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 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
which concludes the first great division of that all-important Epistle, and 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.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
Tribulation,
Or distress,
Or persecution,
Or famine,
Or nakedness,
Or peril,
Or sword?
as it is written, For Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that,
Neither death (1),
Nor life (2),
Nor angels (3),
Nor principalities (4),
Nor things present (5),
Nor things to come (6),
Nor powers (7),
Nor height (8),
Nor depth (9),
Nor any other creature (10),
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Thus is set forth the spiritual and eternal perfection of the believer's standing in Christ.