The Subtlety of God. The Significance of Numbers within the Bible

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2 2 The Subtlety of God The Significance of Numbers within the Bible An Introduction to "Bible Numerology" Oliver Bayley Faithful Sheep Ministries Published by Dawn Skies Publishing 19 Treeside Road Southampton SO15 5FY ISBN Digital Download Edition (HOME PRINTING IS PERMITTED FOR INDIVIDUAL OR HOME GROUP USE. Otherwise no part of this Publication may be copied, stored, retrieved etc without the prior written permission of the Publisher.)

3 3 CONTENTS Introduction 4 Chapter 1 The Spiritual Significance of Particular Bible Numbers 5 Chapter 2 The Numbers 8 Summary Sheet 23 Chapter 3 The Numerical Significance of Particular Bible Words 24 To Take You Further 34 Appendix Faithful Sheep Ministries 35

4 4 INTRODUCTION Welcome to "The Subtlety of God - The Significance of Numbers within the Bible". This book is one of the titles produced by Faithful Sheep Ministries. The aim of Faithful Sheep Ministries is to strengthen and encourage our fellow Christians in this age of challenge and confusion. We offer timely Bible teaching and reflection through a variety of ministries. Our theological stance is one of biblical orthodoxy, centred on the Historic Christian Creeds and the 39 Articles of the Church of England. "The Subtlety of God" gives a fascinating introduction to the study of "Bible Numerology" the significance of particular numbers within the Bible, as measured by the numerical values of the various letters within the Hebrew and Greek Bible texts. The findings are so remarkable that we are clearly not in the realm of coincidence or human hoax here. Findings such as these make it plain for any who care to look that the Bible is not just one more religious book along with all the others. Instead we see clearly that the Bible is truly and uniquely "God's Word written", bearing all the hallmarks of God's own beautiful subtlety within it. The Director of Faithful Sheep Ministries is the Rev. Oliver Bayley, a retired Anglican minister with extensive teaching and pastoral experience. Oliver and his wife Judith live, work and worship in Southampton, England. Our hope is that the Lord will graciously use this book to bless and encourage you in His service.

5 5 Chapter 1 The more time we spend "in" the Scriptures, the more we simply know that this is very obviously God's Word. But in this sceptical age that is increasingly hostile to Christian things, it is helpful for Christ's faithful sheep also to know some of the more objective features of the Bible which set it entirely apart from other "holy books", placing it literally in a league of its own. For example is the extraordinarily high level of authenticity within the biblical texts. These writings were trustworthy at the start, and they still are trustworthy. In this book we shall consider some more ways in which we see "the subtlety of God" throughout the pages of Scripture. Again it will be quickly clear that no human being could contrive these facts. Yet here they all are, liberally scattered throughout the Bible, serving as further grounds for Christians to be able to be "strong in the Lord". A Single Whole We remember that, humanly speaking, there were about forty different human authors of the sixty six books in the Bible, and the time-span of their writings covers about two thousand years. But in the face of all this variety, we find a remarkable truth: that all these writings come together gloriously to form a single, continuous whole.

6 6 So we will now turn to the significance of numbers in the Bible, what is known as "numerology". Throughout the pages of Scripture we find that particular numbers always speak of the same spiritual truths. Much of the details which follow here were discovered by various Bible scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as W E Bullinger, Ivan Panin and R T Naish. Grateful Caution Sometimes it seems that in their enthusiasm for all their discoveries, researchers such as these can overdo their conclusions. It is sensible for us therefore, while receiving their work gratefully, to weigh their findings with a degree of caution. There is no doubt though that we have ample evidence that biblical numerology is indeed one more sign of the "subtlety of God" throughout Scripture. We shall now briefly examine some numbers found in Scripture, as we seek to understand their particular spiritual significance. At the end of this chapter we give a Summary Chart of these numbers for quick reference. At the risk of sounding like "Sir" giving out homework to Year 9, you might like to make a simple bookmark of the Summary Chart on page 23, to keep in your Bible, on which these numbers and their significance are listed.

