The number 70
The nations, Israel's eldership, the appointed span
Seventy stands where God numbers a whole. The Table of Nations lists seventy peoples (Genesis 10); Jacob's house comes into Egypt seventy souls (Exodus 1:5; Deuteronomy 10:22 — 'thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons'); seventy elders ascend with Moses and eat before God (Exodus 24:1, 9) and receive of the Spirit (Numbers 11:16-25). Judah's exile is fixed at seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11; 29:10; Daniel 9:2; 2 Chronicles 36:21); a man's days are 'threescore years and ten' (Psalm 90:10). Jesus sends 'seventy others' ahead of him (Luke 10:1) — the mission wearing the nations' number — and sets forgiveness at 'seventy times seven' (Matthew 18:22).
The mathematics
- 70 = 2 × 5 × 7, and the seventh pentagonal number.
- Seventy is the number of ways to choose four things from eight — the central binomial coefficient.
- It is the smallest weird number: its divisors overshoot it (1 + 2 + 5 + 7 + 10 + 14 + 35 = 74), yet no combination of them adds to exactly 70. It is the only weird number below two hundred.
Every property here was checked before it was printed.
What they have said about this number
Perfect spiritual order carried out with all spiritual power.
“7 × 10 signifies perfect spiritual order carried out with all spiritual power and significance. Both spirit and order are greatly emphasised.”
First occurrence
Lamech's boast: 'If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold' — the vengeance Jesus inverts into forgiveness.
The pattern in Scripture
- Seventy nations in Genesis 10; seventy sent in Luke 10
- Seventy souls into Egypt (Exod 1:5; Deut 10:22)
- Seventy elders before God (Exod 24:1; Num 11:16-25)
- Seventy years of exile, prophesied and counted (Jer 25:11; Dan 9:2)
- Seventy weeks decreed (Dan 9:24)
Key verses
And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: and Joseph was in Egypt already.
For thus saith Jehovah, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you.
Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself was about to come.
The days of our years are threescore years and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore years.
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven.
Related numbers
The works behind these readings
- E. W. Bullinger, Number in Scripture (1894)The standing catalogue of what each number means and where it returns: the spine of this whole section. Public domain; free to read in full.
- John J. Davis, Biblical Numerology (1968)The counting discipline: which numbers the text itself repeats, and which readings run past what it says.
- Ryken, Wilhoit & Longman (eds.), Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (1998)The entries on Three, Seven, Twelve and Forty: how each image works across both testaments.
- Chuck Missler, Cosmic Codes (1999)The letter-value material and the design case built on it.
- Troy Brewer, Numbers That Preach (2007)What each number preaches: the founder's named guide, quoted here within the cap on living authors, with the book named so you can go and read it whole.