Three and One Half

There are several numbers in the scriptures that appear a lot and seem to be symbolic.  The numbers seven, forty, and seventy, for example, are used often in the Bible.  One number that I didn’t realize was so common is half of seven, or three and a half.  The New Testament institute manual says this, “In the scriptures, particularly in Revelation, the number three and a half often describes a limited period of tribulation during which evil forces are allowed to do their work” (Chapter 54: Revelation 4-11).

                We see the number twice in the book of Daniel in the visions he had.  Daniel wrote of a beast which would “devour the whole earth” and “wear out the saints of the most High.”  These would be given into his hand “until a time and times and the dividing of time” (Daniel 7:23, 25).  A time is 1, times is 2, and the dividing of time is ½, which altogether makes 3½.  In another vision Daniel saw a man “upon the waters of the river” who would “scatter the power of the holy people,” and it would likewise be for “a time, times, and an half” (Daniel 12:7).  Both of these examples using the number represent a dark period of time.  Similarly, in the days of Elijah “the heaven was shut up three years and six months” because of the terrible famine that was in the land (Luke 4:25).  Because of wickedness the people had to endure a period of 3½ years of famine. 

The book of Revelation contains many references to this number.  We read that at some future point the Gentiles will “tread under foot” Jerusalem for “forty and two months”, which is three and a half years (Revelation 11:2).  At that time the two prophets who will be there “shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days” which is another way of saying three and a half years (assuming thirty days in a month).  After the two prophets are killed in Jerusalem John tells us this: “And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves….  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet” (Revelation 11:9, 11).  Again all of these periods of 3½ are dark times where evil seems to be triumphing.  Later in Revelation we read of how the dragon “persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.”  The woman represents the Church of God, and she was taken into the wilderness where “she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent” (Revelation 12:13-14).  Again, the period of three and a half “times” was a difficult one where evil seemed to be prevailing over the Church. 

Gratefully, all of these dark periods described by the number three and a half will come to an end.  Evil will not prevail indefinitely, and its bounds are set by a finite amount of time over which it can temporarily prevail.  As the book of Revelation shows, ultimately the Saints who stay faithful to the Lord will attain His kingdom “and there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).