Johannes Kepler was a contemporary of Galileo.

He stated (in rough terms)

“Before the universe was created, there were no numbers except the Trinity, which is God himself… For the line and the plane imply no numbers: here infinitude itself reigns.  Let us consider, therefore, the solids.  We must first eliminate the irregular solids, because we are only concerned with ordered creation.  There remains 6 bodies, the sphere and the five regular polyhedra.  To the sphere corresponds the heaven.  On the other hand, the dynamic world is represented by the flat-faces solids.  Of these there are 5: when viewed as boundaries, however, these 5 determine 6 distinct things, hence the 6 planets that revolve about the sun.  This is also the reason why there are but 6 planets…

I have further shown that the regular solids fall into 2 distinct groups: 3 in 1 and 2 in the other.  To the larger group belongs, first of all, the cube, then the pyramid and finally the dodecahedron.  To the second group belongs the octahedron then the icosahedron.  That is why the most important portion of the universe, the earth - where Gods image is reflected in man - separated the 2 groups.  For, as I have proved next, the solids of the first group must lie beyond the earth’s orbit and those of the second group within.  Thus I was led to assign the Cube to Saturn, the tetrahedron to Jupiter, the dodecahedron to Mars, the icosahedron to Venus and octahedron to Mercury.”

God bringing order to the world, order borne out of chaos, there is something comforting about this thought.  A very human comfort.  Numbers which grow from the trinity.  The description of God as a line, a plane and the three dimensions  growing from this is a strong image to describe visually an abstract idea.