When the founding fathers began designing the United States Seal they wanted to use the Exodus from Egypt as their design as they were leaving their mother country, England. After much discussion they changed it for a design that portrayed the purpose of the Exodus, leaving world Egypt to Mt. Sinai to make covenant with God. They used a pyramid as the mountain where God above and the world below. The square base of the pyramid represented physical life or mortality (see number 4). It represented strength and duration. The thick foundation below represents our “outward expressions, our energetic psyche and denser body.” The triangle, all seeing eye floats above representing the spiritual life or heaven (see number 3). The eye represents our “ever-awake, deep divine spiritual self.” Three above and four below is a symbol of the Sphinx trapezoidal head dress, which implies an unseen trinity or spiritual life above it. The three above and the four below implies our divine nature, inward (spiritual, unseen) and outward (physical, seen) expression. As a bigger picture, all on earth (4), physical life is growing upward, striving to become complete with Christ (3) becoming equal (equilateral triangle - equal, same in all areas of life) with God. The ribbon at the bottom is in the shape of an open circle meaning birth. The words within the ribbon read, “Novus Ordo Seclorum” Latin for, “a new order of the ages (is born),” referring to the new American era. At the base of the pyramid are Roman numerals,MDCCLXXVI, for the year 1776, the year of the birth of our Nation. How many 13's can you find on the Seal?
To the founding fathers the number thirteen represented “progress, perpetuity and perfection.” They designed the seal with twelve surrounding the one. Example of this idea are: the twelve tribes surrounding Moses or twelve apostles surrounding Jesus or the twelve zodiac surrounding the sun. On the “Reverse” side, the pyramid is the most prominent object:
There are eight thirteens found on the Seal representing the “rebirth” (see number 8) of a great Nation. Twelve surround one, one (God) supporting the other TWELVE (us). We are the New Constellation being formed and He is our Bright Star. Thirteen has great power! :) If thirteen was so often used by the founding fathers isn't it good enough for us! Thirteen is a number is TWELVE around ONE. Twelve apostles supported by the prophet. Us, as TWELVE tribes supported by GOD. What is supporting you? What is your center? Your support?
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The twelfth article of faith is about government. “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.” Twelve can be found in 187 places in God's word. The meaning of 12, which is considered a perfect number, is that it symbolizes God's power and authority, as well as serving as a perfect governmental foundation. It can also symbolize completeness or wholeness. For example, Jacob (Israel) had twelve sons, each of which represented a tribe begun by one of his sons or a princes. Twelve in His Story:
How do you choose what to write about with the number twelve, it is so rich! The theme of twelve is power (tail feathers), order (months), government On the twelfth day of Christmas My Father gave to me
twelve eleven faithful disciples, ten commandments, nine spiritual gifts, eight new levels, seven complete cycles, six celebrations, five things of power, four family members, three great desires, two directions …
The eleventh letter in Hebrew is Kaf. KAF literally means 'the palm of the hand', implying productivity and potentiality. The words that describe kaf are crowning, accomplishment, receiving, selflessness and hard work. The Hebrew number eleven is Yod (10, power to act) and Aleph (1, heaven). Eleven embraces all the attributes of both these numbers.
Eleven is found in the scriptures. The last two Kings of Judah each reigned eleven years before the Babylonian conquest of Judah: Jehiakim and Zedekiah. Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob, he dreamed of eleven stars bowing down to him (Gen 37:9) Some say (look it up on google or most symbolism books) that eleven means disorder, disorganization, lack of fulfillment, imperfection. I believe that all numbers were created of God and that he doesn't create junk! But, like the constellations, I know there is an opposite to all things too. So, if all numbers are positive then there must be a negative side too and vise versa. What side will you focus on or feed?
