Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Matthew 18.21

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

Genesis 17.1

Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

I Kings 8.61

If there is universal recognition of the symbolic meaning of any number in the Bible, it is certainly the meaning of the Number 7 as perfection, fulness, and completeness. This understanding arises from both the etymology of the Hebrew Sheva (Seven) and its explicit use in the text of Scriture (cf. Seven and Scripture). Peter knew this when he asked the question above, and Jesus knew it when He answered. Of course, Jesus - the Everlasting God - knows everything, including the numerical value of the word He designed before the foundation of the world and spoke to Father Abraham:

Consider the degree of integration represented in this equation! As mentioned above, the meaning of the Number Seven is established in etymology of the Hebrew language and reiterated in the plain text of Scripture. The equation Perfect = 70 x 7 coheres with both of these independent witnesses. We have therefore three independent witnesses to the same symbolic meaning of the Number 7. This meaning, and the command given by God to Abraham is amplified in the words of Solomon quoted above (1 Kings 8.61), where the word translated as perfect is Shalom (cf. Perfect Peace):

The Number 490 also relates to the nativity of the Lord. We have the pair of identities:

The phrase "my nativity" is from the root Moledeth (S# H4138) suffixed with the letter Yod to indicate first person possesive. The same root is used in Ezekiel 16.3, "Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan," showing that this word is used in Scripture to identity the place of birth. This adds great weight to idenity relating it to Bethlehem. The ultimate root of Moledeth is (Yeled, Birth = 44) which is a key concept that first appears in Genesis 4.

Bethlehem means the House (Beyt) of Bread (Lechem). What better place for the Bread of God to be born? This coheres with the numerical weight of the words "flour" and "food" shown in the table below.

Factors: 70 x 7

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