masonic matters
Forty and Two Thousand
by Ed Halpaus
Grand Lodge Education Officer
Grand Lodge of A. F. & A. M. of Minnesota
"The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty
supply the commentary on it."
- Arthur Schopenhauer
"At twenty years of age the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at
forty, the judgment."
- Brother Benjamin Franklin
I
"To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful
than to be forty years old."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Forty and Two Thousand
Every Freemason knows the story related in Judges 12: 1 - 4, the
story tells how Jephthah, led the men of Gilead against the
Ephraimites, (who rebelled, because Jephthah had not invited them to
fight, and share in the spoils of the war against the Ammonites;) it
tells how the victorious men of Gilead first seized the fords, (in
the Bible explained as the shallows,) of the River Jordan and
intercepted the fleeing Ephraimites attempting to cross back into
their own land, who, denying their identity, were required to
pronounce a word which they invariably mispronounced. --This all took
place about 1100 B.C.E.
Ephraimites who wanted to escape would simply claim not to be
Ephraimites; the Gileadites discovered these imposters by having them
pronounce the word written in the Hebrew text as sibbolet, (Judges
12:6)
The two dialects had different pronunciations for the same word,
which is not unusual even today for peoples who speak the same
language but are from different locations to pronounce words
differently enough to be un able to say it the was asked for; this
difference was significant for a pass word used in WW II by the Dutch
Resistance.[i] The Bible tells us that the Ephraimites were not able
to pronounce a consonant that existed in the Gileadite dialect. It
was because of this that the Gileadites we able to detect
Ephriamites.
It is said that at the time of the Ephraimites there fell 40 and
2000. Some people have questioned that it really meant not 42,000 but
40 plus 2000 or 2040, however, while the KJV of the Bible says 40 and
2 thousand, the New International Version, New Living Translation,
and the New American Standard Bible all use the total of 42,000.
Knowing this is important to keep us from going down the wrong road
in understanding, so that we don't get hung up on debating an exact
number.
While biblical scholars tell us what the term forty and two thousand
means some will also say that there is more to it than the exact
number of 42,000; others will say that the exact number isn't that
critical, because knowing the exact number of fighters killed in a
battle, which is not as exact as we would like it, even in modern
times, was even more difficult in ancient times. The number forty is
in itself symbolic.[ii] The number 40 is made up of two important
numbers; four and ten, because of this the number 40 was considered
sacred. Ancient philosophers considered the numbers 4 and 10
significant. "The number one represented one God the Creator; two was
the passive principle, matter on which God, the active principle,
acted; three represented the effect of the union of one and two; and
four represented the arts and sciences. The addition of the first
four numbers gives ten, which was the perfection of all
things."[iii]
It is accepted metaphysical bible scholars that the number forty means
sufficient / completeness:[iv] Thus when in the story of Jephthah and
the Ephraimites the use of the number forty and two thousand simply
means that there was a sufficient number of Ephraimites killed for
complete victory.
One Minister I know when I asked him about the story in Judges 12: 1-
4, who is also very good with numbers reminded me that 42,000 is a
multiple of 12, and twelve has a metaphysical meaning
of 'fulfillment;' Spiritual fulfillment to be exact meaning that all
material things represent spiritual realities. So the 42,000 of the
story would mean completeness and fulfillment.
"We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse."
- Brother Rudyard Kipling
From volumes of Sacred Law:
"Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the
words of this song, until they were complete." Deuteronomy 31:30 Old
Testament NASB - the song or poem can be found in Deuteronomy 32:1-43
"Let that patience work in you to give the result God wants. Then you
will be mature and complete. You will be all that God wants you to
be." James 1:4 New Testament - Easy to read version
"The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for
mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance, and the Criterion (of
right and wrong). And whosoever of you is present, let him fast the
month, and whosoever of you is sick or on a journey, (let him fast
the same) number of other days. Allah desireth for you ease; He
desireth not hardship for you; and (He desireth) that ye should
complete the period, and that ye should magnify Allah for having
guided you, and that peradventure ye may be thankful." Qur'an Surah 2
al-Baqarah: The Cow
(Surah 002:185) Pickthall translation
"I have recognized the deepest truth, which is sublime and peace-
giving' but difficult to understand; for most men move in a sphere of
worldly interests and find their delight in worldly desires. The
worldling will not understand the doctrine, for to him there is
happiness in selfhood only, and the bliss that lies in a complete
surrender to truth is unintelligible to him. He will call resignation
what to the enlightened mind is the purest joy. He will see
annihilation where the perfected one finds immortality. He will
regard as death what the conqueror of self knows to be life
everlasting. The truth remains hidden from him who is in the bondage
of hate and desire. Nirvana remains incomprehensible and mysterious
to the vulgar whose minds are beclouded with worldly interests.
Should I preach the doctrine and mankind not comprehend it, it would
bring me only fatigue and trouble." Buddha, The Gospel, translated by
Paul Caras 1894 -The Brahma's Request
Words to live by: Our five senses are incomplete without the sixth --
a sense of humor.
"No one as ever completed their apprenticeship." Brother Johann
Wolfgang Von Goethe
_____
[i] In a book by Jonathan Kirsh he recounts the story from World War
II in which Dutch Resistance Fighters were able to cull out Nazi
infiltrators who couldn't pronounce a particular Dutch Name. The
Dutch may have used two names to detect Nazi infiltrators one name is
spelled "Scheveningen," the other is spelled " 'S-Gravenhage," which
is the Dutch name and pronunciation of a town in the Netherlands we
here in the U.S. call "The Hague."
[ii] There are numerous uses of the number 40 in the Great Light of
Masonry; a good concordance of the Holy Bible will show them all.
[iii] Masonic Concordance of the Holy Bible
[iv] Metaphysical Bible Dictionary
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