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Number Seventy

Seven, the Biblical Number

Biblical authors employed the number 7 in numerous ways to express the ideas of completion, perfection, and holiness and to highlight keywords or elements within a text.

Dr.

Elaine Goodfriend

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Sukkot’s Seventy Bulls

The Torah’s adaptation of a polytheistic ancient West-Semitic custom of sacrificing to seventy gods.

Dr.

Noga Ayali-Darshan

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“All of Jacob’s Descendants Numbered Seventy-Five” – The Opening of Exodus in the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Book of Exodus begins with an accounting of the members of Jacob's family who went with him to Egypt. Our Torah, the Masoretic Text, lists 70 people. Dead Sea Scroll manuscript 4QExb, however, records 75 people. How do we account for this and other differences between the texts?

Prof.

Marc Zvi Brettler

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Reading Biblical Genealogies

Genealogical lists are often overlooked, and yet they represent a distinct biblical literary genre with ideological content. What messages are these lists meant to convey?

Prof.

Aaron Demsky

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