The Meaning of the Number Three in Scripture—Part 9—Enoch, Moses, and Elijah

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Introduction and Review

This is the ninth part of a series that examines the number three and how it categorizes themes in Scripture. The previous lesson studied some additional items from the Book of Acts and their association with this number. (Links to all articles in this series are listed at the end of this installment.)

This lesson will explore Enoch, Moses, and Elijah, and their mysterious departures, along with Noah, Daniel, and Job, and their righteousness. All will be linked with the number three and its meaning.

Enoch, Moses, and Elijah

Enoch, Moses, and Elijah

What might Enoch, Moses, and Elijah have in common?

And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him...By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him.

— Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5

Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

— 2 Kings 2:11

Deuteronomy records that Moses died and that God buried him in a place unknown to anyone. He is the only one that the Scriptures say God Himself buries. But we also find Moses again appearing in the New Testament.

... behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them (disciples at the transfiguration), talking with Him (Jesus).
— Matthew 17:3

Here we have three men who are transported in both time and place by some spiritual means.

Noah, Daniel, and Job

Noah, Daniel, and Job

The prophet Ezekiel notes three men, one of them, Daniel, three times in his prophecies and confrontations.

The word of the Lord came again to me, saying: “Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord God.

— Ezekiel 14:14

... even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.

— Ezekiel 14:20

The first two are regarding the righteousness of these three, and the third mentions Daniel, noting his wisdom.

The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, "Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, 'Thus says the Lord God:

“Because your heart is lifted up,
And you say, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of gods,
In the midst of the seas,’
Yet you are a man, and not a god,
Though you set your heart as the heart of a god
(Behold, you are wiser than Daniel!
There is no secret that can be hidden from you!

— Ezekiel 28

All three men, noted for their righteousness, have a connection to the resurrection that spares some from the coming judgment.

As discussed earlier, Noah illustrates a resurrection remnant by lifting up the ark above the waters.

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.
— 2 Peter 2:4-5

Only three men, his sons, believed Noah's preaching of righteousness. Additionally, the coming of rain is recorded three times (7:6, 10, 11-12). Rain is also symbolic of the Holy Spirit.

The book of Daniel ends with a resurrection remnant concerning the end.

... many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
Some to everlasting life,
Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,

And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever...
But you, go your way till the end;
for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days

— Daniel 12:2-3,13

Job gives a similar rendition of a resurrection remnant.

For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’—
Since the root of the matter is found in me,
Be afraid of the sword for yourselves;
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
That you may know there is a judgment.

— Job 19:25-29

*Concepts borrowed from W.A. Criswell

William Blake's depiction of Job and his three friends.

Job's Pit of Despair

The Book of Job is one of three pieces of wisdom literature in the Bible. Its literary structure consists of three sets of dialogues between Job and three friends, and three monologues. The number three appears 9 times (3 x 3) in the book altogether. The Book of Job mentions the pit six times (3 x 2). The pit is a picture of death with a spiritual component and is an accurate metaphor concerning Job's undeserved suffering. Job, in its entirety, is full of evidence that all come to God through His redemptive gift, even "righteous" Job. Elihu, the only one of Job's counselors not included in the punishment, declares to him in his misery that he lives by God's grace.

The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life ...

Yes, his (the chastened man) soul draws near the Pit,
And his life to the executioners.

“If there is a messenger for him,
A mediator, one among a thousand,
To show man His uprightness,
Then He is gracious to him and says,
‘Deliver him from going down to the Pit;
I have found a ransom.
His flesh shall be young like a child’s

He shall return to the days of his youth.
He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him,
He shall see His face with joy,

For He restores to man his righteousness.
Then he looks at men and says,
‘I have sinned, and perverted what was right,
And it did not profit me.’
He will redeem his soul from going down to the Pit,
And his life shall see the light.

“Behold, God works all these things,
Twice, in fact, three times with a man,
To bring back his soul from the Pit,
That he may be enlightened with the light of life.

— Job 33:4

William Blake's illustration of Job's three daughters.

Job's Three Daughters

The story of Job begins with three unnamed daughters and ends with three named daughters. An online forum, "Is Was and Will Be," moderated by Larry Groenewald, offers us a beautiful look at this subject and what it may mean for this study.

"The meaning of the three daughters' names should be seen within the (spiritual) 'latter end' context:

And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch.
— Job 42:14 (KJV)

The next is the same verse in a more definition-oriented translation,
and he called the first, Day, and the second, Keziah, and the third, Amalthaia's Horn.
'Jemima' = her name means "day" = (new) day = resurrection day:
— Job 42:14 (Apostolic Polyglot Bible)
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
— 1Co 15:20
'Kezia's name means 'stripped bark of the cassia', a plant known for its sweet fragrance it is used in the anointing oil in the tabernacle of Moses = old life is stripped, releasing new fragrance = new spirit of gladness:
Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
— Psa 45:7
Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin: And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.
— Exo 30:23-24
And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary.
— Exo 37:29
'Kerenhappuch' meaning "horn" = spiritual anointing authority and spiritual rulership:
And hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
— Luk 1:69
The mentioning of their names helps us to know that Job's end is better than the days in the flesh (Ecc 7:1). These three daughters point to the new Jerusalem ruling with all the seven (complete church) 'sons of God':
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."
— 1Jn 3:2

"Three daughters" is found three times in Scripture. (I Chronicles 25:5, Job 1:2, Job 42:13) In the I Chronicles verse, Heman is listed as one of the three foremost musicians appointed by King David for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by the following.