# 7 (number)

7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, this number has great symbolic associations in religion, mythology, superstition and philosophy. There were seven Classical planets, the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, seven liberal arts, seven days of creation in the Bible, as there are still seven days in a week. It is often considered a lucky number in Western culture and as highly symbolic.

## Quotes

* And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.
** Book of Numbers, Ch. 23:1.
* The seven liberal arts do not adequately divide theoretical philosophy; but, as Hugh of St. Victor says, seven arts are grouped together (leaving out certain other ones), because those who wanted to learn philosophy were first instructed in them. And the reason why they are divided into the trivium and quadrivium is that "they are as it were paths (viae) introducing the quick mind to the secrets of philosophy."
** Thomas Aquinas, as cited in Pierre Hyacinth Conway, Benedict Ashley, The liberal arts in St. Thomas Aquinas (1959) p. 8.
* The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him; This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king: That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.
** Book of Daniel, 4:20-26.
* Number mysticism was not original with the Pythagoreans. The number seven, for example, had been singled out for special awe, presumably on account of the seven wandering stars or planets from which the week (hence our names for the seven days of the week) is derived. The Pythagoreans were not the only people who fancied that the odd numbers had male attributes and the even female... Many early civilizations shared various aspects of numerology, but the Pythagoreans carried number worship to its extreme...
** Carl B. Boyer, A History of Mathematics (1968) p.52, 2nd edn.
* He (Gilgamesh) crossed the first mountain with him (Enkidu), but the cedars were not revealed to his heart. The second mountain, the third mountain, the fourth mountain, the fifth mountain, (and) the sixth mountain. When he was crossing the seventh mountain, the cedars were revealed to his heart.
** Gilgamesh and Huwawa (c. 2100 BC) Version B, as translated by Kazuo Muroi, The Origin of the Mystical Number Seven in Mesopotamian Culture: Division by Seven in the Sexagesimal Number System (2014)
* ARTS, Liberal, or Seven Liberal. The distinction between the liberal arts and the practical arts on the one hand, and philosophy on the other, originates in Greek education and philosophy. In the Republic (Bk. xi.) of Plato, and the Politics (viii. 1) of Aristotle, the 'liberal arts' are those subjects that are suitable for the development of intellectual and moral excellence, as distinguished from those that are merely useful or practical. The distinction was always made, by the Greek theorists, between music, literature in the form of grammar and rhetoric, and the mathematical studies, and that higher aspect of the liberal discipline termed philosophy. Philosophy was sometimes called the liberal art par excellence.
** Daniel Coit Gilman et al. et. (1905) The New International Encyclopædia, lemma "Arts, Liberal"
* I have now established... that the human encephalos does not increase after the age of seven, at highest. This has been done, by measuring the heads of the same young persons, from infancy to adolescence and maturity; for the slight increase in the size of the head, after seven (or six) is exhausted by the development to be allowed in the bones, muscles, integuments, and hair.
** William Hamilton, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic (1860) Vol. 1, Appendix, p.423.
* Mathematicians have constructed a very large number of different systems of geometry, Euclidean or non-Euclidean, of one, two, three, or any number of dimensions. All these systems are of complete and equal validity. They embody the results of mathematicians' observations of their reality, a reality far more intense and far more rigid than the dubious and elusive reality of physics. The old-fashioned geometry of Euclid, the entertaining seven-point geometry of Veblen, the space-times of Minkowski and Einstein, are all absolutely and equally real. ...There may be three dimensions in this room and five next door. As a professional mathematician, I have no idea; I can only ask some competent physicist to instruct me in the facts.
** G. H. Hardy, "The Theory of Numbers," Nature (Sep 16, 1922) Vol. 110 p. 381.
* Writers differ with respect to the apophthegms of the Seven Sages, attributing the same one to various authors.
** Diogenes Laërtius, The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.) Book 1: The Seven Sages
* A person who circumambulates this House (the Ka’bah) seven times and performs the two Rak’at Salat (of Tawaaf) in the best form possible will have his sins forgiven.
** Muhammad, Bihar al-Anwar (ca. 1694-1698 AD)) Vol. 96, p. 49.
* Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times (or seventy times seven)."
** New Testament, in Matthew 18:21 New International Version (NIV)
* The folly of Interpreters has been, to foretell times and things by this Prophecy, as if God designed to make them Prophets. By this rashness they have not only exposed themselves, but brought the Prophecy also into contempt. The design of God was much otherwise. He gave this and the Prophecies of the Old Testament, not to gratify men's curiosities by enabling them to foreknow things, but that after they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event, and his own Providence, not the Interpreters, be then manifested thereby to the world. For the event of things predicted many ages before, will then be a convincing argument that the world is governed by providence. For, as the few and obscure Prophecies concerning Christ’s first coming were for setting up the Christian religion, which all nations have since corrupted; so the many and clear Prophecies concerning the things to be done at Christ’s second coming, are not only for predicting but also for effecting a recovery and re-establishment of the long-lost truth, and setting up a kingdom wherein dwells righteousness. The event will prove the Apocalypse; and this Prophecy, thus proved and understood, will open the old Prophets, and all together will make known the true religion, and establish it. For he that will understand the old Prophets, must begin with this; but the time is not yet come for understanding them perfectly, because the main revolution predicted in them is not yet come to pass. In the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets: and then the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign for ever, Apoc. x. 7. xi. 15. There is already so much of the Prophecy fulfilled, that as many as will take pains in this study, may see sufficient instances of God’s providence: but then the signal revolutions predicted by all the holy Prophets, will at once both turn men’s eyes upon considering the predictions, and plainly interpret them. Till then we must content ourselves with interpreting what hath been already fulfilled. Amongst the Interpreters of the last age there to scarce one of note who hath not made some discovery worth knowing; and thence I seem to gather that God is about opening these mysteries. The success of others put me upon considering it; and if I have done any thing which may be useful to following writers, I have my design.
