40 Days

The reference to "40 days" in Luke 4 and Acts 1 is most interesting. Why do periods of 40 days bracket Jesus' public ministry? What is the significance of 40 days in the biblical narrative / canon?

The first reference to 40 days, of course, is the flood story. Great wickedness (Gen 6:5) leads to a horrible destruction. This destruction comes through 40 days and 40 nights of flooding (7:4, 12, 17). This flooding destroys all living things (7:21-23); only Noah and those with him were left alive.

Two other details of the flood story fit significantly with

how Luke narrates Jesus' preparation for

his ministry of

kingdom

announcement / embodiment / inauguration.

First, after the flood, how does Noah know it is safe to re-enter God's good creation? Gen 8:6-8 "at the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven... then he sent a dove..." While the raven is not mentioned a second time, Gen 8:8-12 mentions the activity of the dove 5 times. The activity of the dove lets Noah know when it is safe to re-enter God's world.

Second, what does God say to Noah once he re-enters God's post-flood world? Gen 8:16-17 and 9:1,7 report the Creator treating Noah like a new Adam. He tells him how to bring about the blessing of all living creatures that they "may be fruitful and multiply" (8:16-17) and blesses Noah repeating the words he first spoke to Adam and Eve (9:1 repeats 1:28).

How significant, then, is it when we find a Dove representing the Spirit (Luke 3:21-22, who was also active at the first Creation, Gen 1:2) and a reference to the first Adam (Luke 3:38) in the two elements leading into Jesus' temptation for 40 days in the wilderness?

With

• the Dove,
• the genealogical connection with the first Adam and
• the reference to 40 days

is Luke portraying Jesus as the Agent of God's new creation?

*In a post soon to come I will ponder the significance of 40 days on either side of Jesus' prophetic / Messianic career in Luke's two volume narrative.