the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Seven
People's Dictionary of the Bible
or Seven. Among the Hebrews this was a kind of complete or sacred number. It was noted also among the Persians, ancient Indians, Greeks and Romans. The peculiarity of the Hebrew view consists in the special dignity of the seventh, and not simply in that of seven. The Sabbath being the seventh day suggested the adoption of seven as the coefficient, so to say, for the appointment of all sacred periods, and we thus find the seventh month ushered in by the Feast of Trumpets, and signalized by the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Great Day of Atonement; seven weeks as the interval between the Passover and the Pentecost; the seventh year as the sabbatical year; and the year succeeding 7 × 7 years as the Jubilee year. Seven days were appointed as the length of the feasts of Passover and Tabernacles; seven days for the ceremonies of the consecration of priests, and so on; seven victims to be offered on any special occasion, as in Baalam's sacrifice, Numbers 23:1, and especially at the ratification of a treaty, the notion of seven being embodied in the very term signifying to swear, literally meaning to do seven times. Genesis 21:28. As to the reason of the fact, three is the signature of God, in the ever-blessed Trinity; four of the world—four elements, four seasons, four winds, etc., etc. There are reasons, then, amply sufficient, why seven, being thus, as it is, made up of three and four, should be itself the signature of the covenant. No mere accident or caprice dictated the selection of it. Seven is used for any round number, or for completeness, as we say a dozen, or as a speaker says he will say two or three words. Notice, the animals went into the ark by sevens; the years of plenty and famine were marked by sevens, Genesis 7:2; Genesis 41:2-3; the golden candlestick had seven branches, and there were "seven stars" and seven churches. Revelation 1:20; Revelation 2:1. In the same book we read of seven spirits, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven thunders, seven vials, seven plagues, and seven angels. Revelation 8:1; Revelation 15:1.
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Rice, Edwin Wilbur, DD. Entry for 'Seven'. People's Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/rpd/s/seven.html. 1893.
