The number 13 is used in scripture to point to rebellion against God’s authority. It is one of the easiest numbers to pin down the meaning.
In Genesis 14:4, the first mention of the word, “rebelled” is connected with the 13th year.
Nimrod was the 13th generation from Adam. He was the leader of the Babel rebellion against God. He was a descendant of Ham and his name means panther. He was the first black panther and where today’s rebellious organization of the same name derives its name. He is a type of Anti-Christ in the scriptures.
The king of Assyria is mentioned 13 times and he is a type of Anti-Christ also.
There are 13 Baals in scripture which is a reference to Satan.
The word, “dragon” appears 13 times in Revelation.
You would receive 39 (3 X 13) stripes for breaking the law.
There are 26 (13 X 2) unclean animals listed in scripture.
The name, Judas Iscariot has 13 letters in it.
Gematria – The Hebrew and the Greek languages have numeric values attached to the letters of their respective alphabets. The gematria of a name is the sum of the numeric values associated with the letters in a name.
The number 13 is a factor in the gematria of all the names associated with Cain. As a comparison, the number 8 (resurrection and new beginnings) is a factor in the gematria of all the names associated with Seth.
If you look at the number 13, the books of the Bible, and the chapter and verse designations you will see a very clear connection between the number 13 and rebellion.
Genesis 13:13 – This is the first mention of the word, “sinners” and is connected with the specific sin of sodomy.
Leviticus 13 – This is the law regarding leprosy. Leprosy is connected with the mark of the beast (Revelation 16:2).
Numbers 13 – This chapter contains the account of the faithless spies of the promised land.
Deuteronomy 13 – This is the law against false prophets and men of Belial.
Revelation 13 – This chapter is the description of the Anti-Christ and the false prophet. The number 666 is mentioned in this chapter in verse 18 (6+6+6).
Ezra 2:13 and 2 Chronicles 9:13 – These are the other two mentions of the number 666. In Ezra, 666 is the number of the children of Adonikam (meaning Lord of the rebellion). In 2 Chronicles, 666 is used to describe the amount of gold that came to king Solomon on a yearly basis. Adonikam is next mentioned in Ezra 8:13.
Revelation 2:13 – This verse mentions Satan’s seat as it is connected with Pergamos.
Revelation 16:13 mentions the false or satanic trinity.
Babylon is mentioned in Isaiah 13 and 39 and also in 1 Peter 5:13 as a type of Rome.
Matthew 13 contains the parables about the mystery of the kingdom of heaven. It describes Israel in rebellion during the church age.
John 13 contains the account of Judas leaving to betray Jesus.
Acts 13:13 has John Mark leaving Paul’s missionary endeavor and returning to Jerusalem.
When looking at the books of the Bible, the number 13 and rebellion have some interesting connections.
Paul wrote 13 epistles to the mostly Gentile church while the nation of Israel is in rebellion. When the times of the Gentiles ends, and Jesus spews out the rebellious, lukewarm, Laodicean church, and God once again deals with the nation of Israel as His people, He has a book for them, written by Paul, called Hebrews which has 13 chapters.
The O.T. has 39 (3 X 13) books of which the last word is curse.