The following passage from the Book of Judges uses the number seven twice, and in some ways the usage appears to be incidental, and yet, it does not,

And he caught a young man of the men of Succoth and interrogated him; and he wrote down for him the leaders of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men (Judges 8.14).

The seventy-seven leaders of this town that refused to help Gideon, appears to be incidental, for in this case these men did not do the right thing, and typically we have seen seven represent something good.

Yet, the passage could simply have said that the young man whom Gideon caught, wrote down the names of the leaders of the city, and that would have been enough. However, the writer notes that the number of the names totaled seventy-seven.

What we are to make of this, if anything, I do not know. What are your thoughts?

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