7 7 Concordance If you have the time, you will also be blessed by looking up these numbers (and their "brothers", thus two, twice; forty, fortieth,; etc) in a full Bible Concordance and studying their occurrences throughout the Scriptures. This task will certainly take time, but your efforts will be immensely rewarded. By God's grace you will gain a deeper appreciation of the divine authorship of the Holy Bible, and a deeper sense of awe before Almighty God. Your Christian discipleship will receive a serious dose of encouragement as a result!

8 8 Chapter 2 Number 1 Number 1 primarily speaks of oneness and unity, especially in relation to God Himself. A key text is Deuteronomy 6.4 "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is ONE LORD...". From the ways in which the Hebrew word ekhawd is variously translated for Bibles in English, we gather the sense of the word covers: united, one, first, pre-eminent, only. In the New Testament, we gain the same sense, as for example in John 10: verse 16 "... there shall be one fold, and one shepherd", and verse 30 "... I and the Father are one". In Ephesians 4.4 ff "There is one body, and one Spirit... one hope... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all...". We get the message!

9 9 Number 2 Number 2 can work both ways, as a sign of good, or bad. Often, in the good sense, it speaks of togetherness and support. Think of the animals on the ark, brought in "two by two"; the two spies sent into Canaan (Joshua 2.1); the need for at least two witnesses in any trial (eg Deuteronomy 17.6). In Ecclesiastes 4.9ff there is the famous passage, (very popular for weddings!) "Two are better than one... if two lie together... two shall withstand him...". In the New Testament, the Lord sends out the disciples in pairs (Luke 10.1), and two men were with Him at the transfiguration (Luke 9.30). On the other hand, two can signify bad news instead, notably division where there should be unity, or double-mindedness. The classic example is the division of the people of Israel into the two competing nations of Israel and Judah, brought about by the conflict between Jeroboam and Rehoboam (I Kings 12). Here, unity was replaced with disunity, with disastrous consequences for all concerned. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit tells us through James of our need to avoid being double-minded (James 1.6-8, and 4.8); dithering and doubting get us nowhere!

10 10 Number 3 3 is the number for God in all His divine perfection - "holy, holy, holy" (Isaiah 6.3). God Himself is "three in one". As the old Athanasian Creed puts it "... we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity... the Godhead of the Father of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one". We see the "three-ness" of God's nature and perfection expressed throughout His creation. A human being consists of three parts spirit, soul and body. We have past, present and future; space, time and matter; three basic dimensions; gas, liquid and solid. Wherever we look we find threes, each one a little pointer to the nature of God our Creator. Jonah was three days in the belly of the fish as a "type" of Jesus' own death and resurrection. Jesus duly rose from the dead on the third day.

11 11 Number 4 4 concerns God's creation in its entirety. We have the "four corners of the earth", the four points of the compass, the four main seasons and the "four winds of heaven". In Genesis Chapter 1, the first four days of the creation week were concerned with God putting in place all the "necessities" for life. Days 5 and 6 involved His creation of life itself in all its forms creatures of the sea, sky and earth, which were placed into an earth that was already finished in itself, and thus ready and capable of supporting them. The four great beasts of Revelation Chapter 4 express the worship of God at His throne by all living creatures.

