In my AP English Class, the topic of numerology comes up many times in class.
Numerology is any study of the purported divine, mystical or other special
relationship between a count or measurement and life. So numerology is finding significance in numbers. The number 14 appears in the bible 50 times, so I will try to sum up what the Norton Anthology and other sources say about religious significance to the number 14. According to Jacob Boehme, the number 14 represents, the Holy Spirit being spread in the freedom and in the nature, although the nature does not know it. The number 14 is also the number of good and charity. Fourteen is the numerical value of the name of David, and of the words "hand" and "gold" in Hebrew, this last one being the symbol of the original purity of the matter. Some examples from the text are: The fourteen generations of Abraham to David, just as of David to the deportation of Babylon, and the deportation of Babylon to the Christ. (Mt 1,1-17) The fourteen epistles written by saint Paul, having on the whole 100 chapters and adding up 2335 verses. The weddings of Tobit and Sara lasted fourteen days. (Tb 8,20) With the return of Exile, after the rebuilding of the Temple, the Israelis celebrated the Passover the fourteenth day of the first month. (Ezr 6,19) Jacob worked fourteen years for his uncle Laban in order to be able to marry his daughter Rachel. The first period of seven years he allowed him to take Leah for woman, the older sister of Rachel, and after the second period of seven years, he could finally marry Rachel. And Jacob had of Rachel fourteen son and grandsons. (Gn 29,15-30 and 46,22) The sufferings of the Christ would have begun fourteen days before Passover to finish with his passion. Every year, the celebration of the Easter is never done in the same date, contrarily to the feast of Christmas which is always celebrated on December 25. At the fourth century after Jesus Christ, one established that this major feast of the liturgical calendar would be celebrated the first Sunday following the 14th night of lunation of March, if this one presents it on March 21, to the equinox of the spring, or after this date. The James apostle, tells the Major, was killed fourteen years after the crucifixion of the Jesus Christ. The Virgin Mary was 14 years old at the time of Annunciation according to the visions of Mary Agreda, that is to say exactly 14 years, 6 month and 17 days.