Number 17

CategoryJournal ✞Posted onAuthorJohn Stein

17 has started coming up. I am still getting “11” but now 17 is coming up. So, I started checking out the meaning. This is good. And, it is no light matter. God is saying that I am being made perfect or that He has perfected me. This is what comes out of trials as found in James 1. Oh boy, is the trial season coming to a close with God’s work being made complete?

It’s funny, Jim Hardee gave me Romans 8:28-39 just yesterday.

Meaning of Numbers
in the Bible
Lookup Bible Meaning of Numbers
1 –  2 –  3 –  4 –  5 –  6 –  6 and 7 –  7 –  8
8 and 7 –  8 and 13 –  9 –  10 –  11 –  12 –  13 –  14 –  15
17 –  19 –  20 –  21 –  22 –  24 –  25 –  27 –  28 –  29
30 –  31 –  40 –  42 –  50 –  51 –  65 –  70 –  120
153 –  200 –  390 –  400 –  430 –  490 –  666

Number Seventeen
(17)
The Number Seventeen

Seventeen stands out very prominently as a significant number. It is not a multiple of any other number, and therefore it has no factors. Hence it is called one of the prime (or indivisible) numbers. What is more, it is the seventh in the list of the prime numbers.

The prime number series runs 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, etc. Thirteen, it will be noted, is also a prime number, and is therefore important; but it is the sixth of the series: hence it partakes of the significance of the number 6, and is indeed an intensified expression of it.

In like manner Seventeen being the seventh of the series, it partakes of and intensifies the significance of the number seven. Indeed, it is the combination or sum of two perfect numbers—seven and ten—seven being the number of spiritual perfection, and ten of ordinal perfection.

Contrasted together the significance of these two numbers is clear; and when united in the number Seventeen we have a union of their respective meanings, viz., spiritual perfection, plus ordinal perfection, or the perfection of spiritual order.

We see a beautiful illustration in Romans 8:35-39.

Romans 8:35-39

Romans 8, which concludes the first great division of that all-important Epistle, sums up the blessings of those who are dead and risen in Christ. First we have a series of seven, then a series of ten. The seven are marked off by being put in the form of a question, while the ten are given as the answer to it.