Chosen also by number

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

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

 

 

Conclusion

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

Vernon Jenkins MSc

2002-07-28

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

 

Appendix - The derivation of the characteristic value of Israel

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

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

 

 

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

Thus, the evaluation of Israel proceeds as follows:

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