FORTY. One of the favorite numbers of the Israelites, often having symbolical significance. It was frequently used as the approximate time span of a generation and to designate an extended period of testing, repentance, vigil, or punishment. It is associated with important new developments in the unfolding drama of redemption (e.g. the Flood, the Exodus, Elijah and the prophetic era, the life of Christ, and the birth of the church).

The following are a few of the many examples of the use of the number forty in Scripture: At the time of the Flood it rained for forty days, and the waters subsided for an equal period (Gen 7:4, 12, 17; 8:6); Moses was forty years old when he visited his brethren (Acts 7:23), was forty years in Midian (Acts 7:29, 30), was on the Mount forty days (Exod 24:18), and prayed for Israel for forty days (Deut 9:25). The Israelites wandered forty years in the wilderness (Num 14:33; 32:13). David and Solomon each reigned forty years (2 Sam 5:4; 1 Kings 11:42). Jonah called on Nineveh to repent within forty days (Jonah 3:4); Jesus fasted in the desert forty days (Matt 4:2) and remained on earth forty days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3).