The Design of Scripture

The Number Seven - Completeness and Rest

We now come to the most prolific and ubiquitous number in scripture. There is much to be written about the number seven and it's occurrances, which are too numerous to mention here, not assuming that 'all' have been discovered. There is almost universal agreement as to the meaning of this number, and it's etymological root testifies of this. It speaks of completeness and rest, so it is no wonder that this number appears 54 times in the last book of scripture. YHVH does marvelous things in the earth with this number. The 7th word of scripture is 'eretz, or the 'earth', and this word winds up the initial creation with 7 words. All material, visible and invisible, was created in the beginning, followed by the fall of Lucifer and chaos, and then the 7 days of making, forming, calling, letting be, and seeing were begun. This was complete on the 7th day. However, the 7th day was not declared tov, or good, which also means to be complete. This was done in anticipation of the fall of man, from which the 7 days would begin again, each day representing a thousand years according to several prophecies in scripture. Man, after 6 thousand years on earth, will once again see the final Sabbath in the last thousand years or the 7th millenium.

Man was created on the 6th day and is represented in his nature by the number 6. There is only one (1) thing that stands between man (6) and completeness (7), and that is the (1) one God Himself. In the same way the complete (7) Word of God had to set aside His glory (1) in order to take upon the flesh of man (6). Either way, man always falls short.

From the beginning, the number 7 has represented God's completed acts. All of His celebrations are given in 7 feasts. When we sing and praise our Creator, we use combinations of 7 whole tones on the musical scale. All of that which is clean was taken into the ark of Noach in sevens (B'reshith 7:2). Priests were consecrated seven whole days before entering the priesthood (Vayikra 8:31-36). Blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat 7 times to show the complete redemption of the coming Messiah (Vayikra 16:14, Ivrim 9:12). God told Yehoshua to march around Jericho 6 times and then the 7th time the walls would fall. The 'Book of Life' is mentioned 7 times in scripture. Our bodies operate in complete cycles of sevens. There are 7 bones in our neck, face, and ankles. There are 7 holes in our face. All right, go ahead and count them. Finished? Ok, let's go on. We are in the womb a predetermined average of 280 days (40x7).

The word 'seven' is from the Hebrew word sheva'. This word first shows up in B'reshith 2:2:

"And on the SEVENTH day God ended His work which he had made; and He rested on the SEVENTH day from all His work which He had made."

It's root means to complete or finish and is used many times as in to complete a cycle, rather than to finish something entirely. This is the word used in Hebrew to express a week or a cycle of seven days, or any cycle of seven. It is the word in this form that is used to express a number or 'how many'. A word closely related to the number seven is the word Shabbat. Shabbat is related because the day of rest is the 7th day. However, the word shabbat, is not synonymous with the word sheva'. The word shabbat, with the doubling of the bet and the 'tav' ending, speaks only of the 7th day, or rest. In other words, shabbat is not the Hebrew word for 'week'. The Hebrew word for 'week' is shavu'a. The Greek word for 'week' is bdomada. The Sabbath means only Sabbath, and sabbaths mean only sabbaths. The feast of Shavu'ot, or the feast of weeks, is taken from Vayikra 23, and refers to the counting of one Sabbath to another Sabbath. The word shabbat first appears in B'reshith 2:2 as well, and is translated as 'rest'. Actually, the naming of the 7th day of rest as shabbat does not occur until Sh'mot 16:23:

"And he said unto them, This is that which YHVH hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto YHVH ..."

The Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word for sabbaths is 'sabbaton'. By transliterating this word into Greek, it is meant that the word shabbat is being referring to. 'Sabbaton' is NOT the Hebrew or Greek equivilent to 'week'. The phrase 'mia ton sabbaton' in the Greek is correct. The phrase translated from the Greek is 'one of the sabbaths'. The KJV translation of 'first day of the week' is a mutilation in more ways than one, and only done to promote the change of shabbat to Sunday.

The use of the number seven in scripture is everywhere, and there are many references to this number in myriads of books. I do not know that I can add anything refreshing to them. Keep in mind the idea of completion, rest, and finishing when seeing the number 7. Below are listed some 70 appearances of the number seven.

