May 28, 2021
(updated March 1, 2023)
What’s the significance of the number 12 in the Bible? Come get a quick look at the number 12 in Scripture and what it means. Free Download is available.
The Significance of The Number 12 in the Bible
You know there are 12 disciples, 12 months, and 12 tribes. But why?
Why twelve? And what are the other times the number 12 is chosen?
The significance is this: God chose 12 to signal us of his perfect plan. It’s about perfection, authority, and completeness.
I’m so grateful for teachers, and really for studiers, too. Because they uncover things I would have missed. Things the author included beyond the written words.
Did you love it when your English teacher revealed the subtle themes in a story? Maybe an overarching principle or concept you would have missed, or alliteration, or even recognizing the nature of characters and their roles? Or maybe realizing the underlying message that was being delivered?
For me it was exciting to be given the keys to understanding on a deeper level.
There’s no better gift to be given than this: the key to understanding the Bible. Not a single key, but a whole ring of keys, opening different doors one at a time.
And before you start getting any expectations after reading the title, let me come clean: I’m not an expert on Bible numerology. Studying the “twelves” has been my first foray into focusing on a number.
With regard to picking something to study, one thing you can enjoy is stepping back and looking at things that get repeated in Scripture.
It’s like looking into the same room, but through a different window.
The number 12 is a huge repeating thing. I wanted to have a better grasp on the significance of the number 12 in Scripture.
So I started studying it. Just looking up times when 12 things were present. It was a-may-zing.
In a minute I’ll give you a dozen mentions of the number 12 in the Bible. And then I’ll offer you an even more comprehensive list. Like a dozen roses, or a dozen doughnuts, you’ll see the number 12 just “fits.”
Doing this kind of study can be very exciting. You learn so much.
Like another time I did this. I just picked a thing and started looking for it.
What was the thing? Something that gets talked about a lot. Rocks. I studied rocks in the Bible for a while, just because there are so many. I felt like it must be important. When you pick a single topic like this and study it, you just see that thing differently afterward.
And once I had studied rocks, I wanted to study 12.
You also need to know something else.
I learned a big “what’s that?” I’ll never forget.
It still makes me smile. A story that made something real.
(It will show you just how “off the path” you can be when you don’t ask a trusted teacher to help you.)
FINDING OUT WHAT IT MEANT
All my life I had repeated a phrase dutifully that I did not understand at all. It seemed like a good phrase. It was in a hymn, and I know it wouldn’t have been there if it was bad.
But I was picturing it wrong.
Somehow (after watching a lot of Westerns on television as a kid, I guess) I incorrectly had envisioned a dusty “Ye Olde Hebrew Saloon” with frosty mugs being raised as voices sang loudly together.
Do you know where I’m going with this?
Yep: Here I raise mine Ebenezer.
No one ever told me what it was. And I never asked.
And one day I found out:
it wasn’t a frosty mug after all.
You won’t believe how I got the answer.
I stumbled right into an actual Ebenezer and just embraced it. Embraced the truth and the revelation, It was a key.
I’ll tell you exactly what it looked like, because maybe you haven’t ever actually seen one.
I was exploring the outdoor spaces of a Church during a break from meetings. And there, along a sidewalk, was a pen of stones. Chicken wire fencing formed a round pen, a cylinder shape. Small smooth stones filled half of the column. Messages were written on the stones, blessings, accomplishments, answered prayers. And a nearby sign explained this was “an Ebenezer.”
A monument made of stones.
And now I know.
Let me give you a great description of the origin of this, written by Matt Morton in a topic called “Like Samuel, here we raise our Ebenezer.” Read the full article if you like. He also had a slight misconception of the term. Here’s a part of what he says:
It turns out that there is a powerful biblical story behind that word. The term “Ebenezer” comes from the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel. It’s a Hebrew word, and its origin is explained to us in 1 Samuel 7:12. The Philistines attacked the nation of Israel, but God gave his people victory over their enemies. After they won the battle, the prophet Samuel set up a stone on the battlefield, between two cities of Judah called Mizpah and Shen. When he set it up, he said to the nation, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
The word Ebenezer literally means “stone of help.” The stone that Samuel erected was a constant reminder to the nation of Israel that God had protected them and led them to victory. God was their helper, in other words, and the Ebenezer was a visual reminder of that truth. Whenever the Israelites walked past that stone, they would remember God’s kindness to them and praise him for it.
Thank you, Matt Morton, for your candid story. (If you click the link above for the complete article, you’ll find out how he misunderstood the word Ebenezer.)
All that, to say ask. Ask someone who is more knowledgeable than you.
Don’t you wonder why we didn’t ask sooner?
Are you still here?
Thanks. Because we are taking the long way to this subject of the significance of 12.
Why?
Well, (historically) because I wanted to say my love of rocks in the Bible led me to all kinds of knowledge. Was it inspired by a memorial behind a Tennessee Church? Maybe.
But in finding out about rocks, I found out this other thing.
Rocks are important.
So are numbers. Things I might have missed. (Things I did miss!)
Why are things done over and over? Because they are right, or important, or both. Every time we see 12, we slow down and think of perfection, authority, completeness.
Guess what? You can study the Bible without a workbook.
Yeah, you can! I didn’t have to purchase a study guide or join a group to conduct my own Bible study. We often forget what the word “study” means. It’s researching, learning, and understanding.
It’s what I did to find out about twelve. I’m going to give you 12 times the number 12 was used in just a minute. Then tell you how much more is behind that!
You can study the Bible in countless ways.
Is there simply something you want to know more about?
All you need is a good question, right?
That’s how this “twelve” thing came to be.
There were just too many twelves to ignore.
Now, here’s the list!
It’s a dozen mentions of “twelve” in the Bible.
(Bet you know them all.)
