The number 40 shows up often in the Bible. Because 40 appears so often in contexts dealing with judgement or testing, many scholars understand it to be the number of "probation" or "trial." This doesn't mean that 40 is entirely symbolic; it still has a literal meaning in Scripture."Forty days" means "forty days," but it does not seem that God has chosen this number to emphasize times of trouble and hardship. Bible verses that do use "40" are ones such as (Genesis 7:12), (Acts 7:30), (Exodus 24:18), (Deuteronomy 9:18, 25), (Deuteronomy 25:3), (Numbers 13:25), (Deuteronomy 8:2-5), (Judges 13:1), (1 Samuel 17:16), (1 Kings 19:8), (Ezekiel 4:6; 29:11-13), (Jonah 3:4), (Matthew 4:2), (Acts 1:3), and (2 Timothy 3:16).