- All the Questions
Yericho conquest by Yehoshua
Question
What is the signifigance of the number seven in th estory of the conquest of Yericho?
Thank you
Shalom POllack
Answer
BH
Shalom Shalom,
There is great significance and symbolism in all of the numbers in
Judaism. The Maharal and others explain that the number seven
represents the complete natural cycle of the world which includes the
physical (six days of creation) and the spiritual (Shabbat).
Similarly, there are six days in a week and the 7th is Shabbat, 6
years in a sabbatical cycle, then the 7th year is Shmitta, etc. It’s
written at the end of the Book of Y’hoshua (ch. 24) that the seven
nations of Cana’an all fought against Israel in Y’richo. Our rabbis
explain in the midrash (Bamidbar Rabba 15, 15) that this means to say
that Jericho, which was on the border of the Jordan river, was the
“padlock” of Eretz Yisrael, and conquering her opens the lock to begin
the liberation of the rest of the Holy Land, inhabited then by the 7
nations of Canaan. Midrash Tanchuma (Masei 5) points out that Y’richo
was conquered on Shabbat, the seventh day. If so, it makes sense that
the seven days of circling Y’richo, and 7 times on the 7th day, 7
kohanim, 7 shofars etc. all point to the fact that the beginning of
the liberating of the Holy Land, which encompasses the spiritual
(“Holy”) and physical (“Land”), is typified so well with the unity of
the physical and the spiritual, as symbolized by the number seven.
With Love of Israel,
Rav Ari Shvat

Jewish Bechira vs. the Goyim
Rabbi Jonathan Blass | 18 Tammuz 5763

A Middle Name that Won’t be/Isn’t Used
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Av 11, 5782
Fasting issues
Rabbi Daniel Kirsch | Tammuz 21, 5782

Havdalah on Chol Hamoed
Various Rabbis | 18 Nisan 5767

Rabbi Ari Shvat
Lectures at various yeshivot, michlalot and midrashot. Has published many books & Torani articles and is in charge of Rav Kook’s archives.

baruch hamavdil
Adar I 23, 5771

Ayin hara and Rambam
Tevet 28, 5771

Birkat Hamazon - extra verses
Adar II 25, 5771

A Day is a thousand years
Adar I 23, 5771

Mezzuzah for Non Jew
Rabbi David Sperling | Iyyar 18, 5773

Carrying a baby on Shabbat with no Eruv
Rabbi David Sperling | Sivan 14, 5779

Mehadrin/Rabbanut
Various Rabbis | 16 Cheshvan 5764
Genesis 24: 2-9 – Put your hand under my thigh
Rabbi Moshe Leib Halberstadt | Tevet 26, 5770

A Middle Name that Won’t be/Isn’t Used
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Av 11, 5782

Revising Nachem on Tisha bAv after 6 Day War
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Av 5, 5782

Preparation for Davening
Rabbi David Sperling | Av 7, 5782
