Chosen also by number

It is perhaps not surprising that of all biblical names having earthly connotations ISRAEL is found to occur more frequently than any other - and by a handsome margin. The name - meaning God strives - was divinely bestowed upon Jacob (c1800 BC) following his remarkable struggle with a stranger (Gen.32:24-28), and was later passed on to his descendants and their land.

The value of read as a number (ie its characteristic value) is 541 - one that is an integral part of the scheme of numerical design revealed in Gen.1:1, for consider:

• 541 uniform circular counters may be set out on a flat surface to form a perfect Star of David, or hexagram (Figure 1a), and Israel is thus observed to possess the symmetrical form of its own national emblem - a fact that defies logical explanation - for there exists no evidence to show that this coincidence was intended!

• the outline of this figure comprises 108 counters - identical with the outline of the triangle representing "... and the earth." - the rendering of the two final Hebrew words of the Bible's first verse (Figure 1b)

• these figures each have 37 rows of counters - 37 having a particular significance in the numerical structure of Gen.1:1

• 541-as-hexagram has 12 sides, each comprising 10 counters; the first clearly relates to the number of the tribes of Israel; the second to an essential anatomical feature of man, and principal collective unit, or radix, of his numbering and measuring systems

• the hexagon having the same number of rows is the 19th (ie each of its 6 sides comprises 19 counters); as can be seen (Figure 2c), it comprises a total of 1027 counters, while that representing the hexagonal core of the hexagram (Figure 2b) is the 10th (Figure 2a) and comprises 271 (or 0271) counters; both these numbers - each clearly compatible with 541 - are digit permutations of 2701 - 73rd triangle and characteristic value of Gen.1:1

• the triangle which generates the hexagram (by self union) is the 28th (Figure 2b); its value is 406 - near neighbour of 407 (characteristic value of the 6th word of Gen.1:1) and precisely twice that of word 2, viz 203

• again, 28 is itself a triangular number (the 7th), 2nd perfect number, and the number of letters of Gen.1:1

Conclusion

Clearly, the Bible's second channel of communication, viz. that opened by the reading of its Hebrew and Greek words as numbers (as per the alphabetic numbering schemes used by these ancient peoples), provides precise and visually-compelling information that poses important questions for mankind - questions that will be urgently addressed by all who love Truth.

Vernon Jenkins MSc

2002-07-28

(Transcribed from a document first prepared by the author 1991-01-24)

Appendix - The derivation of the characteristic value of Israel

The term characteristic value (CV) refers to a numerical attribute of every Hebrew or Greek word, or group of words, that has its origin in one or other of the the alphabetic schemes of numeration used by these ancient peoples - introduced c200 and c600 BC, respectively.

The Jewish scheme is set out in the following table where the Hebrew alphabet of 22 letters - 5 of these having end-forms - is presented as a set of numerals:

The practice then was to record numbers on an additive basis, ie the value represented by a string of characters was the simple sum of the character values as shown above.

Thus, the evaluation of Israel proceeds as follows:

The reading is from right to left with letter values shown above, and their sum below.