Meaning of Numbers: The Number 17
The English word "seventeen" for the number 17 appears 10 times in 10 King James Bible verses. It is found the most in the book of Genesis (twice). Surprisingly, the word is not found at all in the KJV version of the New Testament.
The word "seventeenth" is recorded six times in six verses. Like seventeen (17) it is only written in the Old Testament.
Timeline of Peter's Life and Ministry!
The meaning of the number 17 is that of "overcoming the enemy" and "complete victory." God overcame the sins of rebellious humans when he began to flood the earth through rain on the 17th of the second Hebrew month.
Noah's ark and its eight passengers rested on the mountains of Ararat on Tishri 17 after the flood waters had abated for 150 days.
And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. (Genesis 8:4, KJV).
According to the Holy Bible Faithful Version (page 13), the 17th time love is mentioned in 1Corinthians 13 the apostle Paul states that it is the greatest gift of all!
God's unending love (John 3:16) is truly victorious over all things. Those who stay faithful to God to the end of their lives will gain the victory over the grave when they are miraculously brought back to life (see 1Corinthians 15).
The Total of the Beast
Daniel 7's beasts have seven heads and ten horns, for a total number of 17. They represent world-ruling powers from Daniel's time to the Second Coming of Jesus. The devil's end-time system (Revelation 13) will have seven heads and ten horns, which totals 17.
All mankind will very soon obey and worship the devil and the Beast power. They will war against those who have faith in Jesus and keep the commandments, thus achieving a victory (though short-lived) against God's people (Revelation 13:1 - 8).
True Christians, however, will gain the ultimate victory over God's adversaries when he resurrects them back to life (Revelation 15:2; 20:4). One of the major themes of the Day of Atonement (commonly referred to as Yom Kippur), which occurs in the seventh Hebrew month on the tenth day, is the binding of Satan (see Revelation 20). Thus, 10 plus 7 equals the number 17, which testifies to Christ's perfect overcoming of Satan.
Biblical History and 17
Rehoboam, son of Solomon and the very first king of Judah after the kingdom split in 930 B.C., reigned for 17 years (930 to 913 B.C.).
And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess (1Kings 14:21, KJV).
Jehoahaz ruled the Kingdom of Israel from 814 to 798 or 17 official years (16 actual, 2Kings 13:1). He was the first of four generations of sovereigns who were descendants of King Jehu. This dynasty was promised by God to Jehu after he carried out the Eternal's will of destroying the house of King Ahab (2Kings 10:30). Jehu's dynasty ended up being the longest (88 years) of any ruler over the Kingdom of Israel.
Jesus' last Passover took place just after sunset on Tuesday, April 4 in 30 A.D. when Nisan 14 on the Hebrew (Biblical) calendar began. He was placed in his grave before sunset the next day (April 5). Three days later (April 8), as he predicted, he was resurrected from the dead near sunset on Saturday (as Nisan 17 was ending)!
Appearances of Number Seventeen
No Bible books have exactly seventeen chapters.
The Old Testament Biblical chapters of Leviticus 1, 3, Joshua 3, 1Samuel 7, 1Chronicles 14, 2Chronicles 1, 3, Ezra 5, Esther 4, 8, Job 23, 42, Psalm 7, 40, 45, 59, 86, 90, Ecclesiastes 8, Song of Solomon 1, 2, Isaiah 21, 34, 54, Jeremiah 12, 28, Ezekiel 4, 5, 25, Hosea 9, Amos 7, Jonah 1, Habakkuk 1, Zechariah 9, 11 and Malachi 2 have 17 verses in the King James Translation.
In the King James New Testament, the chapters Matthew 3, 2Corinthians 2, 2Thessalonians 2, 2Timothy 3, James 4, Revelation 6, 7 and 12 all contain 17 verses.
The book of James has material from seventeen Old Testament books. The book of 1Corinthians has 17 direct quotations from the Old Testament.
One of the longest names found in the word of God, containing seventeen letters, is Chushanrishathaim (Judges 3:8).
The Jubilee and Seventeen
The Jubilee year, commanded by God (Leviticus 25:9 - 11), was to be celebrated by ancient Israel after they settled the Promised Land. The division of the land among the tribes completed in 1398 B.C. (Joshua 14). There were 17 Jubilees from this date to the destruction of Jerusalem's temple in 586 B.C.
The 70th Jubilee year since the tribes received their inheritance ran from October 12, 1986 to October 3 the following year.
Parables
Chronologically, the seventeenth parable Jesus gave during his ministry is the parable of the tares (Matthew 13:24 - 30). He gave it between October 28 A.D. and early 29 A.D.
The gospel of Mark records 17 of Jesus' parables. They include the good physician (Mark 2:17), friends of the bridegroom (verses 19 - 20), the Sower (4:3 - 20), the lamp (verse 21), the growing seed (verses 26 - 29), and others. Of Mark's seventeen parables only two are unique to his gospel account.
