Meaning of Numbers: The Number 700
The English phrase "seven hundred," used for the number 700, is recorded 40 times in 39 King James Bible verses.
The possible meaning of the number 700 is derived primarily from history in the Bible.
King Solomon indulged himself by maintaining a huge harem of women. He not only had 300 concubines, he had 700 wives who could bear heirs to his throne (1Kings 11:3)! These females, unfortunately, turned his heart away from serving the true God.
King David's war with the Ammonites began when they disrespected several of his emissaries (2Samuel 10:1 - 5). Although the Ammonites hired Aramean (Syrian) and other soldiers to fight with them, they lose to David's forces under Joab. The Syrians, after they are defeated helping the Ammonites, regroup east of the Jordan River. David and his army then attack and defeat the Syrian forces by killing 700 charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers.
And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together, and passed over Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him.
And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew the men of seven hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there (2Samuel 10:17 - 18, KJV).
Appearances of Number Seven Hundred
Shortly after the death of Joshua, a Levite's concubine is repeatedly raped then dies of her injuries in the Benjamite city of Gibeah. The demand from Israel's other eleven tribes that the rapists be turned over to receive justice is rejected by the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 20:1 - 13).
Israel's eleven tribes soon amass an army of 400,000 fighting men in order to punish their rebellious brethren. Benjamin, known for its fierce warriors and deadly accurate left-handed stone throwers, gathers 26,000 men to fight the invasion. Another 700 from the city of Gibeah also decide to fight.
And the children of Benjamin were numbered on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who drew sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred (700) chosen men.
Among all this people were seven hundred (700) chosen men, left-handed. Every one could sling stones at a hair's breadth, and not miss (Judges 20:15 - 16).
The Israelites, after two failed attempts, overcome the Benjamites and slaughter almost all their men. Only 600 males survive the fighting.
So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword. All of these were men of war.
But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness to the rock Rimmon, and they stayed in the rock Rimmon four months (Judges 20:46 - 47, HBFV).
King Asa and the Number 700
King Asa, the great-grandson of Solomon, ruled over the Kingdom of Judah from 910 to 869 B.C. He carried out several policies that were considered "good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God" (2Chronicles 14:2). He destroyed idols throughout the land, tore down pagan altars, and removed the places used for worshipping false gods. He also encouraged the people to seek after God (verses 3 - 5).
Asa, in his fifteenth year, won a spectacular victory over Zerah's one million strong army (2Chronicles 14:8 - 15). A prophet from God, immediately after his victory, encouraged him to continue his reforms (15:1 - 7). Asa then renovated the temple's burnt offering altar and celebrated his military triumph by offering 700 oxen to God.
And they offered to the Lord in that day of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred (700) oxen and seven thousand (7000) sheep. And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul . . . (2Chronicles 15:11 - 12, HBFV).
Defeat Leads to Human Sacrifice!
The Moabites, who had been paying tribute to Israel, took Israel's King Joram's ascension to the throne in 852 B.C. as an opportunity to rebel and stop their payments.
Joram, in response, sought and received the help of Judah's king and the king of Edom to fight against the Moabites (2Kings 3). The Lord, through Elisha the prophet, then promised the enemy would be conquered for the sake of Judah's involvement in the conflict.
Moab's attack of the allied forces not only failed, it resulted in their land being invaded and destroyed. Moab's King Mesha then attempted a desperate move, with 700 men, to overcome Edom's forces but could not.
Mesha's humiliating defeat, according to the Bible, led him to publicly sacrifice his eldest son, and heir to the throne, in order to appease his pagan god Chemosh!
And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too strong for him, he took with him seven hundred (700) men who drew swords in order to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not. So he took his oldest son, who would have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall (2Kings 3:26 - 27, HBFV).
More Info on Biblical Meaning of 700
There are 0 words in the Bible's original languages that are recorded exactly 700 times.
The English phrase "seven hundred," used for the number 700, is written the most in the book of Numbers (8 times) followed by Ezra (6) and both 1Chronicles and Nehemiah (5 each).
The Hebrew Gematria for Adam's son Seth (Strong's #H8352) is equal to 700 (300 + 400).
700 is the product of 2 x 2 (2 squared) x 5 x 5 (5 squared) x 7. All three numbers, 2, 5 and 7, are primes.
Four consecutive primes, if added together (167 + 173 + 179 + 181) are equal to 700.
A special version of the Hebrew letter Nun (14th letter of the alphabet) was used if it was found at the end of a word. This letter, called a "final Nun," has a numeric representation of 700.
The Greek letter Psi represents 700 (The Universal History of Numbers, pages 219 - 220).