Apocalypse Explained #257
257. Because in this prophetical book numbers are often mentioned; and as no one can know the spiritual sense of what is contained in those numbers unless he knows what the particular numbers signify; for all numbers in the Word, as well as all names, signify spiritual things; and because the number seven is often mentioned amongst others, I am desirous here of showing that seven signifies all, and all things, also what is full and complete for that which signifies all, and all things, signifies also what is full and complete. For what is full and complete is said of the magnitude of a thing, and all and all things of multitude.
That the number seven has such a signification is evident from the following passages. In Ezekiel:
"The inhabitants of the cities of Israel shall set fire to and burn the arms, the shield also and the buckler, with the bow and the arrows, and with the hand-staff, and with the spear; and they shall kindle a fire with them seven years; and they shall bury Gog and all his multitude, and they shall cleanse the land seven months" (39:9, 11, 12).
The subject here treated of is the desolation of all things in the church. The inhabitants of the cities of Israel signify all the goods of truth, to set on fire and burn signifies to consume by evils. The arms, the shield, the buckler, the bows, the arrows, the hand-staff, the spear, denote everything pertaining to doctrine; to kindle fire with them seven years denotes to consume them all and fully by evils. Gog signifies those who are in external worship, and in no internal worship; to bury them and cleanse the land denotes to destroy them all, and completely to purge the church of them.
[2] In Jeremiah:
"Their widows shall be multiplied more than the sand of the seas, and I will bring to them upon the mother of the youths the waster at noon-day. She who hath borne seven shall languish, she shall breathe out her soul" (15:8, 9).
By the widows which will be multiplied are signified those who are in good and desire truths, and, in the opposite sense, as in the present case, those who are in evil and desire falsities. By the mother of the youths is signified the church; by the waster at noon-day is signified the vastation of that church, however much they may be in truths from the Word. By she that hath borne seven shall languish, she shall breathe out her soul, is signified that the church, to which all truths were given because the Word was given them, should perish; for she that hath borne seven signifies those to whom all truths were given. This is specifically said concerning the Jews.
[3] Similarly, in the first book of Samuel:
"They that were hungry ceased, so that the barren hath borne seven, and she that hath many children hath failed" (2:5).
The hungry who ceased denote those who desire the goods and truths of the church; the barren who hath borne seven signifies those who are outside the church and are ignorant of truths because they have not the Word, as the Gentiles, to whom all things will be given; she that hath many children failing signifies those who have truths, from whom they will be taken away. Again, in David:
"Render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom" (79:12).
And in Moses,
That the Jews should be punished seven times for their sins (Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28);
seven times here signifying fully.
[4] In Luke:
"And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him" (17:4).
Here, to forgive seven times, if he shall return seven times, denotes to forgive as often as the offender should return, and thus at all times. But lest Peter should understand seven times to be meant by these words, the Lord explains His meaning to him, as recorded in Matthew:
"Peter said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times, but until seventy times seven " (18:21, 22).
Seventy times seven is always, without counting. In David:
"Seven times a day do I praise thee for the judgments of justice" (Psalms 119:164).
Seven times a day denotes always, or at all times.
[5] Again:
"The sayings of Jehovah are pure sayings, as silver refined in a furnace of earth, purified seven times" (Psalms 12:6).
Here silver signifies truth from the Divine: purified seven times denotes that it is altogether and fully pure.
[6] In Isaiah:
"The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days" (30:26).
The light of the sun signifies Divine truth from Divine good: and that this light should be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, signifies that the Divine truth in heaven should be without any falsity, thus that it should be altogether and fully pure.
[7] In Matthew,
The unclean spirit "shall take with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and he shall dwell there" (12:45; Luke 11:26).
Here profanation is treated of, and by the seven other spirits with which the unclean spirit is said to return are signified all falsities of evil, thus a plenary destruction of good and truth.
[8] Similar is the signification of the seven times which were to pass over the king of Babylon, in Daniel,
"His heart shall be changed from man, and the heart of a beast shall be given unto him; while seven times shall pass over him" (4:16, 25, 32).
By the king of Babylon are signified those who profane the goods and truths of the Word. By his heart being changed from that of a man to that of a beast is meant that nothing spiritual, that is, truly human, should remain with him, but that instead there should be everything diabolical. By the seven times which were to pass over him is meant profanation, which is a complete destruction of truth and good.
[9] Because the terms seven, and seven times, signified all things, and also what is full, the following commands were given to the children of Israel:
Seven days their hands should be filled (Exodus 29:35).
Seven days they should be sanctified (Exodus 29:37).
Seven days Aaron should put on the garments when he was being initiated (Exodus 29:30).
Seven days they should not go out of the tabernacle when they were being initiated into the priesthood (Leviticus 8:33, 34).
