I imagine to many of us the number seven means very little unless perhaps we’re watching Strictly Come Dancing or are filling out a survey and want to sound positive but not overly enthusiastic about what we’re rating. The number seven, however, in the bible holds a huge amount of significance that we may not recognise at first, but would have meant a lot to the readers in the original Ancient Near Eastern Context. In this blog post I will be examining some of the key uses of the number, its meaning, and how it links to us and the call for justice. I won’t be covering all of the uses, but if you have a free afternoon (and a pot of tea of course!) I recommend googling where it pops up in the bible as the list is rather extensive!
We start in Genesis 1 - 2:3 with the first main use, the seven day account of creation. This account is a theological gold mine; there is so much to draw out and study from the passage, from its authorship and literary structure, to its original translation in hebrew. For now though, we will only be thinking about the seven days of creation, but I really recommend checking out the Bible Project’s podcast on the significance of seven (https://bibleproject.com/podcast/significance-7/) as they go into far greater depth than I will. I also recommend checking out John H.Walton’s ‘The lost world of Genesis 1’ as it is a truly fascinating read!
In this creation account we see that for six days God is implementing new parts of creation and that each day is marked by the phrase ‘and there was evening, and there was morning’. However, on the seventh day God rests, and the mention of morning and evening is not used. Why does God rest and what does this rest include? Simon Oliver in ‘Creation - A guide for the perplexed’ draws upon St Augustine’s ‘The literal meaning of Genesis’ arguing that creation cannot be a labour which would challenge God’s divine omnipotence (omnipotence is the characteristic of God having unlimited power) and cause God to be tired, nor can creation be something that God can just stand back from, as it requires constant grace and attention.
So how do we interpret the notion of God ‘resting’? I have personally found Walton’s ‘The lost world of Genesis 1’ to provide a very helpful analogy in explaining this concept. If you were to imagine someone designing and building their own computer, they would need to put together and configure all of the necessary components as well as connect all of the wires and plugs and install the required software. Having done this, our computer designer would not just ignore and put away the computer, they would use the computer and the computer would operate as it should. Now, please do not think I am suggesting some matrix movie style theology where God is a master programmer and we are just 0’s and 1’s in a long line of code, it is an analogy to describe the act of creation coming to completion and continuing in the purpose it was designed for, in this case life and fulfilment. God’s rest in the act of creation is not abstaining from responsibility, it is engaging in its purpose. It is in this way that Genesis 2:2 (telling us that God rests) and John 5:17 (telling us that God is continually working) can work in harmony without contradicting one another. The above conversation does not fully cover or do justice to the depth of this passage but I hope it sheds a new light onto how we understand it.
Our conversation now proceeds to look at a famous command that God gives to the Israelites while they are wandering in the wilderness following their exodus from slavery in Egypt, that of observing the Sabbath rest (See Exodus 31:12-18). The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word ‘Sabat’ meaning to rest, which is used in describing God’s rest in Genesis 2:3 and Exodus 31:17. The command was that for six days the Israelites would go about their work, but on the seventh day they would stop their work to remember and honour the act of God creating and bringing order to the world. At the time though, there was a lot of chaos and disorder in the world, the Israelites were wondering and struggling while in the wilderness, the idea of a promised land (See Genesis 12:1-3) was not yet in sight, but God was calling the Israelites to remember the act of God bringing order and life. The Israelites were to remember and honour God as the sovereign God who will bring his order and justice to the world even when it was hard to see. God carried them out of Egypt and would continue to carry them forward.
The Sabbath rest for the Israelites was just one of seven yearly festivals that the Israelites were to observe (See Leviticus 23). The number seven and the use of these festivals served as reminders of God’s justice and as reverence to who God is. But this use of festivals relating to seven does not end here, as every seven years the Israelites were to have a Sabbath year (see Leviticus 25:1-7) where after six years of work, the seventh year was to be a year of rest for the land where the Israelites were to not sow fields, prune vineyards or reap crops. The festivals are not finished yet though, as following seven sabbath years (forty nine years altogether), the fiftieth year was to be a year of Jubilee where people were set free and debts were released. Following the forty nine years, this year of Jubilee was to act as a declaration of the LORD’s favour, freedom and justice.
But as we read on through the bible, this celebration and remembrance of God’s freedom and justice seems to get lost and the opposite seems to be more of the reality, as the Israelites turn away from God to sin. They are taken into exile because of their actions and what was meant to be a life of freedom and joy now seems to be bleak and painful. We know, however, that this is not the end and that there is one who can bring about salvation and life even in the brokenness, and this introduces my personal favourite use of the number seven in the bible; Jesus’ genealogy (Matthew 1:1-17).
Now as a bit of context before we go into more depth, in bible times a person’s genealogy was very significant to them as it was a key part of their identity and heritage. In his writing of the gospel, Matthew is including Jesus’ genealogy to teach a very important point about who Jesus is. This passage can be explored in great depth and in many directions, but for now I want to focus on the number of generations that lead up to the birth of Jesus. Matthew 1:17 tells us that there were three sets of fourteen generations. In his commentary ‘Matthew for everyone - part 1’ Tom Wright suggests that perhaps these figures should be seen as six sets of seven years, and that, therefore, the birth of Jesus marks the seventh seven in this list. Wright continues and suggests that this was very significant and was the climax and pinnacle of the genealogy. Following generations and years of highs and lows, blessings and curses, here was Jesus to mark the completion, and that new life was to come from this point. This gives us an indication as to why Jesus is often referred to by himself and others as the Lord of the Sabbath, because it is about him and he is the full picture of what it represents.
With this in mind I wish to consider the start of Jesus’ ministry as told of in Luke 4. Luke 4:16 tells us that Jesus’ ministry actually started on a Sabbath day with Jesus quoting Isaiah 61:1-2:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour
Jesus starting his ministry on a Sabbath and quoting this verse is here to give us an indication of the meaning and purpose of his ministry. Jesus’ healings, his acts of justice and love, and ultimately his death and resurrection is seen through the lens of order and wholeness being brought into the chaos, and for life to become a place of being complete.
It is now that we see where we come into this mission. As Christians we are brought into play a part in his ministry, we are called to help bring justice, love, wholeness and life to the brokenness, for it is the will and mission of Jesus. We of course cannot and do not have to do this in our own strength. For as Jesus says to his disciples in Matthew 28: 18-20:
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
- Written by Ryan Trevor
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