Audio Download

The Spiritual Significance of the Number Eleven

[Study Aired February 8, 2026]

We have established that each number in scripture has its significance in relation to the numbers before and after each number. So then one (1) tells us that all is of God, through God and back to God. Two (2) bears witness to one and Three, (3) reveals process, particularly the three steps to spiritual maturity to which four (4) signifies that the whole of mankind must come  to Five (5) which signifies the chastening grace through faith, which (six) the number of mankind, must endure. When the grace through faith signified by the number five is applied to incomplete mankind, signified by the number 6 the product is the finishing of the process of making mankind complete, signified by the number 7. The process of being completed makes us a new  man  which new man is signified by the number 8. However, this ‘new man’ is a “new man’, “risen with Christ” in downpayment, “ernest” form only and is still housed in a vessel of clay which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God and must therefore be judged as such. This judgment of our flesh is signified by the number 9. This judgment is the judgment of mankind at his zenith in these clay vessels which is what the number ten signifies. The judgment endured by flesh at its zenith destroys and dissolves the flesh.

This disintegration of these bodies of flesh and blood is signified by the number 11. It is through this destruction and disintegration of our flesh that the kingdom of God on this earth is founded, and this foundation is signified by the number 12.

It is “foolishness” and counterintuitive to our carnal mind that a completed Adam is ‘complete’ in down payment form only and he must still see his body of flesh and blood as a seven-headed beast which must ‘go into perdition as the eighth beast which is of the seven’. This eighth (8th) beast is the new man and he can find his life only by losing it (going into perdition) through judgment (nine). Judgment (9) which must “begin at the house of God.” Of course ten reveals that the house of God “has kept all of the ten commandments from its youth up and is blameless according to the self-righteousness which is in the law. Only then, only after we come to see that we must die to what we thought was life, the (blameless life of keeping the 10, zenith of the flesh, commandments), will we be brought to understand the spiritual significance of the number before us today. It is the number eleven.

Eleven is one more than ten and is therefore the ruin and disintegration of ten. As eleven reveals the ruin and disintegration of ten, it also heralds the need for the strong and lasting spiritual foundation that is twelve. Eleven is one short of twelve and is that which is opposed to the foundation of the house of God. In fact eleven, the dissolution of ten, works against bringing mankind to that spiritual foundation which twelve signifies. So then eleven with one more signifies a good rock solid foundation. Twelve without one, eleven, is simply the ruin and disintegration of the zenith of the flesh.

Let’s see when this number appears in the Old Testament.

Gen 32:22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.

This is while Jacob is leaving Babylon. It is all very instructive for us. This is while Joseph is very young and just before Benjamin, who typifies God’s elect, has been born. Jacob is right here acutely aware of all of his past sins. Even though he has been promised lordship over Esau, he still feels hopelessly at Esau’s mercy and seven times calls him “my lord Esau.” Jacob knew he had to return to His Father, but he also knew he had to face Esau. It was a time of great confusion and turmoil. It was also a time of great purging and it is signified by the fact that his twelfth son had not yet come on the scene.

Gen 27:37 And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him (Jacob) thy lord, and all his brethren [Esau and his children] have I given to him for servants [the seed of the serpent of John 8:44)]; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?

Gen 32:4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:

Gen 32:18 Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us.

Gen 33:15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he [Jacob] said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.

The phrase, “My lord”, referring to Esau, and “my lord Esau” appear seven times in this narrative, signifying our recognition that we of ourselves are completely helpless in our struggles against our flesh. This is who we must come to see ourselves:

Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Eleven signifies that time when we have just met Christ, and we are just now becoming aware of our total blindness. The time of our judgment still lies ahead of us.

Gen 37:9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

This is Joseph being given the promise of rulership over the flesh, the same promise his father Jacob had been given.

Gen 27:37 And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him [Jacob] thy lord, and all his [eleven] brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?

Both go from the promise of rulership into judgment and servitude to the flesh. This is just before Joseph is sold into Egyptian slavery by his ten brothers. All eleven will bow before him, but it is the ten who so persecute and want to kill him.

It is worth our notice that just before Cain killed Abel he was told that in time he, too, would be given to rule over sin in his life:

Gen 4:6  And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto [Hebrew, against] thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him [sin].
Gen 4:8  And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

Jer 2:18 And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?
Jer 2:19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that [it is] an evil [thing] and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear [is] not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

There is a temporary tabernacle which precedes a more permanent temple. The Lord’s own temple will be the first to be vigilantly judged and purged and purified as signified by eleven curtains:

Exo 26:7 And thou shalt make curtains of goats’ hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make.

