs believe that ghosts of the dead linger at the site of their death for forty days. After the forty days, additional prayers are performed at the grave (parastos (????????) or panihida (????????)), to escort the soul on its way to God's court.
• Many Christian Filipinos mark the end of the initial mourning period on the fortieth day after death, and have a Mass said. They believe that the soul remains on the earthly plane for forty days before entering the afterlife, recalling how Christ ascended to heaven forty days after his Resurrection.