12 12 Number 5 Number 5 is all about grace, and as such can be seen as one of the more special numbers! We are told of five ingredients within the "oil of holy ointment" (Exodus 30.22ff): pure myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, cassia, and olive oil. This oil was to be used for anointing the tabernacle and its furnishings, including the ark and the altar, and the priests. It was most definitely not to be used for the anointing of any other person or object (verses 31-33). What a picture of utter holiness this presented before the people! They would understand, quickly and constantly, that God was not to be trifled with. He has not changed has He? which surely makes us shudder at some of the casual worship practices around us today! The people were told that they could use any one of five creatures when offering sacrifice for their sins a heifer, a goat or kid, a ram or lamb, a dove or a pigeon depending on their wealth (see the early chapters of Leviticus). Another lovely significance of the number 5 concerns the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which is similar to an "h" in our alphabet. Abram was renamed by the Lord Abraham, and his wife Sarai was renamed Sarah (Genesis 17.4 and 15) and this sign of God bestowing His grace upon them was given even

13 13 after what was to prove such a costly mistake over Hagar and Ishmael. Another commentator has pointed out that David chose "five smooth stones out of the brook" (I Kings 17.40) that is, one each for Goliath and his four brothers - but this may be an example of slightly overstating the case!

14 14 Number 6 Number 6 is all about man. Man was created on the sixth day of creation. He is to work for six days and rest on the seventh, a pattern instituted by God Himself during creation week. Noah was 600 years old (6 times 10 times 10; and 10, as we shall see shortly, denotes completion) at the time of the Flood (Genesis 7.6) a period of dreadful divine judgement upon sinful man. In Proverbs 6.16ff, we read of six things which the Lord hates and each one of these involves man sinning in one way or another. The significance of this number 6 reaches its culmination of course in "666" (Revelation 13.18) the number of the beast, and "the number of a man".

15 15 Number 7 Number 7 is another very precious number, for it speaks of spiritual perfection. It occurs over six hundred times throughout the Bible, so mercifully there is a great deal that the Lord has to tell us about spiritual perfection! We have the significance of: the seventh day (eg., Genesis 2.2); the seventh month (eg., Genesis 8.4); the seventh sabbath (eg., Leviticus 23.16); the seventh year (eg., Exodus 23.11, Leviticus 25.4); and the seven times seventh year, the 49 th year (eg., Leviticus 25.8). Another interesting fact about 7 is that there are many occasions where we have multiples of seven. For example, we are told by those who have studied these things that: 7 occurs 287 times in the Bible that is, 7 times 41; 7 th occurs 98 times 7 times 14; "Sevenfold" occurs seven times 7 times 1; 70 occurs 56 times 7 times 8; 7 occurs with another number 112 times 7 times 16;

16 16 70 occurs with another number 35 times 7 times 5. There are currently 66 Books in the Bible, because three of them, Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, have been split into two. So originally there were 63 Books that is, 7 times 9. (This exercise is very good practice for our mental arithmetic!). 7 occurs within creation: 7 colours of the rainbow; 7 notes in the musical scale; intriguingly, apparently the gestation period for many creatures is also a multiple of 7; in the case of human beings, the figure is 280 days 7 times 40 and 40 is itself a number of great significance as we shall see shortly. Again it must be emphasised that we need to remain somewhat cautious when presented with all this, but there is clearly pattern here, and the pattern is way beyond human contrivance.

17 17 Number 8 8 is the figure of resurrection. Thus for example, eight people were preserved on the ark in a sense a very vivid experience of resurrection (I Peter 3.20)! Circumcision, the outward sign of the life-giving covenantal relationship between God and His people, took place on the eighth day. The Feast of Tabernacles involved an eighth day (Leviticus ). This Feast reminded the people of their pilgrimage through the wilderness, when they dwelt in temporary booths and were always looking forward to their "resurrection" their entry into the Promised Land. This Feast of Tabernacles was also a "type" another looking-forward, to the time when God would come and "tabernacle" among us in the Person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1.14). The Greek word used here in John 1.14, "skay-noh-oh", is all about temporary dwelling, as with a tent or a hut. Jesus came to us in this manner to achieve resurrection for us in all its fulness.

