Job 5:19

19. Six troubles The speaker first incidentally suggests six, but as seven is the number expressive of completeness, he adds “in seven troubles;” that is, in all troubles, God will protect us against evil. He goes on to specify a few, say five, troubles, although Cocceius and Schultens conceive that seven are enumerated. Davidson sees a fine gradation in the ills, and observes that they are coupled together in pairs: First pair: Public national calamity famine and sword, (20.) Second pair: Personal private wrong from the powerful or malevolent calumny, violence, (21.) Third pair: Personal private misfortune hunger, (want from failure,) beasts of the field, (ravages on private property,) (22, 23.) “The number seven was esteemed a holy number also among other peoples, as the Persians, Hindus, and the ancient Germans.” WINER, Rwb. This wondrous word “SEVEN,” according to Cicero, contains the mystery of all things, and tends, as Hippocrates, the ancient philosopher, said, through its occult virtues to the evolution of all things. The identity of the Hebrew word with שׁבע , “to swear,” “take an oath,” as if men swore by this word seven, shows that from very ancient times it has been associated with a sacred idea.