Cees en Anneke Noordzij — Numerology
b6 — From Passover to Tabernacles
Number 2 — fullness of Christ: Head and Body
Noordzij connects the number two directly to a salvation-historical principle — it always points to the fullness of Christ, consisting of the Son and the sons:
“‘Two’ always points to the fullness of Christ, to the Son and the sons, to the Head and the Body. There are two tablets of stone (Ex.31:18), two rows of showbread (Lev.24:6), two cherubim that are one with the mercy seat (Ex.25:18-19), two silver trumpets (Num.10:2), two faithful spies (Num.14:6), two olive trees (Zech.4:3), two folds (John 10:16), two witnesses (Rev.11:3), the tree of life on both banks (Rev.22:2).” (Noordzij, ‘From Passover to Tabernacles’, §The feast of Pentecost)
Interpretation: Noordzij states this not as an incidental observation but as a general biblical principle (“always points to”). The list spans both Testaments, from the giving of the Law (two tablets) to the Apocalypse (two witnesses, tree of life on both banks).
This principle recurs with the two goats on the Day of Atonement:
“Again the number two: two sacrificial animals, the fullness of Christ, the Son and the sons.” (Noordzij, ‘From Passover to Tabernacles’, §The great Day of Atonement)
With the two silver trumpets, Noordzij adds a second layer — not only the quantity but also the material is symbolic:
“God had commanded Moses to make two silver trumpets (Num.10:2). ‘Two’ (=the fullness of Christ). ‘Of silver’ (=reconciling, see e.g. Ex.30:12-16).” (Noordzij, ‘From Passover to Tabernacles’, §The blowing of the trumpets)
Interpretation: The number 2 and the material silver are each separately interpreted as symbols — together, the two silver trumpets form an image of the complete reconciliation that Christ and his sons bring jointly.
Number 7 — seven days as the path to fullness in Christ
Noordzij interprets the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread as the time frame of complete purification and growth toward Christ as Head:
“All the ‘old leaven’ must be removed immediately in order to eat the ‘unleavened bread of purity and truth’ for ‘seven’ days. […] Until ‘we, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into him who is the head’ (Eph.4:15).” (Noordzij, ‘From Passover to Tabernacles’, §The feast of unleavened bread)
Interpretation: The seven days signify the completeness of the sanctification process. Noordzij does not attach an explicit definition to the number 7 as he does with numbers 2 and 10, but the deliberate use of quotation marks around “seven” indicates intentional number symbolism.
Number 10 — testing and proving in salvation history
Noordzij formulates an explicit biblical-theological definition:
“The time between the blowing of the trumpets and the great Day of Atonement is thus ten days. The number ten often points in the Bible to testing, proving. Some examples? The greatest test of all time is the ten commandments. In Daniel 1:12 we read: ‘Please test your servants for ten days’. Jesus says to the church of Smyrna (=myrrh, bitterness): ‘You will have tribulation for ten days’ (Rev.2:10). The disciples waited ten days for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.” (Noordzij, ‘From Passover to Tabernacles’, §The great Day of Atonement)
Interpretation: Noordzij supports the symbolic weight of number 10 with four examples from both Testaments: (1) the ten commandments as the greatest test, (2) Daniel’s ten-day trial (Dan.1:12), (3) the ten days of tribulation in Smyrna (Rev.2:10), and (4) the ten days the disciples waited for the Spirit. The number 10 functions as a recurring biblical pattern of testing.
Number 50 — feast of Pentecost and outpouring of the Spirit
Noordzij connects the number fifty to the feast of Pentecost as the fiftieth day after Passover, and thereby to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit:
“It began on the fiftieth day after Passover (Lev.23:15-16). […] Ten days later he poured out the Holy Spirit on the waiting disciples, exactly fifty days after the Jewish Passover (Acts 2:1).” (Noordzij, ‘From Passover to Tabernacles’, §The feast of Pentecost)
Interpretation: In b5 (‘The hand to the plow’), Noordzij had explicitly described the number 50 as “the biblical number of the Holy Spirit” (Luke 9:14). In this source, an explicit definition of the number 50 as such is absent; the emphasis is on the feast cycle and its fulfillment in Acts 2:1.
Number 5 — five days with the lamb in the house (typological)
Noordzij mentions the five days during which Israel had to keep the lamb in the house (Ex.12:3-6) and applies this typologically:
“In order to be led out of Egypt, Israel had to take a lamb into the house for five days and then slaughter it (Ex.12:3-6). […] Thus the Lord is also for us like a protective shadow, when we ‘take the Lamb into the house’ for ‘five days’.” (Noordzij, ‘From Passover to Tabernacles’, §The Passover)
Interpretation: Noordzij gives no explicit numerological interpretation of the number 5. The number functions in his argument as a typological given from the Passover text, not as an independent symbol with a definition.
Numerical patterns in the feast cycle
The feast cycle as a whole has a numerical structure that Noordzij interprets salvation-historically:
“The cycle looks as follows: In the first month: The Passover […] In the third month: The feast of Pentecost […] In the seventh month: The blowing of the trumpets […] The great Day of Atonement […] The feast of Tabernacles.” (Noordzij, ‘From Passover to Tabernacles’, §Introduction)
The great Day of Atonement falls on the tenth of the seventh month. The ten days between the trumpets (1st day, seventh month) and the Day of Atonement (10th day, seventh month) are for Noordzij the numerical carrier of the trial period (see §Number 10).
Interpretation: The salvation-historical numerical logic in Noordzij is consistent — each feast day carries a numerical value that partly determines its typological content. The feast cycle is thus structured not only calendrically but also numerically as a spiritual development path.