Some people have found religious significance in a deck of cards.
To them, the thirteen cards in each suit represent Jesus and the twelve Apostles or Jacob and the twelve tribes of Israel.
The jack, king, and queen suggest the Holy Trinity, and when these court cards are removed the remaining forty cards remind them of the numerous references to the number forty in the Bible, including the number of days Jesus fasted and the years the Israelites wandered in the desert.
Other references include:
Moses was on Mount Sinai for forty days,
Jesus preached for forty months and was in the tomb for forty hours,
Jerusalem was destroyed forty years after the Ascension,
Elijah travelled forty days before he reached the cave where he had his vision,
and Nineveh was given forty days to repent.
