Forty

Forty years old, or young should I say.
Forty is special in so many ways.
It's mentioned many times, as we will hear,
In God's Holy Word, about ancient days.

Forty days and nights it rained
When God washed this earth from sin.
Noah and his family were safe in the ark,
The only people who went in.

Forty years old, we may say today,
But Isaac was forty when he took Rebekah to wife,
And Esau his son, at forty did wed,
Judith and Bashemath, what a life.

Forty years young was Moses, tall and strong,
When he killed an Egyptian and from Pharaoh did flee.
Another forty years he took care of Jethro's sheep.
Till God called him to help His people be free.

Forty days and nights Moses spent on Mount Sinai,
He talked with God and received His law with willingness.
But the Children of Israel constantly failed,
So for forty years they wondered in the wilderness.

Forty years the Children of Israel
did eat God's bread from heaven - manna.
Forty days was the length of time
The twelve spies were sent to search the promised Canna.

Joshua, who took over the leadership from Moses,
Was forty when sent out as a spy.
Forty thousand men, he prepared for war,
To take Jericho, and none would die.

Eli, the High Priest of Israel,
Did judge his country for forty years.
David and his son, Solomon, too,
Did reign over Israel for forty years.

Elijah, a great man of God,
Fled for his life from Queen Jezebel's sight,
An angel fed him twice on his trip,
Which sustained him for forty days and nights.

Joash, the boy king of Israel,
For forty years he did sit on the throne.
Jonah, when he finally obeyed God, called,
"Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."

Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,
Spent forty days in the wilderness.
Tempted and tried by the Devil, himself,
To prove we can live a life sinless.

Christ died for our sins and rose again,
For forty days He appeared to men and women,
Presenting the gospel in it's true light
To all who would believe and want heaven.

© S Goeldner, 1999.