One of the concepts related to the Torah portion of Noach is that there are 70 Nations. In principle, this number is arrived at by counting the number of offspring Noach had after the flood through his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Genesis chapter 10).
However, this description contains a beautiful numerical allusion to the 70 Nations: the verses contain 6 instances of the word “nations” in various inflections: “the [maritime] nations” (הַגּוֹיִם), “by their nations” (בְּגוֹיֵהֶם), “by their [lands and] nations” (בְּגוֹיֵהֶם), “to their nations” (לְגוֹיֵהֶם), “by their nations” (בְּגוֹיֵהֶם), and “the nations” (הַגּוֹיִם).
The value of none of these words is 70. However, the sum of all six words is 420 and since there are 6 words, the average value of each word is 420 divided by 6, or 70!
