Fishy Numbers in the Bible
Andrew, Alastair, and Matt discuss the strange numbers found throughout the Bible.
How seriously should we take statistical numbers given in the Bible? If you need more of a prompt than that to listen to the Mere Fi cast and crew talk about ancient army sizes, genealogical ages, historical populations, and 153 fish… then you are not in our target audience! BTW, did you know that the ages given for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are in a sequence according to a formula involving square numbers? True story.
Links Mentioned:
Lexham Press Book of the Month
Is There a Meaning in This Text?: The Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge, by Kevin J. Vanhoozer [affiliate link]
Ani Maamin: Biblical Criticism, Historical Truth, and the Thirteen Principles of Faith, Joshua Berman [affiliate link]
Numbers: Tyndale Old Testament Commentary, by Gordon Wenham [affiliate link]
“How Many People Were in the Exodus from Egypt?” by Colin Humphreys
Timaeus by Plato
Timestamps
Follow Derek, Andrew, and Alastair for more tweet-sized brilliance. Financially support Mere Orthodoxy, Alastair, and/or Derek directly. Thanks to Timothy Crouch for keeping us organized, and to Andrew Noble for managing the social media. Special thanks to Tim Motte for sound editing and show notes. And thanks to The Joy Eternal for lending us their music, which everybody should download out of gratitude for their kindness.