In the Holy Land and amongst the Arabs there are still manj- echoes of the ancient use of T as shown in the preceding para- graphs. Dalman's Bhcan contains several examples of it as a round number in popular poetry (pp. 260, 2S7, 305, 309). Mourn- ing for relatives and marriage rejoicings extend amongst the Arabs over 7 days (Forder's With the Arabs in Tent and Town, 216, 218). If the person is stained with blood, the stain is washed 7 times (Robinson Lees, Village Life in Palestine, 2nd ed. 218). A festival at Nebi Musa lasts 7 days (Curtiss, Primitir^ Semitic Religion To-daij, 163). These illustrations show that the modern Oriental not only employs 7 as a round number, but sometimes associates it in some measure with the ideas of completeness and sanctity.
Three and a half. — Of the symbolic use of the half of seven there is one instance in the Gospels, viz. the reference to the famine in the time of Elijah as lasting three years and six months (Lk 4-^, cf. Ja 5^'). This number, the half of the number of completeness, seems to iiave been often used by the Jews of periods of trial and judgment. According to Josephus (BJ I. 1. \, v. ix. 4), the worship of the Temple was discontinued in the time of Anti- ochus Epiphanes for three years and six months; and, according to the Midrash on La P, the siege by Vespasian continued for the same period (cf. Dn ■jM 927 12^, Rev 11-, and Wetstein's note on the last passage).
Fourteen. — The double of 7 in the genealogy at the beginning of Matthew can hardly be accidental. When the Evangelist carefully divides the genera- tions from Abraham to Christ into tliree groups of 14 each (Mt 1'"), he mtist intend the number to have some meaning. He does not forget that it is the double of a favourite round number which is at the same time suggestive of completeness. This multiple of 7 seems to have been common in old Canaan, for scores of tiie Tell el-Amarna Letters from Canaanites to the Pharaoh have some form of the salutation : ' Seven and seven times I fall at the feet of the king my lord.' A striking example of the use of a multiple of 7 in a scheme of history is supplied by a writing composed probalily within a Imndred years of our Lord's ministry, ' the Book of Jubilees' or 'Little Genesis.' The writer
arranges the whole period from Adam to the giving of the Law in about 7 times 7 jubilees, the interval between two jubilees being 7 times 7 years (50^).
Seventy. — Of another much used multiple of 7, 7 X 10 = 70, there is only one instance in the Gospel narrative, the sending out by Jesus of the 70 dis- ciples (Lk 10'- 1"). It must be noted, however, that WH read (with BD, some OL, Vulg., Syr cur and Syr sin) 72, the multiple of 6 by 12. In either case the use of 70, of which there are so many ex- amples in the OT and elsewhere (Gn 50^, Ex P Ib'-^, Nu 11>«, Jg 1" 8*', 2 K 101, -2 ch 29^-, Ps 90^ Jer 2511, Ezk 8", Dn 9•^^ Eth. Enoch 895« ' the 70 shep- herds,' Test, of Levi, c. 8, 2 Es 14«; Jos. Vita, 11, BJ II. XX. 5 ; Bk. of Jub 11-"^' clouds of ravens re- turned 70 times ; Sanhedrin i. 6 the high court of justice with 70 members and president) as a round number for 'very many,' with perhaps the added idea of comprehensiveness, may be safely recog- nized as influential.
The Rabbinic idea of 70 languages for the 70 peoples is found in the Mishna {^ota vii. 5), and so may be as old as the time of Christ, but can hardly be alluded to in a mission intended only for Jews. Dr. A. Jeremias (Babylonisches im XT, 93) regards 70 as used in the Gospel as ' a round number with astral character ; ' but any reference to the stars is unnecessan- and improbable. Babylonian astrologers might be credited w-ith it, but not the Galilaean Jews of our Lord's time and the Evangelists.
Seventy times seven.— The 70 times 7 of Mt 18^, the multiple of 10 times 7 by 7, is a very strong way of saying • very many times,' almost equiva- lent to ' without limit.' The alternative rendering of RVm ' seventy times and seven,' which yields a much less emphatic meaning, rests on the LXX tr. of Gn 4--' where the same Greek ej35ofjLriKovTdKii e-rrTa. represents Hebrew words which clearly mean 77. In Mt. the familiar rendering is distinctly prefer- able. Wellhausen [Das Evangeliuni Maffhcei, 94) notes that D reads e-n-TdKis for ewrd, which is strictly correct (but cf. INIoulton, Proleg. Gr. Gram. 98).
Ten (SeKa, dfKaros, dirodeKaTsvcj} dirodeKarou}). — The number ten is probablj- a round number in the parables of the 10 virgins (Mt 25'), the 10 pieces of silver (Lk 15''), the talents (Mt 252«), and the 10 servants who received 10 pounds (Lk 1913. i6f. 241.) . and in the prediction to the Church of Smyrna of tribulation 10 daj's (Rev 2^'^'). In other passages (Mt 202^ Mk 10-'^ Lk 14^1 171^- 1', and the references to the payment of a tenth to God, Mt 23^, Lk IV- 18'-) it is used literally. As a round number signifi- cant of completeness (although without the idea of sacredness associated with 7), its use was facilitated by the decimal system, which may have been sug- gested in the first instance by the number of fingers on the two hands. Be that as it may, the Jews of our Lord's day found 10 again and again in their sacred books and in history ; for example, in the 10 patriarchs from Adam to Noah (Gn 5) ; the 10 righteous men whose presence would have saved Sodom (Gn 18^-) ; the 10 commandments (Ex 34'2-26 and 20--'", Dt 5*--') ; the 10 temptations with which Israel tempted God in the wilderness (Nu 14-) ; the 10 curtains of the tabernacle (Ex 26') ; the 10 lavers (2 Ch 4«) ; the 10 candlesticks (v.") and the 10 tables (y.^) in Solomon's temple ; the 10 servants of Gideon (Jg &^), and the 10 elders of Boaz (Ru 'i-).