The creation story from Genesis 1:1 – 2:3 is carefully constructed. The number seven has a central role in the story. First of all, the creation of heaven and earth is divided into seven days. Many words such as ‘create’ or ‘make’ appear exactly seven times in the story. Even if you look at the number of letters in certain pericopes of the story, it often turns out to be a multiple of seven. Seven is the number of perfection. The central place of the number seven in the creation story expresses that God’s creation is perfect.
The symbolism of the number seven in the creation story
The basic structure of the creation story from Genesis 1:1 – 2:3 is the division into seven days. The number seven has a symbolic meaning. It stands for wholeness, completeness and completeness. This symbolism can partly be derived from the combination of the three most important zones of creation, seen vertically, (heaven, earth and sea) and the four directions of creation, seen horizontally (north, east, south, west). Three and four together make seven.
The meaning of the numbers three and four in the creation story
The numbers three and four are also numbers in themselves with a symbolic meaning. Geometrically, three represents the triangular symbol and four represents a rectangular figure (in perfect symmetrical form as the square). In the space of creation these two numbers are combined. If three and four are added together the number is seven and if three and four are multiplied together the result is twelve. Both seven and twelve are recurring Biblical numbers that refer to fullness and perfection.
Seven in Genesis 1 verse 1
The Hebrew text of Genesis 1 verse 1 contains a multiple of seven. Hebrew is the original language in which the book of Genesis was written. The first verse of the Bible is a careful composition, in which every letter counts.
, רֶץ
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.(Genesis 1:1)
This verse consists of seven Hebrew words with a total of 28 letters (28 = 4 x 7). The first three Hebrew words translated into English as ‘In the beginning God created’ contain 14 letters (14 = 2 x 7). The last four Hebrew words of the verse ‘the heaven and the earth’ together have 14 letters (14 = 2 x 7). The fourth and fifth words together contain 7 letters and the sixth and seventh words also have 7 letters together. The three core words from the verse (God, heaven, earth) together have 14 letters (14 = 2 x 7) and the total number of letters in the four other words is also 14 (14 = 2 x 7).
Seven in Genesis 1:1 to 2:3
Genesis 1 verse 1 consists of seven Hebrew words. The next verse (Genesis 1:2) consists of fourteen Hebrew words (14 = 2 x 7). The end of the creation story, Genesis 2:1-3, contains 35 Hebrew words (35 = 5 x 7). ‘God’ ( Elohim ) is mentioned a total of 35 times in the entire creation story (35 = 5 x 7). The word ‘earth’ appears 21 times in the creation story (21 = 3 x 7). The word that denotes ‘heaven / vault / firmament’ in Hebrew also occurs 21 times. The formula ‘so it is done’ or ‘so it is done’ occurs seven times (Genesis 1:3; 1:7; 1:9; 1:11; 1:15; 1:24; 1:30). Seven times the word ‘ bara ‘ is used to create and seven times the writer mentions the word ‘ asa ‘ to indicate that God creates something (Genesis 1:4; 1:7; 1:12; 1:16; 1:21 ; 1:25; 1:27).
The perfect gift of God
God created the heavens and earth. When He had created everything, He gave something to creation. He gives to the living creatures (people, animals and birds), all the crops of the earth for food. When God gives, He gives completely. To express the completeness of this gift, God uses the Hebrew word kal seven times here, which expresses all / all / whole.
“And God said, Behold, I give unto you every ( 1) herb yielding seed which is in all (2) the earth, and every (3) tree wherein is the fruit of the tree yielding seed; that will be your food. But to every (4) beast of the earth, to every (5) bird of the air, and to every (6) thing that creeps on the earth in which there is life, I have given every (7) green herb for food., . (Genesis 1: 29 – 30, Revised State Translation)
And God saw that it was good
Six times the narrator mentions that “God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:4; 1:10; 1:12; 1:18; 1:21; 1:25). The seventh time he deviates slightly from it. Then he concludes with: ‘And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.’ (Genesis 1:31). The seventh time God looks at his creation, the reader is also invited to watch: ‘and see’. From that view the reader can also come to the conclusion that creation is very good.
The seventh day is called the Sabbath
God created the heavens and the earth in six days. On the seventh day, God rests from his work of creation. The seventh day is a special day. It’s a rest day. The seventh day is called the Sabbath. It’s a holy day. On all days of creation, God speaks and creates. On the seventh day, only the narrator speaks. He mentions the seventh day three times.
God completes on the seventh day the work he has done; he keeps a Sabbath on the seventh day of all his work that he has done. God blesses the seventh day and sanctifies it; for on it he kept a Sabbath from all his work which God created him to do. (Genesis 2:2-3, Naarden Bible)
read more
- The symbolic meaning of numbers in the Bible
- Symbolism of numbers in the story of Noah’s ark
- Symbolism of numbers in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus
- The creation from Genesis 1 processed for liturgy and sermon