** Isaac Newton, in Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John (1733) Vol. II, Ch. 1 : Introduction, concerning the time when the Apocalypse was written
* There are Seven Seals to be opened, that is to say, Seven mysteries to know, and Seven difficulties to overcome, Seven trumpets to sound, and Seven cups to empty. The Apocalypse is, to those who receive the nineteenth degree, the Apotheosis of that Sublime Faith which aspires to God alone, and despises all the pomps and works of Lucifer. ...[T]raditions are full of Divine Revelations and Inspirations: and Inspiration is not of one Age nor of one Creed. Plato and Philo, also, were inspired.
** Albert Pike, in Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), Ch. XIX : Grand Pontiff, p. 321.
* Seven scores, seven scores, seven hundreds of saints, And seven thousands and seven ten scores, November a number implored, Though martyrs good they came.
** Taliesin, The Elegy of the Thousand Sons, Book of Taliesin (ca., 10th-14th century) Marvnat y Vil Veib as in W. F. Skene (1858)
* Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fiction! Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane—like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice, and invented hell—mouths mercy, and invented hell—mouths Golden Rules and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people, and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites his poor abused slave to worship him!
** Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger (1922) The Mark Twain Company, p. 139.
* The expression artes liberales, chiefly used during the Middle Ages, does not mean arts as we understand the word at this present day, but those branches of knowledge which were taught in the schools of that time. They are called liberal (Latin liber, free), because they serve the purpose of training the free man, in contrast with the artes illiberales, which are pursued for economic purposes; their aim is to prepare the student not for gaining a livelihood, but for the pursuit of science in the strict sense of the term, i.e. the combination of philosophy and theology known as scholasticism. They are seven in number and may be arranged in two groups, the first embracing grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic, in other words, the sciences of language, of oratory, and of logic, better known as the artes sermocinales, or language studies; the second group comprises arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music, i.e. the mathematico-physical disciplines, known as the artes reales, or physicae.
** Otto Willmann "The Seven Liberal Arts", The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907) New York: Robert Appleton Company.
* [W]hile these patterns, the constellations, remained unchanging over time, there were seven objects, or ‘heavenly bodies’, that seemed to move across the skies with a life of their own. They were given the name ‘planet’... ‘wanderer’... These... were the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn... The number seven has long been held to have a certain mystical significance. There are seven days of the week reflecting the seven days of creation in the Bible. The Seven Deadly Sins are balanced by the Seven Heavenly Virtues. In Islam there are seven levels in heaven and the same number in hell. Rome was founded upon Seven Hills. It has been said that Isaac Newton divided the rainbow into seven colours in order to imitate the seven notes in a musical scale. Over time, each of the seven heavenly bodies came to be associated with a particular day of the week and with one of the gods from ancient mythology...
** Peter Wothers, Antimony, Gold, And Jupiter’s Wolf How The Elements Were Named (2019) pp. 1-3.
* Give me a child till he is seven years old, and I will make him what no one will unmake. ...Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man.
** Francis Xavier, from an earlier expression of Aristotle. Ref: W.L. Newman The Politics of Aristotle: With an Introduction, Two Prefactory Essays and Notes Critical and Explanatory (1902). Ref: Janice Richardson, Elizabeth Milovidov, Roger Blamire. Bullying: Perspectives, Practice and Insights (2017). Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe. p. 157.
* In regard to Philolaus, we are told... that he derived geometrical determinations (the point, the line, the surface, the solid) from the first four numbers, so he derived physical qualities from five, the soul from six; reason, health, and light, from seven; love, friendship, prudence, and inventive faculty from eight. Herein (apart from the number schematism) is contained the thought that things represent a graduated scale of increasing perfection; but we hear nothing of any attempt to prove this in detail, or to seek out the characteristics proper to each particular region.
** Eduard Zeller, A History of Greek Philosophy from the Earliest Period to the Timee of Socrates (1881) Tr. Sarah Frances Alleyne, Vol. 1, p. 475.

### Book of Revelation (ca., 81–96 AD)

* I John... was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches... And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man... His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire... and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying... I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen... The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
** Ch. 1.
* And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and... the earth... and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
** Ch. 10.

## See also

* 1 (number)
* Number
* History of mathematics
* Mathematics and mysticism
* Monism
* Trinity
* Unification in science and mathematics
* Unity

## External links

* 7 number symbolism @Britannica.com
* "The Octonions" by John C. Baez, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society (2002) American Mathematical Society. 39 (2): 152–153.
* The Origin of the Mystical Number Seven in Mesopotamian Culture: Division by Seven in the Sexagesimal Number System by Kazuo Muroi.