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354 Book of Deuteronomy explicitly states (11:26). If the divine commandments shall be followed, the people and their off- spring shall be blessed, their crops shall be plentiful, their livestock shall multiply, their enemies shall be defeated, they shall be successful in whatever trade they choose; but if they forsake Yahweh and his commandments, they, their homes and their fields shall be accursed and shall suffer afflictions, losses, deprivations, and famines (Deuteronomy 28). "Yah- weh thy Elohim is a _ merciful God," Deuteronomy 4:31 stated; He is a vengeful God, the same Deuteronomy stated a chapter later (5:9)... It was Yahweh who determined who shall be the priests; it was He who stated the rules for Kingship (Deuteronomy 17:16) and made clear that it will be He who chooses the king—as indeed was the case centuries after the Exodus, be- ginning with the selection of Saul and David. In all that, Yahweh and Enlil emulated each other. Significant, too, for such a comparison was the importance of the numbers seven and fifty. They are not physiologically obvious numbers (we do not have seven fingers on a hand), nor does their combination fit natural phenomena (7 x 50 is 350, not the 365.25 days of a solar year). The "week" of seven days approximates the length of a lunar month (about 28.5 days) when multiplied by four, but where does the four come from? Yet the Bible introduced the count of seven, and the sanctity of the seventh day as the sacred Sabbath, from the very beginning of divine activity. The accursation of Cain was to last through seven times seven generations; Jericho was to be circled seven times so that its walls would fall down; many of the priestly rites were required to be repeated seven times, or to last seven days. Of a more lasting com- mandment, the New Year Festival was deliberately shifted from the first month Nisan to the seventh month Tishrei and the principal holidays were to last seven days. The number fifty was the principal numerical feature in the construction and equipping of the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle and an important element in the future Temple envisioned by Ezekiel. It was a calendrical count of days in priestly rites; Abraham persuaded the Lord to spare Sodom if fifty just men would be found there. More important, a major social and DIVINE ENCOUNTERS