The etymology of the word ‘ten’ The word “ten” is derived from the Indo-Eurpean word dekm, signifying “two hands” a reference to our ten fingers. From Sanskrit dasa, Greek deka and Latin decem. The Germanic branch changed the “d” to a “tz” in “zehn” and from this came “ten.” In Hebrew and Arabic the word for “ten” is ‘kinsman’ or ‘tribe.’ ‘Yod’ is the tenth letter and number in the Hebrew Alphabet. It is the smallest of all the letters, but the most powerful. Anciently it was written as an arm and a hand reprinting work and worship, wholeness and oneness, and the power to act. Yod’ is suspended in midair and has two right angles implying the covenants that we make with our right hand. ‘Yod’ is small and seemingly insignificant just as our hand are small, but do the more work than any other member of our body. Just as one drop of oil hold the whole essence of the plant from which it come. Our cells hold the whole essence of the entire body. The number ten is unity at another level. We are back at ONE with another value, in this case a place marker, or zero. The root of TEN is ONE. TEN has all the values of ONE, unity, oneness, heaven, father, cycles, etc. Ten is ONE powered by TEN. TEN represents the Power to Act. Multiplying by ten doesn’t change the number but only act to expand its power! 50 is an expression of 5. It is expanded power.
The Family, a proclamation to the world contains nine paragraphs and lists nine principles to help make families successful. Nines are associated with growth and procreation. Mitosis, cell division, takes place with centriole which are made of nine parallel tubes in a circle. Sperm is made of nine twisted threads. It take nine months to develop a baby in a womb. Tet is the number nine in Hebrew. It was anciently written as a closed baskets representing boundaries, keeping the good within and the bad out. It also reminds us of the walls of a home, where we allow goodness to come in and evil to stay at bay.
There are many examples of eight in the scriptures, but I’m only going to show you my favorites. First, there were eight survivors in the Ark, The brother of Jared created eight barges to ride to the promised land and it took eight days for Alma to take his people from King Noah’s reach. Notice that each of these examples have the number eight, a new change and water. Baptism is a change and takes us to a new level through immersion in water at the age of eight. Baptism is the symbol for the death and resurrection of Christ. Cool?
Seven in nature is found in cycles. Crystals have seven major systems to be created. Cells go through seven steps to split. Rainbow have seven colors. There are 280 days of gestation, a multiple of seven. There are cycles in the Hebrew number seven or “shevah.” It is from the root “savah” which means “to be full,” “to be satisfied,” or “to have enough of.” (see Beloved Bridegroom) Think about the days of the week, seven days complete the week. The word “week” comes from the Gothic wiko signifying “sequence to which we come” which is derived from the Egyptian uak, the word for festival, a quarter of the moon’s monthly cycle of 29.52 days equaling one “moonth.” The seven-day rhythm creates and is a familiar cycle to all of us.
Anciently the Hebrews drew a mattock or tool for the number seven. This was to remind them that on the seventh day they were to lay their tools and weapons aside for a day to receive spiritual nourishment. The seventh and last of the Hebrew Holy Days is Yom Sukkoth or Feast of Tabernacles. This celebration is about Christ’s coming and taking us home to rest with God again in Heaven (His Tabernacle). The word “rest” means “security in the house of your husband.” On the cross was the seven word description, “This is Jesus The King of the Jews.” Christ’s last words was a seven word phrase, “Into thy hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46 ![]() The seventh constellation is Pieces, the two fishes that are caught in the bands of death and being dragged down to hell by the sea monster or devil. The two fishes represent the ancient and the latter-day churches. Christ stands at the head of His church (Eph. 5:23), the Great High Priest (Heb. 4:14) as depicted in the main star. The seven swans were swimming and so were the two fishes in the constellation. There are so many commonalities within the number seven. What will you remember from this study? the word meanings? the seven gifts? or all the cycles? the covenants? The Sabbath Day? Whatever you choose may God Bless you on this New Year’s Day!
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AuthorTresta Neil is a homeschool mother of eight. She was born with curiosity and increases that curiosity through symbology! Archives
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