GOD'S NUMBER: 7

We come to the end of IOPNA’s 11-part conversational series on CREATION in Genesis 1:

 Last time we found all those triplets in Genesis 1. Altogether there were at least 7 times 3 equals 21, I think.  What about we look for 7’s now?                                         
The obvious one is God took 7 days or a week for all this.

Sure, 6 days to create and a day to enjoy it. He seems to know there will be people who want to argue about that one so He spells it out in Exodus 20 verse 11, not just to Moses on Mt. Sinai, but to all the children of Israel.

I thought all the directions were given through Moses.

No, we are clearly told more than once that He personally spoke this out loud to all the people. Would you believe?...folks try to argue about that one too! 
Later He did remind Moses about the 6 day Creation in Exodus 31, verse 17.

By the way, here is the High Court bench of 7 judges I was telling you about.

That’s an interesting example you know – one bench of 7 judges that will hopefully deliver a unanimous decision as if from only one fair-minded judge!                                                             

I notice God kept on saying it was ‘good’ – 6 times I think…

…finishing with ‘very good’ after creating Man on Day 6.                                               
That puts paid to that Gap & Reconstruction idea about millions of dead animals in rock for millions of years. There can have been no fossils in rock at this point.  

I guess you’re right there. The other repetition I noticed was the phrase: ‘…according to its kind’, which I think was 3 times for plants on Day 3…so what about animals?

Yes you’ll find it used with birds and with fish on Day 5, then on Day 6 God used the expression 5 times: generally for all land creatures, then He names them, then He says it about each of the categories separately – beasts, cattle and creeping thing.

He’s really spelling it out for us isn’t He, like: “Make no mistake guys – these creatures are all different genetically.”

Well of course, God is the smartest geneticist ever!  

The other repetition I noticed was ‘light’.

Yes, 5 times on Day 1 and twice on Day 4.                                                                           
The other 7’s are bit obscure: ‘God said…’ in general terms is 7 times, ‘Let there be…’ or ‘let the…’ appears 7 times, and ‘God saw…’ appears 7 times.                                                                         

So how many 7’s or what do you call them…heptads?...have we found?
·       7 Days
·       6 ‘good’s + ‘very good’ = 7
·       animals ‘…according to its kind’, 7 times
·       light, 7 times
·       ‘God said…’, 7 times
·       ‘Let there be / let the’, 7 times
·       ‘God saw…’, 7 times   

7 times 7??  You know something?...this is simply staggering.  Nobody but God could write an account about such an awesome week of achievement like this, in such a profoundly simple style and still be able to stitch their double numeric autograph of 3’s and 7’s into it so cleverly.  He was the only one there for most of that week anyway!                      

Perhaps the most amazing feature of the whole account is the way God anticipates what people are going to try and dream up with their theories in the future. The Master Scientist has a message for cosmologists, theologians, geologists, meteorologists, geneticists, zoologists, horticulturalists, oceanographers…even evolutionists.

…and us. All I can say after all that is: Wow!                                           

He took a rest and we need one too, before we keep going in Genesis.

 

Photo credit: hcourt.gov.au