Seven times expiation should be made upon the horns of the altar (Leviticus 16:18, 19).
Seven times should the altar be sanctified with oil (Leviticus 8:11).
Seven times should the blood be sprinkled before the veil (Leviticus 4:16, 17).
Seven times should the blood be sprinkled with the finger towards the east, when Aaron went in to the mercy seat (Leviticus 16:12-15).
Seven times should the water of separation be sprinkled towards the tabernacle (Num. 19:4).
Seven times should blood be sprinkled for the cleansing of leprosy (Leviticus 14:7, 8, 27, 38, 51).
The lampstand had seven lamps (Exodus 25:32, 37; 37:18-25).
Feasts should be celebrated for seven days (Exodus 34:18; Leviticus 23:4-9, 39-44; Deuteronomy 16:3, 4, 8).
Seven days of the feast there should be a burnt offering of seven bullocks and seven rams daily (Ezekiel 45:23).
Baalam built seven altars, and sacrificed seven oxen and seven rams (Num. 23:1-7, 15-18, 29, 30).
They numbered seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, and then should cause the trumpet of the jubilee to be sounded in the seventh month (Leviticus 25:8, 9).
From the signification of the number seven, it is evident what is signified
By the seven days of creation (Genesis 1).
Also by four thousand men being filled from seven loaves, and that seven basketsful of fragments remained over (Matthew 15:34-37; Mark 8:5-9).
Hence now it is clear what is signified in the Apocalypse,
By the seven churches (1:4, 11).
By the seven golden lampstands, in the midst of which was the Son of man (1:13).
By the seven stars in His right hand (1:16, 20).
By the seven spirits of God (3:1).
By the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne (4:5).
By the book sealed with seven seals (5:1).
By the seven angels to whom were given seven trumpets (8:2).
By the seven thunders which uttered their voices (10:3, 4).
By the seven angels having the seven last plagues, (15:1, 6).
By seven vials full of the seven last plagues (16:1; 21:9)
and elsewhere in the Word, where seven is mentioned.
Leviticus 25
1
Yahweh said to Moses in Mount Sinai,
2
"Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to Yahweh.
3
Six years you shall sow your field, and Six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in its fruits;
4
but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to Yahweh. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.
5
What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap, and the grapes of your undressed vine you shall not gather. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.
6
The Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you; for yourself, for your servant, for your maid, for your hired servant, and for your stranger, who lives as a foreigner with you.
7
For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food.
8
"'You shall count off seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and there shall be to you the days of seven Sabbaths of years, even forty-nine years.
9
Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.
10
You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you; and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.
11
That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. In it you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself, nor gather from the undressed vines.
12
For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field.
13
"'In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property.
14
"'If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.
15
According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to you.
16
According to the length of the years you shall increase its price, and according to the shortness of the years you shall diminish its price; for he is selling the number of the crops to you.
17
You shall not wrong one another; but you shall fear your God: for I am Yahweh your God.
18
"'Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety.
19
The land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.
20
If you said, "What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;"
21
then I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for the three years.
22
You shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits, the old store; until the ninth year, until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old store.
23
"'The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me.
24
In all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.
25
"'If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold.
26
If a man has no one to redeem it, and he becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it;
27
then let him reckon the years since its sale, and restore the surplus to the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return to his property.
28
But if he isn't able to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hand of him who has bought it until the Year of Jubilee: and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.
29
"'If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it has been sold. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption.
30
If it isn't redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee.
31
But the houses of the villages which have no wall around them shall be reckoned with the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.
32
"'Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time.
33
The Levites may redeem the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, and it shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.
34
But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.
35
"'If your brother has become poor, and his hand can't support him among you; then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident.
36
Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God; that your brother may live among you.
37
You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.
38
I am Yahweh your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
39
"'If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you; you shall not make him to serve as a slave.
40
As a hired servant, and as a temporary resident, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee:
41
then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers.
42
For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves.
43
You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.
44
"'As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have; of the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves.
45
Moreover of the children of the aliens who live among you, of them you may buy, and of their families who are with you, which they have conceived in your land; and they will be your property.
46
You may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession; of them may you take your slaves forever: but over your brothers the children of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness.
47
"'If an alien or temporary resident with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown poor, and sells himself to the stranger or foreigner living among you, or to a member of the stranger's family;
48
after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him;
49
or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may redeem him; or if he has grown rich, he may redeem himself.
50
He shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the Year of Jubilee: and the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years; according to the time of a hired servant shall he be with him.
51
If there are yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.
52
If there remain but a few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according to his years of service he shall give back the price of his redemption.
53
As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him: he shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight.
54
If he isn't redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee, he, and his children with him.
55
For to me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.
