Numerology, Biblical 
Numbers
are used in the Bible in much the same way as in other books. They are
regularly spelled out, despite the fact that numerical signs were early in use.
This would favor accuracy of transmission. The use of the letters of the Greek
alphabet to represent numbers is late and belongs to the period of Greek
influence.
Some numbers are used much more frequently
than others. Seven is the sacred number because it is the number of the
sabbath. Ten is a very natural number, since the fingers and thumbs of the two
hands count ten. But we cannot be sure that that is the real explanation of the
number which appears most conspicuously in the Decalogue. Twelve is the number
of the months, of the sons of Jacob, of the apostles of the Lord. Aside from
this, no special significance attaches to the number. The fact that it can be
regarded as made up of seven and five has no significance. Many elaborate
efforts have been made to attach special meanings to numbers. But none is
satisfactory. The number seventy is
used of the sons of Jacob (Exod. 1:5; 24:1), of the sons of Ahab (II Kings
10:1), and of the years of the Babylonian captivity (Jer. 25:11). Cf. also
Ezek. 8:11; Luke 10:1. In prophecy numbers are sometimes used in an enigmatical
sense, as in the case of the "seventy weeks" of Dan. 9 or the
"two thousand and three hundred" evening-mornings of 8:14
In recent years the name of Ivan Panin has
been connected with a most elaborate study to find numerical significance in
every word and letter in the Bible.
The spiritual significance of numbers as seen
in their first occurrence, is a study that
E. W. Bullinger has made in a book entitled "How to Enjoy the
Bible" He worked out an ingenious system of interpretation of the numbers
in Scripture.