TWENTY (20) IN THE BIBLE

(Message by Tanny Keng)

1. Number TWENTY in the Bible 

a) Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. (Genesis 37:28)

b) Twenty is a number indicating waiting and expectancy. 

 

c) For example, Jacob expected to leave Laban with his two wives. He waited twenty years before he was able to do so (Genesis 28:38, 41).

 

d) Israel expected to be delivered from the hands of the Philistines. After twenty years of waiting,Samson delivered Israel from the Philistines (Judges 16:31).

 

e) Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers for twenty shekels of silver which put him on a path and waiting and expectancy.

 

f) Twenty is age at which a man was eligible for military service (Numbers 1:3), and is once mentioned as an age at which a Levite was considered old enough for service (Leviticus 27:3)

 

g) Twenty is also a number that figures heavily in the tabernacle. (Exodus chapters 26-27)

 

h) Twenty is the double of ten, and may in some cases signify its concentrated meaning. But its significance seems rather to be connected with the fact that it is one short of twenty-one which signifies divine completion (3 times 7 =21) perfection (7), then twenty, being one short of 21, it would signify that twenty signifies expectancy.

i) In addition to the examples listed above, here are examples of the number twenty in the Bible:

• Twenty years the Ark of the Covenant waited at Kirjath-jearim, 1Samuel 7:2.
• Twenty years Solomon was waiting for the completion of the two houses, (1 Kings 9:10; 2Chronicles 8:1).
• Twenty years Jerusalem waited between its capture and destruction.
• Twenty years Jeremiah prophesied concerning the destruction of Jerusalem.

The End ...