Our Bible contains both the Old and New Testament. A section of our Christianity would want to discard most of the Old Testament as an outdated concept of God’s religion. The reality is that if one has little knowledge of that part of our scriptures, it would be very difficult to properly understand certain aspects of the New Testament, since Jesus Christ himself and his Apostles frequently quoted verses from the Old Testament to emphasise some of their gospels.
Our Bible begins with the first book written by Moses on behalf of the Lord our God, which is commonly referred to as Genesis. The first two chapters deal with God’s creations which were finished in six days. Genesis 2:2-3 then reads: “On the seventh day God finished his works which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation”. Thereafter it would seem that the number, 7, always stands out when He sets some time limits to some things.
I will give some examples of the frequent use of the number in accordance with some of the contents of our Bible. On offerings, Exodus 22:29-30 states; “The first born of your sons you shall give to me. You shall do likewise with your oxen and with your sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eight day you shall give it to me”.
While we are mostly familiar with the seventh day we now refer to as the Sabbath, the Lord also proclaimed a Sabbath for the lands. Exodus 23:10-11 reads: “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but in the seventh you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild beasts may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard and with your olive orchard.”
The Lord our God also declared some three holy feasts to be observed every year. In each of them He used the number, seven, a reference for a particular timeline. The first of the three feasts, The Passover, is the mention of that number. He rules; “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the first day you shall put away leaven (yeast) out of your houses, for if anyone feasts on what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from the people:” (Exodus 12:15).
The second feast proclaimed is known as the Feast of Weeks, also referred to as the Feast of Harvest. The Lord also incorporates the number. It reads (Deuteronomy 16:9-10); “You shall count seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain. Then you shall keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your land, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.”
The same scenario arises again in His proclamation of the third feast of the year to be held after the thrashing of ingathering from the harvests. It is also known as the Feast of Booths. Deuteronomy 16:13-15 reads: “You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, when you make your ingatherings from your thrashing floor and wine press; … For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place which the Lord your God will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful”.
The Lord had this to say pertaining to a woman at menstruation or after she has given birth: “Say to the people; If a woman conceives, and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days, as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean: (Leviticus 12:1-3).
In Leviticus 12 reads; “When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot… the priest shall shut up the diseased person for seven days; and the priest shall examine him again on the seventh day; … and the priest shall make an examination, and if the eruption has spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is leprosy…”
Special mention is made for the seventh month, in reference to what is referred to as the Day of Atonement. Leviticus 16:29-34 reads of the words of the Lord; “It shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves, and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you, for on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you, from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. And the priest shall make atonement for the sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. And this shall be an everlasting statute for you that atonement shall be made for the people once in the year because of their sins.”
We have what is termed the “Jubilee Year”. Again the sacred number, seven, is used. Leviticus 25:8-12 reads; “You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall send abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seven month; on the Day of Atonement you shall send abroad the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall hallow the fifteenth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants; it shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be to you; in it you shall neither sow, nor reap what grows of itself, nor gather the grapes from the undressed wines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat what it yields out of the fields”.
- Prosper Tingini is the Scribe of the Children of God Missionary Assembly - God’s messengers. Contact details: Mobile and whatsapp – 0771 260 195. Email address: ptingini@gmail.com