Vernon,
The really basic observation that you have made about Gen. 1:1 is that the
numerical values of its seven words have a total value which is a multiple
of 37 and that this set of seven numbers is a union of four disjoint
subsets each of which also has a total value which is a multiple of 37.
One would expect 1/37 (slightly less than 3%) of the members of a
collection of seven-word sets to have a total value divisible by 37. My
hasty, crude calculations show that among sets with such total values
approximately 7% would be expected to decompose as a union of four
disjoint subsets each having a value divisible by 37. Thus I would expect
the Old Testament or any other lengthy Hebrew-language document to have
quite a few seven-word sequences with this property.
Now 7% of 3% is not a very high probability, but this is for very
specific numbers 37 and 4. The more properties you specify to be
fulfilled, the more unusual is the event. You could get similar low
probabilities for similar features using numbers other than 37 and 4. Then
if you simply looked at the probability that some feature of this general
type would occur, it would be much higher, and so this event wouldn't
appear to be quite so unusual.
I recently looked at a textbook whose author had dedicated it to the
memory of his father with a 10-word dedication in Hebrew. It turned out
that it contained four non-intersecting pairs of words such that each pair
had a value divisible by 23. I don't think that the low probability of
that specific an occurrence should lead one to conclude anything special
about the significance of that Hebrew sentence.
Is 37 an important number in the Scriptures? As far as I know, it occurs
only in the text of II Samuel 23:39 and II Kings 13:10.
There are two ways of decomposing Gen. 1:1 as a disjoint union of four
sets with values divisible by 37. This is because two of the elements
occurring in different subsets differ by a multiple of 37. How significant
are these groupings? I give the English translations here, using * for the
untranslatable object marker.
Decomposition #1:
(In the beginning God) (created * the heavens) (and *) (the earth)
Decomposition #2:
(In the beginning created *) (God the heavens) (and *) (the earth)
You cite several instances of sets of words whose values total a multiple
of 111. This is to be expected when you have sets of words whose values
total a multiple of 37. After all, if you write down in order all the
multiples of 37, every third one will be a multiple of 111. If you have
any set of four numbers that are multiples of 37, at least three of the
fifteen nonempty subsets of this set must add to a multiple of 111. For
decomposition #1 there are three such subsets, and for decomposition #2
there are four such, one of which occurs for both decompositions. You seem
to be interested in the 3-digit ones since they are palindromes. These are
(In the beginning God) 999
(created * the heavens) 999
(God the heavens the earth) 777
(God the heavens and *) 888
You have incorrectly stated that 777 is the sum of the nouns. Beginning is
also a noun. You may object that in the Hebrew it has a prepositional
prefix, but I would point out that two of the nouns in the 777-sum have
the definite article as a prefix also.
All of the above does not prove that God is not sending us a message in
the numerics of Gen. 1:1, but if you think He is, I have some questions.
What are the principles one should use to decipher this message, and why
do you think you could convince a nonbeliever that this is the way to
interpret such messages?
In this day of urban legends and unauthentic relics I think that we need
to ask ourselves whether all the apologetical devices that Christians
resort to are really effective or not.
Gordon Brown
Department of Mathematics
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0395
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