18 18 Number 9 Number 9 is all about finality, and is often found in conjunction with the number 10, denoting completeness. The annual day of atonement was to be held from the eve of the ninth day through till the eve of the tenth day of the seventh month (Leviticus ). This solemn day marked the finish of a period of sinfulness, which was ended by the people making an atonement to the Lord before starting afresh once again. Later on, it was in the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar started to besiege Jerusalem, spelling the end of Judah as an independent people in their own land. The supreme example of the significance of 9 involves the Lord's death, at the ninth hour (Matthew 27.46), with the great cry "It is FINISHED!" (John 19.30). The Greek word here, teleo, involves completion, accomplishment, a discharge of an obligation, fulfilment, conclusion; in other words, "job done"! And Jesus' job was finally done at the ninth hour of that dreadful day.

19 19 Number 10 Number 10 involves completeness. The Flood came in the lifetime of Noah, and Noah was the tenth generation from Adam. There was an awful "completeness of judgement" in that Flood, brought about by God completing the period of His warnings and His patience, and finally moving in judgement against the wickedness on the earth. Later on God sent ten plagues into Egypt, until Pharaoh finally relented and let the people depart. He gave Moses the Ten Commandments the complete summary of His laws for the people.

20 20 Some Higher Numbers Now that we have considered the significance of the first ten numbers, let us look briefly at a few higher numbers. Number stands for administrative or governmental perfection. Thus we have many 12s in the picture of the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21) 12 gates, angels, tribal names, foundations, pearls; as well as 12,000 furlongs and 144 cubits. There are 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus chose 12 key disciples. Those sealed in Revelation 7 number 12 times 12,000. Number tends to signify trial and testing. The flood waters came on to the earth for 40 days and nights (Genesis 7.4), before taking many more months to subside. Moses was forty years old when he left Egypt (Acts 7.23); he then spent forty years in Midian (Acts7.30), and died after a further 40 years (Deuteronomy 34.4) truly a life of trial and testing! He spent 40 days on the mountain (Deuteronomy 9.9). God gave Nineveh forty days' grace during Jonah's preaching before he judged them (Jonah 3.4), The Lord Jesus was tempted for 40 days.

21 21 Number is another lovely number, for it speaks of liberty. If God was to find just 50 righteous people in Sodom (Genesis 18.26), the city would be spared set free - from His judgement. In Leviticus 23.15ff the people were told how to keep the Feast of Pentecost. They were to count 7 sabbaths (7 times 7 days, and you will remember that 7 denotes spiritual perfection), and on the following day the fiftieth day they were to make their various offerings. Then in Leviticus 25.8ff, we have the same principle (7 times 7 plus 1) but in years. The fiftieth year, the jubilee year, was a hallowed year, in which liberty was proclaimed throughout the land, to all the inhabitants. Much later on, in Acts 19.19, the value of all the evil books burned in Ephesus that day was 50,000 pieces of silver an action bringing tremendous liberty!

22 22 The Marvels of Scripture Having had an introduction to the significance of "Bible numbers" in this chapter, let us humbly rejoice again at the marvels we have been given within Scripture how God has given deep consistency to all these numbers throughout His Word, so that, by them, we can understand yet more of His character and His ways. We can be strong! The God in whom we trust, as revealed in the pages of the Holy Bible, has given us so many signs that the Bible is true it has indeed His subtlety all over it. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!..." (Romans 11.33).

23 23 Summary Sheet - The Spiritual Significance of Particular Bible Numbers The One-ness of God: His uniqueness, preeminence, unity Good: Witness and support Bad: Division, double-mindedness Divine perfection. The holiness of God. "Three-ness" in creation God's creation in its entirety Extra Special! GRACE Man usually not so special! Extra Special! SPIRITUAL PERFECTION Extra Special! - RESURRECTION Finality, completion Completeness, fullness Administrative and governmental perfection Trial and testing Extra Special! - LIBERTY

