CJ Labuschagne (Numerical Secrets of the Bible) highlights the use of 11-fold literary patterns in the Pentateuch. The creation account, for instance, uses the formula “and God said” eleven times, concluding with the creation of Eve: “This coherence is found also in the eleventh divine utterance in 2:18—God’s decision to create Eve; for it is a deliberation just like that in 1:26, the creation of human beings. From the perspective of creation, God’s decision to create Eve cannot be separated from the preceding acts of creation. The chain of creative acts that runs through Genesis 1 does not cease before it comes to an end in Gen 2:18.”
Thus, the creation of the world doesn’t culminate in “man” as the crown of creation, but rather in the creation of Eve as Adam’s crown. As Labuschagne puts it: “What we have said about the creation of mankind on the basis of a special divine deliberation applies mutatis mutandis to the creation of Eve, as a ‘partner suited to him’—not ‘helper to fit him’—who represents womankind, as Adam represents mankind. In light of this, the creation of the female human being is thus placed on a different, and incontestably higher level than the creation of the male. This is also expressed by the idea that she was created uniquely from a rib of the male, who was considered to have been ‘formed of dust from the ground’ (2:7)” (59-60).
He discerns an 11-fold pattern stretching across the Pentateuch, the fact that there are 11 instances of divine monologue or soliloquy: “These private divine deliberations have the form of soliloquies, also called interior monologues, in which God expresses his thoughts, intentions, and decisions: he ‘speaks in his heart’ (Gen 8:21). It appears that this particular form of God’s speaking is used in the Pentateuch, and probably elsewhere, when it concerns crucial matters. In such cardinal matters, God does not act spontaneously, but ponders and reflects before making a decision. We have already encountered seven of these monologues in the Primeval History. However, there are three more in the Tetrateuch—one in Genesis 18 and two in the book of Exodus (chapters 3 and 13)—and one in Deuteronomy 32, bringing the total to eleven” (62-3).
Totaling up the words in these monologues, Labuschagne comes to 289, 17 x 17. 17 is a number associated with the name of Yahweh, and this is linked with the use of 26, the gematria of Yahweh: “The two divine name numbers 17 and 26 significantly govern the eleven monologues in the Pentateuch. The total number of words in the introductory formulas amounts to 26, while there are exactly 289 (17×17) words in the monologues themselves” (64).
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