Why did the psalmist praise God "7 times a day"? (119:164)
Psalms 119:1 - 176
ESV - 1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! 2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart.
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Asked October 04 2021
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Anonymous
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Tim Maas
The number seven is used on multiple occasions in the Bible as a symbol of completeness, finality, or intensity. Examples would include the seven days of creation (including the Sabbath)(which served as the basis for the seven-day week); the Israelites marching around the walls of the city of Jericho for seven days (as well as seven times on the seventh day) before God caused the walls to fall; God's words in Leviticus 26:18; and Peter's question to Jesus in Matthew 18:21. Similarly, the psalmist's act in praising God seven times a day is intended to indicate God being worthy of a perfect or complete degree of praise from the psalmist.
Jack Gutknecht
Psalm 119:164 “Seven times a day I praise You for Your righteous laws.” (NIV) The phrase means, “often, many times, beyond what is expected.” WW Compare Psalm 12:6: “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” (KJV). Or see the NET Bible: "Seven times a day I praise you because of your just regulations." The number “seven” is used rhetorically to suggest thoroughness. In the OT, seven is often the number of perfection or completion. FSB See Proverbs 24:16 King James Bible: "For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief." See also: The heat of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace was intensified sevenfold, Dan. 3:19. I follow the psalmist's example of not just praying when I awake and go to sleep but often throughout the day.
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