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NUMBER 12 IN THE BIBLE
12 months in the calendar
12 Sons of Jacob
12 Tribes of Israel
12 Disciples
12 Historical Books
12 Minor Prophets
12 Stones on the Breastplate of the Priest
12 Spies to Canaan
12 Stones in the monument from the Jordan
12 Baskets of bread left over
12 years old and speaking in the Temple
12 gates in the new city
And there are more.
Remember my confusion about raising my Ebenezer? There’s a moral to that story.
I was R-O-N-G. Just so wrong. (😉 See what I did there?)
What was the big mistake?
I didn’t ask. I knew that I didn’t understand, and I didn’t ask. Anyone would have told me.
So the moral of the story is this:
Choose not to be confused. Choose to understand.
Or else your husband may find you hugging a chicken-wire fence of rocks. 😆
Ask.
And because you visited today, because you wanted to know something about the significance of 12, I have a little gift.
A Printable Page About The Significance of the Number 12 in the Bible
I’d like to share with you a collection of 29 different mentions of 12 in Scripture. Some are more familiar than others. I just shared a dozen of them, because, well… 12, it’s significant, right? 😉
If you download the list, you can explore as much as you like. The Scripture references are all there to help you.
Your own little independent study!
Why 12? Why is it all about 12? Like I said at first, the significance is this: God chose 12 to signal us of his perfect plan. It’s about perfection, authority, and completeness.
I hope you get the list. Because something might happen.
What if you realize you have a healthy and intense curiosity about the Bible?
Like realizing you’re hungry.
Doing a focused study can wake up your curiosity and then you’re off to explore something else — the garments of the Priest, the camp-outs around the Tabernacle, the Garden of Gethsemane, the city wall around Jerusalem, or something else!
Because we need understanding, and God is waiting to give it to us.
So we can know Him.
How amazing is it, to seek wisdom, and to pursue righteousness?
Do You Hunger For Righteousness?
In Matthew 5:6 Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
What a rich promise for a hungry soul.
You ever get really hot and thirsty, and you know a cool drink of water will satisfy you?
Or do you get hungry for a Butterfinger Blizzard, or a good peach cobbler? The more time goes by, the more intense your longing is. Soon you’re craving it. “Get the car keys, Babe. We’re doing this.”
What if Scripture were that way? That you had a question that turned into a deep yearning that demanded to be satisfied?
Get the keys.
Hunger. It insists on being satisfied. Have you asked God to give you “hunger” for Scripture? If you want it, ask.
The Bible mentions hunger a lot. Hmmm. That’s a great idea for my next adventure. Here’s how it would start: I would go to my trusted resources with my question.
One source I use for Scripture selections is Open Bible. Just now, I searched for what the Bible says about hunger for God and was rewarded with a list of 52 marvelous verses to feast on.
Let me ask you something:
Do you want a Butterfinger Blizzard right now? Or a peach cobbler? Or a tall glass of cold water? (Sorry; I do, too.)
Sometimes just
- seeing something,
- hearing something,
- reading something,
just the idea starts a craving.
Go and look at those 52 verses and see if I’m right — you’ll want more.
What is the Significance of the Number 12 in the Bible?
Answer: The number 12 is about perfection, authority, and completeness. That’s what I found out on my journey, seeking out why it appeared so many times.
I am grateful for the scholars who pulled the lists together, grateful for those who studied history and law, and are willing to teach me.
Grateful for a fellow learner who explored some of this with me before finalizing the list.
At a time when our nation of believers is struggling under the weight of wayward beliefs and an increasing distance from Scriptural principles, we are longing for perfection, authority and completeness.
Would you like to receive the list?
I’d love to share it with you.
Click on the “Twelve Things” image and you’ll be taken to a page to enter your e-mail and get your free download. And more free printable resources if you want them!
(If you’re already a subscriber, this is in the Free Subscriber Resource Library waiting for you!)
EXTRA HELP
I was greatly encouraged to share all this with you after reading an article from Crosswalk called Interesting Facts about the Meaning & Importance of the Number 12 in the Bible written by Hope Bolinger. She gives some very easy-to-understand guidance for answering questions about numbers and deeper meanings in Scripture.
What I’m seeking isn’t just the significance of the number 12.
In the Bible, when things are written for us, there is a plain meaning and a deeper meaning. I want to know both.
TAKE A LOOK at the collection, and see if you find any surprises. (I did.)
Scripture references are provided to guide you.
Let me know what you think!
Blessed are those
who hunger and thirst
for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
Matthew 5:6
How about some new books?
Ask me about any of these!
Or just click on the link to view it yourself!
You. Thank you for visiting!
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Are you on Pinterest? That is a crazy fun place! You can find so many helpful things. Take a look at what I’ve saved for you! A lot of things that never make it to the blog. Here are my Pinterest pins, and I also have categories/boards if you’re looking for something specific.
-Grammye
Thank you for visiting! At GFP company is always welcome!
If you liked this topic, feel free to 
share 
on Facebook or Pinterest, or send a link to a friend.
Are you on Pinterest? That is a crazy fun place! You can find so many helpful things. Take a look at what I’ve saved for you! A lot of things that never make it to the blog. Here are my Pinterest pins, and I have lots of categories/boards if you’re looking for something specific.
-Grammye
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Thanks for sticking around for it.
This week, even right now, please grab your favorite study Bible, or get online and order a new one. And do this: Think of it differently — not something on a shelf or table, but as necessary as your cell phone. (If your Bible is your cell phone, my apologies. Carry on.)
Put your hands (and your eyes) on it several times a day, move it around, open it, and figure out how you’ll enjoy your Bible as the treasure it is: God’s love letter to you.
I am so glad you came today!
👉 Remember to check out the “Twelve Things In The Bible” page and let me know if you liked it.
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