3
Title: 3
This is sold as a set of three.
Size: 3x3 each
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Circa: 2020
What Does the Number 3 Signify in the Bible?
Before we dive into the number three, we have to explore the meaning of the number in Hebrew.
Three, shelosh (f) sheloshah (m) means harmony, new life, and completeness.
The number three appears in the Bible 467 times, fewer than the number seven, but more than most of the other symbolically important numbers.
Sometimes three is used as an emphatic semitic triplet to describe the intensity of something.
It’s not just holy.
It’s holy, holy, holy.
We do have to keep in mind, three isn’t always necessarily something good. In Revelation, we see an evil trinity: Satan, the Antichrist, and the False prophet (Revalations 12-13). However, typically, three means something complete and good.
If there ever was a desire to highlight an idea, thought, event or noteworthy figure in the Bible for their prominence, the number three was used to put a divine stamp of completion or fulfillment on the subject.
There were also three apostles who followed Jesus and their names were: John, Peter and James.
We see God repeating a phrase three times in several places in Scripture. Jesus goes back to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane three times (Matthew 26:4). God calls the prophet Samuel thrice (1 Samuel 3:8). Jesus repeats the phrase “feed my sheep” to Peter three times (John 21:15-18). And we can’t talk three without talking about how Jesus rose after three days
(1 Corinthians15:4). In Jewish culture, three days past the time of death indicated they were truly dead. Therefore, Jesus truly conquered death by not rising until the third day.
In Scripture, we have three patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matthew 22:32). These were the fathers of the Israelite nation, God’s people.
The Magi present to Jesus three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh in Matthew 2.
Of course, we can’t look at the number three without looking at the Trinity: God is three in one: the Father (1 Corinthians 8:6) the Son (Colossians 2:9), and the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17)
God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. -- Amen