June 24th will mark my seventieth birthday, and its arrival has convinced me that this is not just a number higher than 69. It’s a marker in life which calls us all to attention. It may not be the end of life, but, like a distant outpost which stands near a well-defined border, you may and should be able to see the end from there. To change the metaphor, Seventy does not mean the game is over, but it’s a signal that we have entered “Ovetime.”
No one who reads the Bible can be ignorant of the significance of the seven/seventh/seventy/seventieth language to be found in Scripture. There are 359 references to “seven”, 115 for “seventh”, and another 41 for “seventy.” Some of these references are quite ordinary. Sometimes there just are seven men or seven days or seven sons and daughters. But when the Seven or Seventy is a number attributed to God’s word, there is often more to see than just a number. Seven quite clearly communicates a sense of completion, or an achievement accomplished. In Scripture, Seven represents the fullness of God’s blessing, or the fullness of God’s judgment applied.
Similarly, Seventy is a number of completeness.
It’s the full number of Jacob’s family who came to Egypt at the request of Joseph
It’s the number of Israel’s elders who are invited to eat and drink in the presence of God on Mount Sinai
Seventy is the number of years allotted to Israel’s captivity in Babylon
At the same time, Seventy also represents the years until Babylon will suffer the loss of its empire to the Medes and Persians
But there remains one of the most familiar occurrences of Seventy, which is found in Psalm 90.
The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away (Psalm 90:10)
Here Seventy does not serve as an absolute term limit which occurs to all. Rather, it points to the completion of life, and it reinforces the doctrine of God’s sovereignty over all that exists. Our days are indeed numbered before we are born, and nothing will trump God’s determination of our beginning and our end.
This is why I find myself drawn to the “Overtime” analogy. Overtime acknowledges that there is a game yet to be completed, and a final score which even the players on the court cannot control. But, as is the case in sports, Overtime is going to be short. It will end either with a goal made or a clock expired.
The lesson of Seventy is not lost on Moses He makes his pleas to God from a fixed position of human mortality and vulnerability.
Teach us to number our days that we may present a heart of wisdom…
Make us glad for as many years as you have afflicted us…
Establish the works of our hands…
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love…
The game is not over. Not today. In the meantime, it’s another day to know God better and serve God more joyfully, until the clock expires.