Meaning of Numbers: The Number 60
The English word "threescore" (a "score" is twenty so threescore is equal to sixty) used for the number 60 is found 93 times in 91 King James Bible verses.
Part of the meaning of the number 60 is derived from the fact that it is consider the threshold of when a person enters the last major phase of their life. The Apostle Paul warned Timothy that the church should not financially support widows less than 60 years old. This was because those who were younger were considered able to remarry or strong enough to support themselves.
Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore (60) years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work. But the younger widows refuse . . . (1Timothy 5:9 - 11, KJV).
Under the Old Covenant, a sixty-year-old male could redeem himself from a vow of serving the Lord by paying 15 shekels to the temple. A woman who was 60 could redeem herself from such a vow for only ten shekels. This compares to younger adult males who had to pay fifty shekels while younger women paid thirty.
When a man shall make a special vow, the persons shall be for the Lord by your evaluation. And your judgment shall be of the male from twenty years old even to sixty years old, even your judgment shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary . . .
And if from sixty years old and above, if it is a male then your judgment shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels (Leviticus 27:2 - 3, 7, HBFV).
Isaac, after his wife is healed of being barren, has his first two sons (Esau and Jacob) when he is 60 years old.
And after that his brother came out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel. And his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when she (Rebekah) bore them (Genesis 25:26, HBFV).
Appearances of the Number Sixty
King Solomon was so wealthy that his household required daily, among many other provisions, 60 measures of fine flour.
And Solomon’s food for one day was thirty measures of fine flour and sixty measures of meal (1Kings 4:22, HBFV).
One of the last battles Moses fought before his death was against Og the King of Bashan. The king's territory, which made for excellent pastures, was northeast of the Sea of Galilee. Although he was a giant man (his bed was roughly 13 feet or 3.9 meters long, Deuteronomy 3:11), Og was soundly defeated by the Israelites. The 60 cities he controlled were taken by God's people and given to the tribe of Manasseh as part of their inheritance in the Promised Land.
And Moses gave inheritance unto the half tribe of Manasseh . . . And their coast was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, threescore cities (Joshua 13:29 - 30).
Rehoboam, the first king over Judah after a united Israel split in two, ultimately had eighteen wives and sixty concubines (concubines were women whose kids, through the king, could not inherit the throne). These 78 females produced 28 sons and 60 daughters (2Chronicles 11:21).
King Nebuchadnezzar made an idol of gold that stood 60 cubits. He then required, on pain of death, all those whom Babylon ruled to worship it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's refusal to worship the idol got them thrown into a fiery furnace (Daniel 3).
The Apostle Paul is arrested by the Romans in early 58 A.D. for inciting a riot at Jerusalem's temple. He is then held in a Caesarea prison until the early autumn of 60 A.D. when He appeals his case, as a Roman citizen, to Caesar (Acts 24 - 26). His appeal starts what amounts to his fourth missionary journey as he must make the long journey to Rome. Luke the Evangelist accompanies him on the ship.
Now when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered up Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, who was of the band of Augustus.
And after boarding a ship of Adramyttium that was about to pass by the coasts of Asia, we set sail . . . (Acts 27:1 - 2, HBFV).
60 men escourted Solomon as he travelled to the love of his life.
Behold his carriage, Solomon's! Sixty mighty men are around it, of Israel’s mighty men (Song of Solomon 3:7, HBFV).
Number 60 and Worshipping God
Many offerings were made by the Israelites after Moses set up, anointed and sanctified God's wilderness tabernacle. Sixty rams, along with the same number of male goats and lambs that were a year old, were given as an offering when the altar was dedicated.
And all the animals for the sacrifice of the peace offerings were twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the male goats sixty and the lambs of the first year sixty. This was the dedication of the altar after it was anointed. (Numbers 7:88, HBFV).
Jerusalem's first temple, built by King Solomon, was 60 cubits long by 20 cubits wide by 30 cubits high.
And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty cubits and its breadth twenty cubits, and its height thirty cubits (1Kings 6:2, HBFV).
There were at least two sizes of cubits used in the Old Testament. The first or ordinary cubit was about 17.5 inches (44.5 centimeters) long. The second, known as the long or "royal" cubit, was about 20.4 inches (51.8 centimeters) long. The royal cubit was likely used by Solomon to build Jerusalem's temple (see 2Chronicles 3:3 where a cubit "after the first measure" is used) and possibly used in the construction of Noah's Ark.
Assuming an ordinary cubit was used, the temple's 60 cubits is equivalent to 87.5 feet (26.7 meters). If we assume a royal cubit was used, the length would be 102 feet (31.1 meters)!
More Info on Biblical Meaning of 60
The Old Testament writings that use the word "threescore" for sixty the most are the book of Numbers (17 times) followed by the books of Judges and 2Chronicles (9 each). The four New Testament books that use the word are the books of Acts and Revelation (3 times each) followed by Luke and 1Timothy (once each).
There are 16 words and phrases in the Bible's original languages that are recorded exactly 60 times.
60 is the product of 2 x 2 (or 2 squared) x 3 x 5. The numbers 2, 3 and 5 are primes.
In Gematria, the Hebrew letter Samekh represents 60. In the Greek alphabet it is represent by the letter Xi.
Sarah (wife of Abraham) and the variations of her name are recorded 60 times in fifty verses in the King James Bible. In the Old Testament, the King James spells her name Sarai seventeen times and Sarah thirty-nine times. In the New Testament, her named is spelled Sara in Romans 4:19, 9:9, Hebrews 11:11 and 1Peter 3:6. She is the most referenced woman, by name, in the entirety of Scripture.
The true meaning of Jesus' parable of the sower (Matthew 13:18 - 23, Mark 4:13 - 20) reveals some of the major responses people produce who hear God's truth. Those who are able to allow the truth to grow inside them, can produce fruit (good works, etc.) that is thirty, sixty or a hundred times more than what they received (Matthew 13:23).
Acts 7 is the only chapter in the King James Bible translation that has exactly 60 verses. The only two KJV books that contain more than this number of chapters are the Psalms and Isaiah. The sixtieth book in most modern translations, which was written between 64 and 65 A.D., is 1Peter.
The English word "Damascus" is recorded 60 times in 55 King James Bible verses. It is written the most in the book of Acts (13 times) followed by 2Kings (10) then Isaiah (7). The city of Damascus, considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited places on earth, is first mentioned in relation to Abraham's war against a confederation of kings led by Chedorlaomer.
And when Abram (Abraham) heard that his brother (Lot) was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus (Genesis 14:14 - 15, KJV).
The Hebrew word mordekay, Strong's Concordance #H4782, is recorded 60 times in 52 Hebrew Old Testament verses. It is found in the book of Esther (58 times) followed by Ezra and Nehemiah (once each). The word, which means "little man" or "worshipper of Mars," is translated as the name "Mordecai."
The most famous Mordecai in Scripture is the uncle of Queen Esther. Both he and the Queen were instrumental in saving the Jews, living within the Persian Empire, from complete destruction at the hands of Haman.
And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai (moredekay), when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter (Esther 2:7, KJV).