Ninety: the number of minutes in a football match; the number of degrees in a right angle. Unlike other multiples of ten, the number ninety appears very little in the Bible. In fact, I have only found three examples.
Twice, the number is written in Genesis:
The third example of the number ninety I found is in Ezekiel’s description of the New Temple he was shown in a vision.
Ninety-one is the sum of the numbers one to thirteen. Some people claim this means the number is linked to the Son of God, i.e. thirteen people at the Last Supper. The actual number, however, does not appear in the Bible.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the longest place name in the world consists of ninety-two characters: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. This is the name of a hill in New Zealand. Before you panic, I can give you the pronunciation: Toe-mah-tah-fah-kah-tah-ngi-hah-nga-kaw-oh-oh-aw-ta-ma-te-a-too-ri-poo-ka-ka-pee-kee-mow-nga-haw-raw-noo-koo-paw-kai-feh-noo-ah-kee-tah-nah-tah-hoo. If that is still too much of a tongue twister you will be pleased to know they often shorten the name to Taumata.
Ninety-two does not appear in the Bible. Nor does the number ninety-three. According to the visions of Augustinian Canoness Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), the apostle Thomas was ninety-three when he died.
The number ninety-four does not appear in the Bible either. Once again, we can turn to the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich for a fun “fact” about the number. Apparently, the apostle John died in 101 AD at the age of ninety-four. She claimed the remains of John’s physical body are not on Earth because it had been transported to somewhere else, a place between the Orient and the North, “a resplendent place like a sun.”
The number ninety-five is written twice in the Bible. The first is found in a list of descendants of the people of Israel who returned to Jerusalem from exile:
The number ninety-six also appears twice in the Bible.
Alas, the number ninety-seven, the twenty-fifth prime, gets no mention. Some theological historians claim that the apostle James the less was ninety-seven when he died. Did you know, there are ninety-seven pyramids in Egypt?
The number ninety-eight appears three times. Eli, a leader of Israel, was ninety-eight when he died:
The second and third mention of the number ninety-eight occurs in the same list of exiles as mentioned above. Ezra 2:16 (NIV) records “of Ater (through Hezekiah) 98.” Nehemiah 7:21 records the same.
Finally, we reach ninety-nine, of which there are six mentions in the Bible. It is the atomic number of Einsteinium, named after the famous scientist. It is also the name of a particularly tasty ice cream.
In the Old Testament, ninety-nine is mentioned twice in relation to Abraham’s age.
In the New Testament, the number is mentioned in the Parable of the Wandering Sheep. This parable is written in two gospels. Matthew:
That ends the nineties. Once again, these number have no particular meaning in the Bible, however, I hope you have found it as interesting as I have in discovering these little snippets of information.
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Rev'd Martin Wheadon