  • The word 'seven' appears 287 times (41x7) in the Tenakh.
  • The word 'seven' appears 735 times (105x7) in all the scriptures.
  • The word 'seventh' appears 98 times (14x7) in the Tenakh.
  • The word 'sevenfold' appears 7 times in the Tenakh.
  • The word 'seven' in combinations with other numbers appears 112 times (16x7).
  • The word 'seventy' appears 56 times (8x7) in the Tenakh.
  • The word 'seventy' in combination with other numbers appears 35 times (5x7).
  • Yahshua's genealogy in Mattityahu is 42 generations (6x7).
  • The first verse contains 7 words and 28 (4x7)letters.
  • God rests on the 7th day.
  • The land rests on the 7th year: Vayikra 25:1-7.
  • Yahshua rises at the completion of the 7th day.
  • The 7th month on the civil calendar, Nisan (Abib), contains the first 3 feasts.
  • The 7th month, Tishri, contains the last 3 feasts to be fulfilled.
  • The clean beasts on the ark are paired in sevens.
  • God FINISHED with Noach 7 days before the flood: B'reshith 7.
  • Aharon and sons were consecrated for 7 days.
  • The blood is sprinkled on the altar 7 times.
  • 7 words from our Messiah spoken from the tree - 7th one was 'It is finished'.
  • 70 weeks of Dani'el.
  • 70 years of captivity in Babylon.
  • 7 feasts of YHVH.
  • Israel is to shout on the 7th day with 7 priests, 7 trumpets, and to march 7 times around Jericho.
  • Ruth, the 7th book, is devoted to 'finished redemption'.
  • 7 branches of the menorah.
  • Schlomo was 7 years in building the temple.
  • Iyov's 7 sons: Iyov 1:2.
  • Iyov's friends stayed 7 days and nights in silence: Iyov 2:13.
  • Iyov's 7 thousand sheep: Iyov 1:3.
  • The multiple uses of seven associated with leprosy: Vayikra 13.
  • Naaman washed 7 times in the Jordan: Melakhim Bet 5:14.
  • 7 men of honest report: Acts 6:1-7.
  • 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine: B'reshith 41.
  • We are to forgive 70x7 .
  • The furnace in Dani'el 3:19 was heated 7 times hotter.
  • Words of YHVH purified 7 times: Mizmor 12:6.
  • There are 7 pieces of armor: Ephesians 6.
  • 7 things poured out by the Spirit: Yoel 2:28-29.
  • God's sevenfold covenant with Israel: Sh'mot 6:6-8.
  • 7 writers of the Tehillim.
  • Angels appear 7 times while Messiah is on the earth.
  • 7 utterances to woman of Samaria: Yochanan 4.
  • 7 miracles in Yochanan's gospel.
  • 7 'I am' claims in Yochanan.
  • The multiple sevens in the Ten Commandments - 'day', 'in', 'to', 'serve', servant' or 'maid servant', YHVH and ’Elohiym together, 7 different pronouns used 49 times, and 7 things to covet in the last commandment.
  • 7 parables in Mattityahu 13.
  • 21 epistles in Brit Chadashah.
  • Sha’ul wrote letters to 7 churches, Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians.
  • Sha’ul wrote 14 epistles.
  • 7 ministering gifts: Romans 12:3-8.
  • 7 unities: Ephesians 4:4-6.
  • 7 aspects of wisdom: Ya‘aqov 3:7.
  • 7 titles of the Messiah in book to Ivrim.
  • Sevenfold grace of 2 Kefa 1:5-8.
  • Blessed appears 7 times in Hitgalut.
  • 7 mysteries in scripture.
  • 7th man from Adam was Enoch: B'reshith 5:24.
  • Yom Kippur is in the 7th month.
  • 7 steps in Yechezk'el temple.
  • The tree of life is mentioned 7 times in the Tenakh.
  • Daughters of Yerushalayim mentioned 7 times in scripture.
  • God gives Israel 7 things: Hoshea 2:8-9.
  • Israel's 7 endowments: Romans 9:4.
  • Avraham's sevenfold blessing: B'reshith 12:2-3.
  • The 'last' day mentioned 7 times in Yochanan.
  • In the last book, Hitgalut, there are 7 churches, 7 lampstands, 7 spirits, 7 stars, 7 angels, 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls, 7 promises to overcomers, 7 horns, 7 eyes, 7 thunders, 7 thousand killed, 7 heads, 7 mountains, 7 crowns, 7 plagues, 7 kings, 7 beatitudes, 7th angel declares the mystery of God FINISHED, 7th angel declares 'it is done'.
  • Lamb is called 7 things.
  • 7 sons of Jesse.
  • 7 sons of Saul.
  • Messiah is the 77th name from God in Luke's genealogy.

Last but not least, here's a quote from Talmud Shabbat 67a:

"Rabbi Huna said: As a remedy for tertian fever, one should procure seven prickles from seven date palms, seven chips from seven beams, seven pegs from seven bridges, seven handfulls of ash from seven ovens, seven pinches of earth from seven graves, seven bits of pitch from seven ships, seven seeds of cumin, and seven hairs from the beard of an old dog, and tie them inside the collar of his shirt with a band of twined strands of wool."

Shalom Alecheim!