The Number 12

While engaging in a conversation this afternoon, one of my officemates mentioned that the number 12 is a complete number. I got a little intrigued as to what he meant by it. I got curious considering that it is my favorite number mainly for the reason that I was born on the 12th of December; that is 12-12. He mentioned something about this number religion wise like Jesus has 12 Apostles. This is the only thing I remembered from our conversation.

When I got home from work, I searched for it on the net after checking my e-mails. I stumbled upon this article about the significance of the number 12 in the Bible. Here’s what I got.

The number 12 is a significant part of some religions, especially Christianism . Take for example the following:

In the Old Testament part of the Bible, Jacob has 12 sons that became the foundation of the 12 tribe of Israel.

In the New Testament, Jesus has 12 Apostles.

The book of Revelation also speaks of a woman wearing a crown of 12 stars and also about the Kingdom of God which has 12 gates guarded by 12 angels.

There is also this so -called 12 days of Christmas; this refers to the days starting Christmas Day and extends up to the eve of the Epiphany.

There are also other aspects in our everyday life that have number 12 in it. Do you notice the following?

The number 12 is also use in Gregorian calendar as it has 12 months. Not only that but both Western and Chinese Zodiacs have twelve signs. Even a day which is comprised by 24 hours which is being divided into two the ante meridiem and post meridiem that has 12 hours each. Even the basic units of time like 60 seconds, 60 minutes and 24 hours are all divisible by 12.

For me, there is only one thing that I can’t fail to notice, that the number 12 is the date of my birthday. May it be lucky or not, 12 would still remain as my favorite number.