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".
Sumerian Enki ( /ˈɛŋki/) or Enkil (Sumerian: dEN.KI(G)𒂗𒆠) is a god in
Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology. He was originally patron god of the city of
Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout
Mesopotamia and to the
Canaanites,
Hittites and
Hurrians. He was the deity of crafts (gašam); mischief; water, seawater, lake water (a, aba, ab), intelligence (gestú, literally "ear") and creation (Nudimmud: nu, likeness, dim mud, make bear). He was associated with the southern band of constellations called stars of Ea, but also with the constellation AŠ-IKU, the Field (
Square of Pegasus). Beginning around the second millennium BCE, he was sometimes referred to in writing by the numeric ideogram for "40", occasionally referred to as his "sacred number".
Judaism • In the
Hebrew Bible, forty is often used for time periods, forty days or forty years, which separate "two distinct epochs". • 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: • 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 (Exodus 24:18). • 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 (Exodus 34:28). • 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 ) 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. • (Numbers 14:33–34) alludes to the same 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 • Before starting his ministry, Jesus went to the wilderness and fasted for forty days and nights before being tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-2, Luke 4:1-2). • Jesus showed himself alive for forty days after he suffered (Acts 1:3).
Islam •
Prophet Muhammad was forty years old when he first received the revelation delivered by the archangel Gabriel. The
Quran states that a person reaches the age of maturity at 40.
Hinduism In
Hinduism, some popular religious prayers consist of forty
shlokas or
dohas (couplets, stanzas). The most common being the
Hanuman Chalisa (
chaalis is the Hindi term for 40). In the Hindu system some of the popular fasting periods consist 40 days and is called the period One 'Mandala Kalam' Kalam means a period and Mandala Kalam means a period of 40 days. For example, the devotees (male and female) of Swami Ayyappa, the name of a Hindu god very popular in Kerala, India (Sabarimala Swami Ayyappan) strictly observed forty days fasting and visit (since female devotees of a certain biological age group would not be able to perform the continuous 40-day-austerities, they would not enter into the god's temple until September 2018) with their holy submission or offerings on 41st or a convenient day after a minimum 40 days practice of fasting. The offering is called "Kaanikka". == In other fields ==