Bible Math!

I love trivia. Sometimes you just gotta have fun with something, you know? Back a few years, we joined with Good Shepherd Lutheran for a Bible Study called Walk Through the Bible. It sort of stuck with me. You know how it is. You hear something here, read something there, get caught out on a question you can’t answer and the flush starts below your collar line and rages upward because you think, I really should know that. Well, a combination of factors, a clock creeping toward the wee hours of the morning, lots of quiet and my unruly mind that too frequently leaps to parts unknown prompted this memory hook.

How do we remember that there are 66 books in the Bible? And at least enough about them to not feel like a dork should the subject come up in conversation?

Easy! Remember Phillips 66 gasoline? Well, there is a “Phillips” version of the Bible (at least the New Testament), like we have The Way Good News Bible, Cotton Patch Bible, the Message, etc. It’s an old version, quite lyrical, with beautiful language. But be that as it may, when some asks you. ‘How many books are there in the Bible,’ (I know it happens weekly if not daily, right?), think of Phillips 66 gasoline. If you’re too young to remember seeing those shield-shaped signs and big 66 digits as you rolled down the highway, think of Route 66, the old TV show with Martin Milner and George Maharis tooling down the road in their Chevrolet Corvette. That’ll do.

The Bible we generally use is divided into two parts:

            Old Testament

            New Testament

So, how do we remember how many books are in the O. T. and how many are in the N.T.?

            Well, you’ve got 66 books. 66/2 = 33.

                                    O.T.                                                                 N.T.

                                      3                                                                      3

But we know the Bible isn’t neatly divided in half. So watch this!

                                      3                                Times                               3 = 9

Take the  3, bring over the 9 and voila! You have 39! The number of books in the O. T.

‘Oh, that’s clever,’ you say. Thank you very much. But what about the N. T?

Okay, we have those 39 books of the O. T., split the numbers and put a multiplication sign between them: 3X9, do the math, and voila! You have 27, the number of books in the N. T.

            ‘Oh, that’s clever, too,’ you say? ‘But can I count on it?’ Sure. Just add them up.

            39 + 27 = 66. There you go!

Just for fun, let’s look at the O. T.

The O. T. has 5 parts:

1. History - 1^st 5 books of the O. T.: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Number and Deuteronomy, also known as the Pentateuch, or Torah.
2. Other history - the next 12 books of the O. T.: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, I & II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther.
3. Poetry - 5 books (see #1!): Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon.
4. Prophets - 5 books (See #1!). We generally refer to these and the Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentation, Ezekiel and Daniel.
5. Other Prophets - the last 12 (See #2!) Books of the O. T.: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

So we have 5 books, 12 books, 5 books, 5 books and 12 books (= 39!)

(Dontcha just love how neatly they’re all sorted and organized?)

If we wanted to consolidate it even more we could say the Old Testament had 3 parts:

            History (and other history)

            Poetry

            Prophets (and other prophets

            3 parts, 1 whole - A Trinity!

Now let’s take a look at the New Testament. This is easier. And harder.

            The N. T. generally, has two parts:

            History (tah dah!)

            Epistles, or letters

The history portion of the N. T. is – ready for this? The 1^st five books! Sound familiar?

            Those books are: Matthew, Mark. Luke, John and Acts.

And how many books did we say is in the N. T? Yes, 27, and if we subtract the 5 books of history we have? 22. The number of epistles, or letters, in the N. T.

Now this you just might have to remember, I couldn’t think of a really good analogy to hang this hat on, though I tried:

Of the 22 epistles, or letters, 4 (think the 4 Gospels, or the 4 Winds) are Paul’s Epistles to Pastors: I & II Timothy, Titus and Philemon.

Now it gets a little easier: 22, the number of epistles in the N. T. - (that’s minus sign there, not a dash) Paul’s four epistles to Pastors = 18.

You can just divide these 18 epistles in two. Split ‘em up evenly.

            Paul’s (maybe) 9 letters to the churches: Romans through II Thessalonians

            General epistles: Hebrews through Revelation

5 History + 4 Pastors letters = 9

Letters to churches               = 9

General letters                   = 9

# of Books in the N. T.          27

So you’re saying, ‘Yeah, this all fine and good, Janet, but am I going to remember it?’ Sure. Well, maybe. Some of it at least. I hope. To help you (or confuse you even more), try this: 27 (number of books in the N. T./by three (Trinity) = 9. Take the numbers 2 and 7 and flip them. 7 - 2 = 5, (the number of books of history), plus 4 (the number of Paul’s Letters to Pastors) = 9, right? So there you have your first nine. The other 2 nine’s are letters to churches and general letters. 9 X 2 = 18 plus the first 9 = 27. If that doesn’t work for you, figure out your own memory hook. Just so it adds up:

27 + 39 = 66.

Easy Peezy Lemon Squeezy!

Blessings and joy!

Janet M.