Bible Secrets Revealed in the Last Days: Articles

MODERN SCIENCE PROVES

GENESIS CREATION STORY

Amazingly, recent discoveries in various fields of modern science are proving the veracity of the Scriptures. Let us take the first three verses of the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, Genesis:

Universe had a beginning

“In the beginning…” Most scientists today agree the universe had a beginning – the Big Bang. But, before anything existed, there was only God. “In the beginning God…” Jewish sages called God the Ein Sof, the “Infinite Nothingness,” without any form or dimension of any kind whatsoever.

Space-time created

“…God created the heaven and the earth.” By “heaven,” the Genesis writer, Moses, probably meant “space.” To make room for empty space, God caused a contraction of His infinite Self. It is known to Jewish mystics as the tzimtzum.

With the creation of space, time began. Without space, there can be no motion, And, without motion, time cannot be perceived. Space and time are linked inseparably, hence the term “space-time continuum.”

The Encarta Encyclopedia points out: “In Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which was introduced in 1916, the very existence of time depends on the presence of space.” The Jews had a 16^th century saying: "HaMakom V'HaZman Echad Hu." ("Space and time, they are one.”)

Mind-made matter

“And the earth was without form and void…” As planet Earth was not yet formed, “earth” here can only mean “matter.” Matter (“earth”) was “void” (nothing). Quantum physicists call the pre-matter phase the “quantum wave function” -- the probability of an event taking place. “Probability” needs a mind to consider the likelihood of any event, and then see that probability (nothing) turn into reality. So, there obviously was a mind in the beginning. God?

The NASA posits that the universe is the product of “quantum fluctuation” – matter (quarks) and antimatter appearing in a vacuum, then colliding, and vanishing. Somehow, every so many collisions a quark survived. Experimental physicists James Cronin and Val Fitch shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1980 for having demonstrated in 1964 that two in every 1,200 decays of a particle produced a survivor.

Electromagnetic entity

“…and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved…” What is spirit?

Eliphaz, in Job 4:15, said, “a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.” Thus, a spirit is an electromagnetic entity.

The four fundamental forces -- electromagnetism, gravitation, strong force, and weak force -- all existed from the very beginning. The presence of these forces enabled the first quarks to bond together into protons and neutrons, making way for the formation of the first atoms.

First element: “water”

“And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

The “waters,” apparently, were hydrogen, The term came from Greek hydro (“water”) and gen (“birth/producer”). The hydrogen atom is the first and most basic element – with just one proton as nucleus and one electron orbiting it.

“Water” into light

“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” That was the Big Bang.

When four hydrogen atoms fuse into helium, energy is released as a blast of light and heat. The sun generates light and heat from hydrogen through exactly the same process of thermonuclear fusion.

Light into matter

Energy can transform into matter, and vice-versa, according to Albert Einstein’s famous and time-honored equation (E = mc²).

Experimental physicists today can turn light (radiant energy) into electron-positron particles (matter) in the laboratory in at least two ways: First, by bombarding heavy atoms with X-rays; and, second, by directing pulses of high-energy laser at electron beams moving at close to the speed of light.

Surprisingly, the Jews in olden times, long before the advent of modern science, knew that matter had come from light: “Mehitabut ha'orot, nithavu hakelim” ("From the condensation of the lights, were the vessels brought into being.") – an old Jewish saying.

*(Condensed from Ch. 1, “Mysteries of Our Maker” and Ch. 3, “Conundrums of Creation,” of THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth, 436 pages, by M.M.Tauson.)

WHY VEGETARIAN MAN

BECAME AN OMNIVORE

After creating man, “God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat” (Gen 1:29). The first men were told to eat plants and fruits only. In short, they were to be vegetarians.

But then, after the Flood, God told Noah, “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things” (Gen 9:3). Noah, his family, and their descendants were now allowed to eat flesh. What had led to the drastic change in their diet?

The Earth tilted?

Australian astronomer George Dodwell, studying summer/winter solstice shadow measurements by ancient astronomers, noticed that although shadow lengths were correct in relation to latitude, they were wrong vis-à-vis the alignment of the Earth’s axis with the sun. A change had occurred in the distant past.

Dodwell saw a correlation in three cases of dating discrepancies – the Temple of Amen-Ra, the North Celestial Pole observations of Greek astronomer Eudoxus, and the Stonehenge. He constructed a mathematical curve and discovered that, around 2345 BC, the Earth wobbled like a spinning top, but gradually stabilized to a new axis with a tilt.

Noah’s Flood

It closely matched the year of Noah’s Flood – 2348 BC -- in the Annals of the World (1658) by Archbishop James Ussher of Armagh, regarded by scholars as the most reliable Biblical chronologer.

In Noah’s Flood, the upsurge of subterranean waters from under tectonic plates, together with massive global rains, brought on an imbalance enough to make the Earth’s axis to tilt. The Bible tells of “all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Gen 7:11b-12).

Author Peter Lorie says: “a massive weight on the planet’s surface would potentially cause a ‘wobble’ in the movement of the natural axis… the Earth would slip into a different axis.” According to National Geographic, when the enormous Three Gorges Dam in China filled with water in 2006, it caused Earth’s axis to tilt by no less than an inch. How much more a global deluge as the one in the time of Noah?

Paradise Earth

Scripture says and fossils show Earth was once a paradise. If the planet’s axis used to be fully or nearly vertical, warm air from the equator flowed all the way to the poles, while cold polar air blew toward the equatorial zone. Result: a narrow tropical zone, small arctic zones, and broad temperate zones. There were little or no temperature variations worldwide -- no scorching summers and freezing winters. Plants got the same amount of sunlight throughout the year.

Fossilized palm trees have been found in the sub-Arctic region of Canada. Some coal seams discovered in Antarctica contain fossilized plants that do not grow in the polar region – indicating they grew at or near the pole under warmer conditions.

Giant plants and animals

On primordial earth, mosses were 2-3 feet high; horsetail reeds up to 50 feet. Plants grew to huge sizes. So did animals that ate them. Paleontologists dig up fossils of very large herbivorous animals – hornless rhinoceroses 30 feet long and 18 feet high; 12-foot-tall sloths; birds standing 7-10 feet; gigantic wooly mammoths. The plant-eating dinosaurs, which lasted for millions of years, were the largest creatures on earth. It seems all the nutrients that the first men and animals needed were in the plants that they ate.

Climate change

Climatic variations and seasonal extremes in the world today, such as broiling hot summers and bitterly cold winters, are the result of a 23.5^o tilt in the axis of the Earth toward the sun.

With the tilting of the earth’s axis, plants were subjected to the stresses of uneven periods of light and darkness, extreme heat and cold, drought and flooding, not to mention destructive strong winds. The plants grew smaller… and, evidently, less nutritious.

A new diet

It appears the nutrients plants had provided early men were no longer available in the usual amounts. It became necessary for men to obtain their complete proteins from animals in the form of meat, milk, eggs.

God forestalled nutritional deficiencies that would have inevitably led to illnesses, and ultimately death and extinction, by allowing men to eat the flesh of “every moving thing that liveth.”

*(From Ch. 4 “Primordial Planet Puzzles”; Ch. 6 “First Family Foibles”; and Ch. 8 “Full Circle to Square One” of THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth, 436 pages, by M.M. Tauson.)

Only Those Who Call on the True Name of G-d

Will Be Taken in the First Resurrection

This claim may seem incredible, even preposterous, but scripturally true. The following discussion, supported by pertinent passages in the Bible will show it is true.

Importance of knowing G-d’s Name.

Some people say it is not necessary to know the Name of G-d, because, whatever name we use, He will know that it is He we are addressing. However, one very important reason the Creator revealed His personal Name to men through Moses is for us not to confuse Him with false gods.

He is a jealous G-d. “Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth” (Deut 6:13-15).

A substitute for the Name.

The true Name of the Creator has been replaced in the Scriptures. We read in Isaiah 42:8 – “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.” Obviously, “the LORD” is not a name; it is a title. “Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD” (Jer 16:21, etc.).

Many Bible translations follow the tradition William Tyndale started in the 16^th century which renders G-d’s name as ‘LORD’ (all capitals) or ‘Lord’ (small capitals). So, each time we see “the Lord” in the Biblical text, that means it is merely a substitute for the original Name of G-d.

Sound waves and frequencies.

Names are words made up of letters, which are sounded through vibrations made with the vocal chords, lips, tongue, teeth, throat, nasal cavity, lungs. Sound travels in waves, with varying wavelengths and frequencies. Since names are normally made up of certain combinations of letters, each name is one of a kind, with its own set of vibrations.

Thus, the personal Name of G-d, with its unique wavelengths and frequencies, is the only one that resonates perfectly with His Being. By revealing His sacred Name to men, the Creator has given us, as it were, His direct line. He has taught us how to precisely tune in to His personal frequency, much like the way we select a TV channel or dial a telephone number.

When we use a different word, title, or name to call on G-d, we are tuning in to a different frequency and, hence, could be communicating with an entity that is entirely different from the one true G-d.

Blessings in knowing the true Name of G-d.

The Creator promises to answer and grant protection, honors, long life, and salvation to those who will call on His Name. “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation” (Ps 91:14-16).

His Name can save the faithful even from the brink of death. “The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living” (Ps 116:3-9).

Two resurrections

Two resurrections (the dead coming back to life) are prophesied in the Bible. “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years… This is the first resurrection” (Rev 20:4,5b).

The second resurrection will take place 1,000 years later. “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished…” (Rev 20:5a). This raises some questions: Why two resurrections? Who will be in the first and in the second resurrections?

The “elect”.

“And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt 24:31). It is the “elect” who will be taken by Christ in the first resurrection at His Second Coming.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “elect” as “chosen for salvation through divine mercy”. In this connection, Christ said in Matthew 22:14 – “For many are called, but few are chosen.” So, it seems that the “elect” who will be taken at the first resurrection will be few in number.

Who are the elect?

G-d said through the prophet Isaiah: “For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me” (Isa 45:4). Accordingly, the nation of Israel is the elect of G-d. No other group of people is named as such in the entire Bible.

Moreover, G-d’s choice will never change. “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips” (Ps 89:34).

144,000 Israelites.

“And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel” (Rev 7:2-4). It looks like the “elect” (or chosen few) who will receive the seal of G-d will be made up of 144,000 Israelites.

What? You are not an Israelite or a Jew? Well, not all is lost. There is still hope for you. Read on.

What is the seal of God?

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads” (Rev 14:1). It appears that the Father’s name is the seal of G-d itself or, perhaps, the most important part of the seal.

The Father’s Name will be “written in their foreheads”. Note that the word is “in”, not “on”, the forehead – suggesting that the seal will be in the mind, not on the skin of the brow. (The brain’s decision-making hub, the pre-frontal cortex, is just behind the forehead.) Hence, having the seal “in the forehead” means the person wholeheartedly accepts and upholds it.

The “firstfruits”.

“These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb” (Rev 14:4).

The 144,000 are the “firstfruits… redeemed from among men, ” meaning they will be in the first resurrection.

“Virgins undefiled with women”.

The phrase seems to denote unmarried men who have not had any sexual experience with the opposite sex. Will Israelite bachelors exclusively make up the 144,000? Let us allow the Bible itself to interpret the mysterious metaphors in this veiled prophecy.

“Woman”. In Biblical prophecy, a “woman” symbolizes a faith, church, or religion, as well as its members. So, a “virgin” (Lam 2:13, etc.) is a pure, spotless religion. On the other hand, a “harlot” or a “whore” (Rev 19:2, etc.) is a corrupt, sinful church.

Therefore, “not defiled with women” means they have not been tainted or soiled by the erroneous teachings and practices of false churches.

“Virgin”. Anyone – married or unmarried, young or old, male or female, with or without children – can become a “virgin” again. How is this possible? The apostle Paul explained: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor 5:17).

A person becomes a “new creature” through baptism or immersion in water. “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Rom 6:4-5). Baptism is symbolic of burial and rebirth!

Christ emphasized the value of baptism. “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).

So, Israelites only? The 144,000 are from “all the tribes of the children of Israel”. That seems to leave out Gentiles.

Paul, however, said that Gentiles can be part of the elect. “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering” (Col 3:11-12). Gentiles can be part of the elect through Christ!

Spiritual Israel. We can become “naturalized” Israelites. “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Eph 2:19). “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God” (Gal 6:15-16, NIV). We do not become Jews or Israelites physically, but spiritually – the “Israel of God”!

“For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Rom 2:28-29).

The ten virgins

Christ told the disciples an intriguing parable: “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

“While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

“Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matt 25:1-10).

We already know that a “virgin” represents a pure, spotless religion and its followers. So, the “virgins” are righteous churches and their faithful members waiting for the “bridegroom”. Who is the “bridegroom”? John the Baptist alluded to Christ as the "bridegroom" in John 3:28-29; Christ referred to Himself as the "bridegroom" in Matthew 9:15. The “bridegroom” therefore is the Messiah.

What about the “lamps” and the “oil”? What do they stand for? Once more, let us decipher their meanings through the principle that the Bible interprets itself.

“Lamp”.

We read in Psalm 119:105 – “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path”; while in Proverbs 6:23 – “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light.”

Thus, G-d’s word – the Scriptures, as well as His commandments contained therein – stands for the “lamps” mentioned in the parable.

“Oil”.

“Oil” signifies several things in the Bible, but the most relevant verse is in The Song of Solomon (1:3, ASV) – “Thine oils have a goodly fragrance; Thy name is (as) oil poured forth; Therefore do the virgins love thee.”

As an allegory, the Song pictures the lover and his beloved personifying G-d and Israel, respectively. His name is figuratively likened to aromatic oil which leads “virgins” (faithful believers) to adore Him.

The “lamp” (the Bible) without “oil” (the true name of G-d) cannot produce light (enlightenment). Thus, whenever we read the Scriptures and see the title “the LORD”, we must remember that it is merely a substitute and read the verses as if the true name of G-d is written therein.

The “foolish” left behind.

As “virgins”, the foolish young “women” are also spiritually saved believers belonging to righteous churches, yet they neglect to use and call on the Father’s name. As a result, they will not be part of the elect Christ will take at His Second Coming.

“I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left” (Luke 17:34-36; cf. Matt 24:40-41).

The “foolish” will be left behind in first resurrection of the dead and “rapture” of the living at the Second Coming of the Messiah.

A deadline for calling on the true Name of G-d

In a related enigma, the Scriptures seem to say that there is a deadline for calling on the true Name of G-d. Let us return to the opening lines of Revelation 7.

“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads” (Rev 7:1-3).

There are at least four metaphors in the prophecy: “wind”, “earth”, “sea”, “trees”. Let us again allow the Bible to interpret the Biblical symbolism for us.

“Wind.”

We read in Jeremiah 18:17 – “I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity” (Jer 18:17; see also Prov 1:27; Jer 49:36-37; Dan 11:40; Amos 1:14). Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary explains: “In a figurative sense, war is compared to the east wind…”. In this regard, many of us have probably heard the phrase “the winds of war”.

The four angels are “on the four corners of the earth” – denoting the four points of the compass: north, east, west, and south; and suggesting that the scope of their responsibility is worldwide. If “wind” prophetically means war, then the “four winds of the earth” that they are holding back point to a global conflict – the Third World War?

“Sea.”

In Revelation 13:1, John saw a monster with seven heads and ten horns emerge from the “sea.” Then, in Revelation 17:1, an identical creature can be seen in “many waters”. Hence, the terms “sea” and “many waters” must be synonymous.

An angel reveals the meaning of “many waters” (or “sea”) to John. “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (Rev 17:15). The “sea,” therefore, signifies a place where many different nationalities live, speaking various languages.

One region best fits the description – the “Old World”, comprising countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa around the Mediterranean Sea, primarily Western Europe. In these last days, many of the countries there have bonded together to form the European Union (EU). Thus, “sea” could prophetically mean the EU.

“Earth.”

At the Creation, after G-d separated the waters from the dry land, the surface of the planet consisted of two kinds: the “Seas” and the “Earth” (Gen 1:9-10). The New Unger's Bible Dictionary defines “earth” as the “land as opposed to sea.” Obviously, “earth” and “sea” are opposites.

Along that line, if “sea” means a place with many peoples and languages, then “earth” likely means a region with few people in it. In that case, “earth” must be the sparsely populated lands that European explorers found when they came to the Americas -- the New World.

Today, the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the New World is the United States of America (USA). And, when we hear the word “America”, what country immediately comes to mind? Yes, the United States. It appears that the prophetic metaphor “earth” refers to the USA.

“Trees.”

G-d told Ezekiel: “Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs… To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD” (Ezek 31:3,18). G-d likened the Assyrian king and the Egyptian pharaoh to trees.

In Babylon, Daniel interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: “The tree that you saw, which grew and became strong, whose height reached to the heavens and which could be seen by all the earth, whose leaves were lovely and its fruit abundant, in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and in whose branches the birds of the heaven had their home -- it is you, O king, who have grown and become strong; for your greatness has grown and reaches to the heavens, and your dominion to the end of the earth” (Dan 4:20-23, NKJV).

The kings of Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon, are compared to great trees. What do they have in common? For one thing, they all oppressed and subjugated the Israelites. “Trees” therefore stand for the enemies and oppressors of Israel. (Egypt, whose ancient Hamitic population is gone, is the most populous Arab nation today. Assyria is now the northern part of the Arab state of Iraq, while Babylon used to occupy the southern sector of the country.)

The “deadline”.

The four angels are preventing a global conflict (“four winds of the earth”) from breaking out prematurely. The metaphors identify the main protagonists and battle zones in the coming conflagration: “earth” (United States); “sea” (European Union); “trees” (enemies of Israel, such as Iraq, Egypt, and other anti-Jewish Islamic countries).

After the angel from the east shall have finished sealing the “servants of our God in their foreheads”, the global conflict (world war) will be allowed to break out. Thus, the number of the 144,000 who will be sealed will be completed just before the outbreak of the war.

Those who want to have an opportunity of becoming part of the elect must know and call upon G-d’s true Name before the worldwide warfare begins. The start of widespread hostilities will be the sign that the angel from the east shall have finished his work. No further sealing will be done. In short, the “deadline” is the eve of the Third World War.

No one will know for sure who will have been sealed until after the elect shall have been taken up in the first resurrection of the dead and the “rapture” of the living at Christ’s Second Coming.

Nevertheless, it will console those who will be left behind to know that the Name of G-d can still save them, physically, on the Day of Wrath that will soon follow. “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God” (Zech 13:8-9).

Two Presumed Names of G-d

(Part 1)

The substitution of the title “the LORD” for the Four-Lettered Name of G-d (YHWH / the Tetragrammaton) in the Scriptures has resulted in a great cloud of uncertainty over its pronunciation. It has led theologians to suggest various versions. In 1749, the German Biblical scholar Teller mentioned several pronunciations of G-d’s Name that he had come across in his readings: “Jao” (Diodorus of Sicily, Macrobius, Clement of Alexandria, Saint Jerome and Origen); “Jahe” or “Jave” (Samaritans, Epiphanius, and Theodoretus); “Javoh” (Ludwig Cappel); “Jahve” (Drusius); “Jehva” (Hottinger); “Jehovah” (Mercerus); “Jovah” (Castellio); “Jawoh” or “Javoh” (LeClerc).

Over the centuries, however, two forms have each gained sufficient favor and following to be accepted as the presumed correct vocalization of the Tetragrammaton. Let us see what these are and how it happened.

The first presumed Name

In the 1^st century A.D., Jewish historian Flavius Josephus supplied a hint on the lost pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton in his book Wars of the Jews. Writing in Koine (common) Greek, the international language of the time, he described the garments of the high priest at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem partly as follows: “A mitre also of fine linen encompassed his head, which was tied with a blue riband, about which there was another golden crown, in which was engraven the sacred name (of G-d); it consists of four vowels.”¹

Four Hebrew vowels?

Josephus was a Jew who surely knew that the Tetragrammaton consisted of four Hebrew consonants. According to the editor of the Loeb edition of Josephus’s Jewish Wars, “He was perhaps thinking of a Greek form.”²

Researcher Voy Wilks agrees: “Josephus spoke of four GREEK vowels in order to accommodate his Greek readers, and did not in any way intend to leave the impression that the four Sacred Letters on the priest’s garments were vowels from the Hebrew alphabet. After all, the Hebrew alphabet contained no vowels.”³

Author B. Earl Allen notes: “The Greek language does not… have a Y sound, nor an H sound in the middle of a word, nor a W sound.”⁴ All of these three Hebrew consonants that make up the Tetragrammaton were not part of the Greek writing system!

Hebrew names Hellenized.

Josephus admitted in his other book Antiquities of the Jews: “With a view to euphony and my readers’ pleasure these names have been Hellenized (made Greek). The form in which they appear is not that used in our country, where their structure and termination remain always the same.”⁵

We find in Adam Clarke’s Commentary that “neither Greeks nor Romans could pronounce either the Hebrew or Persian names, and when engaged in the task of transcribing, they did according to their manner of pronunciation.”⁶

The Jews followed suit. “Once the Jews came under Greek influence, we note a tendency to replace or to translate Jewish names by similar sounding Greek names.”⁷

Four Greek vowels.

Rabbi Yeshayahu Heiliczer explains that “when the Greeks borrowed the Phoenician/ Paleo-Hebrew alphabet they used leftover consonants that did not occur in their language and used them as symbols for vowels.”⁸He quoted writer Robert Whiting: ‘Therefore, the Hebrew yud (Y) became the Greek vowel iota (I); the Hebrew hey (H) became the Greek vowel epsilon (“E”); and the Hebrew vav (W/V) became the Greek vowel upsilon (“U”)’.”⁹

Vowel indicators

The Israelites themselves, though, had developed a rudimentary system for indicating vowels. Sacred Name researcher Choon-Leong Seow shares: “Beginning in the monarchial period (10^th to late 7^th centuries B.C.E.), certain letters [H], [W], [Y] were added at the end of words to indicate various vowels…”¹⁰

Last Day Ministries of Texas concurs: “It is true that the letters y, h, w can function as vowel letters… the yod acts as a vowel in the word ‘Eli’… ‘The h… at the end of a word is always a mere vowel letter, unless marked by a Mappiq as a strong consonant…’ The waw w… carries the ‘o’ sound… Therefore the letters yod, he, and waw can be vowel letters, they can also be consonants, depending on the usage.”¹¹

The booklet The Mistaken J (YNCA) provides us with more specific pronunciations. The three letters, called vowel-consonants or semivowels because they can be used either as vowels or consonants (like Y) at the end of words, are pronounced as follows:

Yod	/	Y	=	ee as in “see”
Hey	/	H	=	ah as in “bah”
Waw	/	W	=	oo as in “cool”¹²

‘IEUE” or “IAUA.”

If the Greek vowel equivalents (Y=I, H=E, W/V=U), as shown by Rabbi Heiliczer, were used, the sacred Name (YHWH) would be spelled IEUE in Greek.

However, if the four consonants are transliterated with the three Hebrew semi-vowel sounds “ee,” “ah,” “oo,” we will get the four Greek vowels I-A-U-A (iota, alpha, upsilon, alpha) forming the word “IAUA”.

Author B. Earl Allen concludes: “(YHWH) would be transliterated correctly into Greek as Iaua…” The Seventh-Day Adventist Dictionary confirms this from Sumerian inscriptions: “He (namely, the God) (is) spelled Yaua in cuneiform records.”¹³

“IAUE.”

The form “IAUA”, though, was not linguistically proper in Greek. Brian Allen says: “For the Greek translators to have preserved the true spelling in Greek (IAUA) or (Iaua) would have caused a language revolution.”¹⁴

“The sacred name… was transliterated into the Greek IAUE, the Greeks changed the ‘a’ to ‘e’, just as they did with Noah, Judah, Oshea, Korah, etc. The Greeks have it Noe, Jude, Osee, and Core, etc.”¹⁵Other examples are: Nogah/Nagge, Joshah/Jose, Jehoshua/Iesoue, Joshua/Josue, Gomorrah/Gomorrhe, Abishua/Abisue, Jeremiah/Ieremie, etc.

Feminine “ah”? Elder Jacob O. Meyer of Assemblies of Yahweh rationalized: “The ‘h’ (hay) has the vowel sound of an A (aw or ah)… The ‘h’ (hay) standing at the end of a masculine name has the vowel sound of short E. The Hebrew long A sound (pronounced aw) is a feminine ending at the end of a name...”¹⁶ Therefore, the “hay, the last letter is pronounced ‘eh’ (short e) and not ‘ah’ (short a)…”¹⁷

“IAOUE.”

The Greek form “IAUE” was further modified. The Missing J notes, “Early Christian writers such as Clement of Alexandria transliterated it into Greek as IAOUE.”¹⁸

Seow reports a number of “Greek transliterations of the name in the early Christian period and in some magical papyri in the early centuries of that era, including Iaoue, Iaouai, Iabe, Iabai, and Iaue.”¹⁹

Clement of Alexandria, quoted by Prof. Anson F. Rainey, said, ‘The mystic name which is called the tetragrammaton… is pronounced Iaoue, which means, “Who is, and who shall be”.’”²⁰

“IABE.”

Another form of the Name surfaced after about two centuries. “Later on, Theodoret (c. 390-455) and Epiphanius (c. 315-404) transliterated the sacred name as Iabe, but a couple of hundred years had passed since Clement…”²¹ The Jewish Encyclopedia says “Theodoret (‘Quaest. 15 in Exodum’) states the Samaritans pronounced the name ‘Iabe’.”²²

Different pronunciation. The Jews and the Samaritans, however, had religious differences. We read in The Good News magazine:“Professor Eerdman’s article showed that it is not safe to follow the Samaritan pronunciation advocated by Theodoret and Epiphanius, because the Samaritans were opposed to the Jewish way. ‘They built their own Temple on Gerizim and had their own priesthood. They thwarted the Jews whenever they could. On the account of their attitude we may safely assume that the Samaritans had their own (different) pronunciation of the holy name. For this reason the Samaritan pronunciation should not have been regarded (by modern scholars) as evidence for the Jewish pronunciation.’”²³

Moreover, Christ told the Samaritan woman at the well that her people did not truly know G-d. “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).

“YAHWEH.”

Meyer told his readers, “Now, if we combine these (Greek) letters we have the English word in the letters IAUE. Pronounce them slowly and then rapidly. You will discover you are saying YAHWEH!”²⁴ The Missing J suggests a similar exercise: “When we pronounce the Tetragrammaton IAOUE we get the sound ‘ee-ah-ou-eh.’ Saying it rapidly we produce ‘Yah-way,’ which appears as Yahweh in English.”²⁵

The Encyclopedia Judaica states: “The true pronunciation of the name YHWH was never lost. Several early Greek writers of the Christian Church testify that the name was pronounced ‘Yahweh’.”²⁶

Many proponents of the name “Yahweh” quote the preceding statement to support their contention. However, common sense tells us: How could early Greek writers who Hellenized foreign names, including Hebrew ones, have “testified” to the true pronunciation of the ancient Hebrew Name of G-d?

Meaning of “Yahweh”.

The advocates of the name “Yahweh” cannot seem to agree on one single meaning. According to The New 20^th Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: “The divine name would thus go back to a verbal form meaning ‘he causes to come into existence,’ or in effect, ‘he creates’.”²⁷ The Assemblies of Yahweh slightly rewords the meaning. “And in the imperfect form this means that the Name of the Heavenly Father should be understood as He Who shall cause things to exist or He Who shall cause to be.”²⁸ The Ambassador College in California, though, proposes other definitions: “But Yahweh is a name meaning the Everliving, or the Eternal. There is no one word in the English language that translates it exactly… Actually, Yahweh means the Self-Existent, Everliving, Eternally Living Creating One.”²⁹

Yet, we already know the meaning of the Tetragrammaton from the Bible. The meanings proposed by the advocates of “Yahweh” are different. The true pronunciation of the Four-Lettered Name of G-d should carry the original meaning – “I AM THAT I AM”.

Doubts and disagreements.

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, states: “The name YHWH is often reconstructed as Yahweh, based on a range of circumstantial historical and linguistic evidence. Most scholars do not view it as an ‘accurate’ reconstruction in an absolute sense, but as the best possible guess.”³⁰ The Aid to Bible Understanding also says that “there is by no means unanimity among scholars on the subject (of the form ‘Yahweh’), some favoring yet other pronunciations.”³¹

Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon tells us that “this same form (Yahweh) appears on the gems of the Egyptian Gnostics as the name of God… (but these gems are not of the most remote antiquity; they are the work of heretics of the second and third centuries).”³²

Even those who use the form “Yahweh” maintain a certain amount of reservation. Meyer related that one of his Hebrew professors once said: “We use Yahweh because it is the best representation of the original letters of the Name, transliterated into English. Scholarship is now quite positive of this form, although our minds are not closed should new evidence be introduced.”³³

Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 150-211/215?), Epiphanius (315-403), and Theodoret (393-458/466?) were among the most prominent leaders of the early Christian Church. We can safely say that Epiphanius and Theodoret had read the writings of their predecessor Clement. If Clement’s pronunciation, “Yahweh” (Iaoue or Iaouai), was beyond the shadow of any doubt, why did Epiphanius and Theodoret propose other pronunciations?

(Excerpted from Chapter 11, “Two Substitutes, One Original”; THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson)

_______________________

¹Flavius Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book 5, ch. 5, sec. 7

²Jewish Wars, Loeb Classical Library, p. 273

³Voy Wilks, “The Sacred Name YHWH Consists of Four Vowels?”, tract, 11\17\91

⁴B. Earl Allen, Publish the Name of Yahuwah, Revised 2009, p. 62

⁵Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1, Ch. 6, Sec. 1

⁶Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Vol. 3, pp. 393-394

⁷Iesous, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, pp. 284-293

⁸Yeshayahu Heiliczer, “The Divine Name,” Messianic Home, Summer 1999, p. 19

⁹Ibid.

¹⁰Choon-Leong Seow, “The Ineffable Name of Israel’s God,” Glossary, Bible Review, December 1991, p. 49

¹¹“Four Vowels,” Last Day Ministries, tract, undated

¹²The Four Vowels, The Mistaken J, YNCA, 1996, p. 32

¹³Brian Allen, “Open Letter to Tony Sukla,” undated

¹⁴Last Day Ministries, tract, undated

¹⁵Ibid.

¹⁶Jacob O. Meyer, The Memorial Name – Yahweh, 1987, p. 83

¹⁷Meyer, Seven Ancient Witnesses, 1973, p. 2

¹⁸The Missing J, Yahweh’s Assembly in Messiah, Revised 1996, p. 7

¹⁹Seow, op. cit., p. 50

²⁰Anson F. Rainey, Biblical Archaelogy Review, Sept.-Oct. 1994

²¹B. Earl Allen, op. cit., p. 41

²²The Names of God, Jewish Encylopedia, Vol. 9, p. 161

²³The Good News, Nov.-Dec. 1972; quoted by B. Earl Allen, op. cit., p. 64

²⁴Meyer, The Memorial Name, loc. cit.

²⁵The Missing J, loc. cit.

²⁶God, Names of, Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 7, col. 679

²⁷The New 20^th Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 2^ND edition, p. 886

²⁸Meyer, op. cit., p. 22

²⁹Faculty Members of Ambassador College, Padadena, California, “God Speaks Out on the New Morality”; quoted by Meyer, op. cit., p. 8

³⁰Names of God, Kabbalah, Wikipedia, Internet

³¹Aid to Bible Understanding, Watchtower Tract and Bible Society, p. 885

³²Jehovah, Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon

³³Meyer, op. cit., p. 87

Two Presumed Names of G-d

(Part 2)

The second presumed Name

A dark cloud of doubt certainly hung over the veracity of the first presumed pronunciation of the name of G-d: “Yahweh”. If the uncertainty did not persist, Bible scholars and theologians would not have adopted other forms that appeared in the succeeding centuries of the Christian era.

“YaHoWaH.”

Sometime in the 8^th-11^th centuries A.D., the Masoretes (Jewish scribes who compiled the Masorah, a body of notes on the textual traditions of the Hebrew Scripture) inserted the vowels of Adonay (“a-o-a”) in-between the consonants of the Tetragrammaton (Y-H-W-H). On the surface, the process would have resulted in the form “YaHoWaH”; but the intention was to make the vowel points serve as a reminder to the reader not to pronounce the sacred Name, but instead say “Adonay” (“LORD”).

According to Wikipedia, the early Christian translators of the Torah did not know that pronouncing those consonants and vowel points together was a phonological impossibility in Hebrew. On top of that, rabbinical Judaism does not accept as correct the pronunciation as it is vowel pointed in the Masoretic Text.¹

“YeHoWaH.”

In “YaHoWaH”, the “a” in the first syllable was made to sound like an “e.” The Encyclopedia Judaica explains why: “In the early Middle Ages, when the consonantal text of the Bible was supplied with vowel points to facilitate the correct traditional reading, (as in) the vowel points for ‘Adonai’ (Lord) with one variation – a sheva with the first yod of YHWH instead of the hataf-patah under the aleph of ‘Adonai – were used for YHWH, thus producing the form – YeHoWaH.”²

Prof. Anson F. Rainey noted: “The fact is that Jewish tradents (who put the vowel points in the Hebrew text) borrowed the vowels from another word, either adonai ‘my lord(s),’ or elohim ‘God.’ They avoided the very short a vowel in this borrowing because it might have led the synagogue reader to make a mistake and pronounce the correct first syllable of the Sacred Name, namely – ya… The synagogue reader saw Yehowah in his text and read it adonai.”³ Rabbi Heiliczer adds, “Later the vowels for Eloah (singular of Elohim) were used for creating Yehowah.”⁴

“IEHOUA.”

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the Tetragrammaton first appeared in Latin form in 1516.⁵ Petrus Galatinus (Peter Galatin), confessor to Pople Leo X, spelled the Name of God as “Iehoua” in his popular book De Arcanis Catholicae Veritatis (“Concerning Secrets of the Universal Truth”).

In Medieval Europe, the sound of the letter yod (“Y”) of YHWH was represented by the Latin letter “I.” Then, the consonant “W” became a “U.” The World Book explains: “U… came from a letter which the Semitic peoples of Syria and Palestine called waw… About A.D. 900, people began to write u in the middle of a word…”⁶ The weak sounding “H” at the end of the Name was dropped, producing “IEHOUA”.

“IEHOUAH.”

