Meaning of Numbers in the Bible
6 (Six) and 7 (Seven)

Meaning of Numbers in the Bible
Numbers 6 (Six) and 7 (Seven)

Six and Seven Together

as combining and contrasting what is human and what is spiritual.

A remarkable illustration of this is seen in

THE TWO GENEALOGIES OF JESUS CHRIST

Note, first, in which two of the four Gospels they are found, for this is also significant.

• In Matthew God says to us, "Behold thy King" (Zech 9:9).
• In Mark He says, "Behold My Servant" (Isa 40:1).
• In Luke He says, "Behold the Man" (Zech 6:12).
• In John He says, "Behold your God" (Isa 40:9).
  

As far as David both the lists agree. But here an important divergence takes place. In Matthew, after David, we have his son Solomon; while in Luke we have another son, Solomon's elder brother, Nathan. From this point, therefore, we have two lines. One (Matthew) gives the royal and legal line through Solomon; the other (Luke) gives the natural and lineal line through Nathan. The former is the line according to legal succession; the latter is the line according to natural descent. The former was the result of the will of God in choosing Solomon, a younger son; while the latter was the result of the will of man, and in the order of human birth. Both lines meet in Joseph, the son of Jacob by birth, and the son of Heli by marriage with Mary, Heli's only daughter.* Thus the two lines are united and exhausted in Jesus Christ; for by His death they both became extinct, and thus He was the King of Israel by right; became, and was declared to be, the Son of God by resurrection from the dead (Rom 1:4; Psa 2:7; Acts 13:33 and Heb 1:5, 5:5).

* This is supported by the true reading of Luke 3:23, which, according to Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford, Westcott and Hort, and the RV, should read, "Jesus when He began to teach was about Thirty years of age, being the son, as was supposed, of Joseph, the son of Heli." The verb nouizw (nomizo) means to lay down a thing as law, to hold by custom, or usage, to own as a custom, to take for granted. Here it refers not to any supposition as to Jesus being Joseph's son, but to the legal sanction and customary practice which reckoned Joseph as Heli's son through marriage with his daughter Mary. See Ruth 1:11-13, where Ruth by marriage with Naomi's son was called her daughter; Nehemiah 7:63, where Hakkoz by marriage with Barzillai's daughter was "called after their name"; and Numbers 36, where the daughters of Zelophehad, by Divine counsel, "were married to their father's brothers' sons...and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father" (vv 11,12). This is exactly what took place with Mary, who, according to the Jerusalem Talmud (Chag. 77,4), is called the daughter of Heli, and by her marriage with Joseph, who was the real son of Jacob, caused Joseph to be called, according to custom (nomizw), the son, or rather son-in-law, of Heli.

Now the wonderful fact is that we have in the genealogy of Luke 3 exactly 77 names, with GOD at the one end, and JESUS at the other. This is indeed stamping it with the number of spiritual perfection.

On the other hand, although the genealogy in Matthew is artificially constructed (according to a recognised custom amongst the Jews, instances of which we have in the Old Testament), it is so arranged that it contains 42 generations, or Six sevens (6x7).

These 42 generations contain—

* There are only 41 names:—Jechonias being given at the end of the second list, and repeated at the beginning of the third. There are three divisions (the stamp of Divine perfection), with 14 names in the first, 14 names in the second, but with 13 names in the third. For the significance of this, see under the number thirteen, marking Jesus as the Saviour who was made sin for His people.

These three divisions are in themselves remarkable. The first ends with the happy condition of the people under David; the second with ruin; the third with the Saviour.

The first begins with Abraham, the recipient of the unconditional covenant of the Land (Gen 15), and ends with David, the recipient of the unconditional covenant of the Throne (2 Sam 7). The second begins with Solomon, and ends with the Captivity; i.e., with the building of the Temple at the one end, and the destruction of it at the other. The third begins with the Captivity, the promise of the Messiah through Daniel (chap. 9), and ends with His birth in the person of Jesus.

** The four names omitted are the three immediate successors of Jehoram, between Jehoram and Uzziah.

1. Ahaziah, or Jehoahaz, 2 Kings 8:29-10:27; 2 Chron 22:39.
2. Joash, 2 Kings 11:2-12:20; 2 Chron 24:1-25.
3. Amaziah (or Ahimaaz), 2 Kings 14:8-20; 2 Chron 25:7-27. And one between Josiah and Jeconiah, viz.—
4. Jehoiakim, 2 Kings 23:36-24:6; 2 Chron 36:5-8. It was he who cut to pieces and burnt the roll which contained the words of Jehovah (Jer 36:23). The Talmud says that the reason why his name is not mentioned generally in the genealogies is because it was said concerning him (2 Chron 36:8), "And the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations which he did, and that which was found ON HIM." Rabbi Jochanan says it means that "he caused an image to be engraved on his body." He was "Childless" as to the throne; for though he had seven sons (1 Chron 3:17,18), it was his grandson Zerubbabel who became ruler over Israel (2 Kings 25:29,30).

So that while Jesus is the 77th name in the line which comes through Nathan, it is the 66th name in the line which comes through Solomon.

When we remember that six is the human number, and seven the Divine, can we doubt that we are thus pointed to the fact that Jesus was both Son of God and Son of Man?

