what exactly is the significance of the number seven in the bible, and in what way; does it relate to the number eight? i see in leviticus the priest cleasing himself for seven days and presenting himself before the Lord on the eight, i also see the feast of tabernalces culminating on an eight day (the Last Great Day). what exactly does all this mean and of what relevance is it to xtians today? thank you, Coleen Wright
Numbers are used in a variety of ways in the Bible, comparably to the way numbers are used today. However, numbers were used in ancient civilizations and in the Bible in a symbolic way also. The number 7 is one of the numbers used often in this latter way. “There is clear evidence in the cuneiform texts, which are our earliest authorities, that the Babylonians regarded 7 as the number of totality, of completeness. The Sumerians, from whom the Semitic Babylonians seem to have borrowed the idea, equated 7 and ‘all'” (International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia). The same source devotes some space to explaining different ways in which the number 7 is used in the Bible. “The Biblical use of 7 may be conveniently considered under 4 heads: (1) ritual use; (2) historical use; (3) didactic or literary use; (4) apocalyptic use.” Fausset’s Bible Dictionary also refers to symbolic numbers and explains ways in which the number 7 is used in the Bible; “The numbers especially symbolical are 3, 4, 7, 10, 12, 40…” An extensive treatment of biblical numbers appears in McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia; “Sacred Numbers. — The frequent and significant use of certain numbers in the Scriptures demands notice.” Each of the resources mentioned provides its information under the topic “Number.”
Combined, these reference works contain more information that we desire to reproduce here. However, respecting the number 7, the Bible employs this number in its figurative references in the same way other ancient civilizations used it — for the idea of completeness.
Works Cited
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia. CD-ROM. Seattle: Biblesoft, 1996.
