The Number Seven

Seven is an artificial number, in the sense that it is not the number of our fingers or toes, or perfectly divisible by a lunar or solar cycle.

So ancient civilizations had weeks – but they were built from nature. Ancient Egypt, based on the sun, had a ten day week. The Babylonians had a lunar calendar without a rigid seven-day week. The Jewish/Torah approach of a seven-day week is and was unnatural, discordant with any known terran, lunar, or solar cycles.

The Torah is the oldest document to introduce a seven-day week. Over time, it spread through the Persian, Greek and Roman worlds and became the standard. Which means the seven day week was a religious innovation – indeed, the prominent “rational” French Revolution adopted a ten day week, and the similarly anti-religious Soviet Union tried five and six day weeks.

In the Torah, it is remarkable just how thoroughly this number is repeated. Seven is used for the days of creation, and then the Sabbath day (repeated several times later for Sabbath). Noah brings seven pairs of the animals with spiritual potential into the ark. Later in the text Pharaoh’s dreams feature seven ears of corn and cows – almost as an early marketing campaign from G-d to the King of Egypt.

Then there were seven years of plenty and famine in Egypt, making the connection to agriculture – which is later echoed in the Torah with the agricultural week of seven year cycles. There is even a common word in both stories: “tevuosoh” which means “produce” or “increase,” linking them explicitly together. (Gen. 47:24, Ex. 23:10, Lev. 25)

Stepping back to see it from a distance, one could argue that promoting the seven days has a higher purpose: to realize that understanding the world is more (and at a higher level) than merely understanding nature. This is the tension between religion and scientism, the conflicting ideas of the existence of the metaphysical (which includes concepts and ideas) versus the physical (things we can physically sense).

In other words, the number “seven” seems to be G-d’s way of trying to get mankind to understand that there is indeed a Bigger Picture, one that includes far more than we can experience with our bodies alone. There is a layer above and beyond nature and the earth. We use the number seven as a way to acknowledge a Creator, every single day of the week.