Number Seven in the Bible

Illustration #2: The Heptadic Structure of the Bible

Throughout the Bible, numbers are used consistently and repetitively with strong emphasis on the number seven. The frequent use of seven is obvious even to an occasional reader of the Scriptures. Seven is in the Bible more than any other umber.This phenomena is technically referred to as the Heptadic Structure of the Bible (hepta is the Greek word for seven) or Biblical numerology. The number seven in the Bible is associated with “completeness.” Other numbers seem to have symbolic meanings as well:

1	The number for God, unity
3	Trinity / redemption
6	“Incomplete,” the number of “man”
7	“Complete,” “full,” “perfect”
12	The 12 tribes – Israel
40	A generation

Table 27- 2 : Biblical Numerology

As early as the nineteenth century, scholars[8] have researched the number seven. The word “seven” is used 394 times in the OT (the Hebrew word שֶׁבַע (“ sheba ”) = seven, seventh, seven times, sevens etc) and 87 times in the NT (the Greek word ἑπτά (“hepta”) = seven or seventh). [9] This makes a total of 481 occurrences of “seven” in the entire Bible.

The presence of the number seven (or any multiple of it) is no evidence that the text is divinely inspired. Obviously any author can chose that number at any time. In ancient times the number seven seems to have had a strong symbolic recognition associated with “complete” and “perfect.” We find frequent use of seven in most ancient religious texts.

What makes the use of seven in the Bible especially intriguing is the many times the concept of seven is beneath the structure of the text. Below (table 27-3) is an overview, but this is by far not all the uses of the number seven in the Bible: [10]

Sevens in the Bible
Seven days of creation	Genesis 1
Seven days of rain after Noah enters the Ark	Genesis 7:4-10
Seven years Jacob serves for each wife	Genesis 28:18-20; 29:27-30
Seven good and seven famine years in Egypt	Genesis 41
Seven days the waters turn to blood	Exodus 7:25
Seven lamps of the Menorah	Exodus 25:37
Seven feasts of Israel	Leviticus 23
Seven years of the sabbatical year	Leviticus 25:4
Seven times seven to the jubilee year	Leviticus 25:8
Seven priests with seven trumpets circle Jericho seven times	Joshua 6
Solomon spent seven years building the temple	1 Kings 6:38
Daniel’s seventy sevens prophecy	Daniel 9:24-27
Seventy years in Babylonian exile	Jeremiah 25:11-12
Seven loaves fed the 4,000, seven baskets are leftover	Matthew 15:32-39
Seven deacons in the early church	Acts 6:5
Seven miracles in the gospel of John	John
Seven discourses in the gospel of John	John
Seven “I am” statements in the gospel of John	John
Paul sent letters to seven different churches	Paul’s epistles
Seven churches in Revelation	Revelation 2,3
Seven promises, seals, trumpets, angels, plagues, bowls etc	Revelation
Seven promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob	Genesis
Seven miracles on the Sabbath	Gospels
Seven sayings of Jesus from the cross	Gospels
Seven appearances of angels	Gospels and Acts
Seven elements of the armor of God	Ephesians 6:14-18

Table 27- 3 : Illustration of the Use of Sevens in the Bible

Should we consider the heptadic structure in the Bible as convincing evidence for divine design of the texts? Let’s look at the criteria:

Analysis of the phenomena:

The occurrence of the sevens in the text and the structures is clearly significant.
It is not necessarily unique to the Bible. Throughout ancient history people have been intrigued by the number seven as a symbol for “completeness” and “perfection.” Many ancient (mostly religious) texts contain a preference for the use of seven (though perhaps to a lesser degree than the Bible).
Are the sevens put in the text intentionally? Sevens that are used in stories or illustrations can be intentionally used by any author. There are a number of events and fulfilled prophecies that also use sevens which can be claimed beyond the control of any writer. And many counts of seven involve more than one Bible book, making it not possible for the authors to have control of the total number of sevens. However, proving beyond competent dispute that there are a significant amount of sevens in the texts and structures of the Bible will remain a serious challenge.

Read about (4) Illustration #3: Isaac - a prophecy about Jesus

[8] Etherbert W. Bullinger (1837-1913), Number in Scripture (2006, reproduction from 1894).

[9] According to Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order (1996).

[10] E.W. Bullinger, Number in Scripture (2006, reproduction from 1894), R. McCormack, Heptadic Structure of Scripture with a Chapter on Seven and Four in Nature (1923) and Chuck Missler, Cosmic Codes (1999), appendix D. The list in this book is only a limited subset of all the heptadic structures and references identified.

Back to: 5. Other proofs for divine inspiration

(1) Some intriguing observations	(2) Illustration #1: The Bible codes
(3) Illustration #2: Sevens in the Bible	(4) Illustration #3: Isaac - a prophecy about Jesus
(5) Illustration #4: A message form the tribal camps

	Jump to: What Do Others Believe?

6. Some Intriguing Observations (3)

Illustration #2: The Heptadic Structure of the Bible