[Bêthberry]

Sorry, I missed seeing these replies yesterday.

Originally Posted by Bethberry

I don't suppose these websites explained just how 'god' made clear his preference, did they?

Originally Posted by the guy who be short

Beth - All I know (and, regarding religion, that's not a lot) is that Seven appears a lot in the Bible. There are 7 churches, 7 Spirits, 7 stars, 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 vials, 7 personages, 7 dooms, and 7 new things - apparently in the Book of Revelation alone. To give numbers, its used more than 700 times in the Bible and 54 times in the Book of Revelation. It's also used more than any other number in the Bible other than One. 7 Days of Creation, 7th Day of Sabbath, 7 Weeks between Passover and Pentecost, 7 Day Feasts, Every 7th year the farms left fallow, Every 49th year a year of Jubilee...

I'm no expert, but one would presume all these references to 7 are connected and have some significance.

Apparently, Seven is a sign of completeness as it merges "the perfect world number, 4 and the perfect divine number, 3." Four represents "the four square Earth" [the four compass points? ), and Three the Trinity, so that Seven represents the union of Earth and Heaven, and thus completeness.

Originally Posted by Helen

Some people have lots of fun counting how many times seven is used in various works considered sacred.

Regarding the Christian bible, seven does show up quite a bit. (I haven't counted.) Revelation in particular is 7-heavy.

In the Old Testament twelve is a very popular number, but Tolkien didn't seem too taken up with that one.

Ah, so it's the reader who counts the references and makes the deduction, then. No direct Authorial statement to the effect, "And remember the seventh number to keep it holy," ?