The number 18
Bondage, oppression, spiritual warfare
Eighteen is often associated with bondage and oppression. Israel was oppressed 18 years under Eglon (Judges 3:14). The woman bound by Satan for 18 years was freed by Jesus (Luke 13:11). It is 6x3, human weakness tripled.
In Hebrew and Greek
Hebrew
Shmonah asar (שְׁמוֹנָה עָשָׂר) - eighteen
Greek
Dekaokto (δεκαοκτώ) - eighteen
First occurrence
And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued...
The pattern in Scripture
- Woman bound 18 years (Luke 13:11)
- Israel under Moab 18 years (Judg 3:14)
- 18 who died when tower fell (Luke 13:4)
Key verses
And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his ...
So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of I...
And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground ...
And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valour.
18:18 verses
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth ...
Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heav...
Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other...
And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine.
I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in h...