6 - Man / Incompleteness
Six is the number of man - complete in form, yet one short of the divine rest and completeness represented by seven.
Man was created on the sixth day, so six is often read in Scripture as the number of humanity - one short of seven, the number of divine completeness and rest. This 'falling short' quality appears in the six years of labor before the seventh sabbatical year, the six cities of refuge, and most strikingly in the number of the beast, 666, a triple repetition of human imperfection set in defiant, ultimately futile opposition to God. Six stands as a reminder throughout Scripture of the incompleteness of anything merely human, apart from God's own seventh-day rest and provision.
Meaning: Humanity, imperfection, falling short of divine completeness
Key Occurrences
- Man created on the sixth day (Gen 1:26-31)
- Six years of labor, seventh year rest (Exod 23:10-11)
- 666, the number of the beast (Rev 13:18)
Key Chapters
Key Passages
Man Created on the Sixth Day
Genesis 1:26-31
26nd God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.