Once again, as God has chosen every word in the Bible, we know He is a God of order. There is no such thing as a coincidence with Him, and walking with Him reminds us of His powerful hand in each of our lives. When writing the first daily devotional on January 23, 2010, I had no idea that I would have 11 devotionals left to write to complete the first year on the date of 1-11-11, January 11, 2011! That sure is a lot of 11’s!
While 10 and 12 seem to be complete numbers, 11 is incomplete! It is a number which points to disorder, disorganization, imperfection, and disintegration. In the family of Joseph, the 11 that comes to mind is the number of brothers remaining after selling Joseph into slavery. Certainly, without Joseph, those brothers were incomplete, even though they suffered with jealousy when he was with them.
Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”
Genesis 37:9
Another 11 appears in the life of Joseph, but not so overtly. He was sold into slavery at the age of 17 and appeared before Pharaoh at the age of 30. Additionally, he spent two years in prison. By subtracting two and 17 from 30, we find that Joseph spent 11 years in Potiphar’s house. It certainly was not a perfect place for Joseph, with Potiphar’s wife lusting for him. Yet God’s perfect plan was fulfilled when Joseph became second in command in all of Egypt. What a great reminder the life of Joseph is to every believer who does not feel they are exactly where God wants them to be! Trials are a part of the preparation.
The most significant occurrence of 11 seems to be the number of apostles of Jesus after Judas committed suicide. Jesus handpicked the 12, and as soon as one was gone, they cast lots to select the 12th. Many biblical scholars believe that the apostles acted before praying, thinking that God had intended Saul of Tarsus to convert to Christianity and become the 12th apostle. Though Paul was an apostle, Matthias was not a mistake. God does not make mistakes. In Acts 2:14, Matthias stood up with the other 11 as an apostle, one set apart by God as the foundation of the church. The group was incomplete with only 11.
When the Jews departed from Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Yet we also know that the journey only should have taken 11 days. If they were following the Lord in heart, soul, mind and strength, what would have occurred on that 12th day? The children of Israel would have entered the Promised Land and received complete administration of the laws God had given them!
Interestingly, Jehoiakim reigned 11 years when Nebuchadnezzar came up and began his disintegrating work on Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:36, 2 Kings 34:1):
5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God. 6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him in bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon.
2 Chronicles 36:5-6
Additionally, Zedekiah reigned 11 years before Nebuchadnezzar completed the task, putting a temporary end to Jerusalem’s rule in Israel (2 Chronicles 36:11, Jeremiah 39:2 and Jeremiah 52:1). Another interesting usage of 11 in the Bible occurs in the parable of the laborers, where the workers hired in the 11th hour receive the same blessings as those hired earlier:
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’
Matthew 20:1-7
With the Hebrew day beginning at 6 a.m., this refers to 5 p.m., typically the end of our work days! Are we in the 11th hour on this earth? Only God knows. When Israel became a nation again in 1948 and the Jews re-inhabited Jerusalem in 1967, all the events leading to the Lord’s return have taken place. That being said, God does not desire for us to wait for His arrival, but to go into the fields and help with the harvest. Just as the number 11, we are incomplete without God! Our hearts should be distraught for those who do not know Him. On this day filled with 11’s, let God use you to bring others into His kingdom!
Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
Luke 10:2
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