I
I
NUMBER
219
NUMBER
2, 6 ; X, 3 sq. ; xi, 13 ; xii, 3 ; xiii, 1 ; xv, 1, 6 sq. ; xvi, 1 ; xvii, 1, 3, 7, 9, 11; xxi, 9). The frequent use of the number seventy is of a kindred nature. The Israelites who went down into Egypt, the years of the captivity, the elders chosen by Moses to assist in judicial duties, were each seventy in number ; and at a later period there were reckoned seventy nations and as many lan- guages on earth (see Bohlen, Genesis, p. 77). Philo's writings show how mysterious and significant the later philosophical Jews considered the number seven (see his 0pp. i, 21 sq. ; ii, 5, 277 sq.); and Jerome's explanation that it had become familiar through the Jewish Sabbath is quite obvious {ad Isa. iv, 1). The same fact appears in the Cabalistic "Sephiroth," which some find even in the Apocalypse (i, 5 ; iii, 1 ; iv, 5 ; v, 6 ; see also the Mishna, Pirke Aboth, v, 7 sq. ; P'.piphanius, De numeroi: myster. p. .5). Among the Greeks, the Pythagoreans especially interwove the number seven with their spec- ulations (see Ritter, Gesch. d. Philos. i, 404 sq., 434), and it is well known what an important part it played in their fanciful anthropology and psychology. (On tlie number seven in nature, see Macrob. Somn. iScip. i, 6 ; Gel!, iii, 10 ; Varro, Liiiff. Laf. i, 255, ed. Bip. ; Pliny, Jlist. Kat. ii, 43.) It is not difficult to see the origin of this manifold use and mysterious regard in respect to this number. There can be little doubt that, in the case of the Hebrews at least (and probably so with the heathen by tradition), it was originally derived from the Sabbatic institution of the week in Eden. Accord- ing to many, however, it was taken from the supposed number of the planets, to whose movements all the phe- nomena of nature and of human life were subordinated ; wliile an additional influence, perhaps the more imme- diate occasion of its use, may be found in the perception that the moon, the first of the heavenly bodies carefully observed by men, changes her form at intervals of seven days. This subdivision of the lunar month was made at a very early period (Ideler, Chronolo(j. i, (>0). This discovery of the number seven in nature, which an ac- tive fancy easily extended to many other things (Passa- vant, Lehensmagnetism, p. 105), must have led to at- tempts at a deeper interpretation of the number; yet Biihr's explanation (^Symholik d. Mos. Cultus i, 187 sq.), that seven was composed by adding together three, the symbol of God, and four, the symbol of the world, and denoted to the ancient Hebrews the union of tlie two, is far too forced (see Hengstenberg, Bileum, p. 71 sq.); although Kurtz {Stud. u. Krit. [1844] p. 346 sq.) makes many efforts to rescue this speculative interpretation. (But comp. Gedicke, Verm. Schrift. p. 32 sq. ; Hammer, Wissensch. d. Orients, ii, 322 sq. ; Baur in the Tiibinr/. Zeitschrift f. Theul. [1852] iii, 128 sq.). The fact that seven and seventy are used as "round numbers" (as Gen. iv, 24 ; Psa. xii, 6 ; Prov. xxiv, IG ; Matt, xviii, 21 sq.) maj' agree well with their supposed sanctity, but does not require such an explanation.
The next number to seven in frequency is forty in the history (as Gen. vii, 4, 17 ; viii, 6; xxv, 20; xxvi, 34; xxxii, 15; Exod. xvii, 35; Numb, xiv, 33; xxxii, 12; Deut. xxix, 5). The Israelites were forty years in the desert (Exod. xxiv, 18 ; Deut. ix, 9) ; Moses spent forty days and forty nights in Sinai (Josh, xiv, 7 ; Judg. iii, ll"; V, 31 ; xiii, 1 ; 1 Sam. iv, 18 ; xvii, IG ; 2 Sam. v, 4 : 1 Kings xi, 42; Acts xiii, 21) ; Saul, David, and Solo- mon each reigned forty years (1 Kings xix, 8 ; ]Matt. iv, 2; Acts i, 3). (For an arrangement of the interval be- tween the exodus and the death of David in twelve periods of forty years each, see Ewald, Isr. Gesch. ii, 370 sq.) The number likewise occurs in the language of prophecy (Ezek. iv, G ; xxix, 11 sq. ; Jon. iii, 4). The frequent recurrence of tlie same number in the same se- ries of events may sometimes give rise to a doubt wheth- er we really have the historical chronology (Bruns, in Paulus's ilemoi'ab. vii, 53 sq. ; Bohlen, Genesis, Introd. p. 63 sq. ; Hartmaini, 1 'erbind. etc., p. 491 ; comp. Grimm, Deutsche Rechts(dterth. p. 219 sq). We may here refer to the forty stripes (Deut. xxv, 2), It does not appear
that forty is particularly used as a round number in the Old Testament. (For its use among the Persians, see Gesenius, Lehrgeb. p. 700 ; Rosenmiiller, Ezech. iv, 6.)
Ten, the symbol of completeness (Biihr, p. 181 ; Heng- stenberg, .Iw^Ach. rf. Pentut. ii, 391) — but only in arith- metic, not in speculative philosophy — does not appear prominently in the Old Testament, although tithes oc- cur at a very early period. Within the range of prop- erly sacred use we tind ten only in the number of the commandments and the measures of the Tabernacle (Exod. xxvi, 27 ; 1 Kings vi and vii) ; and the designa- tion of the tenth day occurs in the ritual but twice (Exod. xii, 3 ; Lev. xvi, 29 ; comp. Ewald, Isr. A Iterth. p. 364). Ten is also very often a round number. Only at a later period did the number ten assume a peculiar importance in the Jewish liturgj-. It was the least number that could eat together the Paschal lamb (Jo- sephus, War, vi, 9, 3). A synagogue must be built in a city which contained ten Jews ; only ten persons could repeat the church-prayer " Shem;\" (see Mishna, Megilla, iv, 3; comp. i, 3). The Jews, then, easily found this significance of the number in the Scripture (see Mishna, Pirke Aboth, v, 1-6; comp. Philo, Oj^p. i, 243, 259, 532; ii, 35, 183 sq., 355). The decalogue afforded an obvi- ous parallel (see Othon. Lex. Rabbin, p. 470 ; Biihr, p. 182 sq.). The origin of the decimal system is evidently from the use of the fingers in counting.