Columbiana County Jail - My answer to Adam's question.
Notes
Transcript
Numerology
Numerology
Biblical numerology is the study of numbers in the Bible. Two of the most commonly repeated numbers in the Bible are 7 and 40. The number 7 signifies completion or perfection.
2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. 4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
It is often called “God’s number” since He is the only one who is perfect and complete.
5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
The number 3 is also thought to be the number of divine perfection: The Trinity consists of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The number 40 is often understood as the “number of probation or trail.” For example, the Israelites wandered for 40 years;
2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. 3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. 4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. 5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.
Moses was on the mount for 40 days;
18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
40 days were involved in the story of Jonah and Nineveh;
4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Jesus fasted for 40 days to prepare for His temptation;
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
there were 40 days between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension.
3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Another number in the Bible repeated is 4, which is the number of creation:
Day 4 of creation and four seasons
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Four cardinal directions
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, And shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.
1 And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass. 2 In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; 3 And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses. 4 Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord? 5 And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country. 7 And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth. 8 Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of bird.
Other examples
1 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.
5 Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. 6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
The number six is thought to be the number of man: man was created on the sixth day, man labors for six days only.
Creation on the sixth day.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29 And 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. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Man working only six days
21 Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:
Another example of the Bible using a number to signify something is the number 666, the number of the antichrist in Revelation.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Now with all of this in mind, let us take a look at this. Whether or not the numbers really do have a significance is debated in many circles in Christianity. The Bible definitely seems to use numbers in patterns or to teach a spiritual truth. However, I believe too many people put too much significance on “Biblical numerology”, trying to find a special meaning behind every number in the Bible. Often a number in the Bible is simply a number. Please keep this in mind, God does not call on us to search for secret meanings, hidden messages, and codes in the Bible. there is more than enough truth in the words and meanings of Scripture to meet our needs and make us complete and throughly equipped for every good work.
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
As for the next inquiry about your claim on the 73 books over the 66 books because of the numbers. First, I will stand on my statement above that we should not be seeking secret meanings, hidden messages, and codes. Although I know that you may not agree with me, Adam, that is perfectly fine. Being a Christian, we can disagree on things. However, I want to give you an opportunity to present your case with me. I am going to give you my case why we do not have 73 books in the Bible.
Now, this question is actually legitimate seeing that the Catholic Church has about seven extra books in their Bible. So why don’t we have 73 books in our Bible as well? And how can we say for sure that what we have are really the books that are meant to be there?
For many years, there were many different books in circulation, some of which were of doubtful authenticity. At the end of the first century A.D., the Jewish rabbis, at the Council of Jamnia, closed the cannon of Hebrew books to be considered authoritative. This was done to preserve the religious tradition of the Jews as a result of the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70), which created a threat to this tradition.
The Jewish Bible, which we know as the Old Testament, included three sections: Torah (Instructions), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings).
The Torah referred to the five books of the law - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. No one has ever had any doubt about the authenticity of these books.
The Nevi’im referred to the prophetic collection. The Former Prophets books are (Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and 2 Kings). The Latter Prophets/ Writing Prophets books are (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel). The Twelve Minor Prophets books are (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi). There was widespread agreement among the Jews concerning these books as well.
The Ketuvim referred to three poetic books (Job, Psalms, and Proverbs), five festival scrolls which were read during different festivals throughout the year,
Song of Songs - read during Passover
Ruth - read during Shavuot (Feast of Weeks)
Lamentations - read on Tisha B’Av, a day of mourning for the destruction of the Temple.
Ecclesiastes - read during Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles).
Esther - read during Purim
and others dealing with Jewish history (Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles)
The major problem was regarding which books belonged here. There was a number of books with doubtful authenticity. The controversy was settled in the third century A.D. when four standard criteria were concluded on.
In the end, the books that were included in the Old Testament were books
written originally in Hebrew
that were in harmony with the law of Moses
that had been completed before the time of Ezra ( Prophetic inspiration was believed to have begun with Moses and ended with Ezra - the scribe who gathered the holy books of the Jewish faith.)
written within the geographical limits of the Palestine and used by the Jews.
On this basis, each of the 39 books of the Old Testament were selected. Those that failed this litmus test were classified as Apocrypha (books of doubtful authorship and authenticity).
Keep this in mind Adam. This was decided in the 3rd century. The Catholic Church officially added the Apocrypha (which they call the Deuterocanonical books) to their Bible at the Council of Trent in 1546. They made this inclusion an official, binding declaration of doctrine in response to the Protestant Reformation. Although there were some in the early church that used some of those texts , they were not accepted officially until 1546 in response to the Protestant Reformation. So the Hebrews rejected those books because of doubtful authorship and authenticity, and the Catholics made those books official in response to the Protestant Reformation, which one should I believe? I believe the Hebrew were correct to leave out those books. I don’t believe that numbers have anything to do with this. I can not back the Catholic church’s decision when they clearly added these books for over pride and the desire to separate from the Protestants. They clearly did not make that decision because they believed in the accuracy of these texts.
Just to be accurate with this topic, I will talk about the New Testament. Regarding the books of the New Testament, the 27 books of the New Testament were not chosen by a single person or council, but were gradually recognized as authoritative by early Christian churches over several centuries through a process of discernment. Key church leaders like Athanasius, Irenaeus, and Tertullian helped identify and acknowledge the canonical books based on criteria such as apostolic origin (written or connected to an apostle), orthodoxy ( consistent with established Christian teaching), and widespread acceptance across churches.
The process of canonization
Gradual recognition : The process took place over several centuries as church leaders and communities evaluated various Christian writings to determine which texts held apostolic authority.
Influential church leaders : Early church fathers played a crucial role in this process, identifying and defending the authoritative status of certain books.
Criteria for inclusion : Books were included if they met certain criteria.
Apostolicity - they were written by or in close connection with an apostle.
Orthodoxy - Their teachings were consistent with the core beliefs of Christianity.
Widespread acceptance - They were generally received and used by churches across different regions.
Note : Athanasius’s letter - Athanasius of Alexandria’s letter in 367 A.D. is the first surviving document to list all 27 books of the New Testament as authoritative, marking a significant moment in the formal recognition of the canon,
Note : It was not Emperor Constantine who made the decision at the Council of Nicea (325 A.D.), the New Testament canon was not a topic of discussion at that council.
There is my answer for your inquiry you posed to me, Adam. Remember, I am not here to make you believe what I believe. I want you to hold on to this and when you get out, I want you to research for your own answers. As always, if you wish to take this conversation any deeper since I only just touched bases here on this topic, you are more than welcome to respond back with an inquiry or rebuttal if you so choose. We are here together my brother to discover the truth together. With that, I hope you enjoyed the reading of my response. God bless you Brother Adam.
