Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - SEVEN

 SEVEN

The question was raised a short time ago about the significance of the number seven in the Bible. It is a number which occurs about 461 times in the NKJV of the Scriptures. Although not all of these uses are in a significant way, in many ways this number plays a prominent part in the overall narrative.

Seven, in the Bible, is considered to be the number representing spiritual perfection and completion. In Hebrew, seven is shevah, from the root shave which means “to be full.”* To swear an oath in Hebrew is “to seven oneself.”*

God rested on the seventh day after creation. 

(Genesis 2:2) 

There are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

(Isaiah 11:1-2)

When Christ fed the multitude, He had seven loaves and after everyone was fed,

 there were seven large baskets full of fragments. 

(Matthew 15:34-37)

It took Solomon seven years to build the Temple in Jerusalem. 

(1 Kings 6:38) 

There are seven annual holy feast days. 

(Leviticus 23)

Similarly, in the Book of Revelation, there are multiple sevens: 55 sevens, 5 sevenths and 35 (5x7) phrases of sevens. These include: seven churches, seven letters, seven Spirits, seven golden lamp stands, seven stars, seven seals, seven horns, seven eyes, seven angels, seven trumpets, seven trumpets, seven thousand people, seven heads, seven crowns, seven plagues, seven golden bowels, seven hills, seven kings and seven last visions.

In Genesis, in the story of Joseph, when Pharaoh had his dream, it was of seven fat cows followed by seven lean ones; and then by seven plump heads of grain followed again by seven lean ones (Genesis 41:2-7).

Noah took, into the ark, clean beasts by seven, fouls of the air by seven, and after seven days the flood came upon the earth (Genesis 7). After the flood, Noah sent forth birds at seven day intervals to test whether the waters had receded or not (Genesis 8). 

At the time of Passover, the Hebrews were told for “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread…on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you…In the first month, on the fourteenth (2x7) day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first (3x7) day of the month at evening.” (Hebrews 12:15-16,18)

There are many other examples of seven bring used in the Scriptures but a case in  which it is not so evident is in the first verse of the Bible. The verse: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” does not at first glance seem to have anything to do with seven. But in the Hebrew, not the English, there is a symmetry which is hard to think of as just coincidence. In Hebrew, every letter also represents a number and as a result, one obtains the following pattern.**

The number of Hebrew words	Seven
The number of letters equals 28 and 28 divided by 4 =	Seven
The first three Hebrew words translated “In the beginning God created” contain 14 letters; 14/2 =	Seven
The last four Hebrew words “the heavens and the earth” have 14 letters and 14/2 =	Seven
The fourth and fifth words have seven letters	Seven
The sixth and seventh words have seven letters	Seven
The three key words: God, heaven and earth have 14 letters and 14/2 =	Seven
The number of letters in the four remaining words also 14; 14/2 =	Seven
The shortest word in the verse is the middle word with 7 letters	Seven
The numeric value of the first, middle and last letters is 133 and 133/19  =	Seven
The numeric value of the first and last letters of all seven words is 1393 and 1393 divided by 199=	Seven

There is a symmetry in the Bible based along numeric values and this is only one of a number of numbers used repetitively in Scripture; but it alone is enough to give one plenty to think about.

*From the Significance of Numbers in Scripture - Agape Bible Study

** The Signature of God  pg. 231 by Grant R. Jeffery