Forty by John Norton Loughborough

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jul 23, 1908

Forty

By John Norton Loughborough

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

There are many things stated in the Scriptures connected with the number forty. There were more than forty men who bound themselves with an oath that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. Acts 23:12, 13. If they kept their oath, they must long since have died of starvation; for Paul escaped their evil designs. Then there is Paul’s statement that five times of the Jews he “received forty stripes save one.” 2 Cor. 11:24.

The rain at the time of the flood continued for forty days and forty nights. Gen. 7:12. Twice Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights, receiving the law and statutes from the Lord. Ex. 24:18. Forty days the spies searched the land of Canaan. Num. 13:25. Forty days and nights Elijah went in the strength of food provided by the angel of God. 1 Kings 19:4, 8. Jonah’s preaching at Nineveh was, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Jonah 3:4. Forty days was the time of our Saviour’s fast in the wilderness, followed by those fierce temptations of Satan. Matt. 4:2. After the Lord’s resurrection he was seen more or less, for forty days before his ascension to heaven. Acts 1:3.

We have also account of many events connected with a period of forty years. When Moses was forty years old, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Heb. 11:24. This shows that in that time forty years was the age in life when one became his own master, to speak for himself. We have the account of the forty years of Moses’ life as a shepherd, and the forty years of his leading of Israel through the wilderness. In the warfare of the nations against Israel, there was a period of forty years when they had rest under the reign of Othniel, Caleb’s younger brother. Judges 3:10. Forty years the land had rest after the overthrow of the Midianites, who were thrown into consternation by the sound of the trumpets of Gideon, the flash of the lamps, and the mighty shout of his three hundred men, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.” Judges 7:18. There was forty years’ rest after the conquest of Barak against Sisera, who gained his victory by following the counsel of Deborah the prophetess. Judges 5:7. Then we have the account of the deliverance of Israel into the hands of the Philistines for forty years, because of the evils which they had wrought. Judges 13:1. Then there was Eli’s forty years’ reign, closing with his death, which was hastened by the slaughter of his two unrestrained sons, and the loss of the ark. 1 Sam. 4:15-18.

Saul reigned for forty years, and then for disobeying the Lord, and for consulting with a familiar spirit, he was slain in battle. 1 Chron. 10:13, 14; Acts 13:21. Saul was succeeded by King David, who also reigned for forty years. 1 Kings 2:11. His reign was followed by that of his son, King Solomon, who reigned “over all Israel in Jerusalem” for forty years. 1 Kings 11:42. There is also the account of King Jehoash (called Joash in 2 Chron. 24:1), who reigned forty years in Jerusalem, and “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days wherein Jehoida the priest instructed him.” 2 Kings 12:1, 2. But alas! in his last days he poorly requited Jehoida; for he slew his sons. During the reign of David there is a period of forty years mentioned (1 Kings 2:11), at the expiration of which Absalom entered into a conspiracy against his father’s kingdom. 2 Sam. 15:7, 10, 11. For forty years the Lord made the land of Egypt utterly desolate, from the tower of Syene, even unto the border of Ethiopia, because they said, “The river is mine, and I made it.” Eze. 29:8-12. Still further on is mentioned the forty years Israel had “borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chion your images, the star of your God, which ye made to yourselves.” For this cause they were taken “into captivity beyond Damascus.” Amos 5:25-27.

There is still another period of forty years, as I write, which is nearer. It is connected with the planting and rise of the third angel’s message on the Pacific Coast. It is just forty years to-day (July 19, 1908) since Elder D. T. Bourdeau and myself, with our wives and my son, first set foot on California soil in San Francisco, from the deck of the steamer “Golden City,” for the purpose of opening up the work in this field. There were not at that time half a dozen persons west of the Rocky Mountains that were in full sympathy with present truth. Now, in the Pacific Coast field, there are two union conferences, comprised of nine organized conferences and two missions. There are two hundred fifty-three churches, with 12,314 members. In these conferences there are one hundred eleven ordained ministers, forty-four licentiates, and eighty-nine who hold missionary license. For the preparation of workers we have two colleges, one academy, five intermediate schools, and scores of church-schools. Connected with this educational work there are eighty-seven teachers.

Then there is the medical and health work, which “occupies the same relation to the message as the right hand and arm to the body.” There are five large sanitariums under conference control. Connected with these are eleven graduated physicians, one hundred sixty-six nurses, and one hundred twenty-two other helpers. Beside this, there are nine sanitariums managed as individual enterprises. In these are twelve graduated physicians, and over thirty nurses.

Then there is a strong, well-organized publishing house, furnishing material to hundreds of the “King’s Messengers” to introduce in the homes of the people. We do not speak of what has been accomplished with any spirit of boasting. We realize to some extent that, had there been that devotion to the work that the message and times demand, and more of a trust in the Lord’s power to accompany the efforts put forth, far greater results would now be apparent. But with the facilities now in hand, if the workers go forth in the strength of Israel’s God, looking to him for his power to carry on the work, he using us as his instruments, soon it could be said of the work on the Pacific Coast, “It is done.”

Healdsburg, Cal.