Formulas 3

Formulas exist in all literature in various forms. One of the ways language can show formulas is to establish a system of reference that is the same over time. This happened in ancient times with using numbers to represent something other than numerical value. In the oldest story known to humanity, The Epic of Gilgamesh, the number 10 is used to show something like intensity or difficulty level. The number 7 is used as well to show completion. These numbers took on symbolic value. Other ancient literature echoed the same system. The Trojan War of the Odyssey also lasted 10 years. Whether the war lasted 10 years or not is debatable and many scholars do not think the war was that long or even close. But, the war would have been long, arduous, difficult, and intense, just what the number stands for.

So when a reader reads about famine in the Joseph story of the Old Testament, the number of years in the cycles of plenty and famine follow the well established system of numbers having something other than numerical value. They tell us more about the big picture, the perfection of the timing on the part of the One who brought about the seasons of plenty and famine. When one reads about 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls of wrath in the New Testament, one knows that the seals, trumpets, and bowls represent an idea other than mere numbers, the correctness of a judgment scene between creator and creation, for example.

Formulas are meant to enhance a story or narrative rather than to confuse a story. What a pity that so many people want words to only have one meaning, a literal meaning, when formulas lead us into thinking along the lines of a more fanciful meaning.