What significance does the number seven have in the Bible?

Answer 1

A:

Devout Christians have sought to find biblical meaning in just about every possible number, but there is limited agreement on what is clearly post-biblical speculation. For a number to have real meaning in The Bible, the original authors must have had that meaning in mind at the time of writing. Nevertheles, several numbers do have obvious significance in the Bible, especially the numbers 7, 17 and 40 (and other multiples of 20).

There are 7 days in one phase of the moon, which was so significant to the Bronze-age Mesopotamians that they created a week of seven days, a concept later followed by the Hebrew people. After 4 weeks of seven days - a lunar month - the moon is always back at the same point in its phases as at the beginning of the period. This was such an astounding discovery that seven became one of the significant numbers in the Bible - the seven days of creation, the seven-year periods that Jacob waited for his bride, and so on.

Answer also: Certain numbers used in the Bible have symbolic meanings, but only within the context of the Scriptures in which they are used. For example, the number four is used to denote allness or universalness. This idea is conveyed in such expressions as "four extremities of the earth" and "four winds of the heavens." (Isaiah 11:12; Daniel 8:8) At times, the number six represents imperfection. Interestingly, the number given to Satan's earthly political organization by the book of Revelation is "a man's number"-666. (Revelation 13:18) Here six is raised to the third degree, underscoring the imperfection of that beastly organization. When the number seven is used in a symbolic way, it represents completeness. (Leviticus 4:6; Hebrews 9:24-26) These and other symbolic numbers used in the Scriptures gain meaning from their prophetic context.

Although the Scriptures give a measure of importance to certain numbers, the Bible does not encourage us to link the letters of certain words with numbers to uncover mystical truths.