Do you believe in coincidences?
Do things just randomly happen?
Or, is there a greater order to the events in life?
Think about the deaths of
two famous American presidents:
* Abraham
Lincoln and John Kennedy both have seven letters in their last names.
* They were elected
to office 100 years apart, 1860 and 1960.
* Both were assassinated
on Friday in the presence of their wives, Lincoln was killed in Ford's
theater and Kennedy in an automobile made by the Ford motor company.
* Both assassins
went by three names: John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald, with fifteen
letters in each complete name.
* Oswald shot Kennedy from a
warehouse and fled to a theater, and Booth shot Lincoln in a theater
and fled to a barn (a kind of warehouse).
* Both succeeding
vice-presidents were southern Democrats and former senators named Johnson
(Andrew and Lyndon), with thirteen letters in their names and born 100
years apart, 1808 and 1908.
There are
many startling similarities between the assassinations of Lincoln and
Kennedy. Just how did these
events occur? Isn’t this a bit
strange?
The rabbis claim that, “coincidence
is not a kosher word!”
Just think about your life
and you’ll agree that things don’t just happen. Fate is not in control.
Hidden within life and even
the Biblical text itself are hints and clues of skillful design. Jewish sages teach that there is a unity of
coincidence that exists within the realm of the universe. This idea is that through the opposites in the
world there is an overcoming of boundaries, which produces an establishment
of harmony. Or to put it plainly the actions and affairs
in life mix EVENLY with the reactions and circumstances of the world.
People reap what they sow, the rain falls on the just and the
unjust, and all things work together, this is amazing when you consider
the order of the universe and the scope of the Bible and its message.
You see,
things just aren’t written down in the Bible.
The events of the scriptures did not haphazardly occur. The scribes did not just pick random numbers
and Hebrew letters. Nor did
the adversary, may his name be blotted out, sneak up on the Almighty
and tempt Adam and Chava into sin.
Yahweh would not be Almighty if this had occurred. On the contrary, Yahweh is sovereign.
And the sovereignty of Yahweh establishes the fact that He is
supreme. His Word proves over and over that there is
a designed plan within the Scriptures.
What happens
in the Bible and in today’s life doesn’t just happen out of happenstance. Indeed, everything written within the text of
the Torah is Yahweh’s plan.
Take for example this week’s
Torah Parasha named “Shemini.” This
reading is Vayikra (Leviticus) chapters 9,10, and 11. These pages tell the story of some things that
just couldn’t happen by accident. The priests begin their ministry on the eighth
day following the seven-day period of ordination for Aharon and his
sons. Fire falls from heaven,
as the Shekinah of Yahweh inhabits the mishkan. Then, just as things are going on as planned
Aharon’s firstborn and second born sons offer a “strange fire” to Yahweh.
The two brothers are struck dead.
The Parasha continues with Moshe and Aharon disagreeing on certain
laws. After a resolution has been reached, instructions
are then given about ritual purity and clean and unclean foods. Is it
a fluke that these events took place on the day after the seventh day?
The truth is that numbers
in Scripture aren’t just numbers, they are also symbols. With the Hebrew alphabet letters are numbers and letters are signs. The study of Hebrew letters is called “gematria.” In gematria each Hebrew letter is assigned a
number. An interesting insight about Gematria is that if two words have
the same number, there is a connection. One web site says “gematria is the calculation
of the numerical equivalence of letters, words, or phrases, and, on
that basis, gaining, insight into interrelation of different concepts
and exploring the interrelationship between words and ideas.”
Even with numbers and letters,
what happens in the natural is a reflection of the supernatural. For example the number one speaks of unity and
sovereignty. Seven is the numeral
of divine completion, perfection, and wholeness.
And the number ten is the number of law and establishment.
It should be no surprise to the Bible student that something
special happens on day number eight of the sanctuary’s formation. The number eight, shemini, is the symbolic number
of new life.
Shemini,
is associated with newness, regeneration, and order. When the world was covered by the flood of water,
it was Noach who was the “eighth person” (2 Kefa 2:5) who stepped out
on to a new earth to commence a new order of things. "Eight souls"
(1 Kefa 3:20) passed through it with him to the new or regenerated world. Also, on the eighth day of the life all Hebrew
boys are to be circumcised as found in Beresheet 17:12. Eight is also the first cubic number, pointing
to the new life found in the holy of holies and the New Yerushalayim.
The
point is that numbers are more than just numbers. The Creator did not just haphazardly allow things
to happen or allow things to be written in the Scriptures. There is certainly a method and symbolism to
the use of numbers in scripture. Volumes more could be written about numbers,
numerology, gematria, and their profound impact upon Biblical understanding.
What is important to remember is that accidents just don’t happen. If there is great learning and insight to be
found in just the numbers and letters of the Torah, how much more then
it’s message as a whole. To
help you learn more about numbers in scripture and their significance,
provided below is a chart for your use.
There
are no such things as coincidence whether you are speaking of numbers
in the Bible or Presidents in the History books.
| |
Name(E) |
|
Number |
Meaning |
| |
Aleph |
|
1 |
Unity,
sovereignty, whole |
| |
Beth |
|
2 |
Division,
witnessing |
| |
Gimel |
|
3 |
Completeness,
resurrection |
| |
Daleth |
|
4 |
Weakness |
| |
He
|
|
5 |
Grace,
giant |
| |
Vau |
|
6 |
Man,
manifestation of sin |
| |
Zayin |
|
7 |
Completion,
divine number |
| |
Cheth |
|
8 |
New
birth, new creation |
| |
Teth |
|
9 |
Plagues,
fruit of the Spirit |
| |
Yod |
|
10 |
Legal
number, testimony |
| |
Kaph |
|
20,500 |
Going
Out and Coming In;
military; generation;
redemption |
| |
Lamed |
|
30 |
Priest
hood, dedications, blood |
| |
Mem |
|
40,600 |
Generation,
divine discipline, trials, probation, testing |
| |
Nun |
|
50,700 |
Congregation,
Ruach HaKodesh |
| |
Samekh |
|
60 |
Worldy
production, pride |
| |
Ayin |
|
70 |
Elder,
pastor, teacher, Yisra’el |
| |
Peh |
|
80,800 |
Strength,
saints |
| |
Tzaddi |
|
90,900 |
Election,
new order |
| |
Qoph |
|
100 |
Divine
production, election of grace |
| |
Resh |
|
200 |
Insufficiency
|
| |
Shin |
|
300 |
Almighty |
| |
Tau |
|
400 |
Being
without |
