Dr. Henry M. Morris
Many infallible proofs
Master books, ISBN 0-89051-005-9
Appendix A: "Numerical Designs in the Bible", pp. 317-333 is worth
to have a look at, and he gives further literature references.
Recommendations from people who have dealt with this topic for a longer time
than I have:
Biblical Numerology
John J. Davis (Grace Theol. Sem.)
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House,1968, 1982
$6.99, ISBN 0-8010-2813-2.
This one I read several times. It seems to me the best among those I read.
It is well balanced, giving a certain value to some symbolic uses of
numbers in the Bible (* 7 * for instance) while refusing the fantastic use
of Gematria and Numerology for the sake of apologetics, and tracing their
(not so known) origins.
I agrees with almost all the arguments of J.J. David;
I recommend it to you as a starting point.
The Myth of Invariance
McClain, Ernest G.
London, 1978
I have not read it. The French Interlibrary Loan was not able to locate it
in France. If you can get it, I would be interested in having a copy of
the Table of Contents.
D. Witztum, E. Rips and Y. Rosenberg;
"Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis;"
Statistical Science, Volume 9, Number 3, pp. 429-438, August 1994.
I really do not know what to think of it. Until now, I could not get any
assessment or critical evaluation.
Their conclusion, as I remember, is that the numerical arrangment of the
letters of the Hebrew Bible (when taken according certain patterns of
segmentation) can NOT be attributed to a human mind.
(Response to this above article are in my general index section)
Jeffrey SATINOVER
Divine Authorship?
Bible Review 11/5 (Oct 95) 28-45
Just received. Not yet fully read.
The author interacts with WITZUM's article in Statistical Science.
The concluding sentences are: "What then was the purpose of encoding this
information into the text? Some would say it is the Author's signature. Is
it His way of assuring us that at this particular, late moment - when our
scientific, materialistic doubt has reached its apotheosis, when we have
been driven to the brink of radical skepticism - that He is precisely who
He had said He is in that astonishing, radical, core document of the
Judeo-Christian tradition?"
B.M. METZGER
The Text of the New Testament, 2nd ed.
Oxford University Press, 1968
It has (p.169, n.3):
"One of the curiosities of statistical pseudo-scholarship (which need not
be dignified beyond this notice in a footnote) is Ivan Panin's The New
Testament in the Original Greek, the Text Established by Means of Bible
Numerics, privately printed by John Johnson at the University Press,
Oxford, 1934. Panin prepared his edition by making such alterations in
Westcott and Hort's text as he thought were justified on the basis of
'Bible Numerics', a system which he says he discovered in 1890. According
to this 'method' the editor gives preference to that variant reading which
yields the greatest number of multiples of 7, 11, 15, 23, &c., in the
number of vowels, consonants, syllables, parts of the speech, &c., in a
given verse or pericope. For a refutation of the system (if refutation be
deemed necessary!), see Oswald T. Allis, Bible Numerics (Chicago, 1944),
and, more briefly, J. Oliver Buswell, 'Bible Numerics - the True and the
False', Moody Monthly, xxxii (1932), pp. 530-1, and 'Notes on Open
Letters', Sunday School Times, lxxxiv (1942), pp.1058, 1072-3."
I don't know if this footnote is retained in the recently released 3rd
edition.
PANIN's edition of the Greek NT (cited above)
The Book Society of Canada
Agincourt, Ontario - Canada
I find a most disturbing explanation of the theory p. vi
"...He (= the reader) will thus likewise find that verses 18-21, a logical
division of the passage (=Matthew 1), have 92 words, and verses 22-25 have
69. He will thus see for himself the following numeric scheme:
161 is 7x23 or 23x7
vv. 18-21, 92 " (7x13)+1 or 23x4
vv. 22-23 (sic), 69 " (7x2x5)-1 or 23x3.
