article_snippet: Herb Scribner: Can anyone explain to me what the Bible's deal is with 40 days/nights?
article_snippet: It's more an interest in the number 40.
article_snippet: In the Bible the people of Israel wander in the wilderness for 40 years before the people of Israel reach the Holy Land.
article_snippet: The flood lasts for 40 days and nights; Moses spends 40 days and nights on the mountain; Goliath spends 40 days encouraging the Israelites to challenge Moses before David steps up; 40 is a common age for people to be when people get married; in the book of Judges it is always 40 years between judges; and David and Solomon each reigned for 40 years.
article_snippet: What we can take away from all of this is that people in the ancient world saw 40 as suggesting a full, complete period of time.
article_snippet: It's sort of like a narrative stock number, in the way that modern jokes follow the rule of three.