I was just thinking today, that the number 40 also seems to hold significance in the Bible. I did some research and found this site.
Maybe Leolaia, Narkissos or others can help here and explain if there was any symbolic value that the number 40 held. Is it to be taken literally in all circumstances?
http://www.40day.com/40_in_the_bible.html
Instances in the Bible where God made major changes and transformations after the period of 40
It rained for 40 days and 40 nights when God wanted to cleanse the world and start over. (Gen 7:12 KJV) And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
Noah waited another 40 days after it rained before he opened a window in the Ark. (Gen 8:6 KJV) And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.
E mbalming required 40 days (although this was an Egyptian custom, the Egyptians recognized the period of 40 for the preparation of going into a new life, what they called the afterlife) (Gen 50:3 KJV) And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.
Moses was on the mountain with God for 40 days (TWICE) (Exo 24:18 KJV) And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
(Exo 34:28-29 KJV) And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
(Deu 10:10 NIV) Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as I did the first time, and the LORD listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you.
Moses' face shone after the 40 days on the mountain. (Exo 34:29 KJV) And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.
It took the spies 40 days to search out the promised land and bring back fruit (Num 13:25 KJV) And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness, one year for each day they explored the Promised Land. (Exo 16:35 KJV) And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.
(Num 14:33-34 NIV) Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. {34} For forty years--one year for each of the forty days you explored the land-you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.
Goliath came for forty days before being killed by David (1 Sam 17:16 NLT) For forty days, twice a day, morning and evening, the Philistine giant strutted in front of the Israelite army.
Elijah strengthened by one angelic meal went forty days to Mount Horeb where the Lord passed by and he heard the voice of God (1 Ki 19:8 KJV) And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
Jonah warned the City of Nineveh they had 40 days until God would overthrow the city. The people repented in those 40 days and God spared the city. (Jonah 3:4 and 10 KJV) And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness (Mat 3:17 KJV) And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
(Mat 4:1-2 KJV) Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. {2} And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.
Jesus was seen in the earth 40 days after His crucifixion (Acts 1:3 NIV) After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
The point I find interesting is Moses going up to Mt. Sinai for 40 days and nights. Moses was an elderly man, in his 80s. Could he really have climbed that mountain? And, even if Jehovah helped him climb the mountain, why did it take so long to write the stone tablets if God himself wrote them?