The Number Seven in the Law and This Age
…multiplied the seven and set the limit within it. And after seven years the Hebrew was set free from slavery (Exodus 21:2). Seven weeks of years made up the renowned Jubilee for the people of old (Leviticus 25:8–10), in which the land kept sabbath, debts were cancelled, and there was release from slavery; and in the number seven a new life, as it were, began afresh, with the old in a way reaching its completion.
These things are types of this present age, which circles round through the seven days and runs past us. In it the penalties for lesser sins are paid off, in keeping with the loving care of the good Master, so that we may not be handed over to punishment in the endless age. The “seven times,” then, is used because of its kinship with this world, as with world-loving people, from them…
Greek
ἑπτὰ πολυπλασιάσας, ἐν αὐτῷ τὸν ὅρον ἔθετο. Καὶ δι' ἑπτὰ ἐτῶν ὁ Ἑβραῖος ἀπελύετο τῆς δουλείας. Ἑπτὰ δὲ ἑβδομάδες ἐτῶν τὸ ὀνομαστὸν Ἰωβίλαιον ἐποίουν τοῖς πάλαι, ἐν ᾧ ἐσαββάτιζεν ἡ γῆ, χρεῶν δὲ ἦσαν ἀποκοπαὶ, καὶ δουλείας ἀπαλλαγὴ, καὶ οἱονεὶ νέος ἄνωθεν καθίστατο βίος ἐν τῷ ἑβδοματικῷ ἀριθμῷ, τοῦ παλαιοῦ τρόπον τινὰ τὴν συντέλειαν δεχομένου. Ταῦτα δὲ τύποι τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, ὃς διὰ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἡμερῶν ἀνακυκλούμενος ἡμᾶς παρατρέχει· ἐν ᾧ γίνονται αἱ τῶν μετριωτέρων ἁμαρτημάτων ἐκτίσεις, κατὰ τὴν φιλάνθρωπον ἐπιμέλειαν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ∆εσπότου, ὡς μὴ τῷ ἀπεράντῳ αἰῶνι παραδοθῆναι ἡμᾶς εἰς κόλασιν. Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἑπτάκις, διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον συγγένειαν ὡς τῶν φιλοκόσμων ἀνθρώπων ἀπ' αὐτῶν