That is: the number of words being 7 twenty-threes, it is divided between
the two logical divisions of the passage not at random, but by
twenty-threes. As 161, howewer, is also 23 sevens, the division produces
the sevens also, though not directly as the twenty-threes, this being here
impossible; but indirectly, by neighbourhood: 92 being neighbour of 91 or
13 sevens; and 69 being neigbour of 70 or 7x2x5. Whether by chance or
design, the double scheme of 7 and 23 is there. Only the chance for its
being accidental, undesigned is one in 23x23x7x7x7/2 or 90,723, less than
one in ninety thousand for this one item alone"
It seems to me that for a perfect scheme to be perfect, it MUST be perfect.
When a number does NOT fit a predetermined scheme, there is no
justification in taking its neighbour.
Panin says it himself: it is "impossible"
Also, this should have put an end to textual criticism, critical editions
and textual critics. If so, the late discoveries of manuscripts and papyri,
and the forthcoming ones, are of no interest. Why refine a perfect text?
Why has not Panin's text become THE definitive standard?
HASHOMER ISRAEL, 1er trimestre 1987, n° 38
56610 Petit-Molac en Arradon - France
Thematic issue: "8 savants israeliens travaillant sur ordinateur affirment:
La Bible n'est pas l'oeuvre des hommes" (The Bible is not the work of men).
It has an interview with M. GRYLAK, a spokesman who exposes the findings of
Pr WIENER (Haifa Technion University) and Pr KATZ (Bar Ilan University), as
verified by Dr Hips, a mathematician from Harvard.
Previous researchers are cited: BULLINGER, Oscar GOLDBERG, MENDEL, I. PANIN
Contents:
La loi des sept
La loi des cinquante et les messages codes
Les messages codes resolvent certaines enigmes bibliques
Des preuves indiscutables
La structure numerique de la Bible existe aussi dans le Nouveau Testament
La foi transmise aux saints une fois pour toutes
La Thora: fondement du monde
I don't know which text is used. The cover has a photograph of the BIBLIA
HEBRAICA, but the text inside is another one.
All this is either marvellous, or problematic.
What is the utility, for example, of publishing the CRITIQUE TEXTUELLE DE
L'ANCIEN TESTAMENT (to appear in English in the future), a monumental work
of recognized textual value, and a mine of exegetical insights (the textual
and the exegetical are often intertwined), sponsored by the United Bible
Societies, under the editorship of D. BARTHELEMY, with scholar E. NIDA as
mentor?
Bernard L. RAMM and others
Hermeneutics
Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1987
Under the heading "Rejected Methods of Interpretation" (p.97):
"... the mystical method, which looks for the meaning in such things as the
numerical value of letters... (is) unsatisfactory. For a full discussion,
see F.W. Farrar, History of Interpretation (1886, reprint 1961), and for a
summary, B. Ramm (Protestant Biblical Interpretation, Boston, 1950), Chap.
II.
... The mystical method can be demonstrated by the rabbinical exegesis of
the words "until Shiloh come" (Gen. 49:10). Since the numerical value of
the letters in the words Shiloh shall come is 358, which is also the
numerical value of the word Messiah, Shiloh means the Messiah."
Henry A. VIRKLER
Hermeneutics
Principles and Processes of Biblical Interpretation
Baker Book House, 1981
Under the heading "Midrashic Interpretation" (pp. 50-51):
"Midrashic interpretation included a variety of hermeneutical devices which
had developed considerably by the time of Christ and which continued to
develop for several centuries threafter.
... The trend toward more fanciful rather than conservative exposition
continued, howewer. The result of this was an exegesis that (1) gave
meaning to texts, phrases, and words without regard to the context in which
they were meant to apply; (2) combined texts that contained similar words
or phrases whether or not such texts were referring to the same idea; and
(3) took incidental aspects of grammar and gave them interpretive
significance.
