Jon Collins

So what's interesting is missing from this list that's going to come in another list that's similar to this later on is your wife.

Yeah.

Down in command number 10, where it says don't covet your neighbor's wife, that's the first on the list.

And then it's like his male slave, female slave, ox, donkey.

Well, but they can't have eight in the list, right?

Exactly.

My point is that the list has been trimmed so that it's precisely seven on the list.

So it's a good example of how biblical authors selectively create groups of seven on purpose.

So seven is, again, it's the Hebrew word Sheva.

It's spelled with the same letters as the Hebrew word Sava, which means to fill up or to satisfy, complete.

So it's a very common literary device to arrange things in groups of seven.

But also notice that this is a command about the seventh day.

Right.

So the seventh day is a completion of work.

There should be no rest.

And who is it that gets to benefit from the resting from work?

Everybody.

That's the point.

A seven-part list.

The complete community.