40 Years

Nehemiah 9:30

The Voice (VOICE)

³⁰     Year after year, Your patience endured.
        Your Spirit animated prophets, and they spoke many warnings to them.
    In not listening and turning away from the prophets,
        they turned directly into their advancing enemies.

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Forty years is a common number in Scripture. I have always enjoyed looking at numbers and how they are used by Bible writers. For starters God took the Israelites out of Egypt and through the desert to the very edge of their promised land of Canaan. Then the people did a strange thing: They raised a hue and a cry about wishing to die in the wilderness. God, in His love and mercy, said to them in effect, “Okay, I see that you feel inadequate for the war in front of you, I’ll grant your wish.” Over the next 40 years their wish was fulfilled to the last person. Meanwhile God waited patiently for a completely new generation.

In the period of the judges, the Lord raised up warrior-leaders. He brought deliverance from severe oppression, and at least four times the peace lasted for 40 years until the death of the judge (Othneil, Deborah, Gideon, Eli). Again for 40 years they languished under the power of the Philistines until Samson delivered them. The kings of the united kingdom, Saul, David and Solomon, each reigned, mainly in peace, for 40 years.

Why 40 years? Obviously I can only guess. The old retirement policy of the Adventist Church required 40 years of service to get full retirement benefits. In all these instances the useful career life of a person is roughly 40 years. God is patient. His patience can outlast our stubbornness.

There is an end to God’s patience when one willingly turns away and rejects Him. God’s Spirit worked with the people in the time of Noah for 120 years, three periods of 40 years, before He made an end to their rebellion. Even then it was not until He saw that “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5) that the flood came.

Thank You, Lord, for being patient with us for so long and for Your willingness “to cut it short in righteousness.” (Romans 9:28) Please don't give up on us, however.

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[i] Google images: www.seattleartblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/childhood.jpg