Exclusive: Is there a Hidden Bible Code in Bible?
Some biblical scholars and users, secular scholars, and Jews alike have claimed that there is Bible Code and hidden messages in the Bible. In 1997, an American journalist and author, Michael Alan Drosnin, published a book, the Bible Code, in which he claimed that he, using scientific and mathematical methods (specifically, a method described in a 1994 paper by Doron Witztum and friends), had discovered hidden codes in the Bible, especially about assassinations of prominent Israel figures, and other world calamities. In the next days that followed, he had become a superstar and his book one of the best selling books!
While a review of the book by Allyn Jackson and other scientific scholars, including those who had published the method he claimed to have used revealed that the book was just a lie as most apocalyptic books are (see here, here, and here), and that Michael Drosnin wasn’t even a true scientist, but a quack one, the damage had been done. As you may be aware, capitalism and general human psychology like to feed on unusual, sensational, baseless life-threatening propositions (or half-truths), the reason ghost hunter narratives are still a big success; Drosnin succeeded. Motivated by this success, the guy didn’t give up; he went on and produced the second and third parts of the same message (see book 2 here and book 3 here). His third Bible code series didn’t sell a lot; people had seen the lies, and the curiosity that drives sales had subsided! On 9th June 2020, Micheal Drosnin died, still an atheist!
READ THIS TOO: Do human ghosts exist or they don’t?
The truth is Drosnin wasn’t the first and won’t be the last to adventure into this area. Besides, the code he suggested (equidistant letter sequencing) is regarded as the last of the known three categories of codes, the other two having been observed by people before him! Therefore, the question of whether the bible has or doesn’t have hidden Bible Code doesn’t start and end with him. Many friends of mine on Facebook have ever suggested the same, and some strongly believe that the Bible is in codes. This