The Design of Scripture
The Number 22, 24 & 30
I am sure that when we have an opportunity to ask our Creator in the world to come what all the numbers mean, we will all be astounded beyond measure. However, from a finite point of view I do not want to be guilty of torturing the data until it confesses. I have decided to stick with numbers that clearly have a distinct meaning in scripture.
The Number Twenty-two - Light
The number twenty-two seems to speak clearly of 'light' in the word of YHVH.
Mizmor 119:105
"Thy word is a LAMP unto my feet and a LIGHT unto my path."
The words of YHVH are made up of '22' fundamental letters, in the same way that all physical properties are made up of 116 (at last count) elements. The word of the God of Israel IS light. The menorah, or light, in the tabernacle was made up of 6 branches with a center shamash or ministering branch. These branches were all of one beaten gold. Each branch had 3 bowls, with the center branch having 4 bowls (Sh'mot 25:31-36). This adds up to a total of 22 bowls of light to lighten the Holy Place which is a picture of the mind. (See the tabernacle teaching in the archives.) It was the priests that ministered the word (light) of God to the people, and it was the priests that took care of the menorah and the work in the Holy Place. The total number of these priests, according to B'midbar 3:39, was 22,000. Coincidence? In the gospel of Yochanan the word light appears 22 times.
The Number Twenty-Four - The Priesthood
This number also clearly pictures the priesthood. There are twenty-four hours in a day, and the priests were commissioned to minister in rotations twenty-four hours a day (Sh'mot 30:7-8, Ivrim 10:11). The Messiah's ministry as our eternal priest after the order of Melchizedek, was a perpetual priesthood as well.
The Levites were divided into 24 courses as well. It is this division that also gives us insight into the time of Messiah's birth, as Luke associates the timing of Z'kharyah's priestly rotation with the birth of his son Yochanan (Luke 1:5-10).
Divre-HaYamim Alef 24:1-4
"Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children; therefore, Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest's office. And David distributed them, both Zadok, of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech, of the sons of Ithamar, according to their service. And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar; and thus were they divided. Among the sons of Eleazar there were SIXTEEN chief men of the house of their fathers, and EIGHT among the sons of Ithamar according to the house of their fathers."
Now we come to a most interesting occurrence of the number '24'. In Hitgalut 4:4, we have the vision of the throne of God by Yochanan. Round about the throne were 24 thrones and upon these thrones were 24 elders. It is commonly taught that these 24 elders either represented these 24 priests, or that they were the 12 sons of Ya‘aqov, and the 12 apostles, together making twenty-four. I believe that scripture points to the representation of the 24 divisions of the priesthood rather than the latter theory which is based upon the false distinction between the 12 tribes of Israel, the Old Testament, and the 12 apostles, the church.
The Number Thirty - Dedication, The Blood of Messiah
According to Luke 3:23, Yahshua begins His ministry at the age of thirty. This moment is dedicated by YHVH Himself in Mattityahu 3:13-17, while introducing His only Son to the world at His immersion. This fulfilled the priestly requirements contained in B'midbar 4:3. Thirty was also the number of pieces of silver that was to be the 'blood money' to betray the Messiah as prophesied in Z'kharyah 11:12-13 and fulfilled in Mattityahu 26:15:
"And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they bargained with him for THIRTY pieces of silver."
It is also notable that the thirtieth time Noah'a name appears, he is building an altar unto YHVH, the place of dedication and the offering of blood. The tabernacle proper, the Most Holy Place and the Holy Place, are covered with several curtains. The goat's hair covering is to have a total of eleven curtains, one set of five coupled to another set of six. Each curtain is to be THIRTY cubits long. The center, or the eleventh curtain, is to be doubled over to cover the veil. The veils represent the torn body of Messiah and His shed blood on that awful tree.
Shalom Alecheim!