SEVEN (seven), (Heb. she' ba, whence the Greek Lard, hefita, seven, the aspirate breathing being substituted for the sibilant letter, as in six, for etc., which, however, appears again in the Latin sefitem, and the English seven). This word is used to express the number 6 I.
(1) Used to Denote an Indefinite Number. The Lexicons, generally, both ancient and modern, also assign to the word and its derivatives the fur ther office of a round or indefinite number, to ex press a small number, in the sense of several (as we use ten or a doz.en). 1 t appears to us possible to "resolve all the other passages referred by Gesenius" and others to this class, into the idea of sufficiency, satisfaction, fullness, completeness, perfection, abundance, etc.. intimated in the He brew root 1'27,1', from which the numeral in ques tion is derived. For instance, in I Sam. ii :5, 'The barren hath born seven ;' that is, bath been blessed with an ample family ( Vulg. Stet-Ws pcperit plurimos); Is. iv :1, 'Seven women shall take hold of one man,' where the idea seems to be that of abundance of females compared with the men, so many of the latter having been slain in war ( see Lowth in loc.) ; Ruth iv :is. 'Better to thee than seven sons,' i. c., an abundance of them : Prov. xxvi :25, 'There are seven abominations in his heart,' i. c., completeness of depravity (comp. Prov. vi :31), where the thief is said to make a 'sevenfold, that is, complete, restitution (comp. Exod. xxii :1-4). Thus also the phrase, 'To flee seven ways' (Deut. xxviii :7) denotes a total over throw ; to 'punish seven times' (Lev. xxvi :24), to punish completely ; 'Six and seven troubles,' a very great and entire calamity (Job v :19) ; 'Give a portion to seven, also to eight,' be not only duly liberal, but abundant ; 'Silver purified seven times.' perfectly purified (Ps. xii :6) ; 'Seven times a day do I praise thee.' I fully perform the duty of thanksgiving (Ps. cxix :t64). Rabbi Solomon, however, contends for the literal inter pretation of this passage, which seems to have been acted upon by certain Jews and Christians. Some of the Greek versions in Montfaucon's Hexapla render the Hebrew word by filet's tads, 'often,' frequently.' (2) Abundance or Completeness. The above explanation applies to Gesenius's instances of 'poetical fictions,' viz., Job's seven sons and seven thousand sheep (i:z, 3), and the seven days and seven nights during which his friends sat with him in silence on the ground (ii:t3). The word is used in the New Testament to express the same idea of abundance or completeness; thus, 'Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus cast seven devils' (Mark xvi :9) ; where we must either suppose the Evangelist to give by inspiration a numerical statement, or that his words mean a most entire case of extraordinary and not understood disease.
Our Lord's comparison of the men of that gen eration to the case of the demon which had gone out of a man, returning with seven other spirits more wicked than himself, seems to mean that if Jesus were to grant the sign demanded by the Pharisees, no other result would ensue than a mo mentary conviction, followed by consummate un belief (Matt. xii:45)• 'The seven spirits before the throne' would seem to be a periphrasis of perfection, denoting the Holy Spirit (Rev. i :4). Multiples of this numberconvey the idea of super-abundance. Thus, Gen. iv:24, 'If Cain be avenged sevenfold [that is abundantly], surely Lamech seventy and seven fold,' whose guilt from accidental homicide is so much less. Similar is St. Peter's question respect ing the forgiveness of injuries, and the answer he received. It is most likely that the idea of suffi ciency and completeness became originally associ ated with the number seven, from the Creator having finished, completed, or made sufficient, all his work on the seventh day; and that hence also it was adopted as a sacred number, or a number chiefly employed in religious concerns, in order to remind mankind of the creation and its true au thor. Thus there were seven offerings in making a covenant (Gen. xxi :28) ; seven lamps in the golden candlestick (Exod. xxxvii :23) ; the blood was sprinkled seven times (Lev. iv:16, 17) ; every seventh year was sabbatical. seven sabbaths of years in the jubilee (xxv:8) ; seven trumpets, seven priests that sounded them seven days round Jericho, seven lamps, seven seals, etc., etc. Seven was considered a fortunate number among the Persians (Esth. h10-14; ii: 9). Cicero calls it the knot and cement of all things, as being that by which the natural and spiritual world are com prehended in one idea (ruse. Qurest. i, to). Nor is this subject devoid of practical utility. The ref erences which occur in the patriarchal history to the number seven, as denoting a week or period of seven days, sufficiency, etc., and a sacred num ber, afford a minute, indirect, but not an inconsid erable argument, that the institution of the Sab bath was both established and observed from the commencement ; and not, as Paley thinks, during the wandering in the wilderness: an argument abundantly confirmed by the regard to the seventh day which has prevailed too far and wide among various nations, to he attributed to their com paratively late intercourse with the Jews (Jose phus, Cont. Ap. ii, 39).
J. F. D.