Numerical Secrets of the Bible: Rediscovering the Bible Codes

Were you intrigued, but disappointed by The Bible Code?

Labuschagne's book is not the work of an amateur, but was written by one of Europe's leading biblical scholars and deals with one of the most important recent discoveries in the field of biblical study, namely that the books of the Bible are numerical compositions. The biblical writings were not written in an off-hand manner, but were meticulously composed according to compositional techniques in which the counting of words plays a crucial role. It goes without saying that this discovery has far-reaching consequences for our views on the formation and the structure of the text of the Hebrew Bible and of the Greek text of the New Testament.

The author introduces the reader to the fascinating world of number symbolism in biblical times, he demonstrates how well-known symbolic numbers, such as 7 and 12, and especially the lesser known holy numbers 17 and 26, which represent the numerical value of the name YHWH, were used to give structure to the text and to deepen its contents.

Among other fascinating findings, this study confirms the medieval Jewish tradition that Holy Scripture consists of the name of God set in succession, or interwoven in the fabric of the text.

Casper Labuschagne was born in Heilbron, South Africa in 1929. He studied Semitic languages and theology at the University of Pretoria and at the State University in Groningen, The Netherlands, from 1947 to 1956. He holds an M.A. in Semitic languages and a Doctor of Divinity from the University of Pretoria. He was a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa in 1957 and 1958. He was a senior lecturer at the University of Pretoria and from 1967 to his retirement in 1991, was lecturer and later professor of Old Testament at the State University in Groningen. He has published a major, four-volume commentary on Deuteronomy in Dutch.

Prof. Dr. Labuschagne has been actively involved in the struggle for social justice in South Africa, particularly in the fight against apartheid ideology in the church.