Among the many proofs available for the divine inspiration of the Bible, the most unexpected would seem to be the field of mathematics. Yet as will be easily seen herein, the Holy Bible yields such an astounding mathematical pattern as to persuade even the most ardent Bible objector.
The foundation of this numerical design rests in the fact that the Hebrew and Greek languages, originally used to write the Bible, share a peculiarity: they have no separate symbols for numbers. Instead they substitute the letters of their alphabets for numbers. Therefore to represent a number 1 in Greek, the letter alpha(α) is used, and for 2 the letter beta (β) is used. So as can be seen by the table below each letter of both alphabets has a corresponding numerical value.
Hebrew | Greek | ||
1 Aleph | 1 | 1 Alpha | 1 |
2 Beth | 2 | 2 Beta | 2 |
3 Gimel | 3 | 3 Gamma | 3 |
4 Daleth | 4 | 4 Delta | 4 |
5 He | 5 | 5 Epsilon | 5 |
6 Vau | 6 | Stigma | 6 * |
7 Zayin | 7 | 6 Zeta | 7 |
8 Cheth | 8 | 7 Eta | 8 |
9 Teth | 9 | 8 Theta | 9 |
10 Yod | 10 | 9 Iota | 10 |
11 Kaph | 20 | 10 Kappa | 20 |
12 Lamed | 30 | 11 Lambda | 30 |
13 Mem | 40 | 12 Mu | 40 |
14 Nun | 50 | 13 Nu | 50 |
15 Samech | 60 | 14 Xi | 60 |
16 Ayin | 70 | 15 Omicron | 70 |
17 Pe | 80 | 16 Pi | 80 |
18 Tsaddi | 90 | Koppa | 90 * |
19 Koph | 100 | 17 Rho | 100 |
20 Resh | 200 | 18 Sigma | 200 |
21 Shin | 300 | 19 Tau | 300 |
22 Tau | 400 | 20 Upsilon | 400 |
21 Phi | 500 | ||
22 Chi | 600 | ||
23 Psi | 700 | ||
24 Omega | 800 | ||
Sampsi | 900 * | ||
The five Hebrew final letters were later additions and hence are not relevant in the calculation of gematria in ancient texts. These five final letters are divided in to two groups: Mem and the other four.
Mem appears in the "Mekorot" (Jewish sources) both as an "open" letter and as a "final" letter. An "open" mem can appear at the end of a word and vice versa - this letter has always been there in both forms (See the Book of Isaiah or the Dead Sea Scrolls). The remaining four letters are a matter of graphic aspect, which were used by various writers since the Aramaic and Assyrian.
Ezra the scribe copied the whole Book of the Torah and since his era (building of the Second Temple) these letters appear.
* Circa 6 BC, three letters, stigma (Ϛ) (also known as digamma), koppa, and sampsi, were removed from the Greek alphabet, though they were retained for numerical use. Stigma was used for the number 6, as was koppa for 90 and sampsi for 900.
Having then established that the Hebrew and Greek letters all have corresponding numerical values, it can be seen that words, sentences and whole chapters also have numerical values, being simply the addition of the letters that comprise them.
These facts alone present us with no great phenomena, but for the work of a greatly acclaimed mathematician, namely Ivan Panin. After what is best described as a life time of diligent study, Mr Panin has presented to the world his findings of astounding mathematical and numerical design woven into the text of the Bible.
Presented here are but a few examples of the numerical evidences that maybe found throughout the entire text of the Bible.
