Double Elevens
“There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir unto Kadesh-Barnea” (Deuteronomy 1:2).
In a previous issue of Beauties of the Truth appeared the article “Double Numbers” (May 2009). That article noted the repeated appearance of the number 18 in Luke chapter thirteen, which appears nowhere else in the New Testament – and an earlier conspicuous double reference to the number 12 in Luke chapter eight.
There is another striking case of repetition, with the number eleven, in the Old Testament. The double reference to the number eleven occurs twice, once in Deuteronomy and once in Judges. In addition, the number eleven appears once in the Tabernacle and once in Ezekiel’s Temple, which in a sense gives another double.
DEUTERONOMY
The account in Deuteronomy is introduced by the text heading this article. Deuteronomy 1:2 gives a unique kind of information, specifying eleven days as the normal time for travelling from Mount Horeb (elsewhere called Mount Sinai) to Kadesh-Barnea, the location from which the Israelites were first advised to enter the land of promise and dispossess its inhabitants.
Some researchers of recent years have assigned Mount Sinai to a location in the Negev. Professor Emmanuel Anati of Italy is a champion of this view. He appears to have credible evidence for it. He mentions that between there, and Kadesh-Barnea at the threshold of Canaan, there are 10 sites with archeological remains, and water. These may have been stopping points along the route, each a day journey apart. This means the space between Mount Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea would normally be a journey of eleven days.1 Thus the testimony of Deuteronomy reflects what guides and knowledgeable travellers of that region would have known about that distance.
The second appearance of “eleven” is in the very next verse, which dates the address of Moses to the Israelites at the close of his many years of service. “And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them” (Deuteronomy 1:3).
Eleven day journey from Mount Sinai (Har Karkom) to Kadesh
(Image 46 – www.mtsinai.info/Gallery.php) – Deuteronomy 1:2)
The numbered years count from the Exodus, year “one” commencing with the month Abib2 of their departure out of Egypt. Thus by year 40, month 11, they were just about a month shy of 40 full years after the Exodus. Moses would soon be taken from them and Joshua would become their new leader. Following Passover, Joshua would take them across the Jordan River.
Thus in one instance the number eleven relates to what could have been an early entrance of Israel into Canaan, and the other relates to their much later, actual entry into Canaan.
This suggests a picture with spiritual meaning. The wilderness travels of Israel represent the sojourns of Spiritual Israel, the Church, through the Gospel Age, toward their heavenly Canaan. From this point of view, the number eleven pertains to the experiences of the Church in the flesh.
THE TABERNACLE
Another appearance of the number eleven is in the coverings of the Tabernacle, described in Exodus 26. There were four coverings. The first covering was a white linen curtain with blue, purple and scarlet thread and cherubim woven into the curtains. It was composed of two large sections of five strips each. Five, numerically, relates to the New Creation, as for example the five wise virgins of the parable of Matthew 25:1-13.
Five is the sum of two and three, and from this comes its symbolic meaning. Two refers to the holy Spirit, for it comes to us in two parts, the Old and New Testaments. Three refers to redemption, for there are three parties involved – Jesus our redeemer, us who are redeemed, and God to whom we are reconciled. Thus Jesus was in the tomb for 3 days, the price of his betrayal was 30 pieces of silver, he was anointed for his death with 300 pence worth of spikenard, and at Pentecost 3000 persons were delivered into Christ and saved.3
Thus the number five is a fitting symbol of the class that receives the honor of the High Calling during this age. The two parts of the linen covering perhaps represent the Jewish and Gentile segments of the Church. This may also be shown in the two wave loaves on the Day of Pentecost (see also Ephesians 2:13-17, Romans 4:16).
The second covering was of goats’ hair (Exodus 26:7). In this case also we have two parts, but rather than five strips in each there were five for one part, and six for another – eleven total. The goats’ hair curtain represents the Church as we are during the Gospel Age. We are dual creatures in a sense – our New Creature, being developed for a spiritual life, is confined within the fallen human nature. The number of curtains in each part seems to depict these two elements – five strips showing that we are part of the New Creation, and six strips showing that we are still within fallen flesh. Eleven depicts us as new creatures still in the flesh.4
The number eleven also appears once in the vision of Ezekiel’s Temple. “The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits” (Ezekiel 40:49). This may indicate that the world will approach God during the Millennium through the ministry of the Church, who sacrificed their human lives during the Gospel Age in order to be priests of God and of Christ to bless the world during the next age (Revelation 20:6).5
ELEVEN IN JUDGES
A final “double eleven” appears in the Book of Judges. The period of Judges comes before the period of Kings, and represents the Gospel Age that precedes the time of Christ’s Kingdom. The apostasies during the period of Judges represent departures from the true faith by the Christian world during the Gospel Age. The victories during the period of Judges represent victories by the true Church over her enemies.