24 24 Chapter 3 In our previous chapter we have seen how particular numbers throughout the Bible often carry a spiritual significance. This significance may only become apparent when we pick out a common theme involving the number whenever it occurs in Scripture. The fact that the Bible was written, in human terms, by about 40 different authors, over a timespan of 2,000 years, in a variety of places and languages, makes it impossible for this numerical significance to have been contrived by any merely human mind! We thus have before us solid grounds for Christian confidence in the Bible as being truly "God's Word written". The Numerical Value of Words Let us now move on from the significance of the numbers themselves to the numerical significance of many particular words in the Bible. The system of enumeration using letters of the alphabet was adopted in Greek in the 3 rd century BC, and in Hebrew, adopting the idea from the Greek, in the 2 nd century BC. This simply means in practice that every letter in the Hebrew and Greek alphabets is given a number, (along the lines of a = 1, b = 2, and so on).

25 25 By adding up the values of each of the letters in a Hebrew or Greek word, the word itself comes to have a numerical value of its own. Again we are indebted to such Bible scholars as W E Bullinger, R T Naish and Ivan Panin for much of this work; and again, let us retain a degree of caution, in case at times their sheer wonder at their findings perhaps leads them to overstate the case. Each and every word in the Bible thus has its own numerical value, this value being made up of the numerical value of each letter within that word. On the next page we will see the numerical values of all the letters in the Hebrew and Greek alphabets.

26 26 a) Here are the numerical values of each letter of the Hebrew alphabet: Aleph = 1 Beth = 2 Gimel = 3 Daleth = 4 He = 5 Waw = 6 Zayin = 7 Het = 8 Tet = 9 Yod = 10 Kaph = 20 Lamed = 30 Mem = 40 Nun = 50 Samek = 60 Ayin = 70 Pe = 80 Sade = 90 Qop = 100 Res = 200 Shin = 300 Taw = 400 b) Here the the numerical values of each letter of the Greek alphabet: α Alpha = 1 β Beta = 2 γ Gamma = 3 δ Delta = 4 ε Epsilon = 5 (Vau = 6*) ζ Zeta = 7 η Eta = 8 θ Theta = 9 ι Iota = 10 κ Kappa = 20 λ Lambda = 30 µ Mu = 40 ν Nu = 50 ξ Xi = 60 ο Omicron = 70 π Pi = 80 (Koph = 90*) ρ Rho = 100 ς,σ Sigma = 200 τ Tau = 300 υ Upsilon = 400 φ Phi = 500 χ Chi = 600 ψ Psi = 700 ω Omega = 800 (Sampi = 900*) (The three letters denoted * above are three ancient Greek (Phoenician) letters. These are not used anywhere in the New Testament, and they have become obsolete).

27 27 Some Key Examples of the Numerical Value of Words So now we know the numerical value of each letter in the Hebrew and Greek alphabets, we can come on to consider the numerical values of various biblical words. We need to tread a little warily once again here, but there are some remarkable results. We can only marvel at the patience of these men, and at their arithmetical dexterity in a pre-calculator age! but most of all let us marvel in humility at the wonderful works of God. Hold on tight for some wonderful results!

28 28 1) Amen: In the Greek: αµήν We can start with a little word we use all the time without much thought - "Amen". This word means literally "Let it be" in the Greek, and we all use it today, at the end of our prayers, in the sense of "Hear, hear, quite so!". Let us now add up the numerical values of each of the Greek letters in "Amen", to find the numerical value for the whole word itself. So, A-M-E-N works out like this: A,(ά) = 1; plus M,(µ) = 40; plus E,( ή) = 8; plus N,(ν) = 50, which brings us to... 99! You will remember from our last chapter that 9 = finality, so 99 is very strong finality! "αµήν" is translated in the Authorised Version as "Verily", and in newer translations with a word such as "Truly". So we gather that when Jesus uses this word, (and apparently in the Gospels He uses it 99 times), He is emphasising the utter importance of what He is about to say. We are to take His utterance as literally the final word on the matter with no "ifs and buts". Jesus has spoken. Jesus has told us; and that's it!