Number 17 and God
In Romans 8:35 the apostle Paul asks a simple question which is "What shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (HBFV). He extends his question a little more by asking if the following seven things could separate us, which are tribulation, persecution, distress, nakedness, famine, the sword or any other danger.
Paul then tells us ten things that cannot get between our God and us. These are life, death, principalities, powers, angels, things present or to come, depth, height or anything created. Thus, we have 7 + 10 = 17, representing a Christian's perfect and eternal standing with God through Christ.
Herod the Great
Herod the Great was born around 72 B.C. After being named King of Judea by Rome he conquers Judea and Jerusalem to become its ruler in 37 B.C. It was Herod who ordered the murder of innocent male babies in the hope of destroying Jesus.
Then Herod, seeing that he had been mocked by the Magi, was filled with rage; and he sent and put to death all the boys who were in Bethlehem and in the area all around, from two years old and under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the Magi. (Matthew 2:16, HBFV).
Herod dies in 4 B.C. during the week of February 11 to 17. At the time of his death he ruled over the areas of Galilee, Samaria, Judea, Idumea, Auranitis and Batanea.
Visions and Seventeen
The word "vision" or its plural is recorded 17 times in 17 King James New Testament verses. It is written the most in Acts (12 times) followed by Luke (2). It first appears, chronologically, in reference to Zacharias being miraculously rendered unable to speak until the naming of his son John (the Baptist).
And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless. (Luke 1:22, KJV).
The word "vision" is also used in Jesus' warning to James, Peter and John not to tell anyone of his transfiguration until after his death.
And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. (Matthew 17:9, KJV).
Joseph, Jacob and Seventeen
Jacob, in 1692 B.C., moves his family of twelve sons and one daughter to Mamre (Hebron). At the age of 108 he endures the long journey so that he can reunite with his father Isaac whom he hasn't seen in 31 years! Jacob's second youngest son, Joseph, is 17 years old when the family settles in Hebron.
Joseph, while still 17 years old, receives his famous "coat of many colors" which distinguishes him from his brothers (Genesis 37:2 - 3). His brothers, however, out of jealousy for the special treatment he receives (Genesis 37:4 - 5, 11), hate him. They get their chance to get rid of him when they sell him to Ishmaelite traders for 20 pieces of silver (verses 20 - 28).
Joseph, in Egypt, will ultimately reunite with his brothers and the rest of his family twenty-two years after he was sold into slavery. Jacob will end up living in Egypt for 17 years (Genesis 47:28) until he dies at the ripe old age of 147.
The First Census
In 1445 B.C. Moses and the children of Israel left Egyptian bondage. One year later the first census of Israelites was commanded by God.
And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying "Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, according to their families . . ." (Number 1:1 - 2, HBFV).
The census command was given, "on the first day of the second month" which was Iyar 1 (April 17 in 1444 B.C.).
More Info on Biblical Meaning of 17
17 is the seventh prime number. The primes 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 come before it and those after it are 19, 23 and 29.
The city of Ephesus is mentioned 17 times in the King James New Testament. The capital of the Roman Province of Asia, the city boasted the second largest populated area in the known world at the time of the Apostle Paul. Ephesus was evangelized by Paul during his second and third missionary journeys, forming the first Christian church in the metropolis.
It is in 1Samuel 17 that David is anointed the future king over Israel. He is anointed by the prophet Samuel.
It is in 2Kings 17 which records the Assyrian Empire conquering Israel (the northern 10 tribes) and taking them captive back to Assyria. God's people were taken out of the land in 723 B.C.
The Hebrew amon, Strong's Concordance #H526, is found 17 times in 17 Hebrew Old Testament verses. It is found the most in the book of 2Chronicles (6 times). Amon was the name of the 15th ruler of the Kingdom of Judah after it had split from Israel in 930 B.C. After only two years on the throne he was assassinated by his servants (2Kings 21).
The Hebrew word yehoash, Strong's #H3060, is recorded 17 times in 16 Hebrew Old Testament verses. The word, translated as the name Jehoash in the King James, is found only in the book of 2Kings. Jehoash, the 13th King of Israel after the nation split in 930 B.C., reigned for sixteen years and dies in 782 B.C.
Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash (yehoash) which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? (2Kings 14:15, KJV).
Psalm 83, verses 6 to 11, lists seventeen enemies of Israel. Seven of these God destroyed in the past. The other ten foes will soon try to destroy the Israelites and "cut them off from being a nation." The Psalm, written by Davidic priests, beseeches the Eternal to treat Israel's future enemies like those in the past.
The seven enemies of Israel God destroyed in the past are the Midianites, Sisera, Jabin, Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah and Zalmunna. The future confederation prophesied to be against God's chosen are Edom, Ishmaelites, Moab, Hagarenes, Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistines, Tyre and Assyria. This makes for 17 total foes vanquished by the Eternal!