His two names have the same significant stamp and seal: for IhsouV, JESUS, the birth name of His humiliation as Man, is composed of six letters; while CristoV, Christ, His Divine title as the Anointed of God, is composed of seven letters.

On carefully comparing the two genealogies again, we find that certain names are common to both lines. Of these there are exactly 36, or 6 x 6, i.e., the square of 6 (6²).

* The names actually named as common to both are 16 (4²); viz., from Abraham to David are 14; Zerubbabel and Salathiel, 2.

Here we have a marvelous interlacing and combination of the numbers six and seven, which serve to stamp both genealogies with the Spirit's seal, and to set forth the human and Divine natures of Jesus our Lord, as perfect Man and perfect God.

We give the following complete list:—

Joseph was the husband of Mary, "of whom was born Jesus which is called Christ" (Matt 1:16). That is to say, Joseph, who was the real son of Jacob (for it says "Jacob BEGAT Joseph," Matt 1:16), could become the legal son of Heli only by his marriage with Heli's daughter Mary. Hence it does not say, in Luke 3:23, that Heli begat Joseph, but that he was "the son of Heli." The words, "the son," it will be observed, are in italics, and being thus a wider expression, denotes that he was legally the son-in-law of Heli, by his marriage with Mary, Heli's real daughter.

While Jesus, therefore, was the real son of Mary, He could be reckoned as the legal son of Joseph, and was descended from Nathan through Heli, as well as from Solomon through Jacob.

The number six is further associated with Christ as the Son of Man, in that His birth was announced in the sixth month (Luke 1:26): and the sixth hour is specially marked at His crucifixion (Matt 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44).

THE SONS OF GOD

Beni-ha-Elohim, "sons of God," occurs six times:—

1. Genesis 6:2
2. Job 2:6
3. Job 38:7
4. Psalm 29:1
5. Psalm 89:6
6. Daniel 3:25

Beni-El-hai, "sons of the living God," once:—

7. Hosea 1:10

Seven times in all, but not seven exactly alike. There are six in one form (used of angels), and one in another (used of men), to mark the fact that the sons of God, whether angels or men, fell from the spiritual perfection of their original position.

This interesting illustration is not the only example of the contrasts presented between these two numbers, six and seven. Mr. Samuell* instances others:—

* Seven the Sacred Number, by Richard Samuell, p. 438.

SHEM, HAM, and JAPHETH

The two names Shem and Japheth, who received their father's blessing, occur together seven times; but six of these are in connection with Ham whose posterity was cursed!

THE FOOD OF EGYPT

is given in six items (Num 11:5), viz., fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlick; whereas the enumeration of the Divine provision of Emmanuel's land is marked by the number seven (Deut 8:8),—wheat, barley, vines, fig-trees, pomegranates, olives, and honey.

ISRAEL'S LOVERS

are represented as giving to her six things (Hosea 2:5),—bread, water, wool, flax, oil, and drink; while Jehovah speaks of His own precious gifts of love to His people by contrast as being seven in number (vv 8,9),—corn, wine, oil, silver, gold, wool, and flax.

THE DAYS OF CREATION and REST

In the Creation we have the six days and the seven. The six of labour and the seventh of rest.

THE Two LandS

2 Kings 18:32: Rabshakeh, in describing the land to which he would take the people captive, enumerated six things; but as he mentions them as being like their own land, there are seven as well:

THE DOMINION OF MAN

Psalm 8:6-8: Six sets forth the perfection of human authority, and seven marks the fact that the six defined particulars were of Divine gift:

THE Seven SPIRITS

Isaiah 11:2: Six here marking that Christ would be perfect man, and seven that He was perfect God; the first statement being marked off from the rest by its form:—

THE SPIRIT POURED OUT

Joel 2:28, 29: The "all flesh" is the Divine inclusion; but six particulars mark the definition. It need hardly be added that this blessing refers (by interpretation) only to the house of Israel.

ISRAEL'S ENDOWMENTS

Romans 9:4: The one defining who they were by Divine calling and standing, the six setting forth what pertained to them as men, thus called and blessed:—

THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK

had six branches out of one central stem, making seven in all, marking, and in harmony with, the fact, that the light was the light of God's people in the world, but that its source was Divine.

THE PANOPLY OF GOD

In Ephesians 6:14-18, the Christian's panoply consists of six pieces; but there is a seventh without which they are of no avail, and that is "the Spear," which is Prayer:—

• The Girdle of Truth, John 14:6, 17:17.
• The Breastplate of Righteousness, Jer 23:6; Phil 3:9.
• The Sandals of the Gospel, Eph 2:10.
• The Shield of Faith (i.e., Faith's shield, which is Christ), Gen 17:1; Rom 13:14; Psa 91:4.
• The Sword of the Spirit (i.e., the Spirit's sword, which is the Word of God), Rev 19:13.
• Prayer—which keeps the armour bright and enables us to use it effectually.

EZEKIEL'S TEMPLE

In Ezekiel 40 the measurements of God's Temple are given, which is yet to be erected in His land. The measuring rod used by "the man" was "six great cubits" in length (41:8). But the great cubit was one cubit and a hand-breadth long (40:5, RV); therefore as six hand-breadths went to one cubit, there were really seven ordinary cubits in "the full reed of six great cubits."

Thus whenever six and seven are used together the difference between their respective significations is most marked.