Record Number

The number 40 fascinates me. No, it's not my favourite number. Yet, it fills me with wonder as I keep encountering it in the Old Testament. Here are some biblical feats which surely surpass the Guiness world records.

Continuous rain at a stretch -
40 days and 40 nights
"12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth...."
(Genesis 6 : 12 - 13)
"12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights."
(Genesis 7 : 12)

God's provision of food for the Israelites in the wilderness -
40 years
"4 Then the Lord said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions....
13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat....
35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan."
(Exodus 16 : 4, 13 - 15, 35)

Going without food or drink -
40 days and 40 nights
"Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights."
(Exodus 24 : 18)
"Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant--the Ten Commandments."
(Exodus 34 : 28)

"1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry."
(Matthew 4 : 1 - 2)

Clothing that last -
40 years
"2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.....
4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years."
(Deuteronomy 8 : 2 & 4)

Prostrating before God -
40 days and 40 nights
"16 When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you.
17 So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.
18 Then once again I fell prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the Lord's sight and so provoking him to anger.
19 I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me."
(Deuteronomy 9 : 16 - 19)

Strength from divinely provided food -
40 days and 40 nights
"3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,
4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, Lord," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors."
5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat."
6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you."
8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God."
(1 Kings 19 : 3 - 8)