Good Friday 2023 is happening on the 7th of April.
At first glance, it is nothing out of the ordinary, but there’s more than what meets the eye when it comes to this date and this day. Here’s why this date is significant to the day and those celebrating it.
Most people love, or at least like, coincidences. Coincidences can be powerful moments and if they happen enough times, they can pull one’s curiosity to investigate. But Good Friday falling on the seventh day of the month is far from a theory-building coincidence, although that doesn’t make it any less interesting.
Why it is important to you
Consider it a happy coincidence.
If your lucky number is seven, then you might be onto some good luck.
If you have not been getting enough rest, you might want to try that tomorrow.
You might also want to tap into feelings of being enough, creation and completion in certain areas of your life.
How does this significance come about?
One of the significant events that happened on the day of Christ’s death, which we now remember as Good Friday, is when he uttered his final words before dying. The word “tetelestai” (Hebrew) or “It is finished.”
In Genesis, it is said that when God was done with creating the earth He rested on the seventh day. He actually said the same thing because the Hebrew word Shabbat means “to cease from.” God ceases his work because “it is finished” (Gen 2:1)”
But it goes deeper than that because the number seven is interwoven into the fabric of Christianity and “the universe” according to Tim Mackie, Co-Founder of the Bible Project and PhD in Semitic Languages and Biblical Studies.
Relevance of the 7th day in creation and continuation
“The idea of resting and the number seven are intimately connected in the Bible,” says Mackie. “In Genesis 1, the word or number “seven” has two key symbolic meanings: seven represents a full and complete world, and getting to seven is a linear journey from one to seven. The rhythm of resting every seventh day is one way that humans can imitate God and act like they are participating in the new creation,” he adds.
He dives into some of the numeric symbolism in Genesis 1.
“The opening line of Genesis 1 has seven words, and the central word, untranslated in English, is two Hebrew letters, the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet: aleph and taw. There are many other ways the number seven is symbolic in the Genesis narrative: there are seven words in Genesis 1:1, and fourteen words in Genesis 1:2. There are seven paragraphs in Genesis 1:1-2:3 marked by “evening and morning.” The concluding seventh paragraph in Genesis 2:1-3 begins with three lines which have seven words each (Gen 2:2-3a).”
He also points out the number of times certain words are used and they are centered around this number.
“God” = 35x (7 x 5) “land” = 21x (7 x 3) “skies” = 21x (7 x 3) Keywords repeated seven times: “light” and “day” on day 2 “light” on day 4 “living creature” (חיה) on days 5-6 “God saw that it was good” God speaks 10 times in Genesis 1:1-2:3. Seven times are divine creative commands to the creation itself: “let there be….” Three times are divine initiatives toward humanity: “Let us make ‘adam…,” “be fruitful and multiply,” and “behold I have given to you….” he denotes.
Mackie cites fellow scholar Umberto Cassuto who said, “To suppose that all these appearances of the number seven are mere coincidence is not possible. This numerical symmetry is, as it were, the golden thread that binds together all the parts of the section.” (From his book, From Adam to Noah: A Commentary on the Book of Genesis)
According to Mackie, this numerical symbolism is intentional. He says that the authors send the message that seven represents the whole creation and also the journey to that creation.
Her are some other significant uses of the number seven
- “The biblical Hebrew word for “month” is “moon” (חדש). Each month consisted of 29.5 days, and each month consisted of four 7.3-day cycles, making a “complete” cycle of time. However, the sabbath cycle is independent of the moon cycle, and sabbaths do not coincide with the new moon. It is patterned after creation and stands outside of any natural cycle of time.”
- “Seven was symbolic in ancient near eastern and Israelite culture and literature. It communicated a sense of “fullness” or “completeness” (שבע “seven” is spelt with the same consonants as the word שבע “complete/full”).”
- “Set apart from all other days…the seventh day is blessed and established as the part of the time that assures fruitfulness, future orientation, continuity, and permanence for every aspect of life within the dimension of time,” says Mathilde Frey, The Sabbath in the Pentateuch, 45.
- “The suggestion is that the primordial seventh day exists in perpetuity, a sacred day that cannot be abrogated by the limitations common to the rest of the created order,” says Samuel H. Balentine, The Torah’s Vision of Worship, 93.
- “The seventh-day account does not end with the expected formula…The uniqueness of the seventh day opens the door to an eschatological interpretation. Literarily, the sun has not yet set on God’s Sabbath,” says Richard H. Lowery, Sabbath and Jubilee, 90.
Conclusion
The Seventh Day is disputed between Saturday and Sunday. But in this case, this editor has pulled the symbolism around the date, not the day.
To quote Lowery, “The sun has not yet set on God’s” seventh day.
