How Do Numbers in the Bible Work?

The alphabet in Hebrew is called Aleph-Bet. It derives its name from the first two
letters of the Hebrew alphabet. When put together, the first letter aleph, and the
second letter, bet, spell the Hebrew word for father (Ab, as in Abba, "God the Father").
This communicates that the Hebrew alphabet derives from God the Father.

If added together, the letters in the name Aleph-Bet have the same value as
"aleph and tav" the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Both phrases have
a numeric value of 523, which underscores the intentional alphanumeric structure
of Hebrew. But that's not all! Aleph and tav are the Hebrew equivalent of
"the Alpha and Omega" (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet), an
expression Jesus used to describe Himself in Revelation 22:13
"I am the Alpha [Aleph in Hebrew] and the Omega [Tav in Hebrew], the First and
the Last, the Beginning and the End.

What's more, since each letter in the Hebrew (or Greek) alphabet corresponds to
a number, it is easy to determine the given value of any word from the Bible and
use it to better understand the Scriptures. For example,

The Hebrew word for "leper" (metzora) has a numerical value of 400 when the individual
letters are added together. The number 400 is assigned to the Hebrew letter (tav). This
connection is significant because the ancient version of the letter tav was the shape of
a cross. The cross (400) is the reason they scorned Messiah and treated Him like a leper (metzora)
In Greek, the word for "grain" (kokkos) has a numeric value of 400. Jesus said, "Amen, amen I
tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies,
it produces much fruit" (John 12:24). Katzir, the Hebrew word for "harvest" also adds up to 400.
Jesus died like a "grain" (kokkos, 400) on the "cross" (tav, 400), ultimately fulfilling His role
as the "messianic leper" (metzora, 400) and bringing about a great spiritual "harvest" (katzir, 400)!

The number 400 is also associated with God's pouring out of judgement (Ps. 69:25). Jesus became
a "leper" (metzora, 400) and died like a piece of "grain" (kokkos, 400) on a "cross" (tav, 400) so that
God would not "pour out" (shofek, 400) His judgement on us. Instead, we can personally experience
that "the Lord is gracious and full of compassion" (Ps. 145:8), which also equals 400 in Hebrew.
What greater demonstration of grace, compassion, and love could there be?

Blessings in our Messiah ברכות במשיח שלנו
Shalom שלום

הרב ג'ייסון סובל

David Koberstein said:

the intentional alphanumeric structure
of Hebrew.

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This .pdf, THAT YE MAY MARVEL OR THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BIBLE NUMBERS By Eld. G. E. JONES,
has some good stuff in it (I am non-pulsed with his Premill ideas, however, let's say.)


Then, "In Number in Scripture, E.W. Bullinger has endeavored to explore the entire field
and present conclusions in accord with facts and free of needless spiritualization.

"In the process he has constructed a book that is both captivating and validly helpful.

"It is also relatively free of the excesses which so often characterize works of this nature."

"The first section of Number in Scripture, E.W. Bullinger deals with the significance of numbers
as they relate to the works of God in the natural world around us.

CHAPTER I
THE WORKS OF GOD.

The Heavens
Chronology
Nature
The Vegetable Kingdom
Physiology
Chemistry
Sound and Music
Colour

"In the second section E.W. Bullinger presents an overview of numerics as seen in the Bible as a whole.
This section includes thought provoking material on the way Biblical Numerics
suggest a solution to the problems of authorship in Hebrews and II Peter.

CHAPTER II
THE WORD OF GOD.

The Books of the Bible
The Writers
Occurrences of Words in Old Testament
Occurrences of Words in New Testament
Occurrences of Words in the Apocalypse
Occurrences of Phrases
Evidence as to Authorship of Hebrews and 2 Peter
Occurrences of Words and Phrases in Old and New Testaments combined

"The remaining portion of Number in Scripture examines each Biblically mentioned numeral
from one tot six hunderd and sixty-six and seeks to discern its special spiritual significance and connotation."

