Gematria

[Adelphos]

This a thread for Iriving or anyone else who wants to give a few examples of gematria.

[ISalzman]

This a thread for Iriving or anyone else who wants to give a few examples of gematria.

Thanks Scott. I'll have to think about this one and get back to you on it later. Word play on names would be the easier question.

[jimofbentley]

Although I personally have no great interest in Gematria, there is an interesting article in wikipedia which gives an overview of what it is, means, and its purpose.

It also provides a large number of reference works, further reading, and other websites.

As I said, I have no great interest in the topic, but if others do, this might be a place to start.

[Sansom48]

I read the article on gematria from Wikipedia. Even though there are plenty of sources mentioned I think I have an immediate reaction to not trust Wikipedia. Anyway, Isalzman, brought up the point of David, and the genealogies in Matthew, I found this very interesting, but accepting the article as honest, how do we know that, how do we know which method was used, I know that there was the "Absolute Value" method that was discussed, is that the one. It sounded as if there were so many different forms and ways to get these numbers that the possibilities for making a word a certain number are endless. I may be misunderstanding, I have never read much into this topic so I don't know much.

[Adelphos]

Anyway, Isalzman, brought up the point of David, and the genealogies in Matthew, I found this very interesting...

This is why I brought up the thread. I found that particular scheme somewhat interesting.

It sounded as if there were so many different forms and ways to get these numbers that the possibilities for making a word a certain number are endless. I may be misunderstanding, I have never read much into this topic so I don't know much.

This is why gematria cannot be trusted. You can come up with almost anything you want to come up with.

Better to stick with the plain meaning of the Scripture and let the Holy Spirit be the teacher. As Spurgeon correctly stated --

"He has learned nothing aright who has not been under the direct tuition of the Holy Ghost." C. H. Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol XXX, Receiving The Holy Ghost

[MWMiles]

Thanks Scott. I'll have to think about this one and get back to you on it later. Word play on names would be the easier question.

Word play on names is a good way to give an example of gematria.

In Genesis 17:5 Father changes Abram's name from Abram to Abraham. In Genesis 17:15 Father changed Sarai's name to Sarah. What happened here? Both of these people had an He added to their names. In gematria He is 5, it being the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Five in gematria signifies grace. So Father added unmerited favor or grace to Abraham and Sarah and HE signified it by changing their names.

There are LOTS of examples of gematria in the Bible, just as many Hebrew acrostics have deeper meanings.

If you are interested in Biblical gematria, then a couple of good books to read are Number in Scripture by E.W. Bullinger and Biblical Mathematics by Ed. F. Vallowe.

This is a VERY interesting aspect of Bible studies and if Father uses gematria then it might be a good idea to pay attention to it.

[bobvenem]

Aside from an arbitrary assignment, how did "five" become "grace?" Is it because "five" means "grace," or is it because in this instance where the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is added to Abram and Sarai it commemorated an act of grace on the Lord's part?

More broadly, does the symbol simply commemorate the thing being signified, or does it actually add to the thing? To the extent that it is the former, to that extent gematria appears worthwhile. Beyond that, I fear it become magic.

[Joshua Luna]

And when did He become Five? And what of different alphabetic sequences found in the Bible?

[MWMiles]

The number 5 was assigned the meaning "grace" by Father.

Just as the number 18 was assigned the meaning "bondage" and the number 40 was assigned the meaning "probation", and the number 17 was assigned the meaning "victory".

I'm not here trying to prove anything to anybody. You can choose to ignore these pearls all day long if you wish to. I choose not to ignore them and in return I am blessed.

Numbers have spiritual assignments. Just as "left" and "right" have spiritual assignments. Why do you think that Jesus told His disciples to fish out of the right side of the boat? Do you think that Father is obtuse to there being left-wing minded people and right-wing minded people?

Mike

[Adelphos]

In Genesis 17:5 Father changes Abram's name from Abram to Abraham. In Genesis 17:15 Father changed Sarai's name to Sarah. What happened here? Both of these people had an He added to their names. In gematria He is 5, it being the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Five in gematria signifies grace. So Father added unmerited favor or grace to Abraham and Sarah and HE signified it by changing their names.

Actually, it wasn't the Father who added the Hey, but the Pre-Incarnate Christ, the Eternal Word, who upholds all things by the word of his power, and who holds all power in heaven and earth. The New Testament makes it vividly clear that it is Jesus Christ who is primarily acting in the Old Testament, and who goes by the name Jehovah therein. John 12:37-41, ad infinitum.