The Sacred Name again took on a new form in the early years of the Reformation: “Iehouah.” In a Jehovah’s Witnesses booklet entitled The Name, we read: “The name first appeared in an English Bible in 1530, when William Tyndale published a translation of the first five books of the Bible. In this he included the name of God, usually spelled Iehouah, in several verses.”⁷ One of the leading Church reformers in England, Tyndale restored the “H” at the end of the Latin version of the Tetragrammaton in his Bible translations.

“IEHOVAH.”

The “U” in IEHOUAH was later replaced with a “V,” forming yet another variant of the Sacred Name. The World Book tells us: “The Romans, when they adopted the letter (U), dropped its bottom stroke and wrote it as V… During the Renaissance, it became customary among the people to use u as a vowel and v as a consonant.”⁸The Wikipedia additionally says: “They took the letters ‘IHVH’ from the Latin Vulgate, and the vowels ‘a-o-a’ were inserted into the text rendering IAHOVAH or ‘Iehovah’ in 16^th century English.”⁹

Rabbi Heiliczer explains from a Jewish viewpoint: “Since in modern Hebrew the letter vuv is pronounced “V” in place of its ancient pronunciation which is somewhere between a ‘W’ and a ‘V’, Yehowah became Yehovah. This became transliterated in the original King James Version as Iehovah…”¹⁰

“JEHOVAH.”

Researcher Choon-Leong Seow relates: “From this (IeHoVaH) the Germanic form Jehovah was derived in the early European translations and attested in 17^th century English.”¹¹ In the Middle Ages the letter “I” developed a decorative variant with a tail – “J”.

The emergence of the dictionary in the 17^th century demanded a consistent spelling of words, so the use of “I” as a vowel and “J” as a consonant became established. When the new letter “J” was added to the English alphabet, “Iehovah” became “Jehovah”.

The pronunciation, though, also changed. Rabbi Heiliczer points out: “But the ‘J’ was pronounced as we now pronounce ‘Y’… So the ‘J’ in Jehovah is incorrect, as are the vowels eh-o-ah which actually come from Eloah. In fact only the two ‘h’s’ are correct.”¹²

Used in Bibles.

In places where the Jewish scribes missed replacing the Tetragrammaton with Adonay (“the LORD”), latter Bible translators spelled out YHWH as “Jehovah” – in such early English Bibles as the Coverdale Bible (1535), Matthew Bible (1537), Bishops’ Bible (1568), Geneva Bible (1560). Later translations with that form of the Name are the King James Version (KJV), American Standard Version (ASV), Darby Bible, Green’s Literal Translation (LITV), Young’s Literal Translation, Modern King James Version (MKJV), New English Bible, New World Translation.

The verses containing “Jehovah” are Exodus 6:3 and Psalm 83:18. In two places where the Sacred Name is doubled as “YH YHWH”, with the Two-Lettered Name and Four-Lettered Name appearing together, the English translation is “LORD JEHOVAH” (Isa 12:2 and 26:4).

Meaning of “JEHOVAH.”

The Bible reference Insight on the Scriptures of the Jehovah’s Witnesses gives a meaning for “Jehovah” that is closely similar to those given for the form “Yahweh”: “The name Jehovah comes from the Hebrew verb hawah, ‘become,’ and actually means ‘He Causes to Become’.”¹³

Doubts and disagreements.

There was opposition against this form of the Name from the very first time it was used, Joseph Rotherham, editor of The Emphasized Bible, wrote: “The pronunciation Jehovah was unknown until 1520, when it was introduced by Galatinus; but it was contested by Le Mercier, J. Drusius, and L. Capellus, as against grammatical and historical propriety.”¹⁴ He categorically stated that the Name of God was “erroneously written and pronounced Jehovah…”¹⁵

The Jewish Encyclopedia notes: “This name (of God) is commonly represented in modern translations by the form ‘Jehovah,’ which, however, is a philological impossibility…”¹⁶ Concludes the Encyclopaedia Britannica: “The pronunciation ‘Jehovah’ is an error resulting among Christians from combining the consonants Yhwh (Jhvh) with the vowels of ‘adhonay, ‘Lord,’ which the Jews in reading the Scriptures substituted for the sacred name…”¹⁷

Either or neither of the two?

The Encyclopaedia Britannica further observes: “Although Christian scholars after the Renaissance and Reformation periods used the term Jehovah for YHWH, in the 19^th and 20^th centuries biblical scholars again began to use the form Yahweh…”¹⁸

The Roman Catholic translator of the Westminster Version of the Sacred Scriptures confesses: “I should have preferred to write ‘Yahwe,’ which, although not certain, is admittedly superior to ‘Jehovah’.”¹⁹

The Jehovah’s Witnesses explain their side: “While inclining to view the pronunciation ‘Yahweh’ as the more correct way, we have retained the form ‘Jehovah’ because of people’s familiarity with it since the 14^th century.”²⁰

However, Wikipedia notes that “neither ‘Jehovah’ or ‘Yahweh’ is recognized in Judaism…”²¹

Origins of the Names “Yahweh” and “Jehovah”

Hebrew	Greek	Latin	English	Notes

YHWH				Tetragrammaton: the 4-consonant Name, no vowels in Hebrew

	IAUA			As 4 vowels in Greek that has no Y-H-W; Josephus, 1^st c. AD

	IAUE			Last A changed to E for masculine sound, Hellenized ending

	IAOUE			2^nd c. AD, Clement of Alexandria’s spelling

	IABE			From the Samaritans; Epiphanius and Theodoret, 4^th-5^th c.

			YaHWeH	Modern spelling w/ the letters Y, H, W

YaHoWaH				Masoretes inserted vowels of Adonay in YHWH, 8^th-11^th c.

YeHoWaH				Vowels of Eloah, ‘e-o-a,’ inserted in the consonants YHWH

		IeHoUa		Spelling by Petrus Galatinus in 1516

		IeHoUaH		Spelling by William Tyndale in 1530; letter H restored

		IeHoVaH		Latin form in 1611, King James Version

			JeHoVaH	New letter J replaced letter I in the 17^th c.

_______________________

¹Names of God, Kabbalah, Wikipedia, Internet

²God, Names of, Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 7, col. 679

³Anson F. Rainey, Biblical Archaelogy Review, Sept.-Oct. 1994

⁴Yeshayahu Heiliczer, “The Divine Name,” Messianic Home, Summer 1999, p. 19

⁵Jehovah, Oxford English Dictionary

⁶U, World Book 2005 Deluxe

⁷The Name, Jehovah’s Witnesses, p. 18

⁸U, op. cit.

⁹Names of God, op. cit.

¹⁰Heiliczer, loc. cit.

¹¹Choon-Leong Seow, “The Ineffable Name of Israel’s God,” Glossary, Bible Review, December 1991, p. 50

¹²Heiliczer, loc. cit.

¹³Jehovah, Insight on the Scriptures, 1988, Vol. 2, p. 12

¹⁴Joseph Rotherham, editor, The Emphasized Bible, Introduction; quoted in The Mistaken J, p. 17

¹⁵J.B. Rotherham; quoted in Is His Name Jehovah or Yahweh?, YNCA, 1989, p. 3

¹⁶The Names of God, Jewish Encylopedia, Vol. 9, p. 160

¹⁷Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15^th edition, Vo. 12, p. 995

¹⁸Encyclopaedia Britannica, Micropedia, Vol. 10

¹⁹Foreword, The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, p. 25

²⁰Let Your Name Be Sanctified, Jehovah’s Witnesses, p. 16

²¹Names of God, op. cit.

How the Name of G-d Was Lost

The Name of G-d used to be part of daily greetings. “And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD (YHWH) be with you. And they answered him, The LORD (YHWH) bless thee” (Ruth 2:4). (Boaz, who lived in the 11^th century B.C., was the great grandfather of David.)

Five centuries later, however, G-d said through the prophet Jeremiah, that the people had forgotten His Name. “How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal” (Jer 23:26-27).

The Jewish Encyclopedia informs us that in "former times the Name was taught to all; but when immorality increased it was reserved for the pious"¹ The Encyclopedia Judaica notes the last time G-d’s Names was spoken freely: "At least until the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E., this name was regularly pronounced with its proper vowels, as is clear from the *Lachish Letters, written shortly before that date.”²

Utterance forbidden.

The priests and scribes invoked a number of seemingly legal reasons in forbidding the utterance of the Tetragrammaton (Four-Lettered Name) by the people.

Third commandment. The prohibition against carelessly pronouncing the Name of G-d is embodied in the third commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7).

The Jewish Encyclopaedia notes: “According to Dalman… the Rabbis forbade the utterance of the Tetragrammaton to guard against desecration of the Sacred Name.”³ To keep the people from desecrating the sacred Name, wittingly or unwittingly, the rabbis instructed them never to pronounce G-d’s Name at all!

Too sacred. In the Second Temple period (5^th century B.C.), the Tetragrammaton came to be regarded as too sacred to be spoken. The practice of substituting other terms to refer to G-d thus became common.⁴

The Jewish Encyclopedia says: “Awe of the sacredness of the names of G-d and eagerness to manifest respect and reverence for them… in the Targumim the name of Yhwh was replaced by two ‘yods’ with a ‘waw’ over them… which letters are equal in value to Yhwh (=26).”⁵

G-d of all peoples. The Encyclopaedia Britannica tells us that “As Judaism began to become a universal religion, the proper name (YHWH) tended to be replaced by the common noun Elohim, meaning ‘God,’ which could apply to foreign deities and therefore could be used to demonstrate the universal sovereignty of Israel’s God over all others.”⁶

Solomon Zeitlin wrote in the Jewish Quarterly Review of April 1969: “In the biblical period (YHWH) was a proper name for the G-d of Israel, an ethnic G-d. After the Restoration (of the Temple) those who adhered to the view of the universality of G-d maintained that (YHWH) is not an ethnic G-d but is the G-d of all the universe, the G-d of all peoples. To propagate this view they declared that the word (YHWH) in the Pentateuch should be pronounced Adonai to signify that He is the L-rd, Master, of the universe.”⁷

Clerical caveats.

Some passages in Scripture had been reinterpreted to ensure that the people would avoid uttering the sacred Name of G-d.

To be concealed. Exodus 3:15a reads: “And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever...”

According to Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, “The word forever is represented in the original by l’olam; but the Rabbis... by the change of a single letter, made l’olam, forever, read as if it had been written l’alam, which means to be concealed, and hence the passage was translated ‘this is my name to be concealed,’ instead of ‘this is my name forever’.”⁸

Death for uttering. Leviticus 24:16 declares: “And whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall be put to death” (NKJV).

In the original Hebrew text, “the word nokeb, here translated to blaspheme, also means to pronounce distinctly, to call by name.” It could be and was thus retranslated as "'whosoever shall pronounce the name (YHWH) shall suffer death.”⁹

G-d’s Name taken back.

The rabbis and scribes gave reasons for concealing the Name. Little did they know that it was actually the L-RD who took back His Name from them! G-d retracted His Name from the Jews in three distinct steps. The retractions occurred roughly over 600 years.

First time taken back.

In 586 B.C., King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Judah for the second time, destroyed the Temple, and took most of the Jews captive. He appointed one of the remaining Jews, Gedaliah, as governor of the land. But some defiant Jews, egged on by the king of the Ammonites, murdered Gedaliah. The other Jews prepared to escape to Egypt for fear of reprisal from the Babylonians (Jer ch. 39-41). Before fleeing, they requested Jeremiah to ask G-d on what to do (Jer 42:2-3).

Ten days later, Jeremiah met with them. “And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him; If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you. Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand” (Jer 42:9-11). Their worst fears would follow them in Egypt if they persisted. “If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die” (Jer 42:15b-16).

Abandoned the land. Yet, instead of obeying, the Jews accused Jeremiah of lying and conniving with the followers of the Babylonians (Jer 43:2-3). They pushed through with their plan to escape to Egypt and abandoned the land the L-RD had given their fathers (Jer 43:7).

The Jews forgot a prohibition the L-RD told Moses some 900 years earlier: “Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way'” (Deut 17:16, NASU). G-d had warned the Israelites never to return to Egypt.

G-d’s Name profaned. The Jews put G-d’s Name to shame by leaving the land He had given them. “And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land. But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went” (Ezek 36:20-21).

G-d had given the Jews a “land of milk and honey.” Abandoning the land for another country was an embarrassment and a shame to G-d. It made the L-RD look like a deceiver and a liar, or a weak G-d who could not keep His promises. His Name or reputation as an all-powerful G-d was tarnished, even ruined.

Name lost in Egypt. G-d said: “Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth” (Jer 44:26).

Moreover, as G-d had said, many of the Jews died just the same when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt. “And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword” (Jer 43:11).

Lost also in Babylon. The Hebrew tongue fell in disuse in Babylon among the captive Jews, who spoke the language of the land, Aramaic or Syriac, sometimes called Chaldee. ¹⁰ They also stopped saying the Name of God. The Jewish Encyclopedia avers: “The avoidance of the original name of God both in speech and, to a certain extent, in the Bible was due according to Geiger… to a reverence which shrank from the utterance of the Sublime Name; and it may well be that such a reluctance first arose in a foreign, and hence in an ‘unclean’ land, very possibly, therefore, in Babylonia.”¹¹ In Judea, the poorest Jews who had been left behind adopted the language of their conquerors, too.¹²

Only 3 times a year. Rabbi Yeshayahu Heiliczer wrote in Messianic Home (Summer 1999): “After the return from Babylon we find that ‘The Name’ was totally suppressed by the P’rushim (Pharisees), who had removed the sons of Aharon from Moshe’s seat. They forbade the use of ‘The Name’ and limited its use to temple services held on the ‘Shalosh Regalim,’ the three pilgrimage festivals of Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot. The rest of greater Isra’el had no permission to use ‘The Name’.”¹³

Thus, the sacred Name of the L-RD could be uttered only three times a year -- during Temple services on Passover (Pesach) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread; Pentecost (Shavuot, Feast of Weeks or Harvest); and Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot, Booths or Ingathering).

Second time taken back.

The next retraction of G-d’s Name took place during the inter-Testamental period -- the so-called “400 silent years” in the Bible, between Malachi, the Old Testament’s last book, and Matthew, the New Testament’s first book.

Alexander arrived. The prophet Daniel, as a Jewish captive in Babylon, had visions of a powerful two-horned ram that was later destroyed by a one-horned he-goat (Dan 8:3-8). The angel Gabriel explained: “The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king” (Dan 8:21). As history recorded, the unified kingdom of Media-Persia conquered Babylon, while Greece, under Alexander the Great (“the first king”), defeated Media-Persia.

In 332 B.C. Alexander entered Judea, where the Jews led by the high priest ceremoniously welcomed him. “Josephus (Ant. 11:8, section 5) says that Alexander meeting the high priest Jaddua (Neh 12:11,22) said that at Dium in Macedonia he had a divine vision so habited, inviting him to Asia and promising him success. Jaddua met him at Gapha (Mizpeh) at the head of a procession of priests and citizens in white. Alexander at the sight of the linen arrayed priests, and the high priest in blue and gold with the miter and gold plate on his head bearing (YHWH’s) name, adored it, and embraced him; and having been shown Daniel's prophecies concerning him, he sacrificed to God in the court of the temple, and granted the Jews liberty to live according to their own laws, and freedom from tribute in the sabbatical years.”¹⁴

Jews Hellenized. As the Greeks conquered southwestern Asia, the Greek language and Hellenistic thought spread throughout the occupied lands. “Greek became the language of literature and commerce from the shores of the Mediterranean to the banks of the Tigris.”¹⁵

The Jews were greatly impressed by the sophistication of the Greek culture. The Greek way of life became established in Judea. Many Jews abandoned the Mosaic laws for Greek customs. At a gymnasium in Jerusalem, some Jews tried to hide their circumcision when competing naked in games. Greek names became fashionable. Two high priests of the Second Temple, Jesus (Jeshua) and Onias (son of High Priest Jaddua and father of High Priest Simon the Just) adopted the Greek names “Jason” and “Menelaus,” respectively.¹⁶

A foreign king. The Jews ignored an express commandment of the L-RD by welcoming and acknowledging a foreign king over them! G-d had said: “When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, ‘Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,’ be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite” (Deut 17:14-16, NIV).

Only once a year. The Jewish Encyclopedia informs us: “At the beginning of the Hellenistic era… the use of the Name was reserved for the Temple… it appears that the priests were allowed to pronounce the Name at the benediction only in the Temple.” Later, “from the time Simeon the Just (310-291 or 300-270 B.C.) died (this is the traditional expression for the beginning of the Hellenistic period), the priests refrained from blessing the people with the Name…”¹⁷

After the death of Simeon the Just, the utterance of the Sacred Name even by the priests was further restricted. We learn from the Encyclopedia Judaica that the Tetragrammaton was “pronounced by the high priest only once a year on the Day of Atonement in the Holy of Holies… and in the Temple by the priests when they recited the Priestly Blessing.”¹⁸

The Name mumbled. The priests also “pronounced it indistinctly, or they mouthed or mumbled it. Thus says Tosef… Formerly they used to greet each other with the Ineffable Name; when the time of the decline of the study of the Law came, the elders mumbled the Name. Subsequently also the solemn utterance of the Name by the high priest on the Day of Atonement, that ought to have been heard by the priests and people… became inaudible or indistinct.” “R. Tarfon (or Tryphon) relates…: ‘I was standing in the row of young priests, and I heard the high priest mumbling the Name, while the rest of the priests were chanting’.”¹⁹

Adonai and Kyrios substituted. When the Jews stopped uttering the Tetragrammaton, they started using the Hebrew term Adonai to refer to the L-RD. (Adonai is plural ["my Lords"], but is regarded as a plural of respect or magnitude. Jews only use the singular form Adoni ["my lord"] to refer to a distinguished person. It is the source of the Greek name “Adonis.”)

From the 3^rd century B.C. onward, when a Jewish reader came across the sacred Name YHWH in the Biblical text, he pronounced it as Adonai. The Babylonian Talmud teaches: “The Holy One, blessed be He, said, ‘I am not pronounced as I am written; I am written with (the letters) yod he, but I am pronounced by alef daleth’ (Kiddushin 71a). That is to say, although the name was written as YH(WH), it was pronounced as ‘d(wny) (Adonay), ‘Lord’.”²⁰

In addition to using the Hebrew term Adonay, it became a custom among the Jews from the Second Temple period onward to say the Greek word Kyrios, which also means “Lord,” whenever they encountered G-d’s personal name YHWH in the Scriptures.²¹

Third time taken back

The third and last retraction came after a little over 300 years. “When Simeon the Righteous died, with many indications that such glory was no more enjoyed, his brethren no more dared utter the Ineffable Name.”²²

When did Simeon the Righteous die? The historical marker for his death was the loss of the Temple. “After the death of the high priest Simeon the Righteous forty years prior to the destruction of the Temple, the priests ceased to pronounce the Name (Yoma 49b). From that time, the pronunciation of the Name was prohibited”²³ Next question: When was the Temple destroyed?

The Temple, also called the Second Temple or Herod’s Temple, was razed to the ground by Roman legions commanded by Titus, son of Emperor Vespasian, in 70 A.D. According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: “The prediction (of Luke 21:5) was fulfilled to the letter in the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 AD.”²⁴ So, forty years before the destruction of the Temple was in 30 A.D. This was the year the priests in the Temple stopped uttering the Tetragrammaton altogether! Why did the use of the Name cease in that particular year?

The Crucifixion. Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary narrates: “During the week before Passover in A.D. 30, Jesus taught each day in the Temple area, debating with other teachers of differing beliefs… To block the possibility of an uprising among the people, the priestly party decided to arrest Jesus as soon as possible… Arrested on Passover Eve, Jesus was brought first before a Jewish court of inquiry, over which the high priest Caiaphas presided.”²⁵ The rest of the story is in the Bible. Christ was crucified the following day in 30 A.D.

Never uttered again. G-d took back His Name completely, including all the promises that come with it, after the Jews killed His Only Begotten Son. It was the proverbial last straw! The Jewish Encyclopedia states: “After the destruction of the Second Temple there remained no trace of knowledge as to the pronunciation of the Name.”²⁶

The number “40” has long been known as the Biblical number of trial and testing (the Israelites wandered 40 years in the wilderness before reaching the Promised Land (Num 14:34); the people of Nineveh were given 40 days to repent or their city would be destroyed (Jonah 3:4); Christ was tempted 40 days and nights by the devil (Matt 4:1-2); etc.

It looks like G-d tested the Jews for 40 years after the Crucifixion – to see if they would still accept Christ as their long-awaited Messiah. When they did not, He allowed the full force of His judgment to fall upon them. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. Over one million Jews died during the war, which started in 66 A.D., while 97,000 were captured and sold into slavery throughout the Roman Empire.

(Excerpted from: Personal Names of God, Chapter 10, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth, by M.M. Tauson.)

1.	God, Names of, The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 11, p. 263
2.	Name of God, Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 7, col. 680
3.	The Jewish Encyclopaedia, Vol. 12, p. 119
4.	Choon-Leong Seow, “The Ineffable Name of Israel’s God,” Glossary, Bible Review, December 1991, p. 49
5.	Names of God, The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 9, pp. 162-163
6.	Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 23, p. 867
7.	Solomon Zeitlin, Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 59, No. 4, April 1969
8.	Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Vol. 1, p. 501
9.	Ibid.
10.	Languages of the Old Testament, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996
11.	The Jewish Encyclopaedia, Vol. 12, p. 119
12.	Languages of the Old Testament, op. cit.
13.	Rabbi Yeshayahu Heiliczer, “The Divine Name,” Messianic Home, Summer 1999, p. 18 Heiliczer, loc. cit.
14.	Alexander, Fausset's Bible Dictionary, 1998
15.	Alexander, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996
16.	High Priest, Fausset's Bible Dictionary, 1998
17.	God, Names of, op. cit., Vol. 1, p. 201-202
18.	God, Names of, Encyclopaedia Judaica, col. 682
19.	God, Names of, The Jewish Encyclopaedia, Vol. 1, pp. 201-202
20.	Quoted by Seow, op. cit., pp. 49-50
21.	Seow, loc. cit.
22.	The Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Yoma, p. 39b
23.	Names of God, loc. cit.
24.	Temple, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996
25.	Jesus Christ, Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary,1986
26.	Names of God, loc. cit.

Need We Know the Name of G-d?

Many people say it is not necessary to find out and call on the true Name of G-d, because, whatever name we use, G-d will know it is He we are addressing our prayers to. How about you – would you rather be called by your own name or something else?

Let us take a mundane example. Say you put up a business and hired some people. At first they called you “boss,” but, being a friendly person, you told them to just call you “Robert,” your actual name. Most cheerfully complied, but some persisted in calling you “boss.” As the business grew, you appointed managers, who were also called “boss” by their subordinates. Sometimes, you and a manager would be talking about something and somebody would come along and say, “Hey, Boss!” and both of you would turn to look. The employee would say, “Oh, not you, I mean him.” Another employee would call you “Albert,” instead of “Robert.” How would you feel?

Names have meanings. In Biblical times the name given to a newborn child was typically about the circumstances surrounding its birth or a prophecy that foretold the character, mission, destiny, or events that would mark the person’s life. Needless to say, if the names of those Biblical characters were important, the importance of the Creator’s Name is inestimably far greater.

One highly important reason G-d revealed His personal Name to men is for us not to confuse Him with false gods. “I am the L-RD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images” (Isa 42:8).

Sound waves and frequencies.

Jewish sages taught that the letters of the Hebrew alphabet each have their own distinctive values and qualities. Letters are sounded through vibrations made with the vocal chords, lips, tongue, teeth, throat, nasal cavity, lungs. Sound travels in waves, with varying wavelengths and frequencies. Thus, every letter and every word made up of a certain combination of letters have their own unique vibrations. So, too, names, which are words.

Every name therefore is one of a kind. The personal Name of G-d, with its own unique set of wavelengths and frequencies, is the one that resonates in perfect harmony with His Being. By revealing His sacred Name to men, the L-RD has given us, as it were, His direct line, much like the numbers of a telephone. He has taught us how to precisely tune in to His personal frequency. When we use a common word or a different name to call on G-d, we are tuning in to a different frequency and, thus, could be communicating with an entity entirely different entity from the one true G-d.

The “Book of Life.”

If you do not value the Name of G-d, He may not value yours, either. G-d has special books wherein your very own name may be written. “Then they that feared the L-RD spake often one to another: and the L-RD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the L-RD, and that thought upon his name” (Mal 3:16). That “book of remembrance” is called the “Book of Life” in the New Testament. “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before G-d; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Rev 20:12). If your name has been written in the Book of Life, a place is reserved for you for an infinite holiday in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The bookings, though, are not confirmed; they can be canceled by the Proprietor. “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels” (Rev 3:5). “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life” (Rev 21:27). If your name is removed from the Book of Life, you can look forward to a sure future of nothing but fries and toast. “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15).

See how important names can be?

Christ taught the Name

Christ taught His disciples to honor the Father’s holy Name. “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name..." (Matt 6:9).

He said, “I am come in my Father's name” (John 5:43), because on top of being the Father’s representative on earth, He literally has the Father’s Name as part of His own personal Name (to be discussed later).

Christ taught the Name to His disciples. "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word… And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:6,26).

Blessings of the Name

G-d made promises for those who will know and call on His holy Name. “Our help is in the name of the L-RD, who made heaven and earth” (Ps 124:8). He will not abandon believers who come to Him for help. “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, L-RD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee” (Ps 9:10). Calling on His true Name is comparable to being enclosed by the thick walls of an impregnable fortress. “The name of the L-RD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe” (Prov 18:10).

Honors, long life, salvation.

G-d promises to answer and grant protection, honors, long life, and salvation to those who will call on His Name. “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation” (Ps 91:14-16).

His Name can save the faithful, even from the brink of death. “The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the L-RD; O L-RD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the L-RD, and righteous; yea, our G-d is merciful. The L-RD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the L-RD hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the L-RD in the land of the living” (Ps 116:3-9).

End-time survival. Come the wars and disasters prophesied in the Bible, G-d’s Name will save the faithful from destruction. “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the L-RD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the L-RD hath said, and in the remnant whom the L-RD shall call” (Joel 2:32). Even if mankind is decimated, those who invoke His true Name will survive. “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the L-rd, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The L-RD is my G-d” (Zech 13:8-9).

Sadly, G-d’s promises exclude the wretched multitudes who do not know or neglect to call on His Name. “Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate” (Jer 10:25).

(Excerpted from Chapter 10, The Personal Names of God, of THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson)

The Original Name of G-d

“And God spoke to Moses and said to him: "I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I was not known to them” (Ex 6:2-3, NKJV). “God Almighty” is English for El Shaddai, which is actually a title.

In a Hebrew Union College Annual article in 1961, Sigmund Mowinchel analyzed the passage: “It is generally recognized that (Exodus) 6:2-3 states that the name (YHWH) was not known till it was revealed to Moses, and that to the patriarchs God had appeared as El Shaddai.”⁶²

A pre-Mosaic Name?

After Eve gave birth to Cain, she referred to G-d as “the LORD.” “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD” (Gen 4:1). As we know, the term “the LORD” has been placed as a substitute in nearly all the verses where the Tetragrammaton (Four-Lettered Name) had originally been written.

After Adam’s grandson Enos by Seth was born, men began to invoke the Name of “the L-RD.” “And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD” (Gen 4:25-26).

Abraham, who lived some 500 years before G-d revealed His Four-Lettered Name to Moses, also called on the Name of “the L-RD.” “And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD” (Gen 12:7-8).

We can see that the first men, long before Moses was born, called on the Name of “the L-RD.” What was that Name? Did the patriarchs know a primeval sacred Name that was different from YHWH?

A deeper meaning?

The Encyclopedia Judaica notes the differing opinions: “According to the documentary hypothesis, the literary sources in the Pentateuch known as the Elohist and the Priestly Document never use the name (YHWH) for God until it is revealed to Moses (Ex. 3:13; 6:2-3); but the Yahwist source uses it from Genesis 2:4 on and puts the name in Eve’s declaration, ‘I along with (YHWH) have made a man,’ thus implying that it was known to the first human generation (Gen. 4:1; cf 4:26).”⁶³

Mowinchel believes the Name YHWH was known to the first men. “The earliest Israelite historian J uses the name Yahweh in the patriarchal stories without any reservation, and in his opinion it was known already by the third generation of mankind; at the time of Enosh, the son of Seth, (men) – or as the Vulgate says: he – began to call upon the name of Yahweh… the tribes that under the leadership of Moses – became the people of Israel, already knew and worshiped… Yahweh… What Exod. 3:16 tells us is that the deeper meaning of the name was revealed to Moses by Yahweh himself… When the elders of the people hear that he knows even the mysterious meaning of the name, then they must believe that he is telling the truth.

“In J’s opinion it was not the name of Yahweh, which was revealed to Moses here – that was known already by Enosh centuries before – but the deeper meaning, which according to Yahwistic tradition and the theology of the ‘school’ of J, was hidden in the name.”⁶⁴

The meaning of His Name that the L-RD gave to Moses in Exodus 3:14 is “I AM THAT I AM.” On the other hand, Mowinchel fails to say if J (Jahwistic or Yahwistic source) gives the least bit of a hint as to what the deeper, hidden meaning of G-d’s Sacred Name is supposed to be.

Another, earlier Name.

If G-d revealed the Tetragrammaton for the first time only to Moses, then the Name of G-d that Adam and Eve, Seth, Enos, Abraham, and others knew and called upon was not YHWH. Clearly, it was another, earlier Name. But why does “the L-RD,” which was used to replace YHWH in Scriptures, occur as early as in the book of Genesis?

Could it be that Moses, who wrote the first five books of the Bible, in his great zeal and esteem for the sacred Name revealed to him, began using the Tetragrammaton in the Scriptural text right from the account of the creation of Adam (Gen 2:4)?

Alternative suffixal form

We have seen that in Israelite theoporic names, the suffix -iah or -jah is actually the abbreviated or Two-Lettered Name of G-d, Yah. The Encyclopaedia Judaica, however, informs us that the suffix has yet another form. “This is confirmed, at least for the vowel of the first syllable of the name, by the shorter form Yah, which is sometimes used in poetry (e.g., Ex. 15:2) and the -yahu or -yah that serves as the final syllable in many Hebrew names.”⁶⁵ The alternative form is -yahu.

The Jewish Encyclopedia corroborates this, saying that the two short forms of the Name appear as “Yahu or Yah in the second part of such names.”⁶⁶ Seow gives an example: “In the final position it appears as -yahu (-iah) or -yah (-iah) as in the alternate spellings for ‘Azariah,’ Azaryahu and Azaryah.”⁶⁷ In this vein, throughout the Hebrew Scriptures the name of the prophet Elijah, except on four or five occasions, is spelled Eliyahu, with a waw in the end. Is there much difference between the two? They are probably as different as two kingdoms were from one another.

2 kingdoms, 2 suffixes.

After King Solomon died around 975 B.C., the Israelite monarchy broke up into two -- the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel in the north and the two-tribe kingdom of Judah in the south. The separation led to a distinction between the suffix of theoporic names in the north and of that in the south. Biblical Archaelogy Review editor Hershel Shanks said in the magazine’s May-June 1994 issue: “-yahu (was) the common suffix in Judah... (in the northern kingdom of Israel the suffix was yah).”⁶⁸

Writer P. Kyle McCarter concurs: “The expected form of the divine name… when it appears as the final part of a Judahite personal name in this period (late 7^th to the early 6^th centuries B.C.), is yhw, pronounced yahu (long a and u)…”⁶⁹

Archeological evidences.

The March-April 1996 issue of Biblical Archaelogy Review featured a limestone seal from the 7^th century B.C. that reads, “Belonging to Asayahu, servant of the King” (actually a high royal official). The short form “Asaiah” is in 2 Chronicles 34:20 -- “And the king commanded Hilkiah... and Asaiah a servant of the king’s...”⁷⁰

The same issue of the magazine had a 7th-6th century B.C bulla (seal impression on clay) used by a scribe to seal a document, which reads, “Belonging to Berekyahu, son of Neriyahu, the Scribe.” The names have been abbreviated in the Bible: “Then Jeremiah called Baruch, the son of Neriah...” (Jer 36:4).⁷¹

In its May-June 1994 issue, Biblical Archaelogy Review showed an inscription above a rock-tomb in Silwan, Israel, that says: “This is (the sepulchre of ...) yahu, who is over the house.” The term “over the house” refers to the royal steward, who Bible scholars believe was Shebnayahu (short form, Shebna) in Isaiah 22:15. “Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house...”⁷²

Three-Lettered Name

Scholars have found that Yahu is more than just a suffix, it actually is another proper Name of G-d, spelled with only three letters of the Tetragrammaton! This third form became known to “scholars after the discovery of the independent form YHW in the Egyptian papyri of the 5^th century B.C. from the Elephantine archives…”⁷³ According to The New 20^th Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, in the Old World the form YHW was used by the Jews in the Elephantine Island in Egypt.⁷⁴ Last Day Ministries of Texas shares additional information: “There was evidently a Temple built to YHW in Elephantine, Egypt. Many documents from this place show that the sacred name was written YHW...”⁷⁵

Seow suggests that this three-lettered Name is another short form of the Tetragrammaton. “The final H in YHWH is not a real consonant… the real consonants of the divine name are YHW… in several inscriptions from Kuntillet ‘Arjud in the Sinai… (a)mong the attestations of the name in the inscriptions from that site is one example of YHW… the final vowel not being indicated by the letter H in this instance.”⁷⁶

Presumed pronunciation.