... (an example) "Explanations are obtained by reducing the letters of a
word to their numerical value, and substituting for it another word or
phrase of the same value, or by transposing the letters. Thus, for example,
the sum of the letters in the name of Eliezer, Abraham's servant, is
equivalent to 318, the number of his trained men (Gen. 14:14), and,
accordingly, shows that Eliezer alone was worth a host of servants"
(adapted from TERRY, Biblical Hermeneutics, p. 608)
Thus by focusing on the identification of hidden meanings from incidental
grammatical details and contrived numerical speculations, midrashic
exegesis often lost sight of the actual meaning of the text."
A. Berkeley MICKELSEN
Interpreting the Bible
Grand Rapids, MI : Eerdmans, 1963, 1989
Under the heading 'Emblematic Numbers, Names, Colors, Metals and Jewels"
(pp.272-274), it has a very useful coverage of biblical numbers, not of
those hidden "inside" the text but of those which actually occur in the
text: 12 (apostles, tribes, stars...) is used as an illustration.
The author points to other particular numbers: 1, 3, 4, 7, 10, 40, 70, etc.
"which the Bible student can study carefully."
He cautions: "We can rarely be sure that particular examples of this
category carry any symbolism"
HAMIMAD HANOSAF: hebrew book; references unknown
This is a book in Modern Hebrew (which I cannot yet read fluently...),
which is by the authors (or some of them) of the article in *Statistical
Science*.
I unsuccessfully tried to contact the authors in Israel. I got the
reference by a French Pentecostal journal, which heartily endorse it and
draw the conclusion which the Statistical Science article only suggests:
all this numerical harmony is the clear proof that the Bible (i.e the Old
Testament for that) is God-inspired.
I am myself a Christian (from an Assemblies of God community) but I feel
very unconfortable about many adduced proofs and arguments in it. It seems
to me that this is a not so good defense of the Bible.
You will not be able to get the journal through the Interlibrary loan, for
it is not widely circulated, and is not academic.
If you add your postal address, I could send you some significant excerpts
or order it for you from the Publisher (Centre Missionnaire - Carhaix -
France)
"Number in Scripture", by: E.W. Bullinger, Kregel Publications Grand
Rapids, MI 49501, ISBN 0-8254-2204-3.
I have it. I read it a long time ago. As I remember,it is a mixing of
forced apologetics, proofs of inspiration and spiritual applications, of
the kind found in Bullinger's COMPANION BIBLE
"Biblical Mathematics", by: Evangelist Ed.F.Vallowe P.O.Box 826, Forest
Park, GA. 30050.
Heartily endorses the numerical value and significance of the
mathematical/numerical harmony found in the Bible.
The author will kindly send you some materials upon request
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another response:
Del Washburn and a man named Jerry Lucas (deceased now) got interested
in Panin's work and used their knowledge of statistics to carry matters
further along. For a summary of their work, see a marvelous book called
"Theomatics II" by Del Washburn (it updates another work of the pair
called "Theomatics."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here the details:
Del Washburn, Theomatics II: God's Best Kept Secret Revealed.
Madison Bks UPA, 2nd ed., 1994, 664p,
Cloth, $24.95, ISBN 0-8128-4023-2.
Paper, $16.95, ISBN 0-8128-8547-3.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
More books that contain a fair amount of these methods:
(at least the second one, which I have read personally)
Publisher: New Leaf
Faid, Robert W. [A (former?) nuclear physicist)
A Scientific Approach to Christianity.
1990. 200p. Paper, $8.95, ISBN 0-89221-186-5.
A Scientific Approach to Biblical Mysteries.
1993. 208p. Paper, $8.95, ISBN 0-89221-231-4.
A Scientific Approach to More Biblical Mysteries.
1995. 208p. Paper, $9.95, ISBN 0-89221-283-7.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Somebody sent me these (which I have not seen myself):
In your internet page you mentioned books regarding numerology &
Bible. I didn't see this ones (very importants for your bibliography
study):
Ishrael connais ton Dieu
par l'informatique hebraique.