29 29 2) Jesus: In the Greek: Ίησους Ί = 10, plus η = 8, plus σ = 200, plus ο = 70, plus υ = 400, plus ς = 200, which brings us to 888! 8 is the number of... RESURRECTION. Thus in the Greek name of Jesus we have Resurrection, Resurrection, Resurrection! Praise the Lord!

30 30 3) Multiples of 8 and / or 37 The scholars discovered many examples of words which involve multiples of 8 (resurrection), and/or 37 ( 3 = God, 7 = spiritual perfection). a) Jesus: = 888 = 8 x 37 x 3 b) Christ = 1480 = 8 x 37 x 5 (5 = grace) c) Son of Man = 2960 = 8 x 37 x 10 (10 = completeness) d) Godhead = 592 = 8 x 37 x 2 (2 = companionship) e) Saviour = 1408 = 8 x 8 x 2 x 11 (11 = one short of 12; a sense of "falling short" ie, us!) f) Lord = 800 = 8 x 10 x 10 g) Messiah = 656 = 8 x 2 x 41 (40 = Trial; 1 = Uniqueness) h) Son = 880 = 8 x 2 x 5 x 11 i) Truth = 64 = 8 x 8

31 31 4) Multiples of 13 Just as we have many numerical pointers concerning the divine names, so we also have similar examples concerning Satan, the devil, involving the number 13, the number of evil. a) Satan, in Hebrew = 364 = 13 x 28 b) Dragon = 975 = 13 x 75 c) Serpent = 780 = 13 x 60 d) Tempter =1053 = 13 x 81 e) Deceiver = 169 = 13 x 13 f) Who is called the Devil and Satan = 2197 = 13 x 13 x 13 g) Jesus of Nazareth (the title on the cross) = 2197 = 13 x 13 x 13 h) Antichrist = 1651 = 13 x 127 i) Beast = 247 = 13 x 19 j) Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations = 8138 = 13 x 626

32 32 5) John 21 Finally let us see the numerical values of some key words in John 21, the occasion when the Lord greeted Peter and his companions from the shore, and they made a great catch of fish. Notice how particular mention is made of the number of fish in the net (verse 11) 153 fish. With our basic knowledge of numerical values, that reference to the number of fish is enough to get our noses twitching there is something going on here above and beyond the obvious details of the story! a) Fish ιχθυς (ichthus) = 1224 = 8 x b) Net δικτυον (diktuon) = 1224 = 8 x c) 153 = 9 x (10 + 7) = = finality x (completeness + perfection) What is this picture of finality, completeness and perfection referring to, coming as it does after the Lord's resurrection and at the very end of the Gospel of John? Is it not the Church, the Body of Christ, the very Bride of Christ? The day is surely coming when the God-given task of Peter and his companions to be "fishers of men" will have been gloriously completed!

33 33 All believers will be there, in Christ's net, safely caught up, safely gathered in, with no damage to the net, and with noone lost. What a comfort! What a prospect! What a mercy! "Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (I Corinthians 15.57). And how does that passage go on? "Be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for ye know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain". Thanks be to God indeed! "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might". (Ephesians 6.10)

34 34 To take you further should you wish: A book titled "373 A Proof Set in Stone" by Dr Peter Bluer (ISBN ). This is an extremely complex and highly mathematical book, for serious mathematicians only! But if you can cope with the maths, the numerical patterns within Scripture really are seen to be amazing and serve as further proof that the Bible is truly the Word of God. The book is obtainable from the author, 15 Patchcroft Road, Manchester M22 5JG, UK. His address is lexis2701@barclays.net. (If these details are no longer up-to-date, you could find the book probably on Amazon).

35 35 The Subtlety of God An Introduction to "Bible Numerology" Oliver Bayley Faithful Sheep Ministries Published by Dawn Skies Publishing 19 Treeside Road Southampton SO15 5FY ISBN Digital Download Edition We hope this book has been a blessing for you. For details of our other titles and ministries, please visit our website at