The prologue [of John] consists of 496 syllables, appropriately since 496 is both a triangular number (It is a triangle of 31, i.e., the sum of all integers from 1 to 31.) and a perfect number (I.e., it is equal to the sum of its divisors. 496 is third in the series of perfect numbers, following 6 and 28.) and is also the numerical value of the Greek word monogenes (meaning "only son" and used in 1:14, 18). Odd though these considerations may seem to us, people in the New Testament period were fascinated by certain special sorts of numbers, including triangular and perfect numbers, and were used to the idea that words had numerical values, which were easily calculated because all the letters of the Greek alphabet were also used as numerals. But the importance of the number 496 for our immediate purpose is that it links the Prologue and the Epilogue together. For, while the Prologue has 496 syllables, the Epilogue (a considerably longer passage) has 496 words. That the correspondence should be between the number of syllables in the Prologue and the number of words in the Epilogue is quite appropriate, because the Prologue is a poetic composition, in which one might expect the number of syllables to be important, whereas the Epilogue is a narrative. Further evidence of numerical composition can be found int he fact that the two stages of the conclusion to the Gospel (20:30-31 and 21:24-25), framing the epilogue, each consists of 43 words. This provides an initial indication that they should be read together and in parallel.
Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), 364-365.
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