In the closing part of the Book of Judges there are three narratives which depict the spirit begotten ones of the present age.
(1) Overcomers. In chapters 13-16 is the narrative about Samson. He is a picture of the Church. His experiences show the strengths and weaknesses of the Church during the seven stages of the Gospel Age, leading to a final victory as the powers of this world collapse.
(2) Failure to Overcome. In chapters 17-18 is a narrative about the tribe of Dan, explaining how that tribe went early into idolatry and continued in it until they were taken captive by their Assyrian conquerors. Dan is the only tribe of ancient Israel not mentioned in Revelation chapter seven to depict part the triumphant Church class. Thus Dan appears to represent those among the spirit begotten who fail to overcome, and fail of a reward.
(3) Great Company. In chapters 19-21 is a narrative about the tribe of Benjamin. This narrative describes an egregious sin by men within that tribe. When the sin was called to the attention of the tribe of Benjamin, they refused to deliver over the offenders. As a result, the tribe was almost destroyed, though at last they were spared so that a tribe would not be expunged from Israel. Thus Benjamin appears to represent those among the spirit begotten who are purged “so as by fire,” are preserved, and receive a position in glory as the Great Company class. These will serve God in His heavenly temple, but lose the high reward of becoming part of the Bride class. (See 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, Revelation 7:9-15.)
Within the first two of these narratives we find a conspicuous number repeated – 1100. The number appears nowhere else in the Old Testament, but it appears in two consecutive narratives here in Judges. In the first case 1100 shekels of silver was the amount paid to five lords of the Philistines to ensnare Samson (Judges 16:5). In the second case 1100 shekels of silver was the value of a silver idol in the story about the deflection of the tribe of Dan (Judges 17:2, 3).
Eleven (or eleven hundred in this case) is an appropriate number to appear in these narratives, for they depict experiences during the Gospel Age, when the spirit-begotten classes are developing New Creatures (five), but still in fallen flesh (six).
– Bro. David Rice
(1) www.harkarkom.com is the site for Professor Anati’s work. An article by him also appears on this site www.bibleinterp.com/articles/Anati Mount Sinai.shtml. At that site appears the following paragraph.
“At the beginning of Deuteronomy, it is written: “It takes eleven days from Horeb, by the way of Mount Seir, to Kadesh-Barnea” (Deuteronomy 1:2). For many scholars, even among those who do not agree with the identification of Har Karkom, Kadesh-Barnea is identified with Ain Kudeirat (or with the nearby Ain Kadis) and Mount Seir with Jebel Arif el-Naqa. In fact there is a good trail between Har Karkom and Ain Kudeirat by the way of Jebel Arif el-Naqa; along it, there are ten groups of wells at distances of 7 to 14 miles from each other. Therefore, if Har Karkom is Mt. Sinai, it takes a person who walks on foot exactly eleven days from Horeb by the way of Mt. Seir to reach Kadesh-Barnea.”
(2) That month was called Nisan after the captivity of Israel in Babylon, after the name of the Babylonian month, Nisanu.
(3) See “The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom,” November-December 2004 issue, article titled “Symbolic Numbers,” for a fuller treatment of 2, 3, and 5 with various examples of their use in Scripture.
(4) As to the material – goats’ hair – other scriptures appear to make a link between the symbol of “goat” and the church (see Song of Solomon 4:1, Leviticus 16:5, Genesis 27:16). The next covering was of rams’ skins dyed red, a picture of the ransom which is a covering for our imperfect fallen flesh. Over that was a covering of Sea-cow skins (see Beauties of the Truth, February 2010, “Tabernacle Coverings of Sea-cows”), indicating what the world sees of us – nothing specially attractive, as our flesh veils to them the beauties that God and Christ see as the end product of our life.
(5) In a similar way Ezekiel 40:11 shows that the world’s access to God will also depend on the ransom sacrifice of Christ. The gate described in Ezekiel 40:11 measures 13 cubits in length – 13 a picture of the ransom, the perfect man Jesus (seven) on whom our sins were laid (six). (Compare Isaiah 53:5, John 3:14.)