In the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran, Professor Emeritus George Wesley Buchanan of the Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. found a similar three-lettered Name transliterated in Greek. He speculates: “Clement of Alexandria spelled the Tetragrammaton IAOAI (Ya-oo-ai), IAOE (Ya-oo-eh), and IAO (Ya-oh)… Among the caves of Qumran was a Greek text that included a few Greek word of Leviticus (4QLXX Lev), one of which was the Tetragrammaton. It was spelled (Ya-oh). This is apparently a two-syllable word, but the second syllable is only a vowel. There is no way that it could be rendered ‘Yah-weh.’ This was a transliteration of the Hebrew Ya-ho. It is the same spelling given in the fifth century B.C. Aramaic papyri. From the Aramaic alone this word could be pronounced either Ya-hoo or Ya-hoh… When the Tetragrammaton was pronounced in one syllable it was ‘Yah’ or ‘Yo.’ …If it was ever abbreviated to two syllables it would have been ‘Yahoo’…”⁷⁷

The Century Cyclopedia attests to it. “The early Gnostics, moreover, when they transcribed it in Greek characters, wrote Iao (that is, Yaho).”⁷⁸

Ziony Zevit confirms the “oo” sound at the end of words: “…waw was used to indicate the final vowel ‘u’… By employing waw as a m.l. (matres lectionis or vowel indicator) for ‘o’ in word final positions, some potential ambiguities were eliminated… in this position there was small opportunity for confusion between waw as a m.l. for ‘o’ and as a m.l. for ‘u,’ because the first value would occur exclusively with substantives, while the second, most frequently with verbs.”⁷⁹

Hence, YHW can be explained as follows: The first two letters YH are the two consonants of the first syllable “YaH,” while the third and last letter W is a matres lectionis indicating the vowel “U.” Therefore, YHW = YH (“YaH”) + W (“U”) = “YaHU.”

Pronunciation confirmed.

The Century Cyclopedia proves the pronunciation from ancient artifacts: “…we may gather from the contemporary Assyrian monuments that it was pronounced Yahu. Wherever an Israelitish name is met with in the cuneiform inscriptions which, like Jehu or Hezekiah, is compounded with the divine title, the latter appears as Yahu, Jehu being Yahua, and Hezekiah Khazaki-yahu.”⁸⁰

Rabbi Heiliczer says it is indeed the pronunciation in the vowel-pointed Hebrew Scriptures. “Moreover the first three letters, yud-hey-vuv (YHW), do appear by themselves in the Tenakh and always with vowels making the pronunciation ‘yahu’.”⁸¹

A curious thing, moreover, has been observed. If we try to vocalize YHW as vowels only, using the three consonants used at the end of words to indicate vowel sounds (yod, ee as in “see”; hey, ah as in “bah”; and waw, oo as in “pool”), the resulting sound is: ee-ah-oo = Yahu. It seems that, whether we read the Three-Lettered Name as Hebrew consonants only or pronounce the characters as vowels only, we get the same result -- “Yahu!”

Both a suffix and a prefix

Unlike the Two-Lettered Name “Yah,” which is used only as a suffix, the Three-Lettered Name “Yahu” is used as both a suffix and a prefix. The Jewish Encyclopedia notes the use of “the forms Jeho or Yeho, and Jo or Yo (wy, contracted from why), which the word assumes in combination in the first part of compound proper names, and Yahu or Yah (why, hy) in the second part of such names.”⁸²

The Encyclopaedia Britannica adds that “the usual form is YH or Yhw, occurring in unvocalized texts of the 5^th and 4^th centuries B.C.E. These forms appear in the Old Testament sporadically as the independent Yah and regularly as Yah or Yahu at the end and Yeho or Yo at the beginning of proper names.”⁸³

From Yahu to Yeho.

The Century Cyclopedia informs us that the Three-Lettered Name YHW, when used as a prefix, “Even according to the Masoretes it must be read Yeho when it forms part of a proper name.”⁸⁴

Seow explains the change of Yahu to Yeho when used as a prefix in theoporic names as a linguistic peculiarity: “…the first vowel was further changed from a to e, in accordance with rules of Hebrew Grammar.“⁸⁵ Rabbi Heiliczer thinks it was introduced on purpose. ”When a Hebrew name in the Masoretic Tenakh begins with a part of the divine name, the vowels are given as E-O (shortened form of Eh-O-ah from Eloah). Some examples are: Yehoshaphat (Jehoshaphat) YEHO-Shaphat; Yehoshua (Joshua) YEHO-Shua.”⁸⁶

From Yeho- to Yo-, Jo-.

Yeho-, though, through syncope or word contraction was further abbreviated to Y’ho-, before eventually becoming Yo-, then Jo-. Author Garrison tells us that the form Yehoshua, “in its original Hebrew form it was Y’hoshua… frequently abbreviated to Joshua.”⁸⁷ Seow gives another example: “In personal names, what scholars call the ‘Yahwistic theoporic element’ appears in the initial position as Yeho- (Jeho-) or Yo- (Jo-), as in the two forms for ‘Jonathan,’ Yehonatan and Yonatan.”⁸⁸

Yo- was written as Io- in Scriptures before the letter “J” became a consonant. As an Oil Derrick tract explains: “This short form of ‘Io’ as the sacred name can also be seen in the original 1611 King James Version where it is attached to such Biblical names as Ioshua, Iohn, Ioel, Ionathan, Ioshaphat, Iosedech, Iochebed, Ioram, Ioseph, Ionadab etc. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance shows the fuller form of these names as Yehoshua, Yehochanan, Yehonathan, Yehoshaphat, Yehosedech, Yehoseph, Yehoram, Yehonadab.”⁸⁹

Names prefixed with YHW.

Emeritus professor Buchanan cites more instances: “The Hebrew for the name ‘Jonathan’ is Yah-ho-na-than, ‘Yaho… has given.’ John was spelled ‘Yaho-cha-nan’, ‘Yaho… has been gracious.’ Elijah’s name was Eli-yahoo, ‘My God is Yahoo…’ Ancients often gave their children names that included the name of their deity.”⁹⁰

One prominent theoporic name today is the surname of the Israeli prime minister: Netanyahu, which means “given by (netan) Yahu” (Nethaniah -- 2 Chron 17:8, Jer 36:14, etc.). It was adopted by his grandfather in Lithuania in 1920, following the Hebrew language revival that began among the Jews in 17^th century Europe. When the sacred suffix is transposed to form the prefix, the name becomes Yahu-netan (“Yahu has given [netan]”), but is spelled Yeho-natan. In the course of time Yehonatan has been contracted to Yonatan. When the new letter “J” became part of the English alphabet, the name became “Jonathan.”

Incidentally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s elder brother was redundantly named Jonathan (Yonatan) Netanyahu. A major in the Israel Defense Forces, he led IDF commandos in rescuing over 100 hostages held by terrorists in a jetliner at Entebbe Airport in Uganda in 1976. He died a hero’s death as the only IDF casualty in the daring raid.

Below is an illustration of how some Biblical names developed.

How “Yahu” Became “Jo” in Theoporic Names

Names w/ Yahu last*	Nethaniah/ Netanyahu	Isaiah/ Yeshayahu	Hananiah/ Chananyahu	Elijah/ Eliyahu	Abijah/ Abiyahu
Meaning	Given (by) Yahu	Salvation (is) Yahu	Gracious (has been) Yahu	My God (is) Yahu	My father (is) Yahu
Same names w/ Yahu first	Yahunatan	Yahushua	Yahuchanan	Yahuel	Yahuab
Meaning	Yahu (has) given	Yahu (is) salvation	Yahu (has been) gracious	Yahu (is) God	Yahu (is) father
First ‘a’ to ‘e,’ ‘u’ to ‘o’	Yehonatan	Yehoshua	Yehochanan	Yehoel	Yehoab
‘e’ lost thru syncope	Y’honatan	Y’hoshua	Y’hochanan	Y’hoel	Y’hoab
‘h’ dropped over time	Yonatan	Yoshua	Yohanan	Yoel	Yoab
I used for Y, MiddleAges	Ionathan	Iosua	Iohann, Iohn	Ioel	Ioab
New letter J replaced I	Jonathan	Joshua	Johan, John	Joel	Joab

*Modern English Biblical forms over Anglicized traditional Hebrew pronunciations

Old Testament proof

Proof exists in the Old Testament that Yahu was truly G-d's first and original Name that the ancients knew from the time of Adam – the name of Moses's mother. “And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt: and she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister (Num 26:59).

Moses’s mother was Jochebed, a granddaughter of Jacob (Israel) by his son Levi. She married her brother Kohath’s son Amram, who became Moses’s father (Ex 6:16-18,20). Jochebed lived around 3,600 years ago in Egypt during the period of Israelite bondage.

Jochebed means “YHWH is glory”⁹¹ – chebed coming from the Hebrew root-word kabed, meaning “splendor, glory, honor.” The initial letter “J” in her name was anciently a “Y,” so Jochebed used to be Yochebed. Even earlier, it was Y’hochebed, from Yehochebed. And, long before that, its original form was Yahuchebed.

Since Jochebed was born and given her particular theoporic name by her parents before the Creator revealed a new Name to her future son, Moses, that leaves us with but one conclusion: The sacred Name of G-d that the Israelites knew before the time of Moses was YAHU.

“According to Albright (Assyrian Cuneiform scholar) and others the most ancient form of the sacred name (outside of Scripture) is ‘Yahu’. YHW or YHU are indicated by the same letter in Hebrew.”⁹²Researcher James Montgomery, in the Journal of Biblical Literature (1944), put the matter to rest: “The earliest form of the Name was doubtless Yahu.”⁹³

The meaning of Yahu. If the Four-Lettered Name YHWH means “I AM THAT I AM” and the Two-Lettered Name YH stands for “I AM,” what does the Three-Lettered Name YHW signify?

There are several Biblical names that similarly end in -hu, other than those ending in –yahu. Let us examine three of them.

1) Abihu, a son of Aaron, Moses’s brother (Ex 6:23, etc.). Abihu in Hebrew means “My father (Abi) is he (huw).”⁹⁴

2) Elihu, David’s eldest brother, et al. (1 Chron 27:18, etc.). Elihu signifies “My G-d (Eli) is He (huw).”⁹⁵

3) Jehu, a prophet of Israel, et al. (1 Kings 16:12, etc.). Jehu stands for “The L-RD (YHWH) is He (huw).”⁹⁶ (Note that in all three instances the last letter “w” is lost in personal names. Huw is written hu in modern Hebrew.)

Based on the foregoing examples, it follows YAHU means “I AM (Yah) HE (huw).” (The original Hebrew wording Yah huw is never used in ordinary speech. In common usage, “I am he” is Ani hu.)

Obviously, Yahu is the abbreviation of Yah huw. Gesenius Hebrew Grammar explains how it happened: “Assimilation usually takes place when one consonant which closes a syllable passes over into another beginning the next syllable and forms with it a strengthened letter.”⁹⁷ In other words, if the last consonant of a syllable is the same as the first consonant of the succeeding syllable, the two identical consonants are written as only one letter.

Accordingly, the two words Yah and huw together form Yahhuw, which becomes Yahuw in conformity with Hebrew grammar rules, and is further simplified to Yahu, as illustrated below:

Yah	+	huw	=	Yahhuw	=	Yahuw	=	Yahu
(“I AM”)	+	(“HE”)	=					(“I AM HE”)

Allusion by the LORD.

The L-RD alluded to His Three-Lettered Name on many occasions: “See now that I, even I, am he…” (Deut 32:39).

“Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he” (Isa 41:4).

“Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last” (Isa 48:12; also 43:10,13,25; 46:4; 51:12).

New Testament Proof

YHW appears to have been spoken by Christ Himself, “Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, "Whom are you seeking?" They answered Him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am He." And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. Then -- when He said to them, "I am He,"-- they drew back and fell to the ground” (John 18:3-6, NKJV).

Why did Judas and the band of men fall to the ground? What power did the Three-Lettered Name of God have? We see why in Temple worship practices: “The High Priest spoke the name of God on the Day of Atonement in his recitation of Lev. xvi. 30 during the confessions of sins; and when the priests and the people in the great hall heard him utter the ‘Shem ha-Meforash (the Distinguished Name),’ they prostrated themselves and glorified God.”⁹⁸

Translator H. Danby corroborates this in the Mishnah, a collection of Jewish legal traditions. “And when the priests and the people which stood in the Temple Court heard the Expressed Name come forth from the mouth of the High Priest, they used to kneel and bow themselves and fall down on their faces and say, ‘Blessed be the name of the glory of his kingdom for ever and ever!’ (Yoma 6:2).”⁹⁹

Many people get the impression that the men arresting Christ fell backwards. On the contrary, they fell forward on their faces in an act of worship! They were from the Temple, and, as our references relate, they customarily fell to the ground on their faces whenever they heard the Name of God. Apparently, when Christ said “I am He,” He used the sacred phrase Yah huw – i.e., the Three-Lettered Name YHW (Yahu).

Disappearance.

Why is the form Yahu not found in the Bible? Allen says, “When the Jews were carried into Babylon in 606 B.C.E. many of the personal names had the element ‘yahu’…”¹⁰⁰ Yet, Zevit found that when the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity 70 years later, the suffix had changed from -yahu to -yah. “An examination of the chronological distribution of the suffix in Judean inscriptions indicates that -yhw is characteristically pre-Exilic, and -yh post-Exilic… Japhet points out that in Ezra-Nehemiah all names with this element are written -yh with one exception…”¹⁰¹

After Babylon fell, the Jews began returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the Temple under a decree King Cyrus of Persia issued in 536 B.C. By the time of the Jewish leaders Ezra and Nehemiah, the use of -yahu as a suffix in Hebrew theoporic names had ceased.

About 2,000 years later, in Europe, even the rare names which had the suffix -yahu in the Hebrew text, such as Eliyahu, were transliterated by Bible translators with the more familiar -iah and -jah suffixes

The 3 Personal Names of God

Below is a summary of the LORD’s three Personal Names:

Spelling	Pronunciation	Meaning	Passages	Notes
Y-H	“YaH”	“I AM”	Ex 3:14; John 8:58	As in Isaiah or Hallelujah
Y-H-W	“YaHU”	“I AM HE”	Isa 41:4, etc. John 18:5-6	As in Eliyahu or Netanyahu
Y-H-W-H	God’s most sacred Name, known only to a few.*	“I AM THAT I AM”	Ex 3:14; 6:3	The “Ineffable Name,” never spoken aloud

_________________________________

62.	Sigmund Mowinchel, “The Name of the Heavenly Father of Moses,” The Hebrew Union College Annual, 1961, p. 14
63.	God, Names of, op. cit., col. 679
64.	Mowinchel, loc. cit.
65.	God, Names of, op. cit., cols.. 679-680
66.	YHWH, Names of God, Jewish Encyclopedia, Internet
67.	Seow, loc. cit.
68.	Herschel Shanks, “The Tombs of Silwan,” Biblical Archaeology Review, May-June 1994, p. 48
69.	P. Kyle McCarter, “In Private Hands,” Queries & Comments, Biblical Archaeology Review, May-June 1996, p. 26
70.	Shanks, “Fingerprint of Jeremiah’s Scribe,” Biblical Archaeology Review, March-April 1996, p.38
71.	Shanks, op. cit., pp. 36-38
72.	Shanks, “Isaiah’s Ire,” Biblical Archaeology Review, May-June 1994, pp. 48-49
73.	The New 20^th Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 2^nd edition, p. 886
74.	Ibid.
75.	“Comments,” Last Day Ministries, tract, undated
76.	Seow, op. cit., p. 49
77.	George Wesley Buchanan, “The Tetragrammaton,” Comments & Queries, Biblical Archaelogy Review, March-April 1995, pp. 30,31,100
78.	Sayce, Ancient Monuments, The Century Cyclopedia [1900], p. 75; excerpted by Allen in “How Long Halt Ye Between Two Opinions,” tract, undated
79.	Ziony Zevit, Matres Lectionis in Ancient Hebrew Epigraphs, American Schools of Oriental Research, 1980, p. 25
80.	Sayce, loc. cit.
81.	Heiliczer, op. cit., p. 20
82.	YHWH, Names of God, op. cit.
83.	Yahweh, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11^th Edition, Vol. 12
84.	Sayce, loc. cit.
85.	Seow, op. cit., p. 50).
86.	Heiliczer, loc. cit.
87.	Garrison, Strange Facts About The Bible, p. 81
88.	Seow, op. cit., p. 49
89.	“Ioua/Iona,” The Oil Derrick, tract, undated, p. 1
90.	Buchanan, loc. cit.
91.	Jochebed, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996
92.	“The Mystic Symbol,” Indian Sabbath Trail, tract, undated
93.	James Montgomery, “The Hebrew Divine Name and the Personal Pronoun Hu, Critical Notes, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. lxiii, 1944, p. 162
94.	Abihu, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996
95.	Elihu, The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, 1988
96.	Jehu, Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary,1986
97.	Gesenius Hebrew Grammar, p. 68
98.	God, Names of, op. cit., col. 263
99.	The Mishnah, translated by H. Danby, 1954, p. xiv
100.	Allen, op. cit., p. 7
101.	Zevit, op. cit., pp. 12-13
102.	Jehucal, The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, 1988

What is God?

Is God real? Did He create man, or did man, fearfully conscious of his weakness and mortality, create God in his mind? If God is real, what is He like? Author Paul Johnson (A Quest for God, 1996) wrote: “The existence or non-existence of God is the most important question we humans are ever asked to answer.”³

Before the creation.

The 13^th century Sefer HaZohar (“Book of Splendor”) describes God before the creation of the universe: "Before He gave any shape to the world, before He produced any form, He was alone, without form and without resemblance to anything else. Who then can comprehend how He was before the Creation? Hence it is forbidden to lend Him any form or similitude, or even to call Him by His sacred name, or to indicate Him by a single letter or a single point…”⁴ God was all there was -- neither inside nor outside anything – having no spatial dimension whatsoever or frame of reference conceivable by the human mind.

Proof of His existence.

Today, the Scriptures tell us that the proof of God’s existence is apparent in the created universe: “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Rom 1:20).

Indeed, the breathtaking beauty of nature on earth and the awe-inspiring majesty of the heavens point to the hand of a Creator. But these are oftentimes subjective thoughts engendered by surges of human emotions.

Wernher von Braun, the German rocket scientist who became the father of the U.S. space program, wrote: “My experiences with science led me to God… Prove the existence of God? Must we really light a candle to see the sun?”⁵ In today’s world, we have been conditioned to demand rational and objective explanations for nearly everything. Surprisingly enough, modern science supplies many of the answers we seek – beginning with a number of the traditionally acknowledged characteristics of God taught by the Scriptures.

God the Eternal

The Bible repeatedly avers that God has no beginning and will have no end. For instance, Moses exulted: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God” (Ps 90:2). John calls God “him which is, and which was, and which is to come…” (Rev 1:4b).

Jewish mystics refer to God as the Ein Sof (“Infinite Nothingness”), literally, “Without End,” eternal, infinite. Without a past and a future, God is pure consciousness in timeless eternity. Yet, “Without End,” according to some, implies a beginning, so it would perhaps be more appropriate to call God the Ein Techila – “Without Beginning.” (But does that not imply an end?) Others insist that no name would be appropriate for the Creator, because the letters and sounds of names came only after the Creation.⁶

Beginning of time?

The very first words of the Scriptures relate that time had a starting point. “In the beginning…” (Gen 1:1a).

The apostle Paul repeated the idea no less than three times nearly 2,000 years ago: “No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began” (1 Cor 2:7-8, NIV). “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness -- a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time” (Titus 1:1-2, NIV). And… “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (2 Tim 1:9-10, NIV).

If time had a beginning, “when” and how did it begin?

When time began.

Time must have begun with the Creation. “In the beginning God created the heaven…” (Gen 1:1a).

What is “heaven”? The word, in the ordinary sense, is synonymous with “sky” -- the expanse above the surface of the earth where the birds fly, where the clouds drift by and, farther out, where the sun, moon, and stars shine. In short, “heaven” is the space above, surrounding, and beyond our planet Earth in all directions. Space, science teaches, is a vacuum (“emptiness”).

So, God created “heaven” or empty space to put His creation in. As the Jewish mystics tell it, the Ein Sof caused a part of His “Infinite Nothingness” to contract in order to make room for the emergence of the physical universe. Thus, empty "space" appeared. The "contraction" or "constriction" is called Tzimtzum, a term first used in his teachings by the Kabbalist master Isaac Luria (1534-72).⁷ Critics, however, argue that “contraction” is an inaccurate and misleading term as it implies previously existing dimensions. The Ein Sof has no spatial dimension of any sort.

In any case, time came into existence when God created space (“heaven”). How? We measure space (or any object occupying space) by means of the three physical dimensions of length, width, and height. We measure a fourth, more subtle dimension – time -- through the movement of an object in space. The 12^th century Jewish philosopher Maimonides noted: “Time is an accident consequent upon motion and is necessarily attached to it. Neither of them exists without the other. Motion does not exist except in time, and time cannot be conceived by the intellect except together with motion.”⁸ For example, a ball thrown from point A may take two seconds to reach point B. Without the dimensions of space as a frame of reference, there can be no movement and, therefore, no time.

As the Encarta Encyclopedia points out: “In Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which was introduced in 1916, the very existence of time depends on the presence of space.”⁹ The editors speculate that “the big bang theory (of the birth of the universe) does not explain what existed before the big bang. It may be that time itself began at the big bang, so that it makes no sense to discuss what happened ‘before’ the big bang.”¹⁰

Time will end.

Physicist Paul Davies, of the University of Adelaide, Australia, wrote: “Modern scientific cosmology is the most ambitious enterprise of all to emerge from Einstein’s work. When scientists began to explore the implications of Einstein’s time for the universe as a whole, they made one of the most important discoveries in the history of human thought: that time, and hence all of physical reality, must have had a definite origin in the past. If time is flexible and mutable, as Einstein demonstrated, then it is possible for time to come into existence – and also to pass away again; there can be a beginning and an end to time.”¹¹

Truly, the Scriptures also tell us that time will ultimately come to an end: “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time…” (Dan 12:4, NASU).

“Space-time” inseparable.

Space and time are so inseparably tied together that scientists refer to the continuum of space and time as simply one entity: “space-time.”

The Jews had a 16^th century saying: "HaMakom V'HaZman Echad Hu." ("Space and time, they are one.”)¹² Author Gerald Schroeder, commenting on Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity, observes that “space and time are linked together and are interchangeable. The connection between space and time, however, is not apparent unless you are dealing with vast distances, very short times, or things moving very near to the speed of light.”¹³

God outside space-time.

If God created space and time, then He obviously pre-existed and must be outside space-time. As the whole cannot be contained in any of its parts, infinite God cannot be confined in the finite universe He merely created. King Solomon asks: “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?” (1 Kings 8:27).

Moreover, everything in the universe functions according to the laws of physics. Would God subject Himself to the physical laws He Himself had established? If He did, He would no longer be infinite.

Space and time had a beginning, and their Creator existed before time began. He is therefore before, above, and beyond time, which has no effects on Him. Thus, God is timeless. Science confirms Scripture: God is eternal -- with no beginning and no end.

(Excerpted from Chapter 1, The Mysteries of Our Maker, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson)

³Paul Johnson, A Quest for God, 1996, p. 1

⁴Ein Sof, Wikipedia, Internet

⁵Wernher von Braun, letter to the California State Board of Education, September 14, 1972

⁶Ein Sof, op. cit.

⁷Tzimtzum, op. cit.

⁸Moses Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed, 1190

⁹Time, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

¹⁰Big Bang Theory, op. cit.

¹¹Paul Davies, It’s About Time, 1995, p. 17

¹²Study of the Book of Revelation, “Spiritual Time, Space, Mass, Light and Energy,” updated 8/20/00, Internet

¹³Fred Alan Wolf, Space-Time and Beyond, 1987, p. 140

God, the Cosmic Intelligence

Did the universe, including man, come about simply by accident as most scientists would have us believe? Paul Davies, a known atheist, notes: “A long list of additional ‘lucky accidents’ and ‘coincidences’ has been compiled… impressive evidence that life as we know it depends very sensitively on the form of the laws of physics, and on some seemingly fortuitous accidents in the actual values that nature has chosen for various particle masses, force strengths, and so on…”¹⁴

Scientists are awed and at the same time baffled by the incredible “natural” order and amazing “accidental” precision of forces in the cosmos. The balance and harmony of the laws of physics are so perfect, it is difficult to believe they all happened by chance.

Four fundamental forces.

Scientists have identified the four fundamental forces at work in the universe.

1. The strong nuclear force, which bonds the quarks that make up the protons and neutrons in an atom, and holds those protons and neutrons together to form the atomic nucleus in matter.

2. The electromagnetic force that keeps electrons orbiting around the atomic nucleus, and fastens together the molecules that make up all living organisms, as well as the planets and the stars.

3. Gravitation, the attraction between all forms of matter produced by their masses (amounts of matter), keeping objects and organisms on the ground, and regulating the motions of planets, stars, galaxies.

4. The weak nuclear force that causes radioactive decay in atoms and generates nuclear reactions that enable the Sun and the stars to produce light and heat.

Consider. All matter is mostly space. Quantum particles such as protons, neutrons, and electrons that form atoms are separated by vast distances. For instance, the nucleus of a hydrogen atom is about 10^-13 cm, while the radius of its electron’s orbit is some 10^-8 cm. If the nucleus were as big as a pinhead, the electron would be a football field away!¹⁵ If any of the four fundamental forces fails to function, or be altered even one small fraction, all atomic components would fly apart and disintegrate. All matter would cease to exist, and all energy would disappear without a trace.

Something must have brought these forces into play. Or, should we say, Someone? Says Nehemiah, “You alone are the LORD; You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all” (Neh 9:6, NKJV).

The “laws of heaven.”

The laws of physics do not seem to have evolved. They appear to have been present from the very beginning as matter formed almost instantly. Prof. Keith Ward of King’s College, London University, wrote: “The universe began to expand in a very precisely ordered manner, in accordance with a set of basic mathematical constants and laws which govern its subsequent development into a universe of the sort we see today. There already existed a very complex array of quantum laws describing possible interactions of elementary particles, and the universe, according to one main theory, originated by the operation of fluctuations in a quantum field in accordance with those laws.”¹⁶

The ancients knew that the universe has laws governing its existence and operation. Job asks quizzically: “Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up [God's] dominion over the earth?” (Job 38:33, NIV). If the universe has laws, there must have been a “lawgiver.” Albert Einstein said, “Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man.”¹⁷

Jeremiah suggests who had set up the physical laws of the universe: “This is what the LORD says: `If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth,…" (Jer 33:25, NIV).

An “intelligent designer.”

Wernher von Braun, who was also the first director of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), remarked: “One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be purpose and design behind it all. In the world around us, we can behold the obvious manifestation of an ordered, structured plan or design…”¹⁸ He concluded: “The better we understand the intricacies of the universe… the more (we) marvel at the inherent design upon which it is based… the admission of a design… ultimately raises the question of a Designer…”¹⁹

British astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle marveled: “A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super-intellect has monkeyed with the physics, as well as with the chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.”²⁰

“Roger Penrose, professor of mathematics at Oxford University, has among his areas of expertise the study of the universe after its creation. He was awarded the Wolf Prize for his analytic description of the Big Bang, which forms the basis of all Big Bang models. Penrose finds the laws of nature tuned for life. This balance of nature’s laws is so perfect and so unlikely to have occurred by chance that he avers an intelligent ‘Creator’ must have chosen them.”²¹

Solomon said God introduced wisdom, or intelligence, before the Creation. "I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion… The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began” (Prov 8:12, 22-23, NIV). God had, even before His very first creative act, set into motion the physical laws that would govern all creation.

The psalmist intones: “O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all…” (Ps 104:24; also 136:5; Prov 3:19;8:12,22-23; Jer 10:12, 51:15).

______________________

¹⁴Paul Davies, The Mind of God: The Scientific Basis for a Rational World, 1992, pp. 199-200

¹⁵“Whence Our ‘Reality’?”, Personal Update, December 2003, p. 3

¹⁶Keith Ward, God, Chance & Necessity, 1996, p. 17

¹⁷The Quotable Einstein, p. 152; quoted in “The Beginning of the Universe,” Does God Exist?, 2000, p. 12

¹⁸von Braun, op. cit.

¹⁹Ibid.

²⁰Quoted by Fred Heeren, Show Me God: What the Message from Space Is Telling Us About God, 1997, frontispiece; cited in “Evidence in Plain Sight,” Does God Exist?, 2000, p. 5

²¹Roger Penrose, The Emperor’s New Mind, 1991; cited by Gerald Schroeder, The Science of God, 1997, p. 22

(Excerpted from Chapter 1, Mysteries of Our Maker, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

God, the Immanent

Solar and galactic systems are held together by the gravitational force of the mass (matter) and energy they contain. The matter primarily comprises hydrogen and helium, while the energy consists mainly of electromagnetic radiation in many forms.²²

Missing mass?

The Big Bang Theory of the birth of the universe assumes the presence of enough mass in the rapidly expanding universe for matter to come together and form stars and galaxies. However, estimates of the universe’s actual mass consistently fall far short of the minimum amount necessary to hold the stars and galaxies together.

“In 1933 the late Fritz Zwicky pointed out that the galaxies of the Coma cluster are moving too fast: there is not enough visible mass in the galaxies to bind the cluster together by gravity. Subsequent observations verified this ‘missing’ mass in other clusters.”²³

Considering the observed velocities and apparent masses of the galaxies in the clusters, they should have broken up a long, long time ago. Something unseen is keeping them together. On a smaller scale, in the 1970s spiral galaxies were found spinning just as fast at the outer edges as they do at the center. It is a mystery how they have been doing this for countless eons without flying apart.

“Dark matter.”

Author Walt Brown writes that “in almost every case the velocities of the individual galaxies are high enough to allow them to escape from the cluster. In effect, the clusters are ‘boiling.’ This statement is certainly true if we assume that the only gravitational force present is that exerted by visible matter, but it is true even if we assume that every galaxy in the cluster, like the Milky Way, is surrounded by a halo of dark matter that contains 90 percent of the mass of the galaxy.”²⁴

The missing mass, which does not emit, reflect, or absorb light or any kind of radiation, is called “dark matter,” because no one can see or even detect it. Paul spoke about this to the Hebrews: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Heb 11:3, NIV). The visible universe has been created from invisible things.

The World Book points out that the combined mass of all the stars, planets, and cosmic dust and gases accounts for only about 4% of the energy needed to hold the universe together. Of the remaining 96% that astronomers cannot detect, dark matter accounts for approximately 23%.²⁵ Would the scientists have believed Paul if he had spoken to them? “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col 1:17-18, NIV).

“Dark energy.”

Big Bang theorists assume that the expansion of the universe should be slowing, in the same way that a ball thrown upward into the air must slow as it moves away from the earth’s gravity. Cosmologists have taken measurements of this cosmic deceleration for decades. Their findings, rechecked many times, always show the same perplexing result: The universe’s expansion is not decelerating, but is instead accelerating!^26,27

To preserve the viability of the Big Bang theory, an explanation had to be found. There must be an unknown energy actively counteracting gravity and causing stars and galaxies to accelerate away from each other. That unknown, undetectable energy must be, what else -- dark energy. It is said to represent the last 73% missing in the equation.²⁸

The Spirit of God?

God, 2,600 years ago, said through the prophet Jeremiah: “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD” (Jer 23:24). God said He fills the entire universe. But is not the Ein Sof or “Infinite Nothingness” outside the universe?

“God is a spirit” (John 4:24), and as many of us know “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen 1:2b) in the emerging universe. It appears that, although the Ein Sof remains outside of creation, His Spirit, which is energy, entered the physical world. Paradoxically, God is both apart from and a part of the universe!

Are the unseen and undetectable “dark matter” and “dark energy,” as well as all observable matter and energy in the cosmos, God? Paul hints at the answer. “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor 4:18). The unseen, eternal God is immanent in the universe.

______________________

^22.Cosmos, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

^23.M. Mitchell Waldrop, “The Large-Scale Structure of the Universe,” Science, Vol. 219, 4 March 1983, p. 1050

^24.Trefil, p. 93; cited by Walt Brown, Astrophysical Sciences, creationscience.com

^25.Universe, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)

^26.Trefil, loc. cit.

^27.Waldrop, loc. cit.

^28.Universe, op. cit.

(Excerpted from Chapter 1, Mysteries of Our Maker, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

God, the Immutable

The most striking characteristic of nature, from Aristotle’s point of view, was “change.”²⁹Intellectuals who are of a like mind in our modern age have even coined a clever maxim: “Change is the only constant.”

It is an established principle in physics that all things change. The second law of thermodynamics, entropy, states that spontaneous change in isolated systems proceeds from a state of order to one of disorder. In simple terms, all things break down, deteriorate, or decay through time. The general rule in the universe is change. Everything changes.

The only exception to that rule is God.

Outside time.

God declared through the prophet Malachi that He is immutable – He does not change. “For I am the LORD, I change not…” (Mal 3:6). David repeats that truth in a psalm: “They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end” (Ps 102:26-27). God has passed on this immutability to His Son, who has the same nature. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Heb 13:8).

There are at least two reasons, both backed by modern scientific principles, why God does not change.

First, as we have already seen, God, as the Ein Sof or “Infinite Nothingness” is outside space-time. Changes take place only in time. Since God is not subject to the passage of time, He is timeless. And, being timeless, He cannot change. God is immutable.

God is light.

The clue to the second reason is in James’s reiteration of God’s unchanging nature. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17-18, NIV). An additional element, though, appears in the passage: “Father of the heavenly lights.” As such, God must also be light, which is precisely what John says: “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (John 1:5).

What is light? It is pure radiant energy -- a form of electromagnetic radiation consisting of photons, the fastest moving things in the universe. Having no mass, photons travel through space at some 186,000 miles per second (about 300,000 km/sec.) without any loss of energy. Nothing travels faster than light, whose velocity is the cosmic speed limit. At the speed of light, time stops. Light therefore, is also timeless and cannot change. Naturally no less is its Creator, God, who is light as well. Yes, God is truly immutable.

²⁹Aristotle, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)

(Excerpted from Chapter 1, The Mysteries of Our Maker, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson)

God, the Omnipresent

The Holy Scriptures tell us that God is in all places at the same time. Quite unexpectedly, recent discoveries in a relatively new field of science seem to provide evidence that God is truly present everywhere all at once. We refer to the young branch of physics called quantum mechanics (QM).

Quantum mechanics.

Quantum mechanics, or quantum physics, which developed in the 1920s, is the study of the smallest parts that make up matter and energy – such as protons, neutrons, electrons, positrons, quarks, photons, neutrinos, and a host of other minuscule entities. As a theoretical science, QM provides precise mathematical rules that describe how the universe works on the smallest scales. It has proven so successful in predicting results that entire industries have been built on QM -- microelectronics, computers, lasers. Nonetheless, QM is still oftentimes referred to as “weird science.”