Eleven curtains covered the temporary tabernacle. This tabernacle first received the tables of the first covenant “for the lawless” (1Ti 1:9). It endured the trials of the wilderness and the lawless days of the judges. It was covered with eleven curtains.

Deu 1:2 There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)

Twelve days would have taken Israel right into the promised land. Eleven is one day short of twelve, and therefore Israel at this point is not well founded. Korah and his 250 famous men of renown have yet to raise their ugly heads. Here is what happens at the end of “eleven days journey:”

Num 14:36 And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,
Num 14:37 Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.
Num 14:38 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, [which were] of the men that went to search the land, lived [still].
Num 14:39 And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.
Num 14:40 And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we [be here], and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned.
Num 14:41 And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper.
Num 14:42 Go not up, for the LORD [is] not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.
Num 14:43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites [are] there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.
Num 14:44 But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.
Num 14:45 Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, [even] unto Hormah.

Silver is the Biblical symbol for redemption. Silver was paid for the life of Joseph, who typifies Christ, and it was paid for the life of Christ Himself. but when it appears in multiples of eleven it is not for the redemption but for the enslaving of God’s people

Jdg 16:5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength [lieth], and by what [means] we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred [pieces] of silver.

Jdg 17:2 And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed [be thou] of the LORD, my son.
Jdg 17:3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.

The last two kings of Israel “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.” They both reigned eleven years:

2Ki 23:36 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.

2Ch 36:5 Jehoiakim [was] twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

2Ki 24:18 Zedekiah [was] twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

2Ch 36:11 Zedekiah [was] one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
2Ch 36:12 And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD his God, [and] humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet [speaking] from the mouth of the LORD.
2Ch 36:13 (a) And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar…

As long as there is a need for a temple, man’s incomplete state will be reflected in that temple:

Eze 40:49 The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; and he brought me by the steps whereby they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.

There will not always be any need for a temple with a porch whose width is eleven cubits.”

Rev 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

“No temple.. for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple.” Just another one of those statements which to the natural man are a wonder.

New Testament

When there were just eleven apostles, the apostles were not well founded and were unbelieving, confused and afraid:

Luk 24:9 And [the women who had communed with the angels at the sepulcher] returned from the sepulcher, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
Luk 24:10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary [the mother] of James, and other [women that were] with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
Luk 24:11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.

Luk 24:30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them [the two men on the road to Emmaus], he took bread, and blessed [it], and brake, and gave to them.
Luk 24:31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
Luk 24:32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
Luk 24:33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
Luk 24:34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
Luk 24:35 And they told what things [were done] in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
Luk 24:36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them [the eleven], and saith unto them, Peace [be] unto you.
Luk 24:37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

Mat 28:16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

Mar 16:14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

This is the condition associated with this number. The last two kings of Israel rebelled against their own oath, and Christ’s apostles were upbraided for their unbelief and hardness of heart. This all changed when Mathias was added to their number just before the day of Pentecost.

Act 1:26 And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

This is another one of the shadows of the New Testament. It foreshadows the solid foundation on which God’s elect are built when the one is added to the eleven. When that is done this is the difference in our lives:

Act 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

Eleven, signifying the dissolution and destruction of the flesh, plus one is a solid foundation for those who are God’s spiritual temple. Twelve minus one is a rebellious, very confusing, unbelieving state of mind.

This is the spiritual, hidden significance of this number in the word of God. Christ’s words are not the wisdom of man. They are “hidden wisdom… in a mystery” in which each word is given a spiritual meaning so that “[His] words are spirit.” “My words are spirit and… life” means they don’t mean so much what they say as they mean what they mean. Hence they are “the hidden wisdom of God”, hidden right out in the open:

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and they are life.

1Co 2:1  And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
1Co 2:2  For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
1Co 2:3  And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
1Co 2:4  And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit [of the Word] and of power:
1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. [The spiritual meaning of the Words of God]

Wisdom from the Spirit

1Co 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are [being] perfect[ed]: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

Without understanding the meaning of all the numbers, and all the other words of “hidden wisdom” in scripture we cannot receive the spiritual significance of these words:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

In a positive application of this word, it was at the eleventh hour that the elect were called to work in their Lord’s vineyard:

Mat 20:1  For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
Mat 20:2  And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
Mat 20:3  And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
Mat 20:4  And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
Mat 20:5  Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
Mat 20:6  And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
Mat 20:7  They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
Mat 20:8  So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

Our next study will be on the ‘hidden wisdom’ of the number twelve.