This article is taken from a Side Note from The Genesis Epic, Men of Renown – Part xxxi – Mystery Babylon the Great. To read the complete article CLICK HERE.
Side Note: Number Seventeen. Why did God the Holy Spirit select this particular chapter in the last book of the Bible to place His judgment against this great system of evil: Babylon the great. Why seventeen? Two numbers in the spiritual dictionary of numbers stand out: the number 10 and the number 7. Of course, there are many other numbers that total seventeen, so why select 10 and 7? Seventeen is a prime number and a significant number spiritually. Seven is the number of spiritual perfection and ten is the number of ordinal perfection setting the decimal sequence of the beginning of the double digits. As the number seventeen is based on two factors (1 and 17), it also represents two different facets involved in God’s governmental order in judgment: separation from God (judgment) and separated to God (refuge and salvation). The number ten (Ten Commandments) sets the theme for the number ten: God’s governmental order. Consequently, this is the perfect Chapter to place God’s judgment against His last earthly adversary: BABYLON THE GREAT. (Do not forget that God’s last adversary (Satan) will come to his end in Chapter 20 of Revelation. The first major battle is Armageddon where Babylon the Great and the Beast, and the prophet of the beast is destroyed. Then, one thousand years later (after the millennial reign of Christ) there will be the FINAL battle between God and Satan when Satan will be destroyed. Do not confuse these two battles. The first battle brings an end to the slaves and servants of Satan, and the last battle addresses the end of Satan himself. Again, God’s perfect order plays out.) Number seventeen is spiritually represented in two numbers: 10 and 7, and it also is represented through two different teaching methods that the Holy Spirit of God uses: the unseen in chapter headings, and the seen in the number itself.
• These [are] the generations of Jacob. Joseph, [being] seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad [was] with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.(Genesis 37:2) Joseph was seventeen when he was betrayed, sold and separated from his father and land. The number of seventeen, therefore, sets the beginning of the theme of the number of betrayal, evil report or witness against evil, and separation through suffering.
• And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years. (Genesis 47:28) For seventeen years Jacob was separated from the land of promise, from his home and from his inheritance. As long as Joseph ruled over Egypt Jacob was safe, and the first generation of his tribe was safe. Here we have God’s provision of refuge in a foreign land.
• And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam [was] forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother’s name [was] Naamah an Ammonitess. (1st Kings 14:21) During his seventeen years of leadership, the nation of Israel became divided: ten tribes became known as Israel, and two tribes became known as Judah. Under the reign of Rehoboam, Israel became divided. And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him. (2nd Chronicles 12:1) At the end of the seventeenth-year reign of Rehoboam all of Judah and Israel had forsaken the law of the LORD.
• In the break away tribes known as Israel with their central city in Samaria, Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, reigned seventeen years. In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah king of Judah Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] seventeen years. (1st Kings 13:1) Through this we see another separation from God. Jehu served God mightily: he destroyed Baal out of Israel (2nd Kings 10:28), and he called for Jezebel’s servants to throw her out of the window, So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot. (2nd Kings 9:33) Yet the Holy Spirit of God documents the other side of Jehu in his disobedience to God.
Howbeit [from] the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, [to wit], the golden calves that [were] in Bethel, and that [were] in Dan. (2nd Kings 10:29)
And the LORD said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing [that which is] right in mine eyes, [and] hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that [was] in mine heart, thy children of the fourth [generation] shall sit on the throne of Israel. (2nd Kings 10:30)
But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin. (2nd Kings 10:31)
 God’s judgment can be seen in the seventeen-year reign of the son of Jehu, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] seventeen years. The story continues on with Israel (the ten tribes of the north) continuing in their sin, then seeking God’s favor, then receiving a savior, and a prophet (Elijah) then turning away from God over and over again. What Jehu refused to judge, God DID judge. What Jehu refused to deny, his children willfully accepted; thus, the house of Jehu ended in total failure and JUDGED by God. The evil enemy of God that Jehu had first fought against became Jehu’s failing. He and his descendants continued to follow the sins of Jeroboam, the first king of Israel. Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, but walked therein: and there remained the grove also in Samaria.) (2nd Kings 13:6)
• In Jeremiah 32:9, we have the LAST mention of the number seventeen, but this time the number is connected to shekels of silver. And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle’s son, that [was] in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, [even] seventeen shekels of silver. Jeremiah’s cousin sold his inheritance to Jeremiah because he refused to believe the prophecy of Jeremiah that God would return Judah to the land after seventy years in captivity to Nebuchadnezzar. Hanameel’s rejected his inheritance because he rejected God’s word. The last mention of seventeen in the Bible is the culmination of how man’s unbelief causes man to lose his inheritance. (There is much more that connects the number seventeen with shekels of silver. Remember the thirty pieces of silver that Judas received as the price for his own soul when he sold the Lord Jesus Christ to the enemies of God.) Here in the last mention of seventeen in Jeremiah 32:9, we see God’s governmental order in judgment: separation from God (judgment) and separated to God because of judgment (refuge and salvation). ♦ End of Side Note: Seventeen.