[asa] Number systems in the OT

Does anybody on this list have expertise or any good resources on the ancient number systems, in particular the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Canaanite, and/or Hittite systems from the time of Abraham (21st century BCE) up to the time of the Exodus (15th through 13th centuries BCE)?

The reason I ask is because I have been analyzing the numerals contained in the two censuses in the book of Numbers and I'm convinced that these were originally written in a base-7 system.? Only 7 different digits are used with very few exceptions (omitting 1, 8, and 9 for the most part in the numbering of each tribe) in both censuses.? The odds of such low usage of any three numerals occurring by chance** are about 1 in a half million.? If you convert them to base-7 (with a particular twist in the conversion, to be explained in the paper) then it becomes obvious how the numbers were mistranslated and then edited a bit to make the sums work out for each groupin of three tribes and for the overall nation in each census.? I want to write this up and submit to a journal.? But I need more background on the other number systems that existed at the time and before that time before I can write a really good paper.

The upshot of this base-7 analysis is that the Pentateuch must have been composed at a sufficiently early date that base-10 had not become universally accepted, yet, and at a sufficiently early date that the Jewish scholars who edited the Pentateuch (during the Captivity) no longer remembered that the numbers were originally base-7.? That forgetfulness led to the mistranslation of the numerals and editing to make the text consistent.? Fortunately for us, this provided numerical artefacts in the text so that we can constrain the dating of its original composition.? The use of base-7 pushes the composition of the Pentateuch back to a very early date, I believe.? It's interesting to note that the census at the time of David bears none of the artefacts of an underlying base-7 system, being fully base-10.

In particular, I want to know if the Mesopotamian civilization(s) used a 6-day work week (or what kind of week?); if the Mesopotamians began adopting base-10 from the Egyptians, Greeks, Persians or others, and by what date; What the Egyptians used prior to their base-10 heiratic system; what number systems the other peoples in the Levant (such as the Hittites or Canaanites) used; if anybody knows about the Hyksos's number system?? And similar questions.

Thanks for any help you can provide.
Phil

(** to be more precise:? the odds were calculated for the occurrence of the 6 non-zero numerals being in a contiguous block such as 2-7, as they are found in the text.? This is a little less likely than any 7 numerals being used regardless of their contiguity.? There is a particular reason why the block would be contiguous and not include the numeral 1, as I'll explain in the paper that I plan to write.)

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Fri Aug 22 00:38:57 2008