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What do the Sabbath, Joshua’s march around Jericho and the pairs of clean animals brought by Noah into the ark all have in common? The answer is that at their heart all these biblical subjects have the number seven. And it’s not just in these stories. In dozens of other Scriptural instances the number seven plays a central role. In the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks of himself using the phrase “I am” seven times. What is so special about seven?
In ancient Israel, the number seven represented divine perfection. It was considered a powerful, unbreakable number because it could not be divided by common small numbers which people used to count on a single hand. The word for seven in Hebrew- sheva שֶׁבַע- is linked to shevua שְׁבוּעָה- an oath. When someone wanted to make a very strong promise, they would take an oath as though to say: “let the divinely perfect number seven be my witness that I…”
The Bible is full of sevens. But only when you possess the linguistic tools to read the Bible in the original Hebrew can you understand the deeper significance of this fact. To read the Bible in translation is to hold a single candle. But when you can read the Bible in the authentic Hebrew, you possess a powerful seven branched menorah (Ex. 25:37). We are inviting you to illuminate your spiritual life - Enroll in our live online Biblical Hebrew course today!
