Post At7AbfqOnzHV7AwfPU by gbargoud@masto.nyc
(DIR) More posts by gbargoud@masto.nyc
(DIR) Post #At6wYeZ9haqmvKXrXM by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-15T09:32:41Z
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Unrelated... what is with the Bible and the number 40? 40 years of this, 40 days and nights of that. When things happen for a long time it's 40 units of time. hmmm
(DIR) Post #At6wffes2WtKL1Z4L2 by jenesuispasgoth@pouet.chapril.org
2025-04-15T09:33:49Z
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@futurebird kabbalists like this toot.
(DIR) Post #At6wk73W7P0ST6D8Qy by toni@zug.network
2025-04-15T09:34:42Z
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@futurebird Does it have a connection to Hebrew? I have no idea but it might.
(DIR) Post #At6wnrkQyTBc9O4gXQ by darac@furry.engineer
2025-04-15T09:35:23Z
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@futurebird ISTR it's a mistranslation of "many".
(DIR) Post #At6xf0LXjg6iAMlphY by LetoOfTheDesert@super-gay.co
2025-04-15T09:45:00Z
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@futurebird they thought forty is a lot. Just like kids who can barely vncount to ten !
(DIR) Post #At6xyqyOIO1gt2PE1I by albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz
2025-04-15T09:48:33Z
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@futurebird The modern bible is rife with mistranslations and misinterpretations (and deliberate omissions), not surprisingly given the amounts of time that has passed, the cultural context of each translation, and the biases and limitations of each translator. Wouldn't be surprised if the possibility that "forty" was used to mean "gazillions" back then explained this.
(DIR) Post #At6zSPv9XVbtcxYIdc by Banur@metalhead.club
2025-04-15T10:05:07Z
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@futurebird When i correctly remember is 40 the number of longing and waiting until salvation. It means a long time, maybe a lifetime
(DIR) Post #At702xQKSDN5xYYgC0 by ligasser@social.epfl.ch
2025-04-15T10:11:43Z
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@futurebird I got this gem from a Google search:Number 40 is equal to 2 x 2 x 2 (or 2 cubed) x 5. Both 2 and 5 are primes.Ahm - prime factorization, anyone?Also, the translation '40' is actually '40' in Hebrew, and not something like "a long time" mistranslated. Mistranslations in the Bible are rare: the Bible is one of the most studied texts, specifically with regard to translations.And, there are other, higher, numbers in the Bible :) Going up to 969 years for Metuselah!
(DIR) Post #At74xtkZBVAqtBQnY0 by guyjantic@infosec.exchange
2025-04-15T11:06:48Z
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@futurebird From a bajillion old testament lessons (so, kinda suspect) I remember ancient Israelite use of numbers was often symbolic, and it's thought that the symbolism was generally shared by people within the time x culture. 40 was sometimes used to indicate "lots" but, as someone else ITT said, probably a specific spin on "lots."Other stuff I remember (again, no idea if this is legit):3, 7, and 12 were generally good. They indicated completion and maybe power (?). 6 was (at least sometimes) bad. One explanation was "almost a holy/complete number, but falling short and therefore worse than if it hadn't even tried." I heard it used in parallel with the story of Lucifer challenging God's authority and being cast out of heaven: he was almost-god, which turned out to be far worse than your basic not-god.The counting system was (at least sometimes?) base 60(ish; hence compasses and clocks), and many of the important or notable numbers were multiples of 20, 12, 3, and/or 60, maybe like we sometimes default to describing things in multiples of 5 or 10.
(DIR) Post #At76LuLSiurtdfhYK8 by thedansimonson@lingo.lol
2025-04-15T11:22:22Z
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@futurebird I was reading up on Hebrew numerals for a special insight—maybe they’re base 40 or something—but honestly, that well seems pretty dry in that regard: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_numerals
(DIR) Post #At7884S0YQN2ppIDlg by paulc@mstdn.social
2025-04-15T11:42:18Z
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@futurebird I have another religious 40 for you. For over 1000 years in the Catholic church life began 40 days after conception.
(DIR) Post #At7AHR4A2XafUQjR7g by notsoloud@expressional.social
2025-04-15T12:06:24Z
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@futurebirdI believe it is related to punishment and suffering. Also 40 lashes as a punishment. WP has many examples (religion, Judaism section)https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/40_(number)Also Jesus spent 40 days suffering in the desert, an obvious parallel.
(DIR) Post #At7AbfqOnzHV7AwfPU by gbargoud@masto.nyc
2025-04-15T11:55:05Z
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@darac @futurebird This reminds me of discworld's trolls:‘Everyone knows trolls can’t even count up to four!’* *In fact, trolls traditionally count like this: one, two, three, many, and people assume this means they can have no grasp of higher numbers. They don’t realise that many can BE a number. As in: one, two, three, many, many-one, many-two, many-three, many many, many-many-one, many-many-two, many-many-three, many many many, many-many-many-one, many-many-many-two, many-many-three, LOTS.
(DIR) Post #At7ERMusisKnKfNpuC by mattmcirvin@mathstodon.xyz
2025-04-15T12:53:00Z
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@futurebird Most languages seem to have some numbers that are used as idioms for a general big (or small) number: "myriad", etc. English has jokey ones like "umpteen" or "zillion". in the Bible you also see things like "seventy times seven".
(DIR) Post #At7He9pMzwE0MgaxxA by oblomov@sociale.network
2025-04-15T13:28:50Z
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@futurebird Ali Baba and the 40 thieveswait, wrong book.
(DIR) Post #At7u6i0VJEGCjmqPvE by catmisgivings@stranger.social
2025-04-15T20:39:54Z
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@futurebird how long to sing this song
(DIR) Post #At7w02tdReRZPCa9js by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-15T21:01:06Z
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@Infrapink @guyjantic I didn't know they did a video on this! May show it to my students who I just forced to learn this system (they loved decoding the tablet... it's such a good feeling to get meaning out of something so old.)