70 (Seventy)
Symbolic treatment of this number in the corpus
Bullinger · Jones
Seventy is the number of universality and the restoration of all things: the product of seven (spiritual perfection) and ten (divine order), describing the ordering of God’s purpose on a universal scale. Bullinger connects it to the ordering of the nations and of Israel in captivity. Jones develops the apokatastasis theme: seventy nations from Noah, seventy years of captivity, and the seventy weeks of Daniel as an expression of God’s universal restoration plan.
Biblical References
| Reference | Context |
|---|---|
| Gen. 10:1-32 | Seventy nations: the full community of peoples after the flood |
| Ex. 1:5 | Seventy souls of the house of Jacob went down to Egypt |
| Jer. 25:11 | Seventy years of Babylonian captivity for Jerusalem |
| Dan. 9:24 | Seventy weeks are determined upon the people of Daniel |
| Luke 10:1 | Jesus sends out seventy disciples, two by two |
Symbolism in the Corpus
E.W. Bullinger
Bullinger describes seventy as 7 × 10: spiritual perfection on the scale of the ordering of the nations. The seventy years of Babylonian captivity (Jer. 25:11) are God’s answer to seventy uncelebrated sabbath years; the seventy disciples whom Jesus sends out (Luke 10:1) are his universal witnesses to all nations. The seventy souls who descended to Egypt (Ex. 1:5) and the seventy nations in Gen. 10 together describe the full human community standing under God’s governance. 1
Stephen E. Jones
Jones connects seventy to the restoration of all things: “70 — Universality, Restoration of All Things.” The seventy nations in Gen. 10 form the complete community of peoples that God intends to restore. As 7 × 10, seventy combines the spiritual perfection of God’s purpose (seven) with the ordering of his law (ten). The seventy weeks of Daniel (Dan. 9:24) describe the chronological period of God’s redemptive work for all Israel and, through Israel, for all peoples — an apokatastasis motif that types seventy as the number of universal restoration. 2
In The Struggle for the Birthright (chs. 5, 8), Jones grounds the symbolic weight of seventy in direct citations. On the Babylonian captivity he writes: “The survivors were compelled to go to Babylon to serve out their seventy-year sentence (Jer. 25:11) under an iron yoke.” He notes that the Babylonian empire itself also lasted seventy years (607–537 BC) and that Jerusalem’s captivity correspondingly spanned seventy years (604–534 BC) — a symmetry underscoring God’s providential ordering of the number. He additionally cites Dan. 9:24-25 in the context of the rejection of Jesus: the seventy weeks marked the close of the prophetic-legal period and the opening toward the eschatological New Jerusalem. 3
Composite Use
Bullinger and Jones both treat seventy as 7 × 10: spiritual perfection (seven) on the scale of divine order (ten). The universal scope of the number describes not only the extent of earthly judgment but also the scope of restoration: all seventy nations stand under God’s counsel. 1