Number 48 has one or two special uses.
The boards of the Tabernacle are 48, figuring the nation in a fourfold view, i.e. 12x4, in the completeness of administration of privilege before God. This illustrates the place of all believers now as "builded together for God's habitation through the Spirit." Each board is covered with gold, and so now each believer is "accepted in the Beloved," "in Christ Jesus." It is remarkable that this latter expression is used just 48 times by the Apostle Paul. The rendering in the Authorized Version is not quite accurate, however, in the following passages: Rom. 6:11, 23, 15:17, 1 Cor. 1:4, Gal. 3:14, 5:6, Eph. 2:7, 3:21, Phil. 1:26, 4:7, 19. Also, Col. 1:28 has no "Jesus" while Gal. 2:16 should be "believed on Christ Jesus," and Philem. 1:6 should be "towards," and not "in." It is worth noting that "in Jesus Christ" is not found in any place.
Forty-eight cities were appointed in the land for the use of the Levites, instead of one division of the country as the other tribes had.