Part II
Spiritual Significance

Introduction
1 - One
2 - Two
3 - Three
4 - Four
5 - Five
6 - Six
7 - Seven
6 + 7 - Six and Seven together
7 - Seven by itself
8 - Eight
8 + 7 - Eight and Seven together
8 - Eight by itself
8 +13 - Eight and Thirteen together
9 - Nine
10 - Ten
11 - Eleven
12 - Twelve
13 - Thirteen
14 - Fourteen
15 - Fifteen
17 - Seventeen
19 - Nineteen
20 - Twenty
21 - Twenty-one
22 - Twenty-two
24 - Twenty-four
25 - Twenty-five
27 - Twenty-seven
28 - Twenty-eight
29 - Twenty-nine
30 - Thirty
31 - Thirty-one
40 - Forty
42 - Forty-two
50 - Fifty
51 - Fifty-one
65 - Sixty-five
70 - Seventy
120 - One hundred and twenty
153 - One hundred and fifty and three
200 - Two hundred
390 - Three hundred and ninety
400 - Four hundred
430 - Four hundred and thirty
490 - Four hundred and ninety
666 - Six hundred and sixty-six
Conclusion

Reminds me of a passage in Chaim Potok's classic novel, The Chosen.
I picked up a signed copy years ago; he lived in Merion, Pennsylvania, not far from a bookstore I frequented.

One of the main character's father is a tsadik, more than a simple Rabbi, a Righteous One. In this passage he expounds:

“The world kill us! The world flays our skin from our bodies and throws us to the flames! The world laughs at Torah! And if it does not kill us, it tempts us! It misleads us! It contaminates us! It asks us to join in its ugliness, its impurities, its abominations! The world is Amalek! It is not the world that is commanded to study Torah, but the people of Israel! Listen, listen to this mighty teaching.” His voice was suddenly lower, quieter, intimate. “It is written, ‘This world is like a vestibule before the world-to-come; prepare thyself in the vestibule, that thou mayest enter into the hall.’ The meaning is clear: The vestibule is this world, and the hall in the world-to-come. Listen. In gematria, the words ‘this world’ come out one hundred sixty-three, and the words ‘the world-to-come’ come out one hundred fifty-four. The difference between ‘this world’ and ‘the world-to-come’ comes out to nine. Nine is half of eighteen. Eighteen is chai, life. In this world there is only half of chai. We are only half alive in this world! Only half alive!”
Potok, Chaim. The Chosen. 1992. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. p. 135-136.

Rob

David Koberstein said:

a numeric value

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This is some really good stuff here too, I believe;

Numbers &

Key Symbols in the Revelation: ​

An Amillennial Perspective.​

Published: 1 February 2024

Written by Dean Davis

Never a fan of Bullinger as he went to extreme tangents in his numerology/typology. Studied his Gospel in the stars and it made knowledge of astrology a spiritual gift of special understanding.

Spent a day studying Kabbalah in Sepphoris (Israel) and found THAT was beyond occult fantasy for letters, names, dates, symbols.

BTW, I have the Kabbalah number 4 as a "productive leader" with "good results", so thinking this mystical higher knowledge MUST be correct. Now I'm thinking I must write a book.

Dr. Bob said:

Bullinger as he went to extreme tangents in his numerology/typology. Studied his Gospel in the stars and it made knowledge of astrology a spiritual gift of special understanding.

Click to expand...

Yep.

David Koberstein said:

the intentional alphanumeric structure

Click to expand...

In keeping with you interest in the things represented by Hebrew letters,
please see these ACROSTICS, (which is said to be a poem, word puzzle, or other composition in which certain letters in each line form a word or words),
in Bullinger's THE NAME OF JEHOVAH IN THE BOOK OF ESTHER

(while also keeping in mind Dr. BOB'S reservations he stated on Bullinger, etc.)

(Ask me if I'd like to get in the Pulpit with this.
Our people could handle it, if it's True... ).

These are like the example of there being Creation
then, having the Spirit Hovering Over it
and it is as if Jesus says, "let there be light",

where that is brought out by some

as being an illustration where there is a Created man, now fallen,
Dealt with by the Holy Spirit
Bringing the Marvolous Light of Jesus into their soul;

That's not the Primary Interpretation of Genesis 1,
but it’s there, maybe, 'for some reason'(?)


This is the idea:

The Book of Esther contains several acrostics,
hidden messages formed by the initial or final letters of words,
that spell out "YHWH" (God's name) and "EHYH" (I AM),
emphasizing God's Presence and Work even without explicit mention.

Here's a breakdown of the acrostics in the Book of Esther:

• Esther 1:20:
  The initial letters of four successive words, when read backward, spell out "YHWH" (God's Name).
  
  • The Hebrew letters are: יִתְּנוּ, הַנָּשִׁים, וְכָל, הִיא.
    
• Esther 5:4:
  The initial letters of four successive words spell out "YHWH" (God's Name).
  
  • The Hebrew letters are: יָבוֹא, הַיּוֹם, וְהָמָן, הַמֶּלֶךְ.
    
