The commentaries on the Torah point out very often how certain numbers are based on, or point to significant indicators.
For example, the commentaries have noted that the six days of Creation point to the six thousand years that the world is expected to exist, as we know it today. As the Jewish year is presently 5766, this means we are almost at the end of the "sixth day" of Creation, which will be followed by a time when all days will be like Shabbat, a euphemism for the World to Come.
We are taught that Adam, the first man, lived 930 years. Our Sages poiint out that he was actually supposed to live 1000 years, but when he looked into the future and saw that King David was supposed to die in childbirth, he "donated" 70 years of his life so that King David could live.
When the flood of Noach began, the Torah says that it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. The commentaries tell us that the number 40 corresponded to the number of days it takes for a human embryo to be formed, as a fitting punishment for the decadence and immorality of the flood generation, which caused many illegitimate births to take place.
There are numerous lessons, indicators and hints to be derived from most of the numbers mentioned in the Torah. There are also many messages that have been detected through the Bible Codes, which makes use of the spacing and numerology of the words in the Torah. It could be a fascinating study.