ISBN 2-85707-080-2
Les Clefs de la Recherche Fondamentale
le nom et le nombre vivants
le cybernetique et le sacre
ISBN 2-85707-536-7
Le Tresor Sacre d'Ishrael
ISBN 2-85707-259-7
The author is Jean Gaston Bardet and the Editor is:
Guy Tredaniel, Editions de la Maisnie
76, rue Claude-Bernard 75005
Paris, France.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I do not know the following, just stumbled on them via library data base
search for numerology & Bible:
Author(s) AU: Yunger, John.
Title TI: Mysteries of the Bible Numerically Revealed.
Publisher PB: Carlton
Date DA: 1990.
Pagination PG: 160p.
Status ST: Out of Print.
Price PR: Trade Cloth, $11.95 (Retail Price).
ISBN IS: 0-8062-3784-8.
Subject(s) SU: NUMEROLOGY, NUMBERS IN THE BIBLE.
Author(s) AU: Lidstone, R. A.
Title TI: Studies in Symbology: Astrology, the Tarot,
Numerology, the Bible.
Publisher PB: Gordon Pr
Date DA: 1991.
Status ST: Active.
Price PR: Library Binding, $69.95 (Retail Price).
ISBN IS: 0-8490-4517-7.
Subject(s) SU: ASTROLOGY, NUMEROLOGY, SYMBOLISM IN THE BIBLE, TAROT.
Author(s) AU: Kistler, Don, Editor.
Title TI: The Arithmetic of God.
Edition ED: 3rd ed.
Publisher PB: AOG
Date DA: 1976.
Vol/Page VO: Vol. 1.
Pagination PG: 187p.
Status ST: Active.
Price PR: Trade Paper, $6.00 (Retail Price).
ISBN IS: 0-940532-00-X.
Subject(s) SU: TRINITY, NUMBERS IN THE BIBLE.
Title TI: The Science of Numbers & Their Meaning in Scripture.
Publisher PB: Truth Center
Date DA: 1989.
Pagination PG: 77p.
Status ST: Active Record.
Price PR: Trade Paper, $10.00 (Retail Price).
ISBN IS: 1-57277-426-6.
Subject(s) SU: BIBLE-COMMENTARIES-O. T. PENTATEUCH.
RELIGION-GENERAL.
Author(s) AU: Johnston, Robert D.
Title TI: Numbers in the Bible: God's Unique Design in Biblical
Numbers.
Edition ED: Reprint ed.
Publisher PB: Kregel
Date DA: 1990.
Pagination PG: 112p.
Status ST: Active Record.
Price PR: Trade Paper, $4.99 (Ingram Price), $4.99 (Retail Price).
ISBN IS: 0-8254-3628-1.
Subject(s) SU: BIBLE-STUDY AND TEACHING.
Author(s) AU: Grant, F. W.
Title TI: Witness of Arithmetic to Christ.
Publisher PB: Loizeaux
Date DA: 1980.
Pagination PG: 64p.
Status ST: Out of Print.
Price PR: Trade Paper, $2.25 (Retail Price).
ISBN IS: 0-87213-272-2.
Subject(s) SU: NUMBERS IN THE BIBLE.
"Biblical Numerology" by John J. Davis, Baker Book House 1968, reprint
1981 ISBN 0-8010-2813-2
Deals with conventional numerals and debunks Panin, but has a very
complete bibliography and many footnotes that should help you.
"Number in Scripture" by E. W. Bullinger, Kregel Pub. 1894, reprint 1980
ISBN 0-8254-2204-3 (cloth) ISBN 0-8254-2238-8 (paper)
Deals with all kinds of patterns, not just gematria. If what you're
looking for is a lot of different patterns using the same number, this
should help.
"Theomatics" by Jerry Lucas and Del Washburn, Stein and Day 1977,
reprint 1978 ISBN 0-8128-2181-5
Gematria only, mostly from the NT. Arranged more by topic than number.
Overview on numerical features in different scriptures
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