• Esther 5:13:
  The final letters of four successive words, when read backward, spell out "YHWH" (God's Name).
  
  • The Hebrew letters are: לִי, שֹׁוֶה, אֵינֶנּוּ, זֶה.
    
• Esther 7:7:
  The final letters of four successive words spell out "YHWH" (God's Name).
  
  • The Hebrew letters are: הָרָעָה, אֵלָיו, כָּלְתָה, כִּי.
    
• Esther 7:5:
  The final letters of three successive words spell out "EHYH" (I AM).
  
  • The Hebrew letters are: זֶה, וְאֵי, הוּא.

Alan Dale Gross said:

snip

• Esther 1:20:
  The initial letters of four successive words, when read backward, spell out "YHWH" (God's Name).
  • The Hebrew letters are: יִתְּנוּ, הַנָּשִׁים, וְכָל, הִיא.
• Esther 5:4:
  The initial letters of four successive words spell out "YHWH" (God's Name).
  • The Hebrew letters are: יָבוֹא, הַיּוֹם, וְהָמָן, הַמֶּלֶךְ.
• Esther 5:13:
  The final letters of four successive words, when read backward, spell out "YHWH" (God's Name).
  • The Hebrew letters are: לִי, שֹׁוֶה, אֵינֶנּוּ, זֶה.
• Esther 7:7:
  The final letters of four successive words spell out "YHWH" (God's Name).
  • The Hebrew letters are: הָרָעָה, אֵלָיו, כָּלְתָה, כִּי.
• Esther 7:5:
  The final letters of three successive words spell out "EHYH" (I AM).
  • The Hebrew letters are: זֶה, וְאֵי, הוּא.

Click to expand...

Interesting Alan Dale Gross. I still am quite skeptical.
I found a source of the quote:

... God is indeed present in Esther, but He is “hidden.” This venerable understanding of the book can be found already in the Talmud. In b. Ḥul. 139a the question is posed, “Where is Esther (אסתר) indicated in the Torah?” (because it was essential that a feast such as Purim have its justification the Law of Moses). The answer was given, “ ‘And I will surely hide (אסתיר) my face’ ” (Deut 31:18). The wordplay was typical of rabbinic exegesis, but the statement is revealing: the sages recognized that God was not absent in Esther, but merely concealed. This idea has now been adopted by the majority of scholars, and it has been competently argued in many studies.

There are two principal lines of evidence for God’s presence in Esther. The first is that there are subtle references to God in the text that a discerning reader would recognize. One common idea is that the name of God, YHWH, is hidden in acrostic form four different times in the text:

• At 1:20, in reverse, in the first letters of the words of the phrase הִיא וְכָל־הַנָּשִׁים יִתְּנוּ (hîʾ wĕkol hannāšîm yittĕnû, “it, and all the women will give”);
• At 5:4, in proper order, in the phrase יָבוֹא הַמֶּלֶךְ וְהָמָן הַיּוֹם (yābôʾ hammelek wĕhāmān hayyôm, “Let the king come, and Haman come today”);
• At 5:13, the final letters of the words, in reverse, in the phrase זֶה אֵינֶנּוּ שֹׁוֶה לִי (zeh ʾênennû(w) šōwâ(h) lî(y), “This is not sufficient for me”);
• And finally in 7:7, in the final letters of the words of the phrase כִּֽי־כָלְתָה אֵלָיו הָרָעָה) kî(y) koltâ(h) ʾēlāyw hārāʿâ(h), “That evil was determined against him”)

Walfish observes that this idea already appears in the commentary of fifteenth-century Spanish Jew Zechariah ben Saruq and theorizes that it originated among the Spanish mystics. It has since spread widely: some Esther scrolls dating to the nineteenth century incorporate it by highlighting the letters believed to reveal the name, and a number of Christian writers have advocated the notion as well.

But there are several difficulties with these proposed acrostics. First is the fact that only two of these occurrences are even spelled correctly, since the others depend on reading in reverse. Furthermore, the phrases in which the name supposedly appears are not in any way significant, and in fact do not even form complete thoughts. Indeed, they even break up grammatical units. Also, the sequence of the letters Y-H-W-H at the beginning of words is not at all surprising, since these letters are the most common in the Heb. Bible: yodh, as the prefix for the 3 m. sg. and 3 m. pl. impf. forms of the verb, and the first letter of many proper names; he, as the definite article; and waw, as the conj. “and.” Quickly scanning the historical books of the OT reveals the Y-H-W-H “acrostic” also occurs in 1 Chr 5:12 and 1 Kgs 10:17–18, apparently by accident.

Tomasino, Anthony. 2016. Esther. Evangelical Exegetical Commentary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. p. 117-118.

I think numbers have some real significance in Scripture, quite obviously, but these posts all take them to an unscriptural extreme.

I think we've got it, now.

Deacon said:

God is indeed present in Esther

Click to expand...

And even the Name of God.

But, as you said;

Deacon said:

But there are several difficulties with these proposed acrostics.

Click to expand...

"Wikipedia describes this point in its interpretation section: In the Book of Esther, the Tetragrammaton does not appear,
but some argue it is present, in hidden form, in four complex acrostics in Hebrew: the initial or last letters of four consecutive words,
either forwards or backward comprise YHWH. These letters were distinguished in at least three ancient Hebrew manuscripts in red."

"Sadly, most theologians and Bible expositors agree with that assumption and continue to teach that.
However, as you will see in this article, God, in fact, is mentioned."

A fellow named, 'Noel Corpuz', came up with this:

"Returning to the question…

"Is the Name of God indeed not mentioned in the Book of Esther?'​

"Let’s “unscroll” the Scriptures and see whether this is so.

"But first, to find the Name of God one must know what His Real Name is.

"If we do not know what to look for, we will never find it anywhere.

"In the same way, if you are looking for a different name, as you might have been taught
or as you have traditionally read from your English Bible, you will not see the true one even if it stares at your face.

"Moses did not know the Name of God when God Spoke to him at Mt. Sinai.

"Therefore, he asked,

“I am going to the children of Israel and will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has Sent me to you.’
When they say to me, ‘What is His Name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13)

"You can read all about it in my previous post, The God of Abraham, What is Really His Name?"

"Moving on…

"My People, Who are Called by My Name."​

"After King Solomon successfully finished building the House of God in Jerusalem,
the LORD Appeared to him and said, “I have heard your prayer, and I have Chosen for Myself in this Place a House of Sacrifice.”

“When I Shut Up the Heaven and there is no rain, or when I Command the locusts to Devour the land,
or Send Pestilence on My people, if My people, who are called by My Name,

will humble themselves and pray, and seek My Face and turn from their wicked ways,
then I Will Hear from Heaven, and Will Forgive their sin and Will Heal their land.

"Now My Eyes Will be Open and My Ears Attentive to the Prayer of this Place.

So now I have Chosen and Consecrated this House that My Name be there continually.
My Eyes and Heart will be there for all Days. (2 Chronicles 7:13–16, MEV)

From these verses, God said His people are called by His Name.

"In the Book of Esther, God’s people were in the Kingdom of Persia under King Ahasuerus.

"According to most English Bible translations, they are called “Jews” or Judeans.

"The word “Jews” was first mentioned in the English Bible, not in the book of Esther, but in 2 Kings 16:6
which states, “At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria,
and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.” (KJV)

'In the Book of Esther,

"The Name of God is mentioned not in the English text
but in the original Hebrew-Aramaic text."

"Let me show it.

"The English word Jew which we read in Esther 2:5 is the English term for the Hebrew-Aramaic word Yahudi
referring to a person who is of the Kingdom of Judah. Judah is Yahudah in Hebrew-Aramaic.

"The word Jews (plural) mentioned in Esther 3:6 referred to the people of Judah or the Judeans (“Yahudim” in Hebrew-Aramaic).

"YAH (meaning “I AM” in English) is the Name of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

"I have written a post on this very topic here.

"Therefore, in the Book of Esther, God is there. He is with His people, the Jews or the Yahudim.

"And His Name Yah is mentioned whenever the words Yah-udah (Judah), Yah-udi (Jew), or Yah-udim (Jews) are called.

That’s right! God’s people are called by His Name.

FOR EXAMPLE, IT IS THE SAME CASE, with the English name Jesus.

"The Name of the Father God is not in the English name Jesus, either,
but in the Hebrew-Aramaic name Yah-ushua meaning “Yah’s salvation.”

"The Hebrew and Aramaic Name for Jesus is "Yeshua" (ישוע).
"It is a late form of the Hebrew Name "Yehoshua" (Joshua).
"The Name means "Yahweh saves" or "Yahweh is salvation".

"This is the Name God Gave to His Son,
“And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His Name JESUS:
for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt.1:21)."

"So, therefore,
YAH (meaning “I AM” in English) is the Name of God
and is mentioned in the Book of Esther."

Now, there we go! Might be able to throw that in some preaching somewhere.