Many phenomena uncovered and predicted by quantum mechanics are so mind-boggling they leave physicists flabbergasted. Danish physicist Niels Bohr, winner of the 1922 Nobel Prize, said: “Anyone who isn’t shocked by quantum physics has not understood it.”³⁰

As his fellow Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman wrote, “it is often stated that of all the theories proposed in this century, the silliest is quantum theory. Some say that the only thing that quantum theory has going for it, in fact, is that it is unquestionably correct.”³¹

Cosmologist Andreas Albrecht of the University of California at Davis claims QM is "the fundamental language that Nature speaks. Nature doesn't answer questions for certain; it answers questions by giving probabilities... There’s a possibility that almost anything happens… It comes out of the mathematics. It's forced down our throats."³²

“Nonlocality.”

Quantum physicists have observed that subatomic particles perform magical or, more appropriately, sci-fi-like acts. Fred Alan Wolf wrote in Space-Time and Beyond: “Particles don’t behave as we might expect them to. For example, they vanish and reappear in unexpected places in violation of energy conservation rules.” Particles make quantum jumps -- that is, they go from one place to another without traveling across the space between the two locations!³³ How are they able to do that?

In the 1940s American-born British physicist David Bohm, a friend and protégé of Einstein, observed in his work in plasma (gases of high density electrons and positive ions) that, on the subatomic level, location ceases to exist! Any point in space is equal to all other points in space. They are conjoined, no matter how distantly separated they may appear to be. In other words, any one quantum particle is present everywhere in the universe. Physicists have since accepted the phenomenon and call it “nonlocality.” Paul Davis of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne has concluded that “the nonlocal aspects of quantum systems is therefore a general property of nature.”³⁴

According to the Encarta Encyclopedia: “The strong correlations observed in these experiments suggest to many that we inhabit a nonlocal reality, meaning that what happens here and now could depend upon something far away in space, time, or both.”³⁵ Nonlocality demonstrates how God can be present in all points of the universe at the same time.

David wondered: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me” (Ps 139:7-10).

Quantum mechanics proves God is omnipresent.

_______

³⁰Niels Bohr, quoted by Chuck Missler, Cosmic Codes, Revised 2004, p. 337

³¹Richard Feynman, quoted by Missler, op. cit., p. 338

³²Andreas Albrecht, quoted by Andrew Chaikin, “Are There Other Universes?”, Science Tuesday, 05 Feb. 2002, Internet

³³Fred Alan Wolf, Space-Time and Beyond, 1987, p. 133

³⁴Paul Davis, Superforce, 1948, p. 48; quoted by Missler, op. cit., p. 340

³⁵Bell’s Inequality, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

(Excerpted from Chapter 1, Mysteries of Our Maker, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

Annihilation of Mankind in 3 Stages

Mankind will be almost totally wiped out at the time of the end, according to veiled prophecies in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible

Mankind represented by the prophet’s hair.

In the book of Ezekiel, the LORD told the prophet to shave his head and beard. “And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's rasor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weight, and divide the hair” (Ezekiel 5:1).

Ezekiel was instructed to divide the hair into three parts, with each part representing a third of mankind, and illustrate what will happen to each group. “Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them” (Ezekiel 5:2).

Let us now endeavor to analyze the meanings of the three parts of the prophecy, step by step. These are repeated in somewhat more direct and simpler terms a few verses later.

First 33% will die of pestilence and famine.

“Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled…” (Ezekiel 5:2a).

“A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee” (Ezekiel 5:12a)

This seems to be linked to the appearance of the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse, who will usher in a world war (“siege”) and the much-dreaded Great Tribulation that the apostle John wrote about in the last book of the Bible:

“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth” (Revelation 6:8).

They will hold sway over a quarter of the world. And, as the names of the horseman (Death) and his retinue (“hell” – Hades, region of the dead) denote, they will bring about widespread death through war (“sword”), famine (“hunger”), pandemics (“death”), and hunger-maddened animals (“beasts of the earth”).

The “pale horse” in the original Greek text is hippos chloros (“green horse”). As green is the traditional color of the Arabs and Islam, “green horse” probably refers to Islamic jihadists. Moreover, Muslims now make up about one-fourth of the world population.

Second 33% will perish on the day of the LORD.

“…and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife…” (Ezekiel 5:2b).

“…and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee…” (Ezekiel 5:12b).

An army of destroying angels will arrive on the day of the LORD to kill wicked people. “I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty” (Isaiah 13:3-6).

”A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness” (Joel 2:3-6).

“And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths” (Revelation 9:16-18).

Last 33% will remain.

The prophet Zechariah made a running tally of the casualties. “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein” (Zechariah 13:8).

Last 33% will be scattered in the air.

“…and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them” (Ezekiel 5:2c).

“…and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them” (Ezekiel 5:12c).

How will the remaining people be scattered in the air? Planet Earth will overturn! “Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof” (Isaiah 24:1).

Last 33% will go through fire.

The worst, however, is yet to come. “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God” (Zechariah 13:9).

Those who will call on the true name of the LORD will be physically delivered.

A few will be divinely protected.

“But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your garment” (Ezekiel 5:3).

Mercifully, a blessed few will survive through the ordeals. “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock” (Psalm 27:5).

“Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD's anger” (Zephaniah 2:3).

“Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain” (Isaiah 26:20-21).

The rest will go through fire.

“Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 5:4).

The elect will be taken before fire engulfs the earth.

“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:28-29).

Lot personifies the “elect”. They will be taken up in the first resurrection of the dead and “rapture” of the living elect saints before the fire from heaven burns up the earth.

Earth will burst into flames.

“And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake” (Revelation 8:5).

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10) .

Hardly any survivors.

“Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left” (Isaiah 24:6).

“I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir” (Isaiah 13:12).

After the earth shall have been burned, it will be easier to find gold than a living man.

Amen.

(Excerpted from, END TIME Decoded, by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

God, the Omniscient

Solomon asserts that God is all-knowing. “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (Prov 15:3). No one person or thing, good or bad, escapes from His sight. “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD” (Jer 23:24a).

Because He is the Creator of heaven and earth, including space and time, God knows their every nook and corner, as well as everything that has happened and will happen. “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done…” (Isa 46:9-10a; also Acts 15:18).

God does not only see all our actions and hear all our words, He also knows our innermost thoughts and feelings. “O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off” (Ps 139:1-2). He even knows what we are going to say even before it is formed on our lips. “Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD” (Ps 139:4, NIV). Thus, Christ told His followers: “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matt 6:8, NIV).

Interconnectedness.

In traditional physics, the principle of separability states that connected objects once separated can no longer affect one another. Logical enough. Yet, quantum mechanics violates this principle and instead reveals a “quantum connectedness.” An object can still affect another, even when there is no longer any physical contact between them.³⁶ How is that possible?

Fred Alan Wolf says that some subatomic processes result in the creation of pairs of matter and antimatter particles. The twins have identical or closely related properties, except that these are reversed. For example, a negatively charged electron’s antimatter partner called positron has the same mass, but has an opposite positive charge (hence its name) and spins in the opposite direction.³⁷ QM predicts that attempts to measure complementary characteristics on the pair – even when traveling in opposite directions – would always fail. This had led Niels Bohr to speculate: If subatomic particles do not exist individually until they are observed, they probably do not exist as separate, independent entities. They must be parts of an indivisible whole that remains so even after their appearance.³⁸

In the earlier mentioned work of David Bohm with plasma, particles would stop behaving individually and start behaving like parts of an interconnected system. It was as though each particle knew what the trillions of other particles in the universe were doing.

In 1964 John Stewart Bell, a theoretical physicist at CERN (the European center for nuclear research in Geneva), developed a mathematical approach, now called the Bell Inequality, on how connectedness could be tested. As the level of technological precision needed was not yet available at the time, the experiment was conducted only in 1982 at the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Optics in Paris. Nevertheless, just as QM had predicted, two photons, although spatially separated, appeared in contact with each other and nonlocally connected! It showed that, on the subatomic level, all things in the universe are interconnected -- nothing is separate from any of all the others.³⁹

That finding provides us with more understanding about how God knows everything that is happening anywhere, anytime. “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Heb 4:13, NKJV). God is truly omniscient – all-seeing and all-knowing.

³⁶Fred Alan Wolf, Space-Time and Beyond, 1987, pp. 135-136

³⁷Op. cit., pp. 148-149

³⁸Paraphrased by Chuck Missler, Cosmic Codes, Revised 2004, p. 337

³⁹Op. cit., pp. 339-340

(Excerpted from Chapter 1, Mysteries of Our Maker, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

God, the Omnipotent

God’s powers are truly awesome to His creatures. “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (Rev 19:6). God is all-powerful. “Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” (Gen 18:14). The answer is obvious. “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee” (Jer 32:17).

Manifested in “miracles.”

God often manifests His power to men in miracles – extraordinary, supernatural phenomena that seem improbable or even impossible to the human mind. In Scripture, they are called “signs and wonders.” Men’s unbelief is one reason why God performs miracles. “’Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,’ Jesus told him, ’you will never believe’" (John 4:48, NIV).

Some of the most spectacular miracles recorded in the Bible are those God did before and after the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt, as well as some which interfered with the natural movement of the sun.

The 10 plagues of Egypt. God inflicted ten successive ordeals on Egypt when Pharaoh obstinately refused to let the Israelites go: (1) The waters of the Nile River turned into blood (Ex 7:14-25). (2) Frogs covered the land of Egypt (Ex 8:1-14). (3) Lice formed from the dust and infested both men and animals (Ex 8:16-19). (4) Flies swarmed into all the houses of the Egyptians (Ex 8:20-31). (5) A plague killed all the livestock in Egypt, except those of the Israelites (Ex 9:1-7). (6) A pandemic of boils afflicted all the Egyptians and their animals (Ex 9:8-11). (7) Hail and fire rained down over all Egypt (except Goshen, where the Israelites lived), killing all men and animals out in the field (Ex 9:13-26). (8) Locusts covered the whole of Egypt and devoured all green vegetation and fruits on trees (Ex 10:3-6,12-19). (9) Darkness blanketed Egypt for three days, but the Israelites had light in their dwellings (Ex 10:22-23). (10) All the firstborn of the Egyptians and their animals died (Ex 11:1-7,12:12-13,29-31).

Miracles in the wilderness. (1) The parting of the Red Sea by an east wind that blew all night, enabling the Israelites to walk across to safety from their Egyptian pursuers (Ex 14). (2) The provision of quail in the evening of the day the LORD promised to give them bread and meat (Ex 16:6-13), and when they longed for Egyptian food the LORD sent them a whole month’s supply of quail (Num 11:4-32). (3) The daily supply of manna (“bread from heaven”) that appeared on the ground daily for forty years (Ex 16). (4) Water from the rock in Horeb that Moses struck with his staff (Ex 17:1-6).

Miracles with the sun. (1) The sun stood still when Joshua asked the LORD to stop the sun until they would have defeated the Amorites (Josh 10:12-14). (2) The shadow moved back ten degrees on the sundial, the sign King Hezekiah had asked for to confirm that the LORD had truly healed him and added fifteen years to his life (2 Kings 20:8-11). (3) Darkness at noon over the whole land as Christ hung dying on the cross, from 12:00 noon until 3:00 in the afternoon (Luke 23:44-45).

Some miracles explained?

Unbelievers in ancient times tried to dismiss God’s miracles as the works of magic or evil spirits.⁴⁰ In our modern day scholars offer reasons, scientific or otherwise, to explain many Biblical miracles.

The ten plagues. The Nile’s turning into blood is said to be a natural effect of its annual flooding, with the water first turning green, then yellow, then ochre red starting around the 25^th of June due to the proliferation of algae and other microorganisms, similar to “Red Tide” today. Frogs subsequently multiply in September. An infestation by flies and outbreak of animal plague supposedly often follow in December. So do a purported epidemic of boils, hailstones, a locust invasion, and darkness caused by fine sand blown by the southwest wind from the desert, filling the atmosphere.⁴¹ Hence, Egypt’s magicians were able to imitate the first two miracles of turning water into “blood” and causing frogs to appear (Ex 7:22; 8:7).

In contrast, the feats of Moses were undeniably miraculous in the suddenness of the change in the river and the over-abundance of the frogs. Trying to mimic the third miracle, the magicians were unable to turn dust into lice (or gnats), (Ex 8:18). It is doubtful if they even attempted to copy Moses’s acts of bringing on swarms of flies, the animal plague, and the boil epidemic, from which they themselves terribly suffered (Ex 9:11), but not the Israelites. The hailstorm and locust invasion could not have been normal recurrences as they were said to be the worst ever in Egypt (Ex 9:24; 10:14). Lastly, the death of all the firstborn of both men and animals in Egypt, except those of Israel, has no parallel in human history. Can these be called anything other than miracles of God?

The Red Sea divided. The “Red Sea” that the LORD parted to let the Israelites escape from the Egyptians is in the Hebrew original Yam Suf, which means “Reed Sea” or “Sea of Reeds.” It was at the northern end of the Red Sea, where no reeds grow. Centuries after the Exodus, canal-building by pharaohs trying to link the Nile delta and the Red Sea drained the Reed Sea, leaving only marshes called Bitter Lakes. In 280 B.C., Jewish scholars translating the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek Septuagint rendered “Reed Sea,” which no longer existed, as Erythra Thalassa (“Red Sea”). In 300 A.D. Jerome had the name Mare Rubrum (“Red Sea”) in his Latin Bible, the Vulgate. Martin Luther correctly translated Yam Suf as Schilfmeer (“Reed Sea”) in his German version of the Old Testament in 1534.

In short, the sea the LORD parted “with a strong east wind all that night” (Ex 14:21) and the Israelites crossed on foot was not the Red Sea, which has an average depth of 1,765 feet, but the shallow Sea of Reeds. Does that make the event a non-miracle? Absolutely not. Just the same, the shallow Reed Sea posed an impassable barrier to the Israelites.

In a computer-aided study, calculations by Nathan Paldor and Doron Nof of the American Meteorological Society showed that a wind blowing at 40-45 miles per hour for 10 hours would reduce the level of a shallow body of water by 10 feet.⁴² “Such heaping up of the waters by the wind is well known and sometimes amounts to 7 or 8 ft. in Lake Erie (Wright, Scientific Confirmations of the Old Testament, 106).”⁴³ That would have been enough to let the Israelites cross the sea and later drown the Egyptians and their horses weighed down by war implements. The miracle was, how did that east wind happen to blow with just the needed strength, at the right place, in the right direction, all night?

The provision of quail. The quail that fell on the Israelite camp were birds residing in or passing through Egypt and the Holy Land on their migrations northward in March and southward in September.⁴⁴ With strong wing muscles, quail can fly rapidly for a short time. When migrating, they spread their wings for the wind to carry them along.⁴⁵ The southeast wind blew the quail over the Red Sea,⁴⁶ across the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba and Suez, and on to the Sinai peninsula. On their way north, they passed over narrow portions of the sea, but arrived so exhausted they could easily be caught by hand.⁴⁷

It was not a miracle if Moses knew about the annual migration and encamped in the birds’ path. What was truly miraculous was the number of the birds. God gave around two million Israelites enough quail to eat for a month! Can you imagine how many birds that was? The quails fell “by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp” (Num 11:31b-32).

A “day’s journey” is about 20-22 miles, so the quail extended some 40-44 miles on the two sides of the camp combined, piled “two cubits” (3 feet) or about waist-high on the ground!⁴⁸ No wonder the people went sleepless for 36 hours gathering them. A homer (“heap”) is about 8 bushels or one donkey-load. The birds were so many “they spread them all abroad,” that is, they dried them in the sun.⁴⁹

Some commentators, theologians even, cannot believe they were quail. “It is uncertain what sort of animals they were… The learned bishop Patrick inclines to agree with some modern writers, who think they were locusts, a delicious sort of food well known in those parts, the rather because they were brought with a wind, lay in heaps, and were dried in the sun for use.”⁵⁰ Now, if the quail were not a miracle, what is?

The daily manna. The World Book says: “Some historians say manna was a gluey sugar from the tamarisk shrub.”⁵¹ The Encyclopaedia Britannica adds: “An edible, white honeylike substance known as manna forms drops on the stem of a tamarisk tree, Tamarix mannifera. A scale insect either punctures the stem, triggering the exudation, or secretes the manna itself.”⁵² Fausset's Bible Dictionary provides more details, saying manna is “the sweet juice of the tarfa, a kind of tamarisk. It exudes in May for about six weeks from the trunk and branches in hot weather, and forms small round white grains. It retains its consistency in cool weather, but melts with heat. It is gathered from the twigs or from the fallen leaves. The Arabs, after boiling and straining, use it as honey with bread. The color is a greyish-yellow, the taste sweet and aromatic. Ehrenberg says it is produced by an insect's puncture. It abounds in rainy seasons, some years it ceases. About 600 or 700 pounds is the present produce of a year. The region wady Gharandel (Elim) and Sinai, the wady Sheich, and some other parts of the peninsula, are the places where it is found. The name is still its Arabic designation, and is read on the Egyptian monuments (mennu, mennu hut ‘white manna’).”⁵³

The Encarta Encyclopedia advances another theory: “Some experts believe that the manna of the Bible was the lichen Lecanora esculenta, or a related species. Arabs still gather this lichen and mix it with meal to produce bread. When dry, it can be torn from the soil and transported by the wind, producing a ‘rain’ of food.”⁵⁴ The Encyclopaedia Britannica concurs: “Manna is the common name for certain lichens of the genus Lecanora native to Turkey, especially L. esculenta. In the Middle East lichen bread and manna jelly are made from Lecanora.”⁵⁵

The manna God gave the Israelites, though, differs on several points: (1) It was found on the ground after the morning dew had evaporated, not under trees. (2) The quantity gathered in one day far exceeded the present yearly production. (3) It appeared six days a week, all year round, not just occasionally or for several weeks. (4) None was found on the seventh-day Sabbath. (5) It appeared for 40 years while Israel wandered in the wilderness, but disappeared the day after the Israelites first ate of the produce in the Promised Land (Josh 5:10-12). Now, decide whether manna was a miracle from God or not.

Tests for our faith?

Some miracles, like the ones we have just discussed have elements that leave the door open for speculation. Why would the LORD, who is all-knowing, choose circumstances that would allow room for doubt? Perhaps, God’s miracles are tests for our faith as well. By allowing alternative possibilities, He allows us to exercise our free will – to believe or not to believe. It is said: No miracle is needed for those who believe, but no miracle is sufficient for those who will not believe.

Yet, some miracles are truly inexplicable -- the darkness at noon at the Crucifixion, for instance. A solar eclipse was impossible, because it was the day of Passover, which always falls at the time of the full moon, when the Earth is between the sun and the moon. “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (Matt 19:26; also Luke 1:37). God is omnipotent.

_______________

⁴⁰Miracles, Fausset's Bible Dictionary, Electronic Database, 1998

⁴¹Ibid.

⁴²“Computer Takes on the Bible,” St. Louis Post Dispatch, March 12, 1992; cited by Robert Faid, A Scientific Approach to More Biblical Mysteries, 1994, p. 69

⁴³Moses, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database, 1996

⁴⁴Animal Kingdom, The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, 1988

⁴⁵Animals, Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 1986

⁴⁶Quail, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996

⁴⁷Animal Kingdom, op. cit.

⁴⁸Weights and Measures, Fausset's Bible Dictionary, 1998

⁴⁹Herodotus ii. 77; cited in Quail, op. cit.

⁵⁰Num 11:31-35, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, New Modern Edition, 1991

⁵¹Manna, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)

⁵²Manna, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

⁵³Manna, Fausset's Bible Dictionary, 1998

⁵⁴Manna, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

⁵⁵Manna, Encyclopaedia Britannica op. cit.

(Excerpted from Chapter 1, Mysteries of Our Maker, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

God’s image and traits

Abraham spoke with God (Gen 12, etc.). Jacob, his grandson, met God “face-to-face. “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Gen 32:30). So did Moses. “And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.” (Ex 33:11a).

Anthropomorphic.

The Scriptures frequently portray God as anthropomorphic -- having the physical figure, facial features, and appendages (sometimes used figuratively) of a human being.

He has a head with hair (“the hair of his head like the pure wool” -- Dan 7:9b); eyes and ears (“Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place” -- 2 Chron 7:15; 1 Pet 3:12); a nose with nostrils (“These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day” -- Isa 65:5b; Ex 15:8); a mouth with lips (“he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked” -- Isa 11:4b).

God has a torso with shoulders (“the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders” -- Deut 33:12b); a back (“And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen” -- Ex 33:23); a behind to sit upon (“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit” -- Dan 7:9a).

He has arms (“with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you” -- Ezek 20:33b); hands (“I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by” -- Ex 33:22b); fingers (“two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God” -- Ex 31:18b); legs to walk with (“And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” --Gen 3:8); feet (“the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever” --Ezek 43:7a).

God in human form seems to feel discomfort under the heat of the sun and get hungry as well. “And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them (Elohim); and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat (Gen 18:8).

Human emotions.

The LORD likewise displays the wide spectrum of human emotions. He can have positive feelings, like satisfaction (“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” -- Gen 1:31); love (“the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee” -- Deut 23:5b); amusement (“I also will laugh at your calamity” -- Prov 1:26a); pity (“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him” -- Ps 103:13); mercy (“The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy” -- Ps 145:8).

On the other hand, God can also be filled with negative emotions, such as sadness and disappointment (“And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart” -- Gen 6:6); anger (“And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless” --Ex 22:24); hatred (“I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies” -- Amos 5:21); spite (“I will mock when your fear cometh” -- Prov 1:26b).

The LORD can also feel regret and change His mind (“And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them” -- Gen 6:7).

Based on these verses, it seems as though God is no different from any ordinary man!

The LORD’s proxy

Despite the preceding descriptions of God, the Bible tells us that nobody has seen or heard God at any time at all! To begin with, God, being spirit, is invisible: “Who is the image of the invisible God…” (Col 1:15a). Moses reminded the Israelites: “And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice” (Deut 4:12).

Christ says it could not have been God Himself: “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape” (John 5:37). The apostle John teaches the same truth. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18). Paul confirms it: “…God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see” (1 Tim 6:15b-16, NIV). Who, then, did Abraham, Jacob, and Moses speak with “face-to-face”?

Aggelos, the messenger.

Let us go over one passage wherein Abraham met God in person. “And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground. And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant” (Gen 18:1-3).

God once appeared to Abraham as three men. The word in the original Hebrew Scriptures most frequently translated “God” is elohim, meaning “gods” (singular, el or eloah, “god”). Some Bible teachers interpret elohim as the three persons of the “Trinity.” But, usually, when the term Elohim is used to refer to God, it is said to be used as a plural of magnitude and majesty. When used in reference to angels, elohim truly means the plural form – more than one.

Now, consider the meeting between God and Moses. “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I” (Ex 3:2-4). Note that, first, the “angel of the Lord” appeared to Moses from the middle of a burning bush. Then, we read it was the LORD Himself. Next, it was God who called to Moses from the bush. The terms “angel of the Lord,” “the LORD,” and “God” are used interchangeably. We get the impression that all three are one and the same!

An “angel of the LORD” also appeared to Manoah, Samson’s father-to-be. “But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God” (Judg 13:21-22). The connection between the “angel of the LORD” and “God” is borne out clearly. Manoah knew that it was the “angel of the Lord,” and yet he referred to the angel as “God” Himself!

The God whom Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Manoah, and even Adam and Eve conversed with was not the Ein Sof or “Infinite Nothngness,” but the “angel of the LORD” – His alter-ego, proxy, representative, or emissary. (The English word “angel” comes from the Greek aggelos, which means “messenger.”) The angel is also called “the LORD” by God’s authority. “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him” (Ex 23:20-21). Similarly, as a country’s president today is addressed as “Excellency,” his or her ambassadors are also called “Excellency.”

When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, there were two entities called “the LORD.” “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven” (Gen 19:24). One called “the LORD” in the sky near the earth rained on the two cities fire and brimstone coming from another one also called “the LORD” higher up in heaven!

Author David Allen Deal (The Mystic Symbol) wrote: “The lesser YHWH (angel of the LORD), also called ‘Metatron’ in the Book of Enoch, is also well-attested to among the Jewish rabbinical sources. He is called the ‘lesser YHWH,’ and the use of the term acknowledges the existence of a greater YHWH, the Father, who is above all.”⁵⁶

The God with whom Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Manoah, even Adam and Eve, and the other blessed Biblical men had dealings and spoke “face-to-face” was the angel of the LORD.

_______________

⁵⁶David Allen Deal, The Mystic Symbol, p. 169; quoted in Ancient American; cited in Indian Sabbath Trail tract

(Excerpted from Chapter 1, Mysteries of Our Maker, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

The Maker's Mark

Lest there be any confusion whose handiwork the created universe is, God left His mark imprinted upon His creation to let His creatures know that He is the Creator. The unmistakable trace of His hand is on virtually everything He has made and brought forth. His “manufacturer’s mark” consists of just one character – the number “7.”

Reputed to be the number of spiritual completeness and divine perfection, 7 is also the “indestructible” number – it is the only number that cannot be divided exactly except by itself, its fractions and multiples, and 1 (always leaving a seemingly infinite remainder). Apparently God's favorite number, 7, is all around us.

In the earth and nature.

The Earth has 7 distinct motions: (1) Rotation around its axis. (2) Revolution around the sun. (3) Wobble in its axis. (4) Slow vertical rotation of the magnetic core. (5) Movement with the Sun’s 260-million-year circuit in space. (6) Up and down oscillation in its orbit around the Milky Way. (7) Acceleration with the galaxy toward the periphery of the universe.⁵⁷

The globe has 7 continents (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, Antarctica). There are 7 distinct colors in the rainbow (violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red). There are 7 whole tones in the musical scale (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti).

In man and living things.

The human head has 7 orifices (2 eyes, 2 ear holes, 2 nostrils, 1 mouth). A man’s face has 7 bones (2 nasal, 2 lacrimal/tearduct, 1 maxillary/upper jaw, 1 mandibular/lower jaw, 1 vomer/nostril partition). There are also 7 bones in the neck and 7 bones in the ankle.

A person’s pulse slows down every 7 days throughout life. All the cells in the human body (except brain cells) are completely replaced every 7 years. A child attains the “age of understanding” at 7 years, when he or she can start learning. The 21^st-year (7x3) is regarded as the age of maturity in young men and women. Man’s average life span is placed at 70 years (7x10) by both science and Scripture (Ps 90:10). The gestation periods for man and most animals are in multiples of 7, as shown here. Many fruit trees take 7 years to attain full production.

Gestation Periods

Entity	Days	Weeks	Multiples
Man	280	40	(7x40)
Sheep	147	21	(7x21)
Lion	98	14	(7x14)
Dog	63	9	(7x9)
Cat	56	8	(7x8)
Duck	28	4	(7x4)
Chicken	21	3	(7x3)

In the Scriptures.

In the Old Testament alone, “7” appears 287 times (7x41), “seventh” occurs 98 times (14x7), "seven-fold" is used 7 times, and “70” is seen 56 times (7x8) -- for a total of 448 (7x64) instances.⁵⁸

Hidden heptadic structure. Dr. Ivan Panin of Russia, in the course of 40 years and 40,000 pages of mathematical compilations, discovered that the entire Bible (in both the original Hebrew and Greek) is totally interconnected with endless systems of 7s. Names, words, letters are all linked to one another by special arrangements of 7s. He accomplished his work by hand, before the advent of computers. Jewish and Christian scholars have verified his findings with the use of modern computer programs.⁵⁹

The very first verse in the Bible in Hebrew has a hidden heptadic structure, an interwoven pattern of 7s, recurring many times, as shown below (Hebrew is read from right to left):

Hebrew characters							No.	Transliteration	English
	ת	י	שׁ	א	ר	בּ	6	Bere’shiyt	In the beginning
				א	ר	בּ	3	bara’	created
		מ	י	ה	ל	א	5	‘Elohim	God
					ת	א	2	‘et	the
		מ	י	מ	שׁ	ה	5	hashamayim	heaven
				ת	א	ו	3	wa’et	and the
			צ	ר	א	ה	4	ha’arets	earth
							28	7 words

The sentence has 7 Hebrew words with 28 letters (7x4). The first three words have 14 letters (7x2), and the last four words have 14 letters (7x2). The fourth and fifth words together have 7 letters. The sixth and seventh words, combined have 7 letters. The three key nouns (God, heaven, earth) have 14 letters (7x2). The four remaining words have 14 letters (7x2).⁶⁰ These groupings of 7s are repeated throughout Scripture in countless instances, in both the Old and New Testament original texts.

Let us go over some of the Biblical verses where 7 and its multiples are plainly seen.

The patriarchs. God told Noah to take 7 pairs of clean animals into the Ark (Gen. 7:2). Noah and his family went into the ark 7 days before the rains began (Gen 7:4-10). As the waters began to subside, the Ark rested on the mountains of Ararat in the 7th month of the Flood (Gen 8:4), whereupon Noah sent out a dove every 7 days until it brought back an olive leaf as a sign that the waters had dried up (Gen 8:6-12). The olive tree is the symbol of Zayin (“Z”), the 7^th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which is also used to write the numeral number “7.”

God bestowed upon Abraham 7 blessings. “And (1) I will make of thee a great nation, and (2) I will bless thee, and (3) make thy name great; and (4) thou shalt be a blessing: And (5) I will bless them that bless thee, and (6) curse him that curseth thee: and (7) in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen 12:2-3).

Jacob served 7 years for his first wife Leah, and 7 years for Rachel, his first love (Gen 29). There were 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine in Egypt, when Joseph became Pharaoh’s vicegerent (Gen 41).

The nation of Israel. God made 7 promises to Israel. “Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and (1) I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and (2) I will rid you out of their bondage, and (3) I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: And (4) I will take you to me for a people, and (5) I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And (6) I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and (7) I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD” (Ex 6:6-8).

The Tabernacle (“Tent of Meeting”) in the wilderness (and later the Temple in Jerusalem) had 7 pieces of furniture: (1) brazen altar and (2) laver in the court (Ex 40:29-30); (3) table of showbread (Ex 39:36; 40:22-23), (4) golden lampstand (Ex 40:24-25), and (5) altar of incense (Ex 40:26-27; 9:2) in the Holy Place; and (6) Ark of the Covenant and (7) Mercy Seat with the cherubim (Ex 31:7) in the Holy of Holies. Aaron and his sons were consecrated for the priesthood in an elaborate 7-day purification ceremony (Ex 29:30,35,37).

God had 7 priests with 7 trumpets march around Jericho with the Israelite army for 7 days (7 times on the 7^th day) and then make a long blast with their trumpets – the signal for the people to shout and cause the walls of the city to fall down (Jos. 6:1-20). It took the Israelites 7 years to conquer 7 nations in Canaan: the Hittites, Hivites, Amorites, Jebusites, Perizzites, Girgashites, and Canaanites (Jos 11:16-12:24). It then took them another 7 years to divide the land among the twelve tribes of Israel (Jos 13-22).

King Solomon built the Temple over 7 years (1 Kings 6:37-38). The Israelites kept a feast that lasted for 7 days in dedicating the Temple to the LORD (2 Chron7:4-8).

70 Annual Holidays in Israel

Holiday	Days
Weekly Sabbath	52
Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Feast of Firstfruits	7
Feast of Weeks or Pentecost	1
Feast of Trumpets	1
Day of Atonement	1
Feast of Tabernacles	7
Last Great Day	1
Total:	70

The Jews were held captive in Babylon for 70 years (Jer 25:11-12,29:10; Dan 9:1-2; 2 Chron 36:17-21). Thus, the land of Judea lay desolate for 70 years as foretold by Jeremiah (2 Chron. 36:20-21). The angel Gabriel told Daniel that 70 “weeks” (490 years) had been decreed for Israel to restore their relationship with God (Dan. 9:24).

Sabbaths and holy days. The Creation Week lasted 7 days. At the end of His creative work, the Creator blessed and rested on the 7^th day. For that reason, our modern week has 7 days, ending on the 7^th day Sabbath of rest.

God ordained 7 holy days for Israel: (1) Passover (Lev 23:5); (2) Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:6-8); (3) Feast of Firstfruits (Lev 23:10-14); (4) Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost (Lev 23:15-22); (5) Feast of Trumpets (Lev 23:24-25); (6) Day of Atonement (Lev 23:27-32); (7) Feast of Tabernacles (Lev 23:34-43). Each year, Israel observes 70 holidays.

The ministry of Christ. The prayer Christ taught His disciples has 7 parts: “After this manner therefore pray ye: (1) Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. (2) Thy kingdom come. (3) Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (4) Give us this day our daily bread. (5) And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. (6) And lead us not into temptation, but (7) deliver us from evil” (Matt 6:9-13).

Christ fed four thousand men, plus all the women and children with them, with 7 loaves of bread (Matt 15:32-38; Mark 8:1-9). He cast 7 demons out of Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2). Christ said a man must forgive a brother 70 times 7 (Matt. 18:21-22). In contrast, the LORD told Israel: “And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins” (Lev 26:18-19, NKJV).

Christ uttered 7 last words on the cross: (1) “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34b); (2) “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43b); (3) “Woman, behold thy son!” Then saith he to the disciple, “Behold thy mother!” (John 19:26b-27a); (4) “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34b; Matt 27:46b); (5) “I thirst” (John 19:28b); (6) “It is finished” (John 19:30b); (7) “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46b).

On His Second Coming, Christ will descend on the Mount of Olives (Zech 14:4). Today we regard as the emblem of peace the branch of the olive tree, symbol of Zayin (“Z”), the 7^th letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Christ will usher in the 7^th millennium, the thousand years of peace, and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev 17:14; 19:16; 20:4,6).

The Church and end-times. The Holy Spirit endows Christians with many gifts. Paul lists down 7 in Romans 12:6-8. “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. (1) If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. (2) If it is serving, let him serve; (3) if it is teaching, let him teach; (4) if it is encouraging, let him encourage; (5) if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; (6) if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; (7) if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully” (“Rom 12:6-8, NIV).

The end-time prophecies in the book of Revelation truly overflows with 7's: 7 churches (1:4, etc.); 7 spirits of God (1:4, 3:1, etc.); 7 golden candlesticks (1:12, etc.); 7 stars (1:16, etc.); 7 lamps (4:5); 7 seals (5:1,5); 7 eyes (5:6, etc.); 7 angels (8:2, etc.); 7 trumpets (8:2,6); 7 thunders (10:3,4); 7,000 men killed (11:13); beast with 7 heads and 7 crowns (12:3); 7 plagues (15:1, etc.); 7 vials or bowls (17:1; 21:9); 7 mountains or hills (17:9); 7 kings (17:10); etc.

How can we doubt who the real Creator of the universe and Author of the Scriptures is?

Gestation and holy days

Author and TV host Zola Levitt, writing a book for new parents with the help of a gynecologist, saw an amazing correspondence between the Jewish holy days and human gestation -- from conception to birth.

On the 14^th day of each monthly cycle, a woman’s ovary releases a mature egg into the uterus, a process called ovulation. Jews observe the first holy day, Passover, on the 14^th day of the first month of the year with, among other traditional food items on the table, a roasted egg.

The woman’s egg cell must be fertilized by a sperm cell within the next 24 hours for pregnancy to take place. The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins 24 hours after Passover.

Within 2-6 days, the fertilized egg or embryo attaches itself to the womb and starts growing. The Feast of Firstfruits, which is always kept on a Sunday, may fall 2-6 days after Passover.

Around the 50^th day, the embryo begins to take shape as a human being. Jews celebrate the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, 50 days from the Feast of Firstfruits.

Starting in the 7^th month, the baby is able to hear sounds outside the womb. On the first day of the 7^th month, the Feast of Trumpets, rabbis sound their shofars, or trumpets of ram’s horn, for the Jews to hear the signal beginning the civil new year in autumn. (Jews observe two new year days – the other being the religious new year in the spring.)

On the 10^th day of the 7^th month, the hemoglobin in the blood of the fetus begins to change from that of the mother to its own. The Day of Atonement, when the blood of a sacrificial animal was taken into the Temple’s Holy of Holies for the sins of the people, is kept on this day.

On the 15^th day of the 7^th month, the lungs become fully developed, which will enable the baby to breathe if born prematurely. The Feast of Tabernacles begins on this day, exalting the Shekinah glory or Spirit of God. The Hebrew word for spirit is ruach, which also means “breath.”

Birth, when the baby first sees the light of day, normally takes place 9 months and 10 days after fertilization of the egg. Hanukkah, the Feast of Lights, a holy day added only in the 2^nd century B.C., is celebrated 9 months and 10 days after Passover – for 8 days. Male Jewish infants, as commanded by God, are circumcised on the 8^th day after birth.⁶¹

This incredible parallelism strongly suggests that the LORD who ordained the Jewish holidays and the Creator who engineered the process of human gestation must be the same God who knows all things. David sang around 3,000 years ago: “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them” (Ps 139:13-16, NKJV).

_______________

⁵⁷The Mind of Mankind, Chapter 15; cited by Donald L. Hamilton, “The Many Motions of Planet Earth," 1996-2002, Internet

⁵⁸Grant Jeffrey, The Signature of God, 1996, p. 234

⁵⁹Martin Hunter, “Math of the Bible!,” National Institute for Inventors, tract, p. 2

⁶⁰Chuck Missler, “The Mysterious Mathematical Design of the Bible,” Mysteries of the Bible Now Revealed, 1999, pp. 188-189

⁶¹J.R. Church, “Jewish Holy Days: The Making of a Baby,” Amazing Discoveries, Prophecy in the News, June 2006, p. 17

(Excerpted from Chapter 1, Mysteries of Our Maker, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

Little Known Things about the Bible

Are there really secrets in the Bible? Incredibly, beneath its plain surface text, numberless mysteries await discovery. Isaac Newton, the first modern scientist who discovered gravity and the mechanics of the solar system, believed there were secrets in the Bible. Past middle age, he studied Hebrew and spent the rest of his life trying to uncover those mysteries. He seemed quite sure the Bible, like the cosmos, was a “cryptogram set by the Almighty” and strove to “read the riddle of the Godhead, the riddle of past and future events divinely fore-ordained.”¹

Newton tried out many mathematical models but, despite his genius, did not succeed to his death in 1727. Found among his papers were about a million words, not about mathematics or astronomy, but mostly about esoteric theology. It seems that, in his last years, Newton regarded Bible secrets as more important than his Theory of the Universe.

Dare you follow Newton’s footsteps? But, if Scripture to you is by and large unknown territory, let us first get familiar with the Bible.

In general, what people call Scriptures are the unified collection of manuscripts that forms the basic teachings of any one particular religion. Most of the major religions of the world have their own holy scriptures: Islam has the Koran, Hinduism the Vedas, Buddhism the Tipitaka, Confucianism the Analects, Zoroastrianism the Avesta, Shinto the Nihon shoki and Kojiki. However, the Scripture we are concerned with in this book is that of the Judeo-Christian faith -- also known as the Bible.

What is the Bible?

The English word "Bible" came from an ancient Phoenician port city named Byblos. The Greeks imported papyrus, an Egyptian water plant used for making paper, from that city and thus called it byblos. Consequently, the Greeks called a book biblio and a small book biblion. Later, Biblia, meaning "little books," was the term used in Latin, since the Scriptures are not just a book, but actually a small library of 66 little books (70, if we count Psalms as actually having 5 books).

The Bible was written over a period of 1,600 years (circa 1500 B.C.-100 A.D.), in 13 countries on 3 continents, by 40 to 44 authors of various backgrounds: shepherds, prophets, warriors, judges, kings, poets, musicians, scribes, fishermen, an orchard dresser, a tax collector, a physician, a tent-maker. The contents come in a variety of forms: history, homily, biography, allegory, dramaturgy, prophecy, poetry, proverbs, parables, penal code, personal letters, and more. Besides religious verses with spiritual and moral lessons, the Bible contains topics touching on practically all aspects of life: art, science, medicine, sociology, agriculture, government, finance, etc., with lessons that remain sound to this day.

Despite having many authors writing centuries apart over one-and-a-half millennia of ever-changing mores and attitudes, the Bible exhibits an amazing unity and sameness of purpose. From the first book to the last, the Judeo-Christian Scriptures present consistent themes of faith, justice, and love – portraying an unchanging Creator-Father intent on saving His erring creatures from self-inflicted destruction.

Biblical origins

Where did the writers get the ideas and stories recorded in the Bible? Did these come from myths, legends, and folktales, or were they actual historical events?

One writer and speaker.

In the second book of the Bible, Exodus, we read that God Himself wrote part of the Scriptures. “And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God” (Ex 31:18).

According to Jewish tradition, Moses wrote the other parts during the forty days and nights that he spent with God on Mount Sinai. He copied the black letters of fire he saw against a background of white flame.² Later, God would dictate His other instructions to Moses over the Ark of the Covenant, God’s symbolic throne on earth: “And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel” (Ex 25:22). Moses wrote the rest of the first five books of the Bible, called Torah (“law”) in Hebrew, during the forty years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt.

Angels, prophets, Christ.

After the time of Moses, God sent his messengers, the angels, to convey His messages to men: “While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my God for his holy hill -- while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, ‘Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding’” (Dan 9:20-22, NIV; also Rev 1:1; 22:6).

At other times, God spoke through His prophets, who gave voice to His holy words: “As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began” (Luke 1:70).

When God’s Only Begotten Son came to earth as a man, it was He who conveyed God’s messages to men. “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son” (Heb 1:1-2, NKJV).

Inspired by the Holy Spirit.

After Christ ascended to heaven, it was the Holy Spirit who moved godly men to speak on behalf of God -- “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21, NKJV).

For this reason, Scripture is said to have been inspired by God: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16-17, NKJV). The phrase “given by inspiration of God” comes from the Greek word theopneustos, which means God (theo) breathed (pneustos), indicating God was actively behind the writing of the Greek Scriptures or New Testament.

Thus, since the Biblical messages have been written by God Himself, spoken by Him through His angels, prophets, and Only Begotten Son, as well as inspired by His own Holy Spirit in godly men, believers have all the reasons to call the Bible the “Word of God.”

Canonical books

The Bible is made up exclusively of canonical books, i.e., belonging to the canon or official list of books authorized as Holy Scriptures by the Church. Both the Latin canon and English cannon (artillery gun) come from the same Greek word, kanon, in turn derived from the Hebrew qaneh, “cane” or “reed,” a tube-like water plant used as a measuring stick or standard in olden times. Hence, “canonical” books are only those that measure up to the “canon” or standards of the Church.

The early Church writers Clement and Origen were the first ones to use the word canon in referring to the Hebrew Scriptures in the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries, respectively. The canonical books are made up of two sets:

Hebrew Scriptures.

Jews call the Hebrew Scriptures the TaNaKh, an acronym for Torah (“the law”), Nevi’im (“prophets”), and Ketuvim (“writings”).

The Torah (Pentateuch in Greek, meaning “five rolls”) consists of Genesis (origin or creation), Exodus (emigration or mass departure), Leviticus (of Levites or priests), Numbers (counting the Israelites), and Deuteronomy (“second law” or “repetition” of the first list). With annotations, the Torah is called Chumash.

The Nevi’im comprises the written works of four “major” prophets with relatively long manuscripts and twelve “minor” prophets with brief accounts. (There are twelve “oral” prophets with no written records, but are also referred to in the Tanakh.)

The Ketuvim is made up of historical narratives, as well as scripts of wisdom and poetry, such as the Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs.

The Tanakh was faithfully copied and recopied over the centuries by Levitical scribes, who had been originally charged with the safeguarding of the holy writings since Mosaic times. Their descendants, the Jewish scribes, similarly exercise great care in their work, painstakingly counting the exact number of letters and lines. Any slight variation from the original renders a copy unfit for use.

In the Middle Ages, from the 6^th to the 10^th century A.D., scribes who became known as the Masoretes, compiled the Masorah, a collection of notes on the textual traditions of the Tanakh. The Old Testament (OT) text of the modern Bible is based on Masoretic texts dating from the A.D. 900s, which are considered authentic Hebrew manuscripts.

Greek Scriptures.

The Greek texts of the new covenant or New Testament (NT) tell the story of Christ and the growth of early Christianity.

The first section of the NT comprises the Gospels: the four books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. “Gospel” comes from the Old English word godspel, which means “good message or story.” In Greek the term is euaggelion (“good news”), which gave rise to the English words “evangel,” “evangelist,” etc. Next are the lone historical book of Acts, the 21 epistles or letters of the apostles (13-14 or about half of which had been written by Paul, the book of Hebrews being doubtful), and the solitary book of prophecy in the NT, Revelation.

A collection of Christian writings first began to be referred to as "New Testament" (Novum Testamentum or Instrumentum) in the late 2^nd century by the theologian Tertullian (160?-220?) and was placed on equal footing with the "Old Testament.³

Unfortunately, the Greek texts of the NT did not all pass down to us in their original form.

Gnostic influence. In the ancient Greek and Egyptian cultures, centuries before and after Christ, mystics known as Gnostics (seekers of “knowledge”) proliferated. They congregated in Alexandria, Egypt, where they established a school of Gnosticism, as evidenced by their recently discovered Nag Hammadi Library.⁴ Some of the best known Gnostics were the early Church “fathers” Clement of Alexandria (150?-215?), Origen (185?-254?), and Theodoret (393?-458/466?).^5,6

Many scribes embraced Gnostic teachings and became practitioners of “textual criticism” (scriptural editing). Whenever a Gnostic scribe came across a passage he did not agree with, he either edited it or removed it entirely. On the other hand, faithful members of the underground Church diligently copied and preserved the original apostolic writings word-for-word. This resulted in two schools of Christianity: the Gnostic, in Alexandria, and the Orthodox, centered around Antioch in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey).⁷

Author William Grady (The Christian’s Guide to the King James Bible, 1993) wrote: “The ancient city of Alexandria, located in the Nile Delta, has had a reputation for its heretics. Philip Schaff, well-known church historian and chairman of the American Standard Version (1901) committee recognized that Alexandria was the source of ‘a peculiar theology’ set forth in the writings of Clement and Origen who developed ‘a regenerated Christian form of the Alexandrian Jewish religious philosophy of Philo’.”⁸ Worse, “Origen and St. Gregory (540?-604) held that the gospels were not to be taken in their literal sense.”⁹

Four textual sources. The changes introduced into the original Greek texts have resulted in four different sources for the NT:

1. Codex Vaticanus. In A.D. 313 the Roman emperor Constantine, after legalizing Christianity, asked Eusebius, the Bishop of Rome, to make fifty copies of the Greek apostolic writings. Unfortunately, Eusebius picked the Gnostic texts as his references. One of those codices became the Vaticanus.¹⁰ (A codex is a book with pages as distinguished from a scroll.)

2. Codex Alexandrinus. Believed to have been written in Alexandria sometime in the 5^th century, it is the second major, but similarly Gnostic-influenced set of Greek manuscripts, as one can tell from its name.¹¹

3. Textus Receptus (“Received Text”) or Majority Text. Towards the end of the 3^rd century, Lucian of Antioch made a compilation of over 4,000 Greek manuscripts and fragments¹² of the original, unedited Orthodox texts. This formed the basis of the Eastern Church’s Byzantine text, following the transfer of the Empire’s capital from Rome to Byzantium in A.D. 330. In the 6^th-14^th centuries, most copies of the apostolic writings came from the Byzantine text. In 1525, the Greek scholar Erasmus, using five to six Byzantine copies from the 10^th-13^th centuries, published the first printed collection of the NT Greek texts. It became the Textus Receptus.¹³

4. Codex Sinaiticus. Regarded as the oldest extant manuscripts, this collection of Alexandrian Greek texts dates from the early 300s, but was discovered only in 1844 – salvaged from a trash pile in St. Catherine’s monastery in the Sinai, Egypt.¹⁴

Some Bible scholars prefer the codices Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, and Sinaiticus over the Textus Receptus because they are older, but it should be noted that these Gnostic manuscripts differ considerably from one another as well as from the more authentic Textus Receptus.

Non-canonical books

Many books, considered non-canonical, have not been included in the Bible. Most of these writings fall under the following categories:

The Apocrypha.

Martin Luther was the first to use the Greek word Apocrypha,¹⁵ meaning "hidden" or "secret," in the 16^th century. The term was originally deemed complimentary as it seemingly referred to works too exalted or esoteric for laymen. In time, though, "apocryphal” acquired the meaning “non-canonical” or without the imprimatur (approval) of the Church and, hence, to be regarded as forbidden, even heretical. There are both OT and NT apocrypha.

The early Church leaders, however, quoted from the Apocrypha. The Roman and Byzantine churches regarded the books as Scripture. The scholar Jerome (347–419/420) called the Apocrypha “ecclesiastical books” that were good for spiritual edification, but not authoritative. Augustine (354–430), a renowned Church theologian, disagreed; and the Apocrypha became part of Jerome’s Latin Vulgate (“common”) version of the Bible. Later translations excluded the Apocrypha.

The Roman Catholic and Protestant Bibles were the same until the Reformation that Luther, John Calvin, and others led early in the 16th century. They questioned some practices of the Roman Church, such as indulgences and prayers for the dead, which were unscriptural (Heb 9:27; Deut 18:11). The OT Apocrypha, however, contained prayers for the dead (2 Mac 12:42). In 1546, the Council of Trent officially included the OT Apocrypha in the Catholic Bible.

Books belonging to the OT Apocrypha are: 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Additions to the Book of Esther, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus (or Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach), Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah, Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Holy Children, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, 3 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, Psalm 151.

The Pseudepigrapha.

Writings ascribed to other authors, typically well-known Biblical personages who were not the actual writers, are called pseudepigrapha, which means “falsely inscribed.” The better known pseudepigraphal books are the Book of Enoch, Letter of Aristeas, Martyrdom of Isaiah, Apocalypse of Abraham, Testimony of Abraham, Sibylline Oracles, Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Book of Jubilees.

A few others are also quite interesting: Joseph and Asenath, Lives of the Prophets, Life of Adam and Eve, 5 Maccabees, 3 Baruch, Psalms of Joshua, Psalms of Solomon, Testament of Job, Paralipomena of Jeremiah the Prophet, Secrets of Enoch, Assumption of Moses.

A number of “missing” gospels have come to public attention in recent times. These are the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Philip, Gospel of Mary, Gospel of Barnabas, Gospel of Judas.

The Dead Sea Scrolls.

In 1947 Bedouin shepherds unwittingly discovered the most ancient Biblical manuscripts in the caves of Wadi Qumran near the western side of the Dead Sea. Called the “Dead Sea Scrolls,” more than 800 texts and fragments so far found have been dated from as early as 200-150 B.C. Actually, discoveries in the area had been reported as early as the A.D. 100s through the Middle Ages.

All Old Testament books, except Esther, are represented in the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, the manuscripts appear to have been written by Essenes, a Jewish sect of ascetics, whose beliefs are known to have been heavily influenced by Greek Gnostics.

Biblical divisions

The Bible is essentially made up of two sets of books – one written before the birth of Christ, and the other, some years after His crucifixion and ascension to heaven. The subdivision of the text into smaller sections came centuries later.

Testaments.

The two main parts of the Bible -- the Old Testament and the New Testament -- are separated in time by the Inter-Testamental Period or “400 silent years” (circa 400-5 B.C.), with no canonically accepted writings between the last book of the OT (Malachi) and first book of the NT (Matthew).

The OT is about 99% Hebrew and 1% Aramaic (e.g., Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; Jer 10:11; Dan 2:4-7:28).¹⁶ The ancient Hebrew text did not have spaces between words, a form of script called scripta continua. The spaces were simply inferred. Spaces between words seem to have been introduced in the 5^th century B.C., on the return of the Jews from Babylon to Judea during the time of the prophet Ezra.¹⁷

The NT was mainly written in koine (common) Greek (except the book of Matthew, which was probably penned in Hebrew)¹⁸ from around 45 A.D. until no later than 100 A.D.

Books.

The Bible has 66 books in all. The Old Testament has 39 books, which contain 78% of all the text of the Bible.

The New Testament has 27 books, or 22% of the text, including many quotations, paraphrases, and allusions to OT scriptures.¹⁹

Chapters.

As early as the 3^rd century, the Jews divided portions of the Torah into large sections called Parashahs, and the Nevi’im into sections called HaphTarahs, for convenience during readings in synagogues. Shorter sections called Pesuqim closely resemble modern Bible verses.

The numerical sequence of chapters in Christian Bibles came much later in the Latin translations. The present-day arrangement of chapters first appeared in the 13^th century. Some scholars attribute the system to Cardinal Hugo de St. Caro (d. 1248), while others give the credit to Archbishop Stephen Langton of Canterbury (d. 1227).²⁰

Verses.

Biblical passages were first marked in the 16^th century, with verses appearing in Robert Stephens' edition of the Greek New Testament in 1551. His son Henry Stephens recounted how his father thought of the concept on horseback while traveling from Paris to Lyons.²¹

Shortly thereafter, the first Bible with the text divided into chapters and verses was published in 1560 – the Geneva Bible.

Parallel structures

Whether by divine or human design, the OT and the NT display analogous textual structures, divisible into four parts each: covenant, history, teachings, and prophecy.

The OT Torah and the NT Gospels are both covenants, in which the terms and conditions of the agreement or contract between God and man are spelled out. The books Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Esther, Nehemiah, and Ezra in the OT, and Acts in the NT constitute history. The OT books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs, as well as the NT epistles of Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude, all present teachings. The books of prophecy are those of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi in the OT, as is Revelation in the NT. (Chart in the Appendix.)

Disparate views.

The Jews do not use the New Testament since they do not recognize Christ as the Messiah. On the other hand, evangelical Christians rely primarily on the NT for religious doctrine, using the OT only for spiritual and moral guidance, and considering the seventh-day Sabbath, feast days, and many other commandments of God as only for the Jews.

Messianic Jews, together with Gentile members of the Messianic movement, keep both the OT and NT teachings of the Bible.

Sola Scriptura.

Many Bible teachers hold that all religious doctrines must be based solely on the Scriptures. This is known in Latin as Sola Scriptura.

The prophet Isaiah declared: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa 8:20). Accordingly, the “law” refers to the Tanakh, which embodies the Old Testament laws and teachings; while “testimony” points to the New Testament, which testifies to the truth and fulfillment of the Old. Thus, any teaching that is not based on both the OT and the NT has no “light” or truth in it.

Interesting statistics.

The King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, first published in England in 1611, has the following interesting statistics:

King James Version (KJV) Statistics²²

Letters:		3,586,489 letters
Words:		773,692 words
Verses:		31,093 verses
Chapters:		1,189 chapters
Shortest verse:		John 11:35
Longest verse:		Esther 8:9
Middle verse:		Psalm 118:8
Shortest chapter:		Psalm 117
Longest chapter:		Psalm 119

The shortest verse in the KJV reads: “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). The exact middle verse of the Bible says: “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man” (Ps 118:8). This seems to be the core message of the Bible – located in the very heart of the Scriptures. We must depend on God, never on unreliable man.

Because the KJV has 1,189 chapters, besides the one that contains Psalm 118:8 there are 1,188 other chapters. The numbers are repeated! But the oddity does not end there. Psalm 118 is preceded by Psalm 117, the shortest chapter in the Bible, and followed by Psalm 119, the longest chapter. The central verse lies “guarded” by the briefest and lengthiest chapters on both sides -- a puzzle that has long intrigued Bible scholars.

Bible translations

Numerous translations of the Holy Scriptures – as the OT alone, the NT only, the Bible as a whole, or just parts of the OT or NT -- have been made from as early as the 3^rd century B.C. to our present day. Listed below are some of the major translations:

Septuagint, c. 280 B.C. Ptolemy II had the Torah translated into Greek for the Jews in Alexandria, Egypt. 72 translators, 6 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, are said to have finished the work in 72 days.²³ The volume was named the Septuagint (“Seventy” or “LXX”) after the number of translators – 70 being an approximation of 72.²⁴ From 250 to 150 B.C. “the remainder of the OT was translated, as well as some apocryphal and non-canonical books.”²⁵

Writer Larry Spargimino warns: “The manuscripts of the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), however, are interspersed with apocryphal writings, never acknowledged by the rabbis, or by Christ or His apostles, as ‘scripture’.”²⁶ Thus, “nearly all (translators) acknowledge the general corruptness of the LXX…”²⁷ Moreover, some researchers question the existence of the Septuagint before Christ. “Moorman gives two examples of writers who argue that there is no pre-Christian era Septuagint… Paul Kahle… (Peter) Ruckman… point(s) out that no one has produced a Greek copy of the Septuagint dating from before A.D. 300. Instead of Jesus and the apostles quoting from the Septuagint, the Septuagint quotes from them.”²⁸

Aquila’s translation, c. 140 A.D. Aquila, a 2^nd century scholar, completed an extremely literal translation of the Old Testament in Greek. This replaced the Septuagint among Greek-speaking Jews. A Jewish convert to Christianity, Aquila returned to Judaism when censured for practicing astrology. Origen used Aquila’s work in the 3^rd century; Jerome, in the 4^th-5^th centuries.²⁹

Onkelos Targum, c. 150. Translations of the Hebrew Scriptures into Aramaic or Chaldaic (Western Aramaic) for the benefit of Jews who had lost their knowledge of Hebrew in foreign lands are called targums. The Onkelos Targum, a literal translation in Aramaic, has become the official targum for the Torah. Legend ascribes the work to Onkelos, a Roman convert to Judaism who is said to have been the nephew of Titus, destroyer of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.³⁰

Peshittah, 2^nd c. The spread of Christianity into Syria made it necessary for the New Testament to be translated into Syriac, sometimes called "Christian Aramaic."³¹ The principal Syriac translation, Peshittah, means “common” or “simple.”

Vulgate, 383-405. The scholar Jerome, commissioned in 382 by Pope Damasus to do an official Latin version of the Bible, unfortunately made use of the Codex Vaticanus, which had been based on the corrupt Alexandrian texts.³² He finished the Gospels in 383, followed by the rest of the NT. Translating the OT, he first used the Septuagint, but later shifted to the Masoretic texts, completing the Latin Bible called Vulgate (“common” or “popular”) in 405.³³

Wycliffe’s NT, 1384. John Wycliffe, a Catholic priest later dubbed “the Morning Star of the Reformation,” produced 150 handwritten copies of the first major English translation of the NT.³⁴ He had, however, based his work on Jerome’s compromised Latin Vulgate.³⁵

Gutenberg Bible, 1455. Following the development and use of the movable type by Johannes Gutenberg and his associates in the mid-1400s, the Gutenberg Bible was the first complete book (3 volumes) to be printed. Also called the “42-line Bible” because most of the pages had 42 lines, only 150 copies of this Latin Bible were printed.

Erasmus’s Greek NT, 1516. Desiderius Erasmus, a Dutch priest and scholar, produced his Greek edition of the NT. It made available for the first time the original Greek text, which was naturally more accurate than the Latin Vulgate and became much preferred by reformers.³⁶

Tyndale’s NT, 1525. William Tyndale, using Erasmus’s work, published the first printed NT in English. Portions of the OT appeared in 1530 and 1531. His translation was so precise and his language so magnificent later translators would adopt much of his phraseology. Ironically, the Roman Church burned Tyndale at the stake in 1536.³⁷ And within a year a Bible, 2/3 of it Tyndale’s, was allowed in Britain.

Coverdale Bible, 1535. Miles Coverdale had the first complete English translation of the Bible and the Apocrypha printed in Germany. He used Tyndale's translation, portions of Luther's German Bible, and some Latin translations, apparently from Jerome’s Vulgate.^38,39

The Great Bible, 1539. Coverdale, commissioned in 1538 by England’s vicar-general Thomas Cromwell to supervise the work on an official version of the Bible, published a pulpit Bible. It was called the “Great Bible” for its sheer size – the largest printed up to that time.

Geneva Bible, 1557-1560. Translated by English Protestants in exile in Geneva, based on Erasmus’s work and texts preserved by the early Church, the Geneva Bible became the first authorized version of the Anglican Church, Puritans, and Pilgrims. It was regarded as simply a translation for laymen, though.⁴⁰

Bishops’ Bible, 1568. A revision by Anglican scholars and bishops to replace the Great Bible and Geneva Bible, the Bishops’ Bible served as the second authorized version of the Anglican Church

The Jesuit Bible, 1582. This work was published in 1582 by Jesuits in the Anti-Reformation Movement to counter the Coverdale and Geneva Bibles used by Protestants to refute certain Catholic doctrines.

Rheims-Douay Bible, 1582/1610. Catholic refugees from England in France translated this first English Catholic Bible from Latin. The NT came out in Rheims in 1582, while the OT was finished in Douay in 1610.⁴¹ Carefully translated and footnoted to support Catholic doctrines, it was the only officially approved Catholic Bible for over 350 years until 1966, when the Jerusalem Bible was published.⁴²

King James Version, 1611. Commissioned by King James I of England in 1604 to make a third authorized version, the Anglican Church, using Erasmus’s uncorrupted Greek text and about 90% of Tyndale’s inspired phraseology, produced the Authorized or King James Version (KJV).⁴³ In honor of the royal sponsor, NT characters named “Jacob” were renamed “James” in the KJV.

Several minor revisions were made on the KJV -- in 1613, 1629, 1638, 1653, 1762, and 1769 -- e.g., to update words like sith and fet.⁴⁴ The KJV remained the only Protestant English translation for 270 years.

Westcott-Hort edition, 1881. In 1853, a Revision Committee commissioned Anglican churchmen Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton J.A. Hort to produce “an acceptable alternative to the archaic language and grammar” of the KJV. The two were occultists who had helped found the Ghost Society, a club that dabbled in necromancy and spirit channeling.⁴⁵ Westcott and Hort preferred Gnostic texts that had edited many passages that underscore “the deity of Christ, His atonement, His resurrection, and other key doctrines.”⁴⁶

William Grady notes that the “corrupt manuscript tradition embodied in codices Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, the principal sources for the notorious Westcott-Hort Text, are Alexandrian texts… Alexandrian teachers, such as Origen, Clement, and Philo, were some of the most grievous corrupters of biblical Christianity.”⁴⁷ Author Floyd Jones adds: “Moreover, it must be seen that the testimony of these two corrupted manuscripts are almost solely responsible for the errors being foisted upon the Holy Scriptures in both testaments by modern critics.”⁴⁸

As seen by author Chuck Missler, in the four gospels alone, there are more than 3,000 contradictions between the Westcott-Hort version and the Textus Receptus that they rejected. Their so-called critical edition differs from the traditional Greek text in no less than 8,413 instances!⁴⁹

Regrettably, the Westcott-Hort texts served as the basis for the 1881 English Revised Bible. In addition, most new Bible translations since then, except for the New King James Version (1979-1982), have been based on the corrupt texts of the Westcott-Hort edition.⁵⁰

Types of translation

Today, there are over 60 popular versions of the Bible to choose from. Which one is right for you? It will be helpful to know that Bible translations are classified into three broad categories, as follows:

“Word-for-word.”

The most faithful and accurate English translations from the original Hebrew and Greek texts are word-for-word or verbatim versions, such as the KJV, NKJV, and New American Standard Bible (NASB, 1970). Authors Norman Geisler and William Nix calculate that, compared with the texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the KJV is “98.33% pure.”⁵¹

The latest version of the KJV is the 21^st Century King James Bible, featuring modern English and punctuation, with the text in paragraph form, instead of verses.

“Meaning-to-meaning.”

Valued as secondary references for their contemporary wording, “meaning-to-meaning” renditions include the New International Version (NIV, 1973-79), Revised English Bible, Good News Bible (1976), New Living Translation, Jerusalem Bible (1966). In the late 1980s, the NIV began outselling the KJV, which nonetheless remained a top favorite.

“Paraphrased.”

With their interpretive translations, paraphrased versions are useful in making the Scriptures more understandable, but should not be used as basis for doctrines. Translators use figures of speech that conform to their own religious beliefs. The Living Bible (1971) and The Message are two examples of a paraphrased translation.

Most read book

In the early 17^th century, the Bible became the most read book in the world. The widespread use of the movable type expedited the printing of more and more copies. In the 1990s, around 630 million Bibles were being distributed yearly by the American Bible Society and the British and Foreign Bible Society.⁵² The American Bible Society stated at the end of 1997 that the Bible had been translated in full in 363 languages; the NT in 405 languages; and portions of it, usually one or more gospels, in 2,197 languages.⁵³ By the year 2000, more than 6 billion copies of the Holy Scriptures had been printed.

_______________

1 Michael Drosnin, The Bible Code, 1997, p. 21

2 Grant Jeffrey, The Signature of God, 1996, p. 205

3 Bible, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996

4 Ed Spurlin, “God’s Preserved Word,” tract, 1/3/94

5 William P. Grady, Final Authority: The Christian’s Guide to the King James Bible, 1993, p. 82

6 Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 547

7 Spurlin, op. cit.

8 Grady, loc. cit.

9 Pike, op. cit., p. 266

10 Spurlin, op. cit.

11 Codex, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

12 Spurlin, op. cit.

13 Chuck Missler, Cosmic Codes, 1999, Revised 2004, p. 441

14 Library, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)

15 Bible, op. cit.

16 Richard Chaimberlin, “The Hebrew Matthew,” Petah Tikvah, April-June 2011,p. 6

17 Missler, op. cit., p. 109

18 Chaimberlin, op. cit., pp. 3-7

19 Op. cit., p. 6

20 Bible, op. cit.

27 Spargimino, op. cit., p. 1

28 Jack Moorman, Forever Settled: A Survey of the Documents and History of the Bible, 1999, pp. 17-18

29 Aquila, Encyclopedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

30 Targum, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996

31 Versions, The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, 1988

32 Spurlin, op. cit.

33 Vulgate, Encyclopedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

34 Jim Combs, “The Powerful Worldwide Impact of the Bible,” Mysteries of the Bible Now Revealed, 1999, p. 163

35 Spurlin, op. cit.

36 Erasmus, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

37 Combs, loc. cit.

38 Coverdale, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)

39 Coverdale, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

40 Spurlin, op. cit.

41 Bible, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)

42 Spurlin, op. cit.

43 Combs, loc. cit.

44 Ibid.

45 Spurlin, op. cit.

46 Missler, op. cit., p. 442

47 Grady, op. cit., p. 73

48 Floyd Jones, The Septuagint, 1995, p. 50

49 Missler, loc. cit.

50 Spurlin, op. cit.

51 Norman Geisler and William Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, 1974, p. 263

52 Bible Societies, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

53 Combs, loc. cit.

(Excerpted from Chapter 2, Secrets in Scriptures, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

Secrets in the Scriptures

Now, for the secrets that Jewish sages and mystics have endeavored to pry from the Scriptures for ages. By the 12^th century, rabbis believed the sacred texts could be interpreted on several levels of meaning.

Levels of meaning.

1. Peshat, the literal or plain meaning. The literal meaning may be lost in translation if some significant words are omitted. For instance, in the opening line of the Bible (Gen 1:1), “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Bªre'shiyt bara' 'Elohim 'et hashamayim wª'et ha’arets.), the translators left out the word et (which indicates that the verb action is on the object, not the subject).

2. Remez, the esoteric or allegorical hint of something deeper. In the same example, the word et, spelled with the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet (aleph and tav) alludes to the eternal nature of God. Hence, “'Elohim 'et” means God is “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Rev 22:13b, etc.).

3. Derash, the homiletical or practical application. Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a meaning. The aleph in et stands for “bull,” known for its power, while the tav symbolizes a “sign, mark, or cross.” Combined, they can mean “power of the cross or mark of God.”

4. Sod, the mystical or hidden meaning. The first letter of the first word, “Bªre'shiyt,” is bet, represented by a “house.” A married man builds a house for his wife. So, when God created heaven and earth, He was building a house for His “bride.”

The first three methods are closely similar to those used in Christian hermeneutics. The rabbis used the acronym PaRDeS (“Paradise”) as a mnemonic device for remembering the four levels.⁵⁴ There are even more methods in the mystical Jewish Kabbalah. Practitioners hold that there are “seventy gates” of wisdom, that is, 70 different means of interpreting the text of the Torah.⁵⁵

God keeps secrets.

Paul says that God, even before He created the universe, reserved secrets for us. “No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began” (1 Cor 2:7, NIV; cf. Eph 3:9). The LORD often spoke through the prophets, but owing to the people’s disobedience He sometimes blinded them to His messages. “For the LORD has poured out on you The spirit of deep sleep, And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, namely, the seers” (Isa 29:10, NKJV).

God had revealed to Daniel many of His secrets. Oddly, at the outset of the 6^th century B.C., the angel Gabriel told Daniel to hide the secrets already given him. “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end… And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end” (Dan 12:4a,9; cf. Isa 29: 10-14)). The secrets were to be revealed again only at the “time of the end.”

Meantime, seeking to know some of God’s secrets is not forbidden, but, rather, an honorable endeavor: “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter” (Prov 25:2). Surprisingly, to gain spiritual insight, all we have to do is ask: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5; Luke 11:9).

Secrets will be known.

Christ said all secrets would eventually be uncovered. “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known” (Luke 12:2). However, God’s secrets cannot be discerned through men’s insight or intelligence alone. “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). God Himself will reveal His secrets: “But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets” (Dan 2:28; also 2:22,47). Since the Scriptures have been inspired by the Holy Spirit, they can best be explained by Him. “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:13; also Eph 3:5; 1 Cor 2:10,12).

God usually reveals secrets – to enable men to do His will. “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut 29:29). Or to warn us about coming judgments. “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7, NIV).

The secrets of God will continue to be revealed until the end of the present world order at the Second Coming of Christ. “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets” (Rev 10:7).

Only for a few?

God reveals His secrets only to the worthy: “So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God” (1 Cor 4:1-2, NIV; also Ps 25:14; Prov 3:32). Christ revealed secrets to only a few of His closest disciples, not to all people. “He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (Matt 13:11). Why? “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt 7:14, NKJV).

Biblical prophecies

Many of God’s secrets are in the form of prophecy. Prophecies are found in just one holy book: the Bible. They are absent from the texts of other religions. This sets the Judeo-Christian faith apart from all others. Bible scholar Wilbur Smith, wrote about the Bible: “It is the only volume ever produced by man, or a group of men, in which is to be found a large body of prophecies relating to individual nations, to Israel, to all the peoples of the earth, to certain cities, and to the coming of One who was to be the Messiah.”⁵⁶ Bible prophecies primarily concern God’s chosen people, Israel, but many times include the whole world.

Nature of prophecy.

Most people are under the impression that prophecies are purely predictions of future events. Those are predictive prophecies, which are simply the best known kind. Basically, a prophecy is any Spirit-inspired utterance of God’s divine will by a prophet. Some prophecies may be past events in retrospect. For instance, Isaiah 14:9-15 and Ezekiel 28:12-19 speak of Lucifer’s corruption in a much earlier time.

There are straightforward prophecies, framed in plain language, and “veiled” prophecies, couched in symbols and mysterious metaphors.

Prophecies are usually “in context,” that is, part of a prophet’s discourse on a given topic. Other times, though, prophecy may be “out of context” – distantly or even totally unrelated to the subject spoken about. In Isaiah and Ezekiel’s prophecies above, the subjects are the kings of Babylon and Tyre, when almost unnoticeably the message shifts to Lucifer’s sins and judgment.

Predictive prophecies.

It is predictive prophecies that conclusively prove the omniscience of God. The all-knowing Creator declared some 2,750 years ago: “Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them” (Isa 42:9; also 46:10). Predictive prophecy is “history told in advance.” Since God is outside space-time, He knows the beginning and the end, and everything in-between.

The Holy Scriptures contain at least 1,817 predictions concerning 737 topics in 8,352 verses.⁵⁷ These prophecies represent 27% of the 31,093 verses in the Bible. Some prophecy teachers used to think that the Bible was around 33% prophecy. Around the end of the 20^th century, the estimate rose to 50%. Today, some prophecy analysts claim the Bible is likely 75% prophecy, since many actual historical incidents and stories in the Bible are “types” or prophetic models of future events.

A predictive prophecy is fulfilled in several ways. It may occur as plainly foretold. Or it may have a partial or staggered fulfillment -- with one or several parts of the prophecy occurring first, then the other parts later. Daniel’s prophecy of the 70 “weeks” of years (490 years -- Dan 9:24-27) is a well-known example. The first 483 years had been fulfilled precisely until Christ, but the last 7 years are still in abeyance. There may also be multiple fulfillment – with the same prophecy coming true several times at various periods under different circumstances. Hosea 11:1-2, which predicted Israel’s fall into idolatry, also came true in the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt and return to Nazareth (Matt 2:14-21). Jeremiah 31:15-16 foretold the Jews’ return from Babylonian captivity, but it also prefigured Herod’s slaughter of innocent children (Matt 2:18).

Fulfilled prophecies

A prophecy cannot be true unless fulfilled. Although most Biblical prophecies foretold events far beyond the lifetimes of the prophets -- hundreds, even thousands of years in advance, many prophecies, astonishingly, have already been fulfilled! Authors Norman Geisler and William Nix wrote: “No unconditional prophecy of the Bible about events to the present day has gone unfulfilled… As a result, fulfilled prophecy is a strong indication of the unique, divine authority of the Bible.”⁵⁸ Let us examine a few fulfilled Biblical prophecies.

Egyptian bondage.

The LORD told Abraham on the 14^th day of the first month (Abib) in 1921 B.C. that his descendants would be persecuted in a foreign land for some 400 years. “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years” (Gen 15:13). The Israelites left Egypt in the Exodus led by Moses in 1491 B.C. “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt” (Ex 12:41).

Babylonian captivity.

God had said the Jews would be held captive in Babylon for 70 years. “For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place” (Jer 29:10-11). History recorded that in 606 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judea for the first time and took Jews captive to Babylon. About 100 years earlier, Isaiah had prophesied that Jerusalem and the Temple would be rebuilt at the command of a certain Cyrus. “That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid (Isa 44:28). Amazingly, after Babylon fell to Media-Persia, Cyrus the Great issued a decree for the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem in 536 B.C. – precisely 70 years after the first Babylonian captivity of the Jews!

Some skeptics say these ancient events are false history made up by biased writers to affirm the veracity of the Bible. Let us consider one of the greatest prophecies in the OT that, although highly improbable, has been fulfilled beyond any shadow of doubt in our very own time.

Diaspora and regathering.

God many times foretold that, as a punishment for their sins, He would disperse the Israelites across the face of the earth (the Diaspora). “And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other” (Deut 28:64a,25; Jer 8:3,34:17; Ezek 4:13; Mic 5:7; etc.). Moreover, their land of “milk and honey” would become desolate. “And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste” (Lev 26:32-33; etc.).

In 70 and 135 A.D. Roman legions suppressing Jewish revolts razed Jerusalem About a million Jews were massacred, over 100,000 were taken as slaves, while other survivors fled to far-flung places. Rome gave Judea the new name Palaestina, and Jerusalem, Aelia Capitolina. They plowed the city with salt before bringing in new settlers to the land.

Over 1,800 years of successive Roman, Arab, Crusader, Mameluke, Turkish, and British rules, the once flourishing Holy Land truly became desolate. In 1267, Jewish philosopher Nachmanides saw Jerusalem as “deserted and laid waste.”⁵⁹ The Turks taxed trees, so the Bedouin inhabitants, who hated any form of tax, cut down the remaining trees.⁶⁰ British author George Sandy counted less than 1,000 trees in the whole land in 1610, noting that, “The country is a vast empty ruin.”⁶¹ In the 1880s Mark Twain described Palestine as a “a blistering, naked, treeless land.”⁶² Rainfall had dwindled. Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920), Dutch minister of state, said: “Only God can check the blight of the incoming desert. Only a miracle can save the Holy Land!”⁶³

Regathering. Yet, God had also promised to regather Israel. "But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers” (Jer 16:15; Ezek 39:25-28; 37:21; Deut 30:4; Isa 43:5-6; etc.).

After centuries of persecution and pogroms (massacres) in their host countries, the Jews began to dream of aliyah (“ascent”) or return to the land. In 1882 Jewish youths in Russia formed the Hoveve-Zion (“Lovers of Zion”) promoting aliyah. In 1897, Austrian journalist Theodor Herzl organized the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. Soon, Jewish settlements of returnees began sprouting in Palestine.

At the end of the 15^th century, there were just about 4,000 families in Jerusalem, 70 of them Jewish “of the poorest class, lacking even the commonest necessities.”⁶⁴ In 1845, around 12,000 Jews resided in all of Palestine. The number rose to 47,000 in 1908. In 1914, the Jews nearly doubled to 85,000. By 1948, immigrants from some 70 countries had swelled the Jewish population to 670,000. On May 14 that year, the modern state of Israel declared its independence – fulfilling Biblical prophecy. The following year, the Jews numbered over 1,000,000. The figure kept rising. In late 2010, with a growth rate of 1.8% for the 7^th consecutive year, the population of Israel (including Arabs) stood at 7,645,000⁶⁵– with over 40% (6 million plus) of the estimated 15 million Jews in the world. No less than 50,000 continue to arrive each year. Today, however, 71.7% of Israelis are native-born sabras, including 161,042 babies born in 2009.⁶⁶

Restoration. The Lord had also sworn: I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited (Ezek 36:33-35, Amos 9:14, etc.).

The Jews built new homes and buildings outside the old walls of Jerusalem. Incredibly, the configurations of the new city followed the lines prophesied in Jeremiah 31:38-40!⁶⁷ Along the Mediterranean coast, beaches became the streets of modern Tel Aviv.

Millions of trees were planted. The swamps of Galilee were drained to become tropical farms that made Israel the “California of the Middle East.” As the new trees grew, rainfall increased over 10% every decade (Joel 2:23; Isa 35:7).⁶⁸ By the end of the 20^th century, Israel had 350 million plus fully grown trees.⁶⁹ More than 80% of Israel’s fruits and vegetables are exported to neighboring Arab and European nations (Isa 27:6). Israeli factories manufacture chemicals, fertilizer, processed food, textiles, paper, plastics, electronic and military equipment, scientific instruments. From just $6 million in 1948, exports have risen to over $80.5 billion in 2010, 35% of which are high tech and R&D products. Cut diamonds, a traditional industry, grew from $2.8 million to $8.9 billion in the same period. In all, Israeli exports multiplied by 13,400%!⁷⁰

The dispersion and regathering of the Jews after some 1,800 years is Biblical prophecy fulfilled right before our parents’ and our very own eyes. It constitutes an astounding miracle that proves beyond any doubt that the Bible is truly the Word of an eternal and all-knowing God.

Messianic prophecies.

No prophecies presaged the coming of any of the founders of other religions in their holy books. On the other hand, hundreds of prophecies foreshadowed the birth, death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven of the Messiah (including His yet future Second Coming). Christ had been so clearly foretold in the Scriptures that the people expected Him long before He was born. Christ, unlike the founders of other religions, did not create a new calling for Himself. He came to assume a calling that had been described much earlier by the prophets.

Inventor-evangelist Martin Hunter observes that “Christ fulfilled 333 prophecies out of 333 prophecies in the Old Testament… According to the theory of probability in mathematics… Christ overcame mathematical odds of 1 over 84 as a fraction with 97 zeros then following that 84. That means it required odds of infinity… certifying that Jesus Christ is the authentic Son of God.”⁷¹ Let us take a look at a few of those 333 OT prophecies that the Messiah fulfilled in the NT:

From the tribe of Judah: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (‘peace-maker’/’Prince of peace’) come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Gen 49:10/Matt 2:2; Heb 7:14).

From the family of David: “And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever” (2 Sam 7:12-13/Luke 1:32).

Born of a virgin: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (‘God with us’)” (Isa 7:14/Matt 1:18).

Born in Bethlehem: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Mic 5:2/Matt 2:1).

Sold for 30 pieces of silver: “And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver” (Zech 11:12/Matt 26:14-15).

Money paid for potter’s field: “And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD” (Zech 11:13/Matt 27:5-7).

Nailed to the cross: “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet” (Ps 22:16/John 20:25; Luke 24:39).

Counted among criminals: “…and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa 53:12b/Matt 27:38).

Lots cast for His garments: “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (Ps 22:18/John 19:23-24a).

Gall and vinegar to drink: “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Ps 69:21/Matt 27:34).

Darkness at noon: “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day” (Amos 8:9/Matt 27:45).

No bones broken: “He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken” (Ps 34:20; Ex 12:46b/John 19:33)

Buried in rich man’s tomb: “And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death” (Isa 53:9a/Matt 27:57-60a).

Raised from the dead: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Ps 16:10/Luke 24:4-6a).

Incredibly, for every prophecy about Christ’s first advent, there are approximately eight more predicting His Second Coming. The Messianic prophecies yet to be fulfilled are those about the “Rapture” (catching up of the elect); His victory at the last great battle on earth at Armageddon; His reign as King of kings during the Millennium; His role in the Last Judgment and the Kingdom of God -- some 2,345 prophecies more (2,025 in the OT and 320 in the NT).⁷²

Symbols and similes

Many times, Biblical prophecies are clothed in symbolic language – to conceal their meanings from the profane. The interpretive method Jewish sages, Bible scholars, mystics, and other researchers use is called “hermeneutics,” the science of explaining hidden meanings in Scripture.

As we know, no man can interpret prophecy on his own (2 Peter 1:20-21). That is probably why God placed many of the keys and clues to interpreting prophecy in the Scriptures themselves! In short, the Bible interprets itself.

Below are some of the most significant similes and metaphors in both the OT and NT, together with their meanings. Although they often have several meanings, this list is limited to the few prophetic ones:

Metaphors and meanings.

Beast: kingdom, government (Dan 7:3-7; Rev 13:1-18).

Blood: life, death (Lev 17:11; Deut 12:23: Isa 34:3; Ezek 14:19).

Cloud: multitude, angels (Ezek 38:9; Matt 24:30; Heb 12:1; etc.).

Dogs: wicked men (Ps 22:16; Matt 7:6; Rev 22:15; etc.).

Dragon: Satan (Rev 12:3-4,7-9,13-17; 13:2,4,11; 16:13; etc.).

Earth: mankind (Gen 6:11; etc.); desolate land (Rev 13:11).

Field: the world (Matt 13:38).

Fig tree: Israel (Jer 24:1; etc.; Nah 3:12; Matt 21:19; etc.).

Fire: destruction (Ps 18:8; etc.); Holy Spirit (Matt 3:11; etc.).

Fish: the Church, believers (Matt 13:47-48).

Flood: invaders (Isa 8:7-8; Jer 46:7; Dan 11:22, etc.).

Garments: salvation (Ecc 9:8; Isa 52:1; Luke 24:4; Rev 3:4; etc.).

Grass: people, mortality (Isa 40:6-7; Ps 103:14-15; 90:5-6).

Hail: God's wrath (Isa 28:2; Ezek 13:13; Hag 2:17; Rev 8:7; etc.).

Hand: labor, work (Prov 10:4; Ecc 9:10).

Head: mountain, kingdom (Dan 2:38-41; Rev 17:9).

Horn: king (Rev 17:12).

Lamp: guide (2 Sam 22:29; Ps 18:28; 119:105; Prov 6:23).

Light: truth, holiness (Rom 13:12; 2 Cor 4:6; Eph 5:14; 1 Peter 2:9).

Moon: idolatry (Deut 4:19; Job 31:26-28; etc.).

Mountain: kingdom (Isa 2:2; Jer 51:25; Zech 4:7; etc.).

Oil: God’s Name (Song 1:3); Spirit (1 Sam 10:1,6; Isa 61:1; etc.).

Rock/stone: God (Deut 32:4; Ps 18:2; etc.); Christ (1 Cor 10:4; Ps 118:22; Eph 2:20; 1 Pet 2:4-8, etc.).

Sea/waters: multitudes, nations (Rev 17:12).

Star: angel (Judg 5:20; Job 38:7; Ps 147:4; Rev 1:20; etc.).

Sun: glory (Ps 84:11; Matt 17:2; Rev 1:16; etc.).

Sword: war (Lev 26:25; etc.); Word of God (Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12).

Tree: enemy of Israel (Ezek 31:3,18; Dan 4:20-22).

Wilderness: place of refuge (Ex 15:22; Isa 35:1; Rev 12:14).

Wind/whirlwind: war (Jer 18:17; Dan 11:40; Amos 1:14).

Woman: church, religion (Jer 6:2; 2 Cor 11:2; Rev 17:5; etc.).

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

Let us examine one famous prophecy filled with symbols. Babylon’s king Nebuchadnezzar dreamt of a strange image: “This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Dan 2:32-35).

Daniel, then a Jewish captive in Babylon, explained the meaning of the king’s dream (Dan 2:38-44). The first four parts of the image signify four successive kingdoms that subjugated the Jews, as history bears out. The “head of gold” stands for Nebuchadnezzar and his wealthy kingdom of Babylon. The “breast and arms of silver” mean the unified kingdoms of Media-Persia. The “belly and thighs of brass” correspond to Alexander’s homeland Macedonia and Greece, famous for its brass artifacts. The”legs of iron” symbolize Rome, which conquered the then known world with its iron implements of war; the two legs portending the empire’s later division into the Western and Eastern halves. The “feet, part of iron and part of clay” with their ten toes seem to be an end-time coalition of ten nations that once belonged to the Roman Empire, united with peoples denoted by clay. (These look like the ten kings in league with the Antichrist in Rev 17:12.) The “stone cut out without hands” is Christ, who will defeat the forces of Antichrist (“smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces”) at Armageddon. That “the wind carried them away” means war would expunge all these kingdoms. The eternal kingdom of God (“great mountain”) will then reign over the world (“filled the whole earth”).

Biblical “types”

Closely related to prophetic symbols are “types” in the Scriptures. Persons, objects, places, and incidents serve as prophetic models that foreshadow future events. Hundreds of “types” are in the stories of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua, Caleb, Job, Joseph, Ruth, David, Solomon, Elijah, Samuel, Samson, and many other Biblical personages, including objects and articles in the text of the Bible.

Abraham sacrificing Isaac.

A most detailed example of Biblical “typology” is when God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac to Him: “And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of” (Gen 22:2). Abraham as a “type” personifies God, who sacrificed His Only Begotten Son, typified by Isaac, nearly two thousand years later at Golgotha.

“And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him” (Gen 22:3). The two young men represent two groups of spiritually saved people God will take with Him.

“Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you” (Gen 22:4-5). The “third day” means Christ would be crucified in the third millennium from God’s first covenant with Abraham. Abraham’s instruction for the young men to wait prophesies Christ’s return (Second Coming) to His waiting followers.

“And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together” (Gen 22:6). As Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice up Mount Moriah, so would Christ later carry a wooden cross to Golgotha (the same hill?) to be crucified. The “knife” and the “fire” suggest the wars and destruction that God would inflict upon the Jews for rejecting and killing His Only Begotten Son.

“And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together” (Gen 22:7-8). Indeed, God Himself would provide the “lamb” for the offering – Christ, “the Lamb of God.”

“And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son” (Gen 22:9-10). Isaac’s quiet acquiescence prefigured Christ’s stoic acceptance of His death on the cross.

“And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son” (Gen 22:11-13). The thicket around the ram’s horns presaged the crown of thorns on Christ’s head. The ram that replaced Isaac was a “type” of the Lamb of God who substituted His life for sinful humanity. Isaac was spared from death on the third day, prophetic of Christ’s resurrection from the dead on the third day.

Objects and things.

On occasion, inanimate objects may prophetically represent persons, things, even units of time. Such is one prophecy of “types” in an incident that took place nearly 3,500 years ago: “And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore” (Josh 3:3-4).

The “ark of the covenant” is a “type” for Christ, whom the people must follow “two thousand cubits” behind. “Cubit” is a “type” for “year,” the veiled prophecy connoting that after 2,000 years faithful believers are to follow Christ to where He went (“ye have not passed this way heretofore”). Where? Paradise! Several other veiled prophecies in the Bible strongly suggest that the elect would go to meet Christ some 2,000 years after His ascension (Hos 6:2; Est 5:1; John 2:1; 2 Pet 3:8; etc.).

Prophetic Psalms

Editor-publisher J.R. Church (Prophecy in the News) revealed in his 1983 book Hidden Prophecies in the Psalms his startling discovery that the Psalms, besides poetry and wisdom, contain year-to-year messages to the Jews. He had realized that in the Psalms, the 19^th book of the Bible, Psalm 1 is a prophecy for the year 1901 (19+1=1901), Psalm 2 for 1902, and so on. Each psalm prophesies events in the national life of the Jews or simply reflects their sentiments for a given year. Let us take a closer look at two of the most telling prophetic psalms.

Liberation of Jerusalem.

Psalm 17 seems to picture events in Jerusalem in late 1917, towards the end of World War I. “Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings, From the wicked who oppress me, From my deadly enemies who surround me” (Ps 17:8-9, NKJV).

The Turks, who ruled over Jerusalem, were surrounded by the big guns of the British forces under Gen. Allenby. It looked like most of the holy places in the Holy City would be destroyed. Asking London for instructions, Allenby received a verse from the Bible: “As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it” (Isa 31:5). The general had the verse read to his troops in the hills around Jerusalem.

On Dec. 10, Allenby had all available aircraft do a reconnaissance flight over Jerusalem. The Turks, many of whom had never seen a plane before, were terrified by the flying machines, which dropped a note from General Allenby demanding their surrender. The Turks were further frightened by the name Allenby; they thought they were being asked to give up by Allah-beh, the son of God! (beh is Arabic for “son.”) The Turks abandoned the city without firing a single shot.^73,74 Quite literally, God saved Jerusalem from destruction, ”under the shadow of Your wings” – the wings of the British planes, as prophesied in Psalm 17.

Rebirth of Israel.

The rebirth of Israel in 1948 – a major world event of the 20^th century – is in Psalm 48:4-8. (Note the numbers.)

On May 14, 1948, as the British mandate over Palestine expired at midnight, the Jews unilaterally declared an independent state of Israel. From here on, Psalm 48:4-8 reads like a newspaper report: “When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together…” (Ps 48:4). Within 24 hours, neighboring Arab countries -- Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Transjordan, (three of them ruled by kings) – with Palestinian guerillas, attacked the tiny newly born state.

“…they saw [her] and were astounded; they fled in terror” (Ps 48:5, NIV). One interesting anecdote tells of how the ragtag, ill-equipped Israeli fighters overcame the numerically superior and heavily equipped Arab forces. At one point, when the odds looked formidable, the Israelis gathered all available motor vehicles – cars, taxis, buses – and removed the exhaust manifolds that kept the engines quiet. At dusk, they drove their clattering vehicles toward the enemy lines. In the half-dark, the Arabs thought the Israelis had launched a massive armored attack and fled, abandoning their modern tanks.

“Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor” (Ps 48:6, NIV). The verse speaks of childbirth -- the rebirth of Israel.

“You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind” (Ps 48:7, NIV). “Tarshish” means the lands at and beyond the western end of the Mediterranean Sea: the British Isles among them. The “ships” were thus those of the Royal Navy, which transported British troops to war zones. The British, their resolve broken by years of war and Arab-Jewish terrorist activities (“shattered by an east wind”), had earlier turned over the Palestine problem to the United Nations in 1947 and preferred not to intervene in the new conflict.

“As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever” (Ps 48:8, NIV). The verse affirms the permanent establishment of the state of Israel, with the holy city of Jerusalem as its eternal capital.

Fig tree prophecies

The number “48” seems to be a Biblical milestone not only in the OT, but also in the NT, wherein Christ strangely demonstrated the likeness of Israel to a fig tree: “Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away” (Matt 21:18-19).

The fig tree was like Israel, which produced no fruit for the Messiah. Apart from a little over a hundred disciples, the Jews as a nation rejected Christ. Thus, the Jews, like the accursed fig tree, were destined to wither away as a people. It came to pass in 70 A.D. and 135 A.D. in the hands of the rampaging Roman legions.

In three gospels, Christ spoke metaphorically of the rebirth of Israel – as a fig tree coming back to life with new leaves: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh” (Matt 24:32; Mark 13:28; Luke 21:29). If we add the chapter and verses numbers, divide the sums by 3 to get the averages, round them up, then add the quotients, the prophetic number “48” comes up again!

Book	Chapter		Verse		Total
Matthew	24	:	32
Mark	13	:	28
Luke	21	:	29
	58		89
Divide by:	3		3
	19*	+	29*	=	48
*(Rounded)

Biblical landmark.

Furthermore, the significance of the number “48” is manifest not only in the book of Psalms and the Gospels, but is also apparently a landmark for the entire Bible itself.

The Open Scroll writer-publisher Bob Schlenker points out that the book of Psalms is the 19^th book from the beginning of the Bible, Genesis. Counting backward from the last book of the Bible, Revelation, we find that Psalms is the 48^th book. Put the two numbers together (19+48), and we get “1948” – the year the nation of Israel was reborn!

The Bible Code

Scholars, mathematicians, and computer scientists are discovering hidden messages in the Bible that leave them stunned. Secret words, phrases, and even whole sentences appear to be encoded in the original Hebrew text of the Scriptures. The codes can be read by taking letters at regular intervals: every 7^th letter, 49^th, 153^rd, 862^nd, name it. Researchers call the arrangement “Equidistant Letter Sequencing” (ELS).

Centuries-old technique.

Jewish mystics are known to have painstakingly extracted messages encrypted in the Torah letter-by-letter since the 12^th century. Rabbi Moses Cordevaro wrote in the 16^th century: “The secrets of the Torah are revealed… in the skipping of the letters.”⁷⁵

Early in the 20^th century, as a 13-year-old lad in Slovakia, Rabbi Michael Ber Weissmandl, guided by a 13^th-century book by Rabbeynu Bachayah ben Asher of Saragossa, Spain, began looking for words hidden in the Hebrew Scriptures. He found that from the first letter tav (t, “T”) in Genesis, thence every 49^th letter, Torah (“TORH,“ hrwt) is spelled out. In Exodus, the 2^nd book of the Bible, Torah is again found at the same interval. The phenomenon does not repeat in Leviticus, the 3^rd book, but instead the Name of God (“YHWH,” hwhy) appears every 7^th letter. In Numbers and Deuteronomy, the 4^th and 5^th books, Torah appears again, although spelled backwards (“HROT,” twrh).⁷⁶ It is as though the Torahs in the 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th, and 5^th books, two on each side, are paying homage to the Name of God in the 3^rd and middle book (TORH > TORH > YHWH < HROT < HROT)!⁷⁶

The 18^th century Gaon (Genius) of Vilna, Lithuania (Eliyyahu ben Shelomoh Zalman), regarded as a master of the code, taught: “The rule is that all that was, is, and will be unto the end of time is included in the Torah, from the first word to the last word. And not merely in a general sense, but as to the details of every species and each one individually, and details of details that happened to him from the day of his birth until his end.”⁷⁷ That means everything and everyone, even you and I, are secretly encoded in the first five books of the Bible!

Faster with computers.

The advent of computers has exponentially expedited the search for encoded words in the Bible. A computer program capable of millions of calculations per second can examine millions of possible combinations of the 304,805 Hebrew characters of the Torah in minutes, something no man can accomplish manually even in a lifetime.

The Torah codes first attracted widespread attention in August 1994 with the article “Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis” by Israeli scientists Doron Witztum, Eliyahu Rips, and Yoav Rosenberg in the Statistical Science Journal. Six years earlier, the authors had submitted the work featuring the names of 34 prominent 9^th-18^th century Jewish men, encoded in the Torah with their respective dates of birth or death. The editors were incredulous and demanded that the authors add 32 more Jews from the same period. The scientists complied and came up with the same results -- for a total of 66 Jewish personages, complete with their dates of birth or death!⁷⁸ The editors subjected the data and methodology to rigorous and repeated peer reviews and analyses, and eventually printed the article. The authors ended their article with these words: “We conclude that the proximity of ELS’s with related meanings in the Book of Genesis is not due to chance.”⁷⁹

Bible Code: the book.

Michael Drosnin, a former reporter for the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, following interviews with Eliyahu Rips, conducted his own computer search and in early 1997 came out with a book, The Bible Code, which became an instant best-seller. The popularity of the book has led countless other investigators of diverse backgrounds to join the hunt for hidden messages in the Scriptures.

To date, thousands of encrypted messages have been brought to light, about such varied topics as: World Wars I and II; Hitler and the Holocaust; the atomic bomb; the Lincoln, Gandhi, Kennedy, Sadat, Rabin assassinations; Apollo moon-landing; Watergate and Nixon; Saddam Hussein and the Gulf War; the American Revolution; the Napoleonic wars; Shakespeare; Bach, Mozart, Beethoven; Rembrandt, Picasso; Edison, Marconi, the Wright brothers; Newton, Einstein; terrorist activities; and untold others.

Rips speculates: “Theoretically, there is no limit to the amount of information that could be encoded… In the end, the amount of information is incalculable, and probably infinite.”⁸⁰

Unbiblical codes.

Equidistantly spelled words have also been found in other lengthy texts, such as the Hebrew translations of War and Peace, Moby Dick, the penal code. And even in short ones: “Rabin” is seen in the software license on envelopes of Microsoft software products.⁸¹

However, the words found in secular works are scattered in no particular order, whereas in the Torah the words are clustered. It is only in the Bible codes that related words and phrases about the same topics are grouped together in close proximity, showing coherent relationships.

God’s own code?

Some people say the Bible Code is the discovery of the millennium. The system is so simple, yet so comprehensive that it is beyond Moses, or any man, no matter how intelligent, to have woven hidden messages about the future into the narrative text of the Torah. Investigator Jeffrey Satinover remarks, “The code points to one thing and one thing only: the authorship of a document in which it is found.”⁸² The Code looks like God's own handiwork – undeniable proof that the Creator is truly the Author of the Bible.

Rips observes that ELS “is only the first, crudest level of the Bible code… It is almost certainly more levels deep, but we do not yet have a powerful enough mathematical model to reach it… It is probably less like a crossword puzzle, and more like a hologram. We are only looking at two-dimensional arrays, and we probably should be looking at three dimensions, but we don’t know how to.”⁸³

Ancient Jewish tradition tells of seventy gates of wisdom or methods of deciphering the Torah. The Bible Code, according to Sefer HaZohar (“Book of Splendor”), is only one of those – in fact, the fiftieth.⁸⁴

Unpredictable future.

The Bible Code cannot be used for predicting the future. Doron Witztum, creator of the ELS mathematical model, says: “It is impossible to use Torah codes to predict the future.” Rips adds: “All attempts to extract messages from Torah codes or to make predictions on them are futile and are of no value.”⁸⁵

For instance, Drosnin in his 1997 book showed two future years linked to an atomic holocaust: 2000 and 2006. There were jitters when the second intifada or Palestinian revolt erupted in 2000. Next, heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in the Gaza Strip broke out in 2006. Yet, none of these sparked the much-dreaded nuclear war. Drosnin notes: “The Bible Code may be a set of probabilities. Every future event appears to be encoded with at least two probabilities.”⁸⁶ One message he found declares, “Five roads, five futures.”⁸⁷ He concludes: “There are many possible futures, and the Bible Code can reveal each one of them. It is up for us to choose.”⁸⁸

Drosnin’s remark echoes ancient Jewish wisdom. “Everything is foreseen, but freedom of action is given,” thus intones the Talmud, the medieval commentary on the Torah.

Altered letter spacing

The original script of the Hebrew Scriptures consisted mostly of consonants – with no vowel markers, upper case (capital) or lower case (small) letters, punctuation marks, and even spaces between words. The reader himself had to mentally provide the missing indicators to make sense of the text. According to mystical tradition, secret messages can be brought to light by altering the spaces between the letters of the text.

Rabin assassination.

On Nov. 4, 1995, as part of their annual Torah reading schedule, Jews in their synagogues around the globe read Genesis 15:17-18, wherein God gave Abraham and his descendants all the land from the Nile in Egypt to the Euphrates in modern Iraq. God and Abraham sealed their covenant or agreement with the sacrifice of several animals cut into pieces: “And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.”

When the spaces between the letters in the passage are altered every second or third letter, “lamp that passed between those pieces” can be read as “A fire, an evil fire into Rabin, decreed by God.”

In the evening of that fateful day, a gunman assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The Jewish leader was killed at night -- “when the sun went down, and it was dark”. Prophecy analyst Bob Schlenker noted that the mention of the word “fire” twice foretold the two bullets that were fired into Rabin.⁸⁹

The tragedy seems to have stemmed from the “land-for-peace” deal Rabin forged with then U.S. President Bill Clinton and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Sept. 13, 1993. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) would recognize the state of Israel in return for the creation of autonomous Palestinian enclaves within Israel. The pact divided Israel: some hailed Rabin as a peacemaker, others labeled him a traitor for handing over parts of their God-given land to the enemy.

Watergate and Nixon.

Another example of a hidden prophecy found through altered letter-spacing is the infamous Watergate scandal involving then U.S. President Richard Nixon. The encrypted prediction is in Numbers 3:24 – “And the chief of the house of the father of the Gershonites shall be Eliasaph the son of Lael.”

According to Drosnin, in the entire Bible the word “Watergate” in Hebrew characters can be found only in this passage. When the spacing is rearranged between the letters of the Hebrew words “And the chief of the house of the father of the Gershonites…” the clause can be read in English as: “President, but he was kicked out.”⁹⁰

Biblical numerics

Many believe that the study of symbolic or mystical use of numbers originated with the Jews. Some experts on Bible numerics note that one out of every five verses in the Scriptures contains a number.⁹¹ Christ Himself spoke of numbers a number of times. For instance… “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matt 10:30).

Greek philosopher-mathematician Pythagoras (ca. 580-500 B.C.) adopted the Jewish tradition to explain the origin and phenomena of the universe.⁹² He and his followers taught that numbers were the essence of all things – the universe was built on and could be explained by numbers. (Incidentally, that is exactly what theoretical physicists are doing today.)

In the Bible, numbers have spiritual meanings attached to them. Multiples – by doubling, tripling, squaring, etc. – usually have the same meanings of the cardinal numbers, but intensified.⁹³

Meanings of numbers.

Let us look at the meanings of some numbers in the Bible. Caution: Biblical numerics should not be confused with occult numerology, a form of divination that is abominable to God (Deut 18:10-12).

1 – “oneness, beginning”: one God; one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism; creation; Only Begotten Son; one lost sheep; etc.

2 – “division/opposition”: heaven and earth; light and darkness; man and woman; good and evil; heaven and hell; Old and New Testaments.

3 -- “completeness”: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Christ is the way, the truth, and the life; who is, was, and is to come; crucifixion in the third hour: three hours of darkness; resurrection on the third day; etc.

4 -- “the world”: north, south, east, west; spring, summer, fall, winter; four rivers in Eden;. clean animals for sacrifice (bullock, sheep, goat, turtledove); four gospel portrayal of Christ (king, servant, man, God); four soils (wayside, stony places, thorns, good ground); peoples, kindreds, tongues, nations; four horsemen; etc.

5 -- “grace of God”: for atonement of sin (burnt offering, peace offering, sin offering, trespass offering, meat offering); five ministries for God’s grace (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers); etc.

6 -- “man/weakness”: man created on sixth day; six days of work; the land planted for six years; Hebrew slaves served for six years; etc.

7 -- “fullness/perfection”: the Creation week; seven Spirits of God; seven colors of the rainbow; seven holy days; seven branches of the lampstand; seven gifts of the Spirit; seven last years before the end; etc.

8 -- “new beginning”: eight persons in Noah’s Ark; male infants circumcised on the eighth day; Christ resurrected on the eighth day (first day of the following week); in music, eighth note begins new octave, etc.

9 – “finality/fruition”: nine fruits of the Spirit; nine gifts of the Spirit; nine beatitudes; Israel ate of the new harvest in the ninth year; etc.

10 – “law/responsibility”: ten patriarchs before the Flood (Adam to Noah); Ten Commandments; tithe is one-tenth of a man’s increase; high priest uttered God’s Name ten times on Day of Atonement; ten virgins; the universe was created with ten words, according to the rabbis;⁹⁴ etc.

12 – “organizational completion”: twelve months in a year; twelve signs of the Mazzaroth (Zodiac); twelve tribes of Israel; twelve judges who ruled Israel; twelve apostles; twelve foundations and twelve gates of New Jerusalem; twelve kinds of fruit of the tree of life; etc.

13 – “disobedience”: man’s life span decreased to 1/13^th (900+ to 70 years) after the Flood; Nimrod, who defied God, was 13^th man from Ham, son of Noah; “dragon” is found 13 times in Revelation; the 13^th sin of Israel in the Exodus was their refusal to possess the land; etc.

14 – “salvation”: events on the 14^th day of the month -- God made His covenant with Abraham; the Passover lamb that saved the Israelites from the last plague in Egypt was killed; Christ was crucified; Paul and others on the ship were saved from the storm; etc.

17 – “triumph”: Noah’s Ark landed in the mountains of Ararat and the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on the 17^th day; Jacob lost his 17-year-old son Joseph, who later cared for him 17 years in Egypt; etc.

18 – “oppression”: years Israelites served Moab and Israel oppressed by the Philistines and Ammonites; sum of the number of the beast (6+6+6), who will oppress the saints at the time of the end; etc.

24 – “priesthood”: David divided priesthood among 24 descendants of Aaron; 24 elders around God’s throne; Christ, as High Priest in heaven, will do 24 things for the saints (Ps 72 = 24 x 3); etc.

40 – “trials/testing”: 40 days and nights of rain at the start of the Flood; Moses spent 40 years in Egypt, 40 in Midian, and 40 in the wilderness; he was 40 days with God on Mt. Sinai; God gave Nineveh 40 days to repent; the devil tempted Christ 40 days; etc.

42 – “the coming of Christ”: 42 generations from Abraham to Christ; the beast will continue in power 42 months; Jerusalem will be trodden by Gentiles 42 months; the “woman,” (remnant of Israel) will hide from the dragon 1,260 days or 42 months; the end will come after “a time, times, and an half” (3-1/2 years or 42 months); etc.

70 – “probation”: average life span of man is 70 years; Israel’s council of 70 elders since Moses; Jews captive in Babylon for 70 years; Jews given 70 “weeks” of years to restore relationship with God; etc.

Biblical alphanumerics

Interestingly, the Hebrew letters were first used as numerals before they were used to sound words. Sages and mystics have gained new insights on the holy Scriptures from the numerical values of the letters. The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, most of which are consonants. The first nine letters have values of 1 to 9, the next nine 10 to 90, and the last four 100 to 400. (See Hebrew alphabet, with symbols and values, in the Appendix.) Later, when sofits or word-ending forms for five letters came into use, the Hebrew numerals increased from 22 to 27 characters, with the five new letter-numbers having values of 500 to 900.

Similarly, the Greeks and the Romans used the characters of their alphabets for both numbers and letters. The Romans, however, used only six letters: I, V, X, L, C, and D for 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500, respectively. (Incidentally, the six letter-numbers add up to 666.) The use of M for 1,000 came much later.

Exegetical methods.

Jewish mystics and rabbis use four major methods of exegesis or interpretation of the numerical values of the Hebrew Scriptures⁹⁵:

1. Gematria. A corruption of Greek geometria or grammateia, this entails the substitution of numbers for letters. The values of letters in a word are added up to arrive at a total with a meaning.⁹⁶

Hebrew words with the same values are considered identical to each other. For instance, in the mystical term for God, Ein Sof, Ein has a total of 61 (1+10+50), which is also the value of Adon (1+4+6+50), "Lord” or “Master.” Sof (60+6+80) has a value of 146, the selfsame total of Olam (6+30+70+40), “world” or “universe.” Thus, Ein Sof (“Without End”) is synonymous to Adon Olam ("Lord of the World” or “Master of the Universe”)! In addition, Ein Sof refers to God's “light.” Ein Sof has a total of 207 (61+146), which is also the numerical value of Ohr (1+6+200=207), which means "light."

In another example, the coming of the Messiah in Genesis 49:10 is cryptically phrased as “Shiloh come” (yabo Shiloh), with a gematria of 358. The Hebrew word for Messiah (Mashiach) has the same value (358). Shiloh, therefore, refers to no one else but the Messiah.

In this connection, the name “Jesus” in Greek, Ihsous (“Iesous”), has a gematria of “888” (10+8+200+70+400+200). This inevitably brings to mind the number of the name of the end-time “beast” (the so-called “Antichrist”) in Revelation 13:18, which is “666.”

Gematria has seven variations of increasing complexity:

Ragil, the simplest, is what we have just discussed, the substitution of numbers for each of the letters.

Kolel is basically ragil, plus the number of letters in a word.

Katan means “small” or reduced value -- all tens and hundreds are added until they are reduced to a single digit (1-9).

Hakadmi consists of the ragil values, with the value of each preceding letter added.

Hameruba haklali means the total value of a word squared.

Hameruba haperati, a more complex variant of hameruba haklali, is the sum of the squares of each individual letter.

Miluy means the sum of the values of the names of each letter that forms part of the word (also called “filling”).

2. Notarikon involves acronyms in two ways. In the first, each letter in a word is taken as the initial letter of another word, so a word can be interpreted as a sentence. An example is the word Bereshith (“In the beginning”). From every letter (tyvarb, b-r-‘-sh-y-t) a new word is created, thus forming Bereshith Ra Elohim Sheyequebelo Israel Torah (“In the beginning God saw that Israel would accept the law”).

The second kind is the reverse of the first: the initial, or sometimes final, letters of words in a sentence are taken to form just one word.

3. Timurah means the substitution of a letter for another. Following certain special rules, each letter is replaced with another that follows or precedes it in the Hebrew alphabet, thus forming an entirely new word.

A variation of timurah is atbah, permutation of letters, wherein the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is replaced by the last, the second letter is replaced by the second to the last, and so on.

4. Tziru is a more complicated process. It entails the transposition or changing the places of the letters in the Hebrew words of the Torah.

The power of God.

Mystics believe that squaring a key number is specially meaningful. The Hebrew word for God, El (la), has a value of 31 (1+30). The first chapter of the Bible has 31 verses. The number 31 squared produces 961 – a number considered representing the power of God.

The letter h (hey. “H,” 5) is at times used as a single-letter Name for God. God added hey to the names Abram and Sarai. Their new names, taken together with that of their son Isaac, who had been miraculously given to them by God in their old age, point to the power of God:

AbraHam	(1+2+200+5+40)	=	248
SaraH	(300+200+5)	=	505
Isaac	(10+90+8+100)	=	208
			961	(Power of God)

_______________

⁵⁴	“The Tangled Tether,” Personal Update, April 2005, pp. 14-15
⁵⁵	Jeffrey Satinover, Cracking the Bible Code, 1997, p. 250
⁵⁶	Wilbur Smith, The Incomparable Book, 1961, pp. 9-10
⁵⁷	J. Barton Payne, Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy; cited by Missler, op. cit., p. 219
⁵⁸	Norman Geisler and William Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, 1986, p. 13
⁵⁹	Ibid.
⁶⁰	Gordon Lindsay, Signs of the Soon Coming of Christ, p. 15
⁶¹	David Allen Lewis, “The Miraculous Preservation of the Jews, People of the Bible,” Mysteries of the Bible Now Revealed, 1999, p. 67
⁶²	Innocents Abroad, Vol. II, p. 234; quoted by David Allen Lewis, Prophecy 2000, 1990, pp. 121-123
⁶³	Howard Fast, The Jews – Story of a People, 1968, p. 366
⁶⁴	J.R. Church, “After Centuries of Exile, They Came Home!,” Prophecy in the News, October 2008, p. 6ff.
⁶⁵	out-of-zion.com, Internet
⁶⁶	Ibid.
⁶⁷	Lindsay, op. cit., p. 14
⁶⁸	Jeffrey, op. cit., p. 188
⁶⁹	Lewis, op. cit., p. 68
⁷⁰	“Israel at 63: An Export Superpower,” Petah Tikvah, July-Sept. 2011, p. 58
⁷¹	Martin Hunter, “The Bible Is the Word of God,” Letters to the Editor, December 22, 1995, National Institute for Inventors, tract
⁷²	Missler, op. cit., pp. 47, 476
⁷³	Lindsay, op. cit., pp. 12-13
⁷⁴	J.R. Church, Hidden Prophecies in the Psalms, 1986, pp. 67-69
⁷⁵	Quoted by Missler, op. cit., p. 133
⁷⁶	Missler, op. cit., pp. 126-128
⁷⁷	Michael Drosnin, The Bible Code, 1997, p. 19
⁷⁸	Ibid.
⁷⁹	Quoted by Missler, op. cit., p. 139
⁸⁰	Drosnin, op. cit., pp. 44-45
⁸¹	Missler, op. cit., p. 145
⁸²	Satinover, op. cit., p. 243
⁸³	Drosnin, loc. cit.
⁸⁴	John Weldon, Decoding the Bible Code, 1998, p. 100
⁸⁵	Op. cit., p. 133
⁸⁶	Drosnin, op. cit., p. 102
⁸⁷	Op. cit., p. 163
⁸⁸	Op. cit., p. 165
⁸⁹	Bob Schlenker, The Open Scroll, Vol. 2, No. 1
⁹⁰	Drosnin, op. cit., pp. 218-219
⁹¹	Ed Vallowe, Biblical Mathematics, 1998, Foreword
⁹²	Origen, Against Celsus, Book I, Chap. XV; cited in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1952, p. 402; cited by Missler, op. cit., p. 295
⁹³	Vallowe, loc. cit.
⁹⁴	Numbers, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1996
⁹⁵	Weldon, op. cit., p., 40
⁹⁶	Gematria, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

(Excerpted from Chapter 2, Secrets in Scriptures, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

The Mysteries of Creation

(Part 1)

Have you, like countless others, ever wondered how the world began? Stephen Hawking, the famous British theoretical physicist, wrote: “We find ourselves in a bewildering world. We want to make sense of what we see around us and to ask: What is the nature of the universe? What is our place in it and where did it and we come from?”¹

Practically all cultures on earth have a cosmogony -- a creation myth of how the world came into being. These traditions present a broad variety of scenarios that range from the death of a god or animal, whose body parts became the land, sea, and sky; to a primordial sea, from which gods and the world emerged; to eggs that hatched creator-gods; to struggles among gods, who produced offspring through incest or self-fertilization; to men springing forth from the tears of gods or even fleas from the skin of a dead god. The numerous tableaux had been limited only by the ancients’ imaginations.

Under scrutiny, however, all of these stories of origin are nothing but continuations of previous circumstances, built on things that already existed. On the other hand, the Genesis account of creation in the Bible tells of a universe that emerged from nothing.

Science confirms Scripture

In great steps, advances in modern science are confirming the Biblical account. While science textbooks have to be revised or updated from time to time in the past 200 years to accommodate new discoveries and theories, in 3,500 years nothing ever needed to be changed in the Bible. Rather, many mysteries in the Scriptures have become clear and well established facts in the light of increasing scientific knowledge.

Astronomer Hugh Ross remarks: “Instead of another bizarre creation myth, here (in the Bible) was a journal-like record of the earth’s initial conditions – correctly described from the standpoint of astrophysics and geophysics – followed by a summary of the sequence of changes through which Earth came to be inhabited by living things and ultimately by humans. The account was simple, elegant, and scientifically accurate.”²

Science writer Fred Heeren notes: “Hebrew revelation is the only religious source coming to us from ancient times that fits the modern cosmological picture. And in many cases, 20^th-century archeology and myth experts have also been forced to turn from older views that treated the Bible as myth to ones that treat it as history.”³

The convergence of Biblical teachings and scientific findings is truly amazing. Let us begin with the first few words and verses of the Bible to see for ourselves this growing harmony between science and Scripture.

A beginning

“In the beginning …” (Gen1:1).

The Judeo-Christian Scriptures unfold with the story of the birth of the universe. Ancient men generally believed in so such thing. The Greek philosopher Aristotle taught around 2,300 years ago that the world was eternal – it had always existed. Indeed, the starry sky we see on a clear night seems to be unchanging. Albert Einstein, considered one of the most brilliant scientific minds in modern times, tried to prove that we live in a static, unchanging universe. As late as the early 1960s, two-thirds of the leading American scientists surveyed professed their belief in the steady-state theory of the cosmos.⁴

In 1917, though, after Einstein published his theories of special and general relativity (1905 and 1915), Dutch astronomer Willem de Sitter saw an oversight in Einstein’s equations. He pointed out that if the density of the universe were low enough, it would not be static, but expanding at nearly the speed of light.⁵ In 1922, Russian astronomer Alexandr Friedmann found a hidden mathematical prediction in Einstein’s equations: The universe was finite, not infinite. Anything that is not infinite must have had a beginning.

In 1927 American astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that, based on the observed redshift (wavelengths of light lengthening or turning red when moving away from the observer), all the other galaxies were speeding away from the Earth. The farther away they were, the higher their velocity – as fast as about 25,000 miles per second!⁶

The law of inertia states that a body at rest remains at rest and a body in motion remains in motion unless acted upon by some outside force. Hence, the galaxies have once been close together before a force caused them to move away from each other. Ergo, the universe had a beginning. The editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica express their agreement: “The observed expansion of the universe immediately raises the spectre that the universe is evolving, that it had a beginning…”⁷

In addition, the science of thermodynamics dictates that heat must flow from a warm body to a cold one. If the universe has always existed, its temperature should be uniform throughout. However, observations indicate that the cosmic temperature is still cooling down. Therefore, the universe has not always existed – it had a starting point.

Robert Jastrow, founder and former director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, concludes that “the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are alike in one essential respect. There was a beginning, and all things in the Universe can be traced back to it.”⁸

A Beginner?

“In the beginning God…” (Gen1:1).

The law of causality, or cause and effect, declares that nothing can happen or exist without a cause. The universe, being an effect, must have had a cause. What caused the universe to come into existence?

Scientists are able to analyze and explain the observable universe; but they remain in the dark as to its cause. Paul Dirac, the Nobel laureate from Cambridge University, said: “It seems certain that there was a definite time of creation.”⁹ Aside from accepting a cosmic beginning, Dirac implies, by the word “creation,” the hand of a creator.

The Encyclopedia Britannica admits the implication: “…the notion that the Cosmos had a beginning, while common in many theologies, raises deep and puzzling questions for science, for it implies a creation event -- a creation not only of all the mass-energy that now exists in the universe but also perhaps of space-time itself.”¹⁰ Stephen Hawking is of the same mind: “So long as the universe had a beginning, we could suppose it had a creator.”¹¹

Empty space created

“In the beginning God created the heaven…” (Gen 1:1).

If the universe had a beginning, then “space” has not always been there. There was once a state or condition when the emptiness of space did not exist at all.

As most people today know, “heaven” is the empty space above and surrounding Earth in all directions, where the stars and the planets are. How did space come into being? Jewish mystics have long been familiar with this mystery: The Ein Sof (the “Infinite Nothingness”) contracted Itself to make room for space. The “contraction” is known in Kabbalistic terms as the tzimtzum.

Can you imagine what empty space is like? It contains nothing, not even light or darkness. Yet, surprisingly, scientists have discovered that the vacuum of “empty space” is not absolutely empty. Space possesses electromagnetic qualities, dielectric permittivity, intrinsic impedance, and immense “zero-point” energy that helps keep all the electrons in the cosmos in their orbits around atomic nuclei!¹²

A cosmic “air pocket”?

Perhaps we can use an analogy, although inadequate, to imagine the relationship between the Ein Sof and space: If the Ein Sof were the atmosphere that is everywhere around us, then space would be an “air pocket” (which air travelers are quite familiar with). An air pocket forms when a mass of air cools, becomes heavier, and sags as one distinct body. The air pocket is still very much a part of the atmosphere, but for the time being has acquired a separate identity of its own.

Matter materializes

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen1:1).

After creating “heaven” (space), God went on to create the “earth” in the emptiness He had just brought forth. Here, “earth” may mean something else other than the planet Earth, because the next passage says that the earth was still “without form, and void.” The Hebrew word used was 'erets (from a root meaning “to be firm”). We could thus take “earth” in the passage to mean “solid matter.”

The first law of thermodynamics states that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Something cannot be created from nothing. If so, how did the first speck of matter materialize? Paul says God created the physical universe from invisible materials: “…what is seen was not made out of things which are visible” (Heb 11:3b, NASU).

A medieval Jewish sage in Spain, Moses Ben Nachman, also known as Nacḥmanides or Ramban, wrote: “In the beginning, from total and absolute nothing, the Creator brought forth a substance so thin it had no corporeality, but that substanceless substance could take on form.”¹³

All things from “nothing”

Cosmologists generally believe that in the beginning there was nothing. Then, all of a sudden, from out of that nothing, the universe was born. Jewish sages are in complete agreement. They just differ in their concept of “nothing.”

Scientists arrive at a mathematical “zero.” Stephen Hawking says that “the total energy of the universe is exactly zero.”¹⁴ Paul Davies wonders: “Astronomers can measure the masses of galaxies, their average separation, and their speeds of recession. Putting these numbers into a formula yields a quantity which some physicists have interpreted as the total energy of the universe. The answer does indeed come out to be zero within the observational accuracy. The reason for this distinctive result has long been a source of puzzlement to cosmologists. Some have suggested that there is a deep cosmic principle at work which requires the universe to have exactly zero energy.”¹⁵

In contrast, by “nothing” Jewish philosophers mean the Ein Sof – the “Infinite Nothingness” -- God. It appears He was that “deep cosmic principle at work” in the beginning.

A thought in God’s mind?

In Space-Time and Beyond, Fred Alan Wolf wrote: “The quantum physicist calls the ‘pre-matter’ phase, the quantum wave function. The quantum wave function is very well calculated, but it is not matter! It is not anything, really… As fantastic as it sounds, the mathematical models for such things are very well defined and, mathematically at least, well understood… the quantum wave represents where and when something is likely to occur; in other words, it is a measure of the probability of an event taking place… this probability not only exists in our minds, but also moves in space and time. In other words this wave is both in our minds and out there in the world.”¹⁶

Before matter first appeared, was it merely a probability in the mind of God? Paul Davies muses, “it seems that the entire universe may be nothing more than a thought in the mind of God.”¹⁷ James Jeans, the knighted British mathematician, says: “The world looks more like a great thought than a great machine”¹⁸ and adds: “If the universe is a universe of thought, then its creation must have been an act of thought.”¹⁹

From wave to particle?

In 1906 English physicist J.J. Thomson won the Nobel Prize for demonstrating that electrons were particles. In 1924 French physicist Louis de Broglie (who won the Nobel Prize in 1929) proposed that all matter, including light, possessed a quality called “wave-particle duality” – that is, they can appear as either waves or particles.²⁰ J.J. Thomson’s only son, George Paget Thomson, likewise became a Nobel laureate in 1937 by proving that electrons were waves! Both father and son, as well as de Broglie, were correct – they established the wave-particle duality common to all subatomic entities.

Quantum physicists now know that when an atom is broken down to its subatomic components, particles like protons, neutrons, and electrons surprisingly lose their characteristics as particles. They may sometimes still behave like particles, but they no longer have dimensions. Thus, a subatomic entity, such as an electron, can appear as a particle or a wave. Amazed physicists found that if we assume that a quantum entity is a particle, it will appear as a particle. Assume it is a wave, and we will observe it as a wave! We see matter the way we believe it exists. In theory, all matter, including humans, has this property of duality.²¹

Was the wave-particle duality principle responsible for a thought of God morphing from a wave into the first particle of matter?

Infinitesimal speck

Advocates of the Big Bang Theory hold that the universe began as an infinitesimally small, infinitely hot, and incredibly compact point called a “singularity.” It contained all the matter of the universe. This hews closely to what Jewish sages have taught for centuries.

In his exegesis of Genesis in the 12^th century, Moses Maimonides said that the entire universe had been created from something smaller than a mustard seed.²² Nachmanides corroborated that: “Now this creation was a very small point and from this all things that ever were or will be formed.”²³ Later, in 1930, Belgian astronomer Georges Lemaitre described the primal atom as a super dense “cosmic egg.”

Astronomer Edwin Hubble’s discovery of an expanding universe implies that all the particles that make up the universe were indeed once tightly packed together. The supremely hot and compact speck suddenly exploded and dispersed at close to the speed of light, eventually forming the stars and the galaxies.

Fellow astronomer John D. Barrow of the University of Sussex, in England, speculates: “If the universe is expanding, then when we reverse the direction of history and look in the past we should find evidence that it emerged from a smaller, denser state – a state that appears to have once had zero size. It is the apparent beginning that has become known as the big bang.”²⁴ Advocates of the Big Bang Theory are fond of saying: “First, there was nothing. Then it exploded.”

“Quantum fluctuation”

The NASA posits that the creation of the universe was the result of a “quantum fluctuation.” Quantum what?

Edward Tryon first proposed the idea in a Nature magazine article in 1973: “Is the Universe a Vacuum Fluctuation?”²⁵ Scientific writer Andrew Chaikin remarks: “Quantum mechanics says that matter and energy can appear spontaneously out of the vacuum of space, thanks to something called a quantum fluctuation, a sort of hiccup in the energy field thought to pervade the cosmos.”²⁶

Physicists have realized that even the supposedly empty vacuum of space has “things” swarming in it. As author Richard Morris (The Edges of Science) points out: “In modern physics, there is no such thing as ‘nothing.’ Even in a perfect vacuum, pairs of virtual particles are constantly being created and destroyed. The existence of these particles is no mathematical fiction. Though they cannot be directly observed, the effects they create are quite real. The assumption that they exist leads to predictions that have been confirmed by experiment to a high degree of accuracy.”²⁷ The spontaneous appearance and disappearance of virtual particles in space is what scientists call a “quantum fluctuation.”

Law of parity. An article in The New York Times (August 21, 1990), entitled "New Direction in Physics: Back in Time," explains that “the vacuum's totally empty space is actually a seething turmoil of creation and annihilation, which to the ordinary world appears calm because the scale of fluctuations in the vacuum is tiny and the fluctuations tend to cancel each other out."²⁸

In other words, as soon as a virtual particle appears, its closely following antiparticle twin collides with it, destroying both of them. The process of mutual destruction is part of the “law of parity.” (The “virtual particles” are pairs of matter and antimatter, such as quarks and antiquarks, which form the atoms that make up all things in the universe. An antiparticle is identical to its particle partner in every way, except that its charge or spin is the exact opposite.)

The Encarta Encyclopedia sheds further light on the matter: “In physics, the seemingly inviolable law of parity holds that the conversion of energy into matter produces equal amounts of matter and antimatter that then annihilate each other.”²⁹

A quark of nature

Until the 1950s physicists believed there was always perfect balance and symmetry in the creation and mutual annihilation of matter and antimatter. Yet, if that was the case, the universe could never have materialized. All matter would have vanished almost as soon as it had appeared. But a quirk of nature happened. Every so many collisions left one extra particle or quark surviving intact.

Matter-antimatter imbalance. In 1964, James W. Cronin of the University of Chicago and Val L. Fitch of Princeton did experiments which showed that every so often an extra particle survived the matter-antimatter annihilation: two in each 1,200 decays of a particle produced a survivor that violated the law of parity. For their achievement, Cronin and Fitch shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1980.³⁰

Physicist Gerald Schroeder speaks of even greater odds: In the first 1/100,000 of a second of the Big Bang, more quarks than antiquarks were produced – 10,000,000,001 particles for every 10,000,000,000 antiparticles -- establishing a numerical edge of matter over antimatter. Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg wrote: “The one part in ten billion excess of matter over antimatter is one of the key initial conditions that determined the future development of the universe.”³¹

The extra quarks left by the matter-antimatter imbalance in the quantum fluctuations accumulated and bonded together to form the elements that gave birth to the stars and the galaxies, and, later, all living organisms. What caused the imbalance?

Astrophysicist John Gribbin comments that, although scientists can describe in detail what happened after the creation, they cannot explain what started it all. The “instant of creation remains a mystery… maybe God did make it, after all.”³²

¹	Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time, 1988, p. 171
²	Hugh Ross, The Creator and the Cosmos, 1993, p. 15
³	Fred Heeren, Show Me God, 1997, Preface; quoted in “The Beginning of the Universe,” Does God Exist?, 2000, p. 12
⁴	Gerald Schroeder, The Science of God, 1997, p. 23
⁵	De Sitter, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)
⁶	Robert Faid, “The Factual Scientific Accuracy of the Bible,” Mysteries of the Bible Now Revealed, 1999, p. 136
⁷	Cosmos, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition
⁸	Robert Jastrow, Journey to the Stars, 1989, p. 47
⁹	Quoted by Grant Jeffrey, The Signature of God, 1996, p. 117
¹⁰	Cosmos, op. cit.
¹¹	Hawking, op. cit., pp. 140-141
¹²	“Why ‘Six Days’?,” Personal Update, November 2003, p. 11
¹³	Quoted by Schroeder, op. cit., p. 184
¹⁴	Hawking, op. cit., p. 129
¹⁵	Paul Davies, God and the New Physics, 1983, pp. 31-32
¹⁶	Fred Alan Wolf, Space-Time and Beyond, 1987, pp. 128-129
¹⁷	Quoted in “Whence Our ‘Reality’?,” Personal Update, Dec. 2003, p. 4
¹⁸	Quoted by Schroeder, op. cit., Introduction
¹⁹	James H. Jeans, The Mysterious Universe, revised edition, 1932, p. 181
²⁰	De Broglie, Louis Victor, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)
²¹	Schroeder, op. cit., p. 160
²²	Cited by Schroeder, op. cit., p. 58
²³	Quoted by Schroeder, op. cit., 1997, p. 184
²⁴	John D. Barrow, The Origin of the Universe, 1994, pp. 3-5
²⁵	Cited by Schroeder, op. cit., p. 62
²⁶	Andrew Chaikin, “Are There Other Universes?”, Science Tuesday, 05 February 2002, Internet
²⁷	Richard Morris, The Edges of Science, 1990, p. 25
²⁸	“New Direction in Physics: Back in Time,” The New York Times, nytimes.com/1990/08/21/science, Internet
²⁹	1980: Nobel Prizes, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004
³⁰	Ibid.
³¹	Steven Weinberg, “Life in the Universe”; quoted by Schroeder, op. cit., pp. 188-189
³²	John Gribbin, “Taking the Lid Off Cosmology,” New Scientist, August 16, 1979, p. 506

(Excerpted from Chapter 3, Conundrums of Creation, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

Mysteries of Creation

(Part 2)

Gases and dust

“And the earth was without form, and void…” (Gen1:2a)

Scripture suggests and science affirms that the primeval particles of matter were in the form of gases and dust before they bonded together to form the celestial bodies and all things else in the universe.

In 1796, French astronomer Pierre Laplace advanced the “nebular hypothesis” in his book Exposition of the System of the Universe. He proposed that the stars, the sun, and the planets formed from nebulae – swirling clouds of interstellar gases, dust, and minerals

According to the theory, refined over the past 200 years, dynamic interactions cause a spinning cloud to flatten into a disk as gravity pulls much of the materials into the center, which begins to contract. The contraction raises the pressure and temperature at the core until it develops into a “protosun.” The outer parts of the disk, on the other hand, cool down. Mutual attraction causes solid pieces and ice crystals to agglomerate and form asteroids, planetesimals, and rocky inner planets like Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, while farther out gases and dust freeze into great ice balls that become outer gaseous planets, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

“Blackbody” of space

“…and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Gen1:2b).

Space, at the outset, was simply an empty darkness. Did God create darkness? Or was darkness the mere absence of light? The Scriptures tell us that the Creator also made darkness: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isa 45:7).

Towards the end of the 1800s, physicists observed that, at very low temperatures, efficient emitters and absorbers of radiation appeared black. They thus called a perfect emitter or absorber of radiation a “blackbody.”³³

The rate of absorption depends on the size of the exposed surface area – the larger the area, the greater the absorption. The immense darkness of space therefore is the ultimate “blackbody.”

The Spirit of God

“And the Spirit of God moved…” (Gen1:2c)

The presence of physical space presented a medium for motion to take place in. The first recorded motion in space is that of God’s Spirit.

What, daresay, is Spirit? The Spirit of God moved, so It must have possessed energy. Or was It itself energy?

And what in turn is energy? Physicists say energy can be scientifically detected, measured, and managed, but nobody really knows what it is. Yet, everything in the universe is energy. In fact, energy fills the entire universe. Scientists generally accept the existence of an “energy field thought to pervade the cosmos.”³⁴

Matter, moreover, is simply congealed or solidified energy.

Energy into matter.

Albert Einstein’s famous formula (E=mc²) for his theory of relativity equates energy “E” to mass “m” (matter). In short, energy and matter are interchangeable. Energy can be transformed into matter, and vice-versa. Perhaps, not too surprisingly, the psalmist knew this in spiritual terms 3,000 years ago: “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created” (Ps 104:30). Did God’s Spirit, which is energy, produce matter?

A New York Times article of Aug. 21, 1990, concurs: "According to quantum theory… potential existence can be transformed into real existence by the addition of energy. (Energy and matter are equivalent, since all matter ultimately consists of packets of energy.)"³⁵

Hawking elaborates: “There are something like ten million million million million million million million million million million million million million million (1 with 85 zeroes after it) particles in the region of the universe that we can observe. Where did they all come from? The answer is that, in quantum theory, particles can be created out of energy in the form of particle/antiparticle pairs.”³⁶

Particles of matter are created from energy. Or, perhaps we should say, Divine Energy?

God entered space-time?

Did God enter the space-time domain in the form of His Spirit? How can the Infinite Nothingness be inside the finite space-time framework?

God apparently manifested an essence of Himself as the Spirit in the material universe. The Infinite Nothingness, having no physical form or dimensions, would not have entered the limitations of space-time that He had created. Doing so would have subjected Him to the laws of nature that He Himself had set in operation.

A part, such as space-time, cannot possibly contain the whole, in this case the Infinite Nothingness. It would have been like trying to put a tree into its seed.

Electromagnetic properties.

Eliphaz, Job’s friend, encountered a spirit: “Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up” (Job 4:15). Since the passing spirit caused the hair on the body of Eliphaz to stand, the unseen entity must have had the effect of static electricity.

Is an ordinary spirit similar to the Spirit of God? God is the Father of spirits: “…shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits…” (Heb 12:9b). It follows, then, that the Spirit of God, the spirits of His sons, the angels, and the spirits of men are similar in nature -- energy with electromagnetic properties.

Water in space

“And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen1:2c).

Water in space before the creation of the earth? Aristotle recorded in his book, Metaphysics, that Thales, the earliest Greek philosopher, believed that the source of all things was water.³⁷

Elementary element.

A molecule of water (H₂O), as we learned in school, is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Hydrogen, which means “water-maker” (hydro-gen) in Greek, is the most abundant element in the universe. A hydrogen atom is the lightest, simplest, and most basic of all atoms, consisting of just one proton as the nucleus and one electron orbiting around it.

In 1948, Russian-born physicist George Gamow, who produced the first evidences for the Big Bang with his students Alpher and Herman, worked out the nuclear reactions that could have occurred during the first few minutes of the explosion.³⁸ They found that, after about one second, protons would have formed. In the next three minutes, when the temperature of the universe was about 300 million degrees Kelvin,³⁹ protons and neutrons would have formed hydrogen, as well as the other light elements -- primarily helium, and some lithium, beryllium, boron.⁴⁰ The initial nucleosynthesis stopped when there were approximately 78% hydrogen and 22% helium by weight, or 93% hydrogen and 7% helium abundances.⁴¹

Their calculations have since been confirmed through spectroscopic observations. “Atomic hydrogen clouds are the most widely distributed in interstellar space and, together with molecular hydrogen clouds, contain most of the gaseous and particulate matter of interstellar space...”⁴² Hydrogen today comprises some 73% of the visible mass of the universe,⁴³ while helium constitutes approximately 23%.⁴⁴ The Sun alone burns about 40 million tons of hydrogen per second.

Most abundant element.

How did Moses, who wrote the book of Genesis around 3,500 years ago, know that water, or at least its main component hydrogen, was the very first and most abundant element in the universe? Peter reiterated this scientific fact in his general epistle about 1,500 years later: “But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water” (2 Peter 3:5-6, NIV).

Just as the Bible says, science has discovered that there were “waters” (hydrogen) in space before the earth took shape!

Curiously, this information is in the Hebrew word for “heavens” – shamayim. The Hebrew term for “waters” is mayim, while sham means “there” or “in it.” Hence, shamayim can be read as: “there (sham) are waters (mayim) -- in the heavens (shamayim)”! Could this be a mere coincidence?

Light created

“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Gen 1:3).

In the deep darkness of the “blackbody” of space, the Creator next brought into existence… light!

An unimaginably brilliant flash of light must have burst forth, filling all of primordial space. George Gamow was led to say: “One may almost quote the Biblical statement, In the beginning there was light, and plenty of it.”⁴⁵

Early men knew the sun lighted up the world. It was inconceivable to have light in the heavens without the sun, as well as the moon and the stars. So, even as late as at the time of Moses, to be told that light was created before the sun must have stretched their imaginations to the brink of incredulity; or, worse, unbelief.

Light from “water.”

Scientists know all too well that hydrogen atoms are typical sources of photons -- light. When four hydrogen atoms combine into a helium atom through the process of thermonuclear fusion, the energy released is transformed into light and heat.

Thus, the Sun generates radiant energy -- light – through the nuclear conversion of hydrogen into helium. In a hydrogen bomb explosion, hydrogen atoms fuse to produce a blinding blast of light and energy.

Science once again confirms the truth of the Biblical account. But… just what is light?

Electromagnetic radiation.

Technically, “light” is the generic term used for any and all kinds of electromagnetic radiation. In waves of electric and magnetic energy consisting of elementary particles called photons, light results when atoms gain surplus energy by absorbing photons from other sources or by being struck by other particles. As the atoms give up the extra energy, photons are emitted as light.⁴⁶

There are many forms of radiant energy, but seven forms are well known: radio waves, microwaves, infrared rays, visible light, ultraviolet rays, x-rays, gamma rays. Radio waves have the longest wavelengths, measured in meters; gamma rays shortest at 0.000000001 cm. In the color spectrum, red has the longest wavelengths at 0.000075 cm, with violet the shortest at 0.000035 cm. Regardless of their wavelengths and frequencies (number of times waves are repeated within a given period), all forms of electromagnetic radiation travel at the speed of light.

Gottfried Leibniz, 17^th century German philosopher-mathematician, observed that a ray of light always chose a path that took it fastest to a destination,⁴⁷ a phenomenon known as the “principle of least action.” Why do they do that when they can just, let us say, drift? Max Planck, the eminent German physicist, could not help saying, “Photons… behave like intelligent human beings.”⁴⁸

The speed of light.

Men had always believed that light was instantaneous. In 1676 Danish astronomer Olaf Roemer announced that the irregular behavior of the eclipse times of Io, Jupiter’s inner moon, could be accounted for by a finite speed of light. The English astronomer James Bradley independently confirmed in 1729 the finite speed of light.In 1983, the speed of light was officially declared a universal constant of nature at 299,792.458 kilometers (about 186,282 miles) per second.

According to Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity, the velocity of light is the ultimate speed limit. Only objects without mass can travel at that speed. Photons, having no mass, traverse space without any loss of energy. Changes in their wavelengths or frequencies do not affect their velocity. At the speed of light, time stops. Light, including all forms of electromagnetic energy, thus exists in a timeless state. The fact that light is outside the realm of time has been proven in thousands of experiments at hundreds of universities.⁴⁹

Light speed decelerating? From 1929 to 1940, Raymond Birge, physics department chairman at the University of California, Berkeley, and arbiter of atomic constants (such as the speed of light), several times recommended decreasing the value for the speed of light.⁵⁰ In 1979, an Australian college student, Barry Setterfield, charted 163 measurements of the speed of light using 16 different methods since Roemer. He found that in general the older the observation, the faster the speed of light.⁵¹

Measurements of the Speed of Light

Year	Experimenter	Speed (km/s)	(+/- km/s)
1657	Roemer	307,600
1738	(Not named)	303,320	310
1861	(Not named)	300,050	60
1875	Harvard	299,921	13
1880	Michelson	299,910	50
1883	Newcomb	299,860	30
1883	Michelson	299,853	60
1926	Michelson	299,796	4
1950	Bergstrand	299,792.7	.25
1952	Froome	299,792.6	.7
1967	Grosse	299,792.5	.050
1974	Blaney et al.	299,792.459	.0006
1976	Woods et al.	299,792.4588	.0002
1977	Monchalin et al.	299,792.457.6	.00073

With statistician Dr. Trevor Norman, Setterfield showed that, even with the technical crudeness of early experiments, the speed of light was discernibly higher 100 years ago, and as much as 7% higher in the 1700s. Canadian mathematician Alan Montgomery has published a computer analysis backing the Setterfield-Norman findings, indicating that the decay of the speed of light “closely follows a cosecant-squared curve, and has been asymptotic since 1958. If he is correct, the speed of light was 10-30% faster in the time of Christ; twice as fast in the days of Solomon; four times as fast in the days of Abraham, and perhaps more than ten million times faster prior to 3000 B.C.”In 1987, Russian cosmologist V.S. Troitskii calculated that the speed of light was originally about 10¹⁰ (ten billion) times faster at time zero.⁵²

Other scientists have published works asserting that light speed was as much as 10 to the 10^th power faster in the early stages of the Big Bang than it is today.⁵³ For his part, Setterfield estimates that the speed of light was infinite 6,000 years ago.

Light speed accelerated! The London Sunday Times reported on June 4, 2000: “In research carried out in the United States, particle physicists have shown that light pulses can be accelerated to up to 300 times their normal velocity of 186,000 miles per second… The work was carried out by Dr. Lijun Wang of the NEC research institute in Princeton, who transmitted a pulse of light towards a chamber filled with specially treated cesium gas. Before the pulse had fully entered the chamber it had gone right through it and traveled a further 60 (feet) across the laboratory. In effect it existed in two places at once, a phenomenon that Wang explains by saying it traveled 300 times faster than light.” In effect, light leaped forward in time!

The Italian National Research Council has reportedly approximated Wang’s results by making microwaves travel 25% faster than light.⁵⁴ In fine, all the studies agree: the speed of light is not constant. Light can travel slower or faster than the presently accepted “speed of light.”

Many are excited over the possibilities. Others are bothered. If the findings hold true, they would shatter Einstein’s theory of relativity, which states that the speed of light is an inviolable universal constant.

The Big Bang

The “Big Bang” is the most widely accepted theory of the origin of the universe. After the Hubble discovery in 1927 that all the other galaxies were speeding away from the Earth, George Gamow proposed in the 1940s that all matter in the universe was once compressed in an extremely hot and compact point that suddenly exploded, with the expanding matter forming the galaxies. (The Bible depicts that event in more unequivocal terms: "I am the LORD, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens…” -- Isa 44:24a, NKJV.)

In early 2006 NASA announced the findings of a team of U.S. and Canadian scientists indicating an exceedingly rapid inflation at the birth of the universe. “Data collected from a new satellite map of the 13.7 billion-year-old universe backed the concept of inflation, which poses that the universe expanded many trillion times its size in less than a trillionth of a second.”⁵⁵

Only photons could have traveled at that incredible speed. The Big Bang was an immense explosion of photons – light. Robert Jastrow wrote: “Now we see how the astronomical evidence leads to a biblical view of the origin of the world. The details differ, but the essential elements in the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the same: The chain of events leading to man commenced suddenly and sharply at a definite moment in time, in a flash of light and energy.”⁵⁶

Light into matter.

The rapidly dispersing light (photons) transformed into matter in accordance to Einstein’s equation (E = mc²)! Just how did it happen?

Schroeder points out that “as long as radiant energy (E) is more powerful than a specific threshold needed to make a particle of matter, that energy can change spontaneously and become a particle of nuclear matter (m).” (“Threshold” refers to the minimum temperature of “quark confinement,” “approximately a million million times hotter than the current 3^oK black of space,” when quarks bond together to form protons and neutrons, converting energy into matter.)⁵⁷

Science writer George Sim Johnston is amazed: “Twentieth-century physics… describes the beginning of the universe in virtually the same cosmological terms as Genesis. Space, time and matter came out of nothing in a… burst of light entirely hospitable to carbon-based life.”⁵⁸

Surprisingly, the Jews in olden times knew this: “Mehitabut ha'orot, nithavu hakelim” ("From the condensation of the lights, were the vessels brought into being") – an old Jewish saying.⁵⁹

Lab-created matter. The title of an article in the 1997 Encarta Yearbook is a grabber: “Scientists Create Matter Out of Light.” It tells of experimental physicists bombarding heavy atoms (made up of many protons and neutrons) with high-energy radiation in the form of X-rays. Collisions between the X-ray beam and the atoms created pairs of electron (matter) and positron (antimatter) particles.

In other trials at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in Palo Alto, California, scientists accelerated a beam of electrons at close to the speed of light, then directed a pulse of high-energy laser light at the electron beam. When a photon collided with an electron, the photon ricocheted onto other photons from the laser with such force that the ensuing energy produced an electron-positron (matter-antimatter) pair. The physicists recorded over 100 pairs in several months.

Big Bang problems.

The Big Bang Theory violates many laws of physics. For instance, the second law of thermodynamics (entropy) states that all systems proceed from an orderly state to one of disorder. In short, all things break down and deteriorate. How could the orderly universe be the result of the Big Bang -- an explosion, which is a form of destruction?

It was highly improbable for the rapidly expanding universe to have produced highly concentrated and rotating bodies, as well as solar systems and clusters of galaxies. Moreover, can fast-moving objects accompany slow-moving objects? Many quasars with very high redshifts cluster with galaxies having low redshifts. Apparently moving at different velocities, they should have dispersed a long, long time ago.

In the disorder of the Big Bang, something (or, perhaps, Someone?) introduced order so that the universe could form.

^33.Danny Faulkner, “Do Creationists Believe in ‘Weird’ Physics?”, The New Answers Book 2, 2008, pp. 328-329

^34. Andrew Chaikin, “Are There Other Universes?”, Science Tuesday, 05 February 2002, Internet^35.“New Direction in Physics: Back in Time”

^36. Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time, 1988, p. 171

^37.Thales, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)

^38. Big Bang Theory, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

^39. Gerald Schroeder, The Science of God, 1997, p. 190

^40.Big Bang Theory, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

^41.Schroeder, op. cit., pp. 189-190

^42.Cosmos, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

^43.Hydrogen, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

^44.Helium, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

^45.Quoted by Migene Gonzalez-Wippler, A Kabbalah for the Modern World, 1977 edition, p. 37

^46.Light, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)

^47.Cited by Gonzalez-Wippler, op. cit., p. 9

^48.Op. cit., p. 11

^49.Schroeder, op. cit., p. 171

^50.Helen D. Setterfield, “History of the Light-Speed Debate,” Personal Update, July 2002, p. 10

^51.Chris Bennett, Speed of light slowing down?, July 31, 2004, WorldNetDaily.com

^52.Chuck Missler, Cosmic Codes, revised 2004, pp. 343-345

^53.Dr. Joao Magueijo of Imperial College in London, Dr. John Barrow of Cambridge, Dr. Andy Albrecht of the University of California at Davis, and Dr. John Moffat of the University of Toronto

^54.Jonathan Leake, London Sunday Times, June 4, 2000

^55.“Astronomers detect new clues on universe’s expansion,” The Philippine Star, March 19, 2006

^56.Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers, 1978, p. 14

^57.Schroeder, op. cit., p. 187

^58.George Sim Johnston, Reader’s Digest, May 1991, p. 31

^59.“Spiritual Time, Space, Mass, Light and Energy,” A Study of the Book of Revelation, updated 8/20/00, Internet

(Excerpted from Chapter 3, Conundrums of Creation, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

MYSTERIES OF CREATION

(Part 3)

An orderly universe

Astrophysicist Paul Davies marvels that “the universe conforms to an orderly scheme and is not an arbitrary muddle of events”⁶⁰But of course. The world was not created in a random manner. Albert Einstein once sagely said: “God does not play dice with the universe.” That truth has been in Scripture for some 3,000 years: “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD” (Prov 16:33).

A new field of mathematics called “Chaos Theory” is devoted to the study of random effects. “Mathematicians, however, have been unable to prove the physical existence of randomness,” according to author Chuck Missler (Cosmic Codes, 2004). The search for randomness may prove to be a futile pursuit. The apostle Paul tells us: “For God is not a God of disorder…” (1 Cor 14:33-34a, NIV).

Solomon knew that heaven and earth had been intelligently created and arranged in certain ways for certain reasons. “By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place…” (Prov 3:19, NIV).

Size of the universe

On a clear night, a person with good eyesight may be able to count about 1,029 stars in the sky. With a pair of binoculars or a low-power telescope, he or she can raise the number to some 3,300 stars. As late as 1915, astronomers thought the Milky Way made up the entire universe. Then, in 1925, Edwin Hubble, using his new 100-inch mirror telescope, reported there were as many galaxies as there were stars in the Milky Way, our home galaxy. Current observations indicate there are at least 100 billion galaxies in observable space – each having no less than 100 billion stars – totaling some 10,000 billion billion stars in the universe.

Estimates place the diameter of the cosmos at no less than 40 billion light years; the Milky Way, 80-100 thousand light years wide and 6,000 light years thick. Earth is 25,000-30,000 light years from the galactic center and about 100,000 light years from the center of the universe.

However, University of Arizona astronomer Chris Impey says there are parts of the universe that we cannot observe, because light from extremely distant areas has not yet reached Earth. "We know that our own physical universe is substantially, maybe enormously larger, than the visible universe," he says.⁶¹

Cosmic shape.

Most scientists assume that after the Big Bang matter agglomerated into stars and galaxies, forming an "island universe" in a "sea" of space.

In Einstein’s general theory of relativity, the universe is spherical in shape and finite, with boundaries. He had built his concept around a system by German mathematician Georg Riemann, who said that three-dimensional space curved in every direction in a constant curvature. Thus, a ray of light always curved back on itself over the same path, endlessly. Could there be anything “outside” that spherical universe?

Other cosmological models assume that the universe has no edges. D. Russell Humphreys explains: “In the big bang's mathematical model, space itself expanded outward with the ball of hot matter, with the matter completely filling space at all times. There would never be a large empty part. In the most favored version of the big bang, if you traveled very fast in any given direction, you would arrive back at your starting point without ever encountering a large region of empty space. That makes it impossible to define a boundary around the matter.”⁶² Hence, a border cannot outline the shape of the universe because, without any space around it, the universe has no outer edges.

How many dimensions?

The Bible says God can do many things with the heavens (space): “I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens…” (Isa 44:24b); “Which alone spreadeth out the heavens” (Job 9:8a); “He bowed the heavens…” (2 Sam 22:10a); “the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll…” (Isa 34:4b); “Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens…” (Isa 64:1a); “I will shake the heavens…” (Hag 2:6b); “And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up…” (Heb 1:12a); “The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up…” (Rev 6:14, NASU).

If all those things can be done to the “heavens,” there must be some sort of “room” around space wherein it can be manipulated – another dimension or dimensions conjoined to space! There are several known, as well as theorized, numbers of dimensions:

3 dimensions. Greek mathematician Euclid (d. 270 B.C.), the “father of geometry,” measured objects according to length, width, and height or depth. Paul named these three dimensions in an epistle: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height…” (Eph 3:17-18a).

4 dimensions. In 1854, Georg Riemann proposed that “forces” were the result of a distortion of geometry. Almost sixty years later, Albert Einstein published his famous Theory of Relativity, making use of a four-dimensional Riemannian geometry, with “time” as the fourth physical dimension.

5 dimensions. Scientists seek a “theory of everything” (General Unified Theory) that would integrate all the forces in the cosmos. Albert Einstein tried, but failed to unify gravity and electromagnetism. About 1915 the German-Polish mathematician Theodor Kaluza and Swedish physicist Oskar Klein proposed that the two could be mathematically unified if the universe had five dimensions. As a result, many particle scientists now treat light as a vibration in the fifth dimension.

6 dimensions. Philosophers during the Middle Ages taught their students that there were no less than six visually perceptible physical dimensions: before, behind, left, right, above, and below.

10 dimensions. Thirteenth century Jewish sage Nachmanides concluded from his study of Genesis chapter 1 that the universe had ten dimensions – four are knowable, six indiscernible. Quantum scientists arrived at the same numbers after British physicist Paul Dirac developed the “string theory” in 1950. Quantum particles like quarks, electrons, and neutrinos, usually considered "points" without length, width, or height, are more easily described when viewed as “strings,” which have only one dimension -- length. Their particular vibrations give different particles their appearances. But strings are said to occur outside the four dimensions of space-time, curled up within themselves, so at least six additional dimensions are needed to detect them.

Interestingly, the number “10” is the gematria or numerical value of the Hebrew letter yod (“Y”), the initial of the sacred Name of God.

26 dimensions. The addition of “supersymmetry” to the String Theory has led to even more novel “superstring” theories, which are now the frontrunners in the quest to unify the four fundamental forces of nature. Some variations of “superstring” theories require as many as 26 dimensions to explain particle properties and interactions.

Coincidentally, “26” is also the sum of the four Hebrew letters that spell the Tetragrammaton (Y/10+H/5+W/6+H/5=26).

⁶⁰Paul Davies, The Goldilocks Enigma, 2006, pp. 15-16

⁶¹Quoted by Andrew Chaikin, “Are There Other Universes?”, Science Tuesday, 05 February 2002, Internet

⁶²D. Russell Humphreys, “Seven Years of Starlight and Time,” Internet

(Excerpted from Chapter 3, Conundrums of Creation, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

Primordial Planet Puzzles (Part 5)

Day 6: Mammals, creeping things, man

“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good” (Gen 1:24-25).

Interpretations of Day 6:

Literal 24-hour Days: the day man was created circa 6,000 years ago
Thousand-Year Days: circa 7,000-6,000 years ago
Diminishing Day-Ages: circa 468,750,000-13,306 years ago (Duration: approximately 468,735,694 years)

Young Earth Creationists claim land animals and man first walked on earth some 6,000 years ago, or 7,000-6,000 years ago at the earliest.

In the Diminishing Day-Ages timeline, God created land animals and hominids during Day-Age 6, 468,750,000 to 13,306 years ago (kya).

A multi-segmented Day 6?

In the Diminishing Day-Ages timeline, the sixth segment should be Day-Age 6, ending about 234,375,000 years ago after the creation of land animals (amphibians, insects, reptiles, mammals). But it cannot be the Biblical Day 6, because it ended before man could be created.

However, if we continue with the exponentially regressing pattern, we see the coming of hominids in the succeeding segments until around 28,611 years ago. For still unclear reasons, it appears that the time segments after Day-Age 5 are not individual day-ages, but parts of a multi-segmented Day-Age 6! There is no apparent basis, but the time segments match the scientific estimates accurately.

There is a clue in the Bible, though. More time and words were used to relate the events of Day 6, because more things happened and more entities were created on that last creative “day.” Moreover, there is a textual parallel in the next chapter, where one “day” is used to mean several days: “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens” (Gen 2:4). We know that the “the earth and the heavens” were not created in one single “day,’ but over several “days.”

Did God (Elohim) use more segments of time for Day-Age 6 to create animals of a higher order, as well as to perfect man -- the prime paradigm of His creative work? Let go through those time segments.

Day-Age 6-a

Circa 468,750,000 to 234,375,000 years ago (Duration: approximately 234,375,000 years)

First of worst extinctions. Paleontologists have identified at least 17 mass extinctions since life began on earth. Eight are major, all of which took place in the last 500 million years. However, five events are the most devastating: the first took place around 438 million years ago during Day-Age 6-a. Over 85% of species became extinct.⁵⁷

Amphibians created. God created land animals and “creeping things” on Day 6. Fossil remains show that amphibians, a kind of creeping creature, crawled onto dry land around 417 million years ago during Day-Age 6-a.

Second of worst extinctions. The second of the five worst mass extinction events also happened during Day-Age 6-a, approximately 367 million years ago. This time, 82% of all species were lost.⁵⁸

Insects created. God created insects approximately 350 million years ago during Day-Age 6-a. Scientists are puzzled why insects, comprising 80% of all living and extinct animal species, have no known evolutionary ancestors.

A U.S. government reference (Insects, 1952) states: “There is… no fossil evidence bearing on the question of insect origin; the oldest insects known show no transition to other arthropods.”⁵⁹

Reptiles created. God created more “creeping things” – reptiles. The record of the rocks reveals that cold-blooded saurians, the forerunners of modern lizards, arose on the face of the planet starting approximately 323 million years ago during Day-Age 6-a.

Mammals created. God created warm-blooded mammals -- the “beasts of the earth” (wild animals) and “cattle” (domestic animals).

The fossil record shows that the mammals first walked upon the earth 248 million years ago during Day-Age 6-a.

Third of worst extinctions. The third and most devastating of the five worst mass extinctions also occurred during Day-Age 6-a, some 245 million years ago. As much as 96% of all species were wiped out.

The destruction was so great paleontologists use this event to mark the end of the ancient or Paleozoic Era and the beginning of the middle or Mesozoic Era, when many new groups of animals arose.⁶⁰

Day-Age 6-b

Circa 234,375,000 to 117,187,500 years ago (Duration: approximately 117,187,500 years)

Fourth of worst extinctions. The fourth of the five worst mass extinctions transpired some 208 million years ago, claiming about 76% of all species at the time, including many reptiles.⁶¹

Archaeopteryx appeared. A chimeric creature appeared 150 million years ago. Scientists say it was the first true bird – with feathers and wings, and a “wishbone” (the fused collarbones underpinning wing muscles). However, it also had jaws with teeth, claws on its wings, and a long tail like dinosaurs. It was half-bird, half-reptile – the archaeopteryx!

It seems to be alluded to in Scripture. Leviticus 11:18 (NKJV) lists birds: “the white owl, the jackdaw, and the carrion vulture.” The “while owl” is tanshemeth in the Hebrew original. Several verses later, 11:30 lists reptiles: “the gecko, the monitor lizard, the sand reptile, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.” Strangely, “chameleon” is also tanshemeth in the original. The word tanshemeth, applicable to both a bird and a reptile, perfectly describes the archaeopteryx! Was tanshemeth the Scriptural term for the archaeopteryx?

Day-Age 6-c

Circa 117,187,500 to 58,593,750 years ago (Duration: approximately 58,593,750 years)

Fifth of worst extinctions. The fifth and most recent of the five worst mass extinctions occurred more or less 65 million years ago, with the death of 76% of all species, most notably the dinosaurs.⁶²

Primates created. Around the time that “terrible lizards” (dinosaurs) became extinct, primates – animals that resemble modern lemurs, monkeys, and apes – came onto the scene some 65,000,000 years ago during Day-Age 6-c.

Day-Age 6-d

Circa 58,593,750 to 29,296,875 years ago (Duration: approximately 29,296,875 years)

Rise of mammals. As the level of atmospheric oxygen continued to rise from 10% to 17% about 50 million years ago, then 23% some 40 million years ago, mammals dominated the planet.

Paul Falkowski, a marine science professor, explains: "In the fossil record, we see that this rise in oxygen content corresponds exactly to a really rapid rise of large, placental mammals… The more oxygen, the bigger the mammals… the rise in oxygen content allowed mammals to become very, very large – mammals like 12-foot-tall sloths and huge saber-toothed cats.”⁶³ Some hornless rhinoceroses measured about 30 feet long and stood 18 feet high at the shoulder.

Day-Age 6-e

Circa 29,296,875 to 14,648,437 years ago (Duration: approximately 14,648,437 years. From here on, fractions are added to succeeding numbers to keep figures rounded.)

Day-Age 6-f

Circa 14,648,437 to 7,324,218 years ago (Duration: approximately 7,324,218 years)

Manlike creatures.

The Jewish philosopher Maimonides said in his exegesis of Genesis that there were manlike creatures before Adam.⁶⁴ Similarly, the Talmud and other ancient Jewish commentaries mention pre-Adamic animals with human forms but without the neshamah or God-given spirit.⁶⁵ How did they know that before fossils were discovered?

Anthropologists call manlike creatures thought to be ancestors of man “hominids.” They call living apes “hominoids,” because they are only similar to humans, but not man’s supposed ancestors.

Ramapithecus, 14-8 mya. Found in 1932 in northern India (now part of Pakistan), parts of a fossilized jaw and some teeth, dated about 14-8 million years old, were named Ramapithecus -- “Rama's ape,” after Rama, a mythical prince of India, combined with pithekos, Greek for “ape.” In 1976, a complete jaw was discovered. With a distinctly simian V shape, it differs markedly from the parabolic shape of hominid jaws.⁶⁶ More complete fossils have been found in China and Pakistan, confirming that Ramapithecus was not a hominid, but a true ape.⁶⁷

Day-Age 6-g

Circa 7,324,218 to 3,662,109 years ago (Duration: approximately 3,662,109 years)

Sahelanthropus tchadensis, 7-6 mya. In 2001 the fossils of the supposedly oldest hominid species, estimated at 7-6 million years old, were found in the north central African nation of Chad.⁶⁸ Dubbed Sahelanthropus (“Sahel man,” after the semi-arid region and the Greek word anthropos, meaning “human”), it has an apelike skull. The fossil pieces are so few, it is uncertain if Sahelanthropus walked bipedally.⁶⁹

Orrorin tugenensis, 6 mya. Found in the Tugen Hills of central Kenya in 2000, the fossils received the name Orrorin tugenensis, which means “original man in the Tugen region.” Thought to be 6 million years old,⁷⁰ the fossilized skeleton has simian features, including long, curved finger bones for grasping and movement in trees, and apelike canine and premolar teeth.⁷¹

Ardipithecus, 4.4 mya. Unearthed in Ethiopia in 1994, this fossil find dated to be 4.4-million years old has been named Ardipithecus, from words in the Afar and Greek languages meaning “ground ape.”⁷² “Ardi,” however, has apelike teeth and skeleton, suggesting its ability to walk upright might not have been well developed.⁷³

Australopithecus, 4-1 mya. In 1924, a fossilized skull was dug up in Taung, South Africa. It was named Australopithecus, which means “southern ape.” Thought to be man’s ancestor, six species have since been identified. An almost complete 3,200,000-year-old skeleton of a female unearthed in 1974 by Donald Johanson at Hadar, Ethiopia, was nicknamed “Lucy,” after the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” which played on the night of the find.⁷⁴

Australopithecines, some 3½ to 5 feet tall, had a brain (390-550 cu cm) about one-third of that of a modern human; a low cranium behind a projecting face; small canine teeth like those of humans, but large cheek teeth (molars) like apes. Although Lucy had arms proportionally longer than those of modern people, she is said to have walked upright,⁷⁵based on a knee joint. (Johanson later said the knee fragment was discovered a mile and a half away in a rock layer 200 feet deeper, but was included due to “anatomical similarity.”)⁷⁶

Bruce Bower, in the Science News of 2 June 2001, reported that, in one study, Australopithecine inner ear bones used to maintain balance were found to be greatly similar to those of chimpanzees and gorillas, but markedly different from those of humans.⁷⁷ Mark Cartmill et al. wrote in the July-August 1986 issue of American Scientist: “At present we have no grounds for thinking that there was anything distinctively human about australopithecine ecology and behavior... they were surprisingly apelike in skull form, premolar dentition, limb proportions, and morphology of some joint surfaces, and they may still have been spending a significant amount of time in the trees.”⁷⁸

Anatomist Sir Solly Zuckerman and Dr. Charles Oxnard, in contrast to anthropologists using subjective and less analytical visual techniques, developed a multivariate analysis technique with computers performing millions of analyses on homologous Australopithecine, simian, and human bones. Their finding: Australopithecus is not a missing link between ape and man.⁷⁹ Sir Solly observed: “When compared with human and simian skulls, the Australopithecine skull is in appearance overwhelmingly simian – not human… Our findings leave little doubt that… Australopithecus resembles not Homo sapiens but the living monkeys and apes.”⁸⁰

Paleontologist Richard Leakey said in his book Origins (1977) that it is “unlikely that our direct ancestors are evolutionary descendants of the australopithecines.”⁸¹ James Shreeve remarked in the Science magazine issue of May 3, 1996: “The proportions calculated for (Australopithecus) africanus turned out to be amazingly close to those of a chimpanzee, with big arms and small legs... One might say we are kicking Lucy out of the family tree…”⁸² As their family name pithecus (“ape”) denotes, these prehistoric pithecoid creatures were just apes.

Day-Age 6-h

Circa 3,662,109 to 1,831,054 years ago (Duration: approximately 1,831,054 years.)

Kenyanthropus platyops, 3.5 mya. A fossilized cranium and other bones, estimated to be 3.5 million years old, were found in 1999 in northern Kenya. The creature had a mixture of features not seen in earlier hominid fossils: a much flatter face and smaller molars; the cheekbone joined the rest of the face in a forward position; and the region beneath the nose opening was flat. Researchers placed it under a new genus and species: Kenyanthropus platyops. In Greek anthropos means “humen being,” while platyops means “flat” – combined to mean “flat-faced human from Kenya.”⁸³

Homo habilis, 2.8-1.5 mya. So named for the primitive stone tools found with its fossilized skull in 1960, Homo habilis means “handy man” -- from Latin words meaning “human” (homo) and “able or skillful” (habilis). The first to be classified under the genus Homo, the species had a bigger braincase of about 600 cu cm.⁸⁴ It was also taller.

The fossil had been found beneath volcanic ash dated at about 2.6 million years, pushing back the presumed origin of man by millions of years. Its discoverer, Richard Leakey, says: “Either we toss out this skull or we toss out our theories of early man.” He adds that “it leaves in ruins the modern notion that all early fossils can be arranged in an orderly sequence of evolutionary change.”⁸⁵

The first confirmed limb bones of Homo habilis were discovered in 1986. They showed the creature clearly had apelike proportions and should never have been classified as human. Hugh Ross comments on the web: “Starting about 2-4 million years ago, God began creating man-like mammals or ‘hominids.’ These creatures stood on two feet, had large brains, and used tools. Some even buried their dead and painted on cave walls… God replaced them with Adam and Eve.”⁸⁶

Homo rudolfensis, 1.9 mya. In 1972, more than 150 fragments of bone fossils were discovered in eastern Kenya. As the size of the skull and several anatomical features differed from those of earlier finds, scientists classified it under a new species named Homo rudolfensis, after Lake Rudolf (now Lake Turkana). Its best-known fossils from the lake area date from about 1.9 million years ago.⁸⁷

Richard Leakey notes: “This Australopithecine material suggests a form of locomotion that was not entirely upright nor bipedal. The Rudolf Australopithecines, in fact, may have been close to the ‘knuckle-walker’ condition, not unlike the extant African apes.”⁸⁸

Day-Age 6-i

Circa 1,831,054 to 915,527 years ago (Duration: approximately 915,527 years)

Homo erectus, 1.5 mya. A skullcap and tooth found in 1891 by Eugene Dubois in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) was first named Pithecanthropus erectus (“erect ape-man”). Popularly known as “Java man,” it is dated about 1,500,000 years old. It had a larger brain (about 850 cc) and a rounder cranium than earlier species.⁸⁹

In China, at a site known as Chou K’ou Tien (Dragon-Bone Hill), 25 miles from Peking, from 1921 to 1934 a total of 14 skull fragments, 11 jawbones, 7 thigh pieces, 2 arm bones, a wrist bone, and 147 teeth similar to Java Man were found. Called Sinanthropus pekinensis – “Peking Man” – its composite skull was named “Nellie.”⁹⁰

Forty years after finding “Java man,” Dubois conceded it was a big ape. “Pithecanthropus was not a man, but a gigantic genus allied to the Gibbons, superior to its near relatives on account of its exceedingly large brain volume, and distinguished at the same time by its erect attitude.”⁹¹ He admitted withholding parts of four simian thigh bones found in the same area.

The World Book states: “Modern humans could not have evolved from these late populations of H. erectus, a much more primitive type of human.”⁹²

Day-Age 6-j:

Circa 915,527 to 457,763 years ago (Duration: approximately 457,763 years)

Homo heidelbergensis, 600-300 kya. In 1907 a fossilized manlike jaw was discovered 16 kilometers southeast of Heidelberg, Germany. It had no chin, but was unusually thick and broad, as well as long, suggesting the individual had a projecting lower face. The teeth also were too small for the massive mandible.

Other specimens from Africa (Ethiopia, Zambia, Tanzania), Europe (Greece, France), and possibly Asia (China) have been dated at from approximately 600 to 300 thousand years ago (kya).⁹³ Their craniums have heavy brow ridges, long and low braincases, and thick vault bones like H. erectus, but larger.

____________________

⁵⁷Mass Extinctions, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

⁵⁸Ibid.

⁵⁹Frank M. Carpenter, “Fossil Insects,” Insects, 1952, p. 18.

⁶⁰Mass Extinctions, loc. cit.

⁶¹Ibid.

⁶²Ibid.

⁶³Paul Falkowski, “Oxygen Increase Caused Mammals To Triumph, Science, Sept. 30, 2005, quoted by ScienceDaily, Oct. 3, 2005

⁶⁴Moses Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, 1:7; cited by Schroeder, op. cit., p. 123

⁶⁵Talmud Keliim 8:5; cited by Schroeder, loc. cit.

⁶⁶Ramapithecus, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

⁶⁷Ramapithecus, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)

⁶⁸Australopithecus, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

⁶⁹Human Evolution, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

⁷⁰Australopithecus, loc. cit.

⁷¹Human Evolution, loc. cit.

⁷²From articles in Time, October 12, 2009, and The Week, October 16, 2009; cited in “Is ‘Ardi’ the Missing Link?”, Petah Tikvah, January-March 2010, p. 22

⁷³Australopithecines, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

⁷⁴Donald C. Johanson, “Finding Lucy and Other Fossil Treasures,” Australopithecines, loc. cit.

⁷⁵Australopithecus, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)

⁷⁶Dennis Petersen, Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation, 2002, p. 129

⁷⁷Bruce Bower, “Evolution’s Youth Movement,” Science News, 2 June 2001, p. 347

⁷⁸Matt Cartmill et al., “One Hundred Years of Paleoanthropology,” American Scientist, July–August 1986, p. 417.

⁷⁹Roger Lewin, Bones of Contention, pp. 164–165.

⁸⁰Solly Zuckerman, Beyond the Ivory Tower, 1970, p. 90

⁸¹Richard E. Leakey and Roger Lewin, Origins, 1977, p. 86

⁸²James Shreeve, “New Skeleton Gives Path from Trees to Ground an Odd Turn,” Science, 3 May 1996, p. 654.

⁸³Human Evolution, loc. cit.

⁸⁴Homo habilis, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

⁸⁵Richard Leakey, National Geographic, June 1973; quoted by Petersen, op. cit., p. 130

⁸⁶Hugh Ross, Reasons To Believe, July 8, 1997, Internet

⁸⁷Human Evolution, loc. cit.

⁸⁸Richard Leakey, “Further Evidence of Lower Pleistocene Hominids from East Rudolf, North Kenya,” Nature, Vol. 231, 28 May 1971, p. 245

⁸⁹Homo erectus, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

⁹⁰Petersen, op. cit., p. 133

⁹¹Eugene Dubois, “On the Fossil Human Skulls Recently Discovered in Java and Pithecanthropus Erectus,” Man, Vol. 37, January 1937, p. 4

⁹²Homo erectus, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)

⁹³Homo heidelbegensis, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

(Excerpted from Chapter 4, Primordial Planet Puzzles, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

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