852. The symbolism of the seventh month as holiness is abundantly clear from §§84-87, 395, 716 above, where this is demonstrated. The holiness implied here parallels what Genesis 2:3 said about the person of heavenly character: that the seventh day was consecrated because God rested on it. ¹

Footnotes:

716. The symbolism of seven each as things that are holy can be seen from what was said about the seventh or Sabbath day above at §§84-87. Those sections say that the Lord is the seventh day and that from him comes the entire heavenly church, or the heavenly person, and in fact the heavenly quality itself, which, because it belongs to the Lord alone, is very sacred. In the Word, accordingly, seven symbolizes holiness. ¹ Indeed the inner meaning contains absolutely no suggestion of numbers in places like this, since people absorbed by the inner meaning (angels and angelic spirits, for example) do not even know what a number is and so what seven is. As a result, the present verse makes no implication whatever that they took seven pairs of every clean animal or in other words, that they possessed goodness in a seven-to-two ratio to evil. The meaning is that the qualities of will with which the member of the church was being supplied were good ones, holy ones, which as noted [§§677, 679-680] make regeneration possible.

[2] The symbolism of seven as holiness or holy elements can be seen from the rituals of the representative church, ² in which the number seven crops up so many times. One example is the sevenfold spattering of some of the blood and oil [used in a ritual], as, for instance, in Leviticus:

Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the dwelling place and everything that was in it and consecrated them, and he spattered some of it on the altar seven times and anointed the altar and all its utensils to consecrate them. ³ (Leviticus 8:10-11)

Seven times would have had no meaning here at all had holiness not been represented by it. The oil symbolizes the holy quality of love. From another place:

When Aaron enters the holy place, he shall take some of the young ox's blood and spatter it with his finger on the face of the appeasement cover, toward the east, and he shall spatter some of the blood with his finger before the face of the appeasement cover seven times. Likewise, at the altar, he shall spatter some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and he shall cleanse it and consecrate it. (Leviticus 16:14, 19)

Each and every item here symbolizes the Lord himself and consequently the holiness of love — the blood, the appeasement cover, the altar, the east toward which the blood was to be spattered, and so the number seven as well.

[3] It was similar with the sacrifices, discussed in another place: ⁴

If a soul sins by mistake, or if an anointed priest sins, to the people's guilt, he shall slaughter a young ox before Jehovah, and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and spatter some of the blood seven times before Jehovah toward the veil of the holy place. (Leviticus 4:1, 3, 5, 6)

Here again seven symbolizes holiness, because the verses are describing atonement, which is exclusively the Lord's function, and as a result they are describing the Lord. Similar rituals were also established for the healing of leprosy as described in another place:

Using the blood of a flying creature, cedar wood, scarlet cloth, and hyssop, seven times the priest shall spatter the person to be cleansed of leprosy and cleanse the person. Again, seven times [he shall spatter] some of the oil that is on his left palm before Jehovah. And again, using the cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet cloth and flying creature's blood, seven times he shall spatter a house where there is leprosy. (Leviticus 14:6-7, 27, 51)

Anyone can see that there is absolutely nothing meaningful in the cedar wood, scarlet cloth, hyssop, oil, or flying creature's blood, or consequently in the number seven, unless it comes from their function in representing what is holy. If you remove all holy import from them, what remains is a lifeless triviality or something profane and idolatrous. When they symbolize something holy, on the other hand, the worship bound up in them is divine worship, which takes place deep within and is merely represented by the outward acts.

Certainly the Jews had no way of knowing what these things symbolized — the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet cloth, the bird — so no one today does either. Still, if they had only cared to, they could have considered that something holy but beyond their ken was involved. So they could have worshiped the Lord, or in other words, the Messiah who was to come and cure them of their leprosy, that is, of profaning what is holy. Then they could have been saved. ⁵ As soon as those who think this way and believe these things arrive in the other world, they learn (if they so desire) what every single detail represented.

[4] Something similar is said about the red cow:

The priest would take some of its blood on his finger and spatter some of its blood toward the face of the meeting tent seven times. (Numbers 19:4)

As the seventh day or Sabbath symbolized the Lord and (because of him) the heavenly person and heavenliness itself, in the Jewish religion the seventh day was far more sacred than any ritual. That was the reason for the absolute Sabbath every seventh year (Leviticus 25:4) and for the jubilee that was to be proclaimed after seven Sabbaths of years, that is, after seven times seven years (Leviticus 25:8-9).

The symbolism of seven at the highest level as the Lord and so as the holiness of love can also be seen from the golden lampstand with its seven lamps, which are described in Exodus 25:31, 32, 33, 37; 37:17, 18, 19, 23; Numbers 8:2-3; Zechariah 4:2. This is what John says about them:

... seven golden lampstands; in the middle of the seven lampstands was one like the Son of Humankind. (Revelation 1:12-13)

It is obvious that the lampstand with its seven lamps symbolizes the Lord and that lamps stand for holy love — a heavenly thing — which is why there were seven of them.

[5] In the same author:

From the throne came seven fiery lanterns burning before the throne, which are God's seven spirits. (Revelation 4:5)

The seven lanterns that came from the Lord's throne are seven lamps. The number seven has a similar meaning where it comes up in the prophets, as in Isaiah:

The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times as strong, like the light of seven days, on the day when Jehovah bandages his people's fracture. (Isaiah 30:26)

The light seven times as strong, like the light of seven days, does not mean any sevenfold strength but the holiness of the love that the sun symbolizes. See also the statements made and evidence offered above at Genesis 4:15 [§395].

These things add to the proof that no number in the Word, no matter what it is, ever has a merely numerical meaning. This too was shown above, at Genesis 6:3 [§§575-578].

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