An Arc-Cotangent Irreducible Number

Reading:   Exodus 24

Wow! There are a lot of number sleuths out there! When reading today's verse I came across the number 40 and, having recalled the rains of Noah's flood along with the tempting of Jesus and other events, I started wondering why the number was significant.  Upon further investigation I have discovered that the number appears 185 times in the Standard Works:

• Old Testament (122)
• New Testament (23)
• Book of Mormon (30)
• Doctrine & Covenants (8)
• Pearl of Great Price (2)

So, what then is the significance...there is a lot of interesting reading out there, from all sorts of scholars and opinionites (I made that word up), but the consensus seems to lean toward the theory that the number wholly represents: 

1. 40 DAYS:  A test or trial period; a significant period of learning 
2. 40 YEARS:  passing of a generation

There was a lot to comb through but I really found the following paragraph from E. W. Bullinger, Number in Scripture: Its Supernatural Design and Spiritual Significance, quite succinct and to the point:

How is the number forty related to TRIALS and TESTING? 

Jesus Christ was tempted of the Devil 40 days and 40 nights. Jesus was seen 40 days by His disciples after His resurrection. It was 40 years from the crucifixion of Jesus until the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. Moses was 40 years in Egypt, 40 years in the desert, and 40 years in the wilderness leading the children of Israel. Moses was on Mount Sinai twice with God for 40 days and 40 nights receiving the Law. Twelve spies investigated the Promised Land for 40 days. Elijah was 40 days at Mount Horeb. Jonah preached that judgment was to come to Nineveh in 40 days. Ezekiel laid on His right side for 40 days symbolizing Judah’s sins.

Baffling isn't it?  Anyway I tend to get caught up in these kinds of crazy things but can't always rationalize their meanings in my brain - still find it fascinating though.  If you really want to dig into the number 40 a good place to start is with a paper called The Significance of the Number 40 by Todd Dennis and Richard Anthony.  I don't agree with all of their conclusions but they certainly did their homework and truly fleshed out the inner workings and theoristic (made that word up too) possibilities of the number. 

Here is the verse that started this whole investigation.  Moses is on his way to commune with The Lord and receive the tablets (Ten Commandments)...

EXODUS 24:18

18    And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.  

Just a little more food for thought:

1. We work a 40-hr week.
2. Women are pregnant for forty weeks.
3. Some Russians believe that ghosts of the dead linger at the site of their death for forty days.
4. Some brands of alcohol are bottled in a 40oz. container, "Where's my forty?"
5. One of my favorite U2 songs is called 40 (from the album War, 1983).
6. American Top 40
7. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
8. Muhammad had 40 followers to spread the religion of Islam.
9. Since 40² + 1 = 1601 is prime, 40 is a Størmer number (yeah, whatever - see title).
10. Negative forty is the unique temperature at which the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales correspond; that is, −40°F=−40°C. It is referred to as either "minus forty" or "forty below".

I was going to list 40 things but I'm tired...

~Kipling