Meaning of Numbers: The Number 9
Used 49 times in Scripture, the number 9 symbolizes divine completeness or conveys the meaning of finality. Christ died at hour nine of the day, or 3 p.m., to make the way of salvation open to everyone. The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is the only one of God's annual Feast days of worship that requires believers to fast. This special day, considered by many Jews to be the holiest of the year, begins at sunset on day 9 of the seventh Hebrew month (Leviticus 23:32).
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The number 9 also represents the fruits of God's Holy Spirit. These fruits are faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, joy, kindness, long suffering, love, peace and self-control (Galatians 5:22 - 23).
The English word "thanksgiving" or its plural occurs 9 times in the King James New Testament.
Appearances of the Number Nine
The Scriptural chapters that contain 9 verses are Joshua 20, 2Chronicles 27, Psalm 8, 20, 28, 47, 52, 98, 99, 113, 122, 137, 149, Isaiah 15, 31, Hosea 14 and Zechariah 13. The book of the minor prophet Amos is the only one in God's word that has nine chapters.
Hoshea, who was Israel's last king before the kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 723 B.C., reigned for just 9 years (732 to 723 B.C.).
In was at hour 9 of the day that a Roman Centurion named Cornelius was told, in a vision, to contact the Apostle Peter. Cornelius would eventually be baptized and receive God's spirit, becoming the first recorded Gentile convert to Christianity (Acts 10).
The Ministry of Jesus
Jesus, in the early part of 30 A.D., is traveling south through Samaria when he runs into ten leprous men. After the men cry out to be healed they are sent to show themselves to the priests. On their journey they are miraculously healed of their wasting disease! Yet of the ten men only one of them returned to thank the Lord.
Then one of them, seeing that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. . . Jesus said, "Were not ten cleansed? But where are the other nine? Are not any found returning to give glory to God except this stranger?" (Luke 17:15, 17 - 18).
Friday March 31 in 30 A.D. (Nisan 9 on the Hebrew calendar) fell within the last week of Jesus' earthly life. It was the day he threw the moneychangers and other crooks out of the temple just like he had done at the start of his ministry (Luke 19:46). It was also the day children shouted "Hosanna to the Son of David!" when they saw him (Matthew 21:15).
Jesus appeared alive on 9 separate occasions after he was resurrected from the dead. He appeared once to Mary Magdalene and once to two men traveling to Emmaus, a group of 500 believers and his half-brother James. He miraculously showed himself five other times to various groupings of the apostles.
Number 9 and Sorcery
In the Old Testament there are at least 9 groups or individuals who practiced sorcery. Although modern culture and entertainment tends to paint those who practice such 'black arts' in a benign or positive light, the motives of Old Testament sorcerers were evil to the core.
1) God promised to punish the Egyptians and to destroy the counsels of their charmers, conjurers, magicians and those who cast spells (Isaiah 19:3,11 - 12).
2) Egypt's Pharaoh called upon his sorcerers and magicians to confront the miracles God was doing through Moses and Aaron (Exodus 7:11, 22; 8:7,18).
3) Balak employs the services of Balaam, who is a well-known soothsayer, to curse the newly freed Israelites (Numbers 22, 23).
4) Jezebel, the wife of Israel's evil King Ahab, used witchcraft and the evil arts to get her way (2Kings 9:22).
5) God promised to punish Nineveh for enticing a number of their neighbors like a "mistress of witchcrafts" to indulge in idolatrous practices (Nahum 3).
6) The Babylonians were well-known for using the services of magicians, astrologers and sorcerers (Isaiah 47:9 - 13, Daniel 2:2,10, 27).
7) Belshazzar called upon his astrologers and wise men to interpret the "handwriting on the wall" done by the finger of God (Daniel 5:7,15).
8) God warns his people not to be troubled by "the signs of heaven" as the pagans are with their astrologers (Jeremiah 10:2, Micah 3:6 - 7).
9) False prophets use divination to deceive others into thinking that they are speaking for God (Jeremiah 14:14, 27:9, Ezekiel 13:6 - 9).
More Info on Biblical Meaning of 9
One of the many kings the ancient Israelites had to overcome to claim their Promised Land inheritance is Og of Bashan (Deuteronomy 3:11). Og was a giant of a man who required a bed that was 9 cubits long (roughly 13 1/2 feet or 4.1 meters) by 4 cubits wide (6 feet or 1.8 meters)!
The total destruction of Jerusalem's temple began on Ab 9 on the Hebrew Calendar. It was also on this day that the second (also known as Herod's) temple was burned to the ground by the Romans in 70 A.D.
There are 9 people recorded in the Bible as having leprosy. They are Moses, Miriam, Naaman, Gehazi, King Azariah and the four lepers of Samaria found in 2Kings 7:3.
The act of executing a criminal through stoning is believed to have originated with the ancient Hebrews. The witnesses of the crime were required to cast the first stone (John 8:7). The 9 people recorded as being stoned are a Sabbath-breaker (Numbers 15:36), a blasphemer (Leviticus 24:14), Abimelech (Judges 9:53), Achan (Joshua 7:25), Zechariah (2Chronicles 24:21), Adoram (1Kings 12:18), Naboth (1Kings 21:10), Stephen (Acts 7) and the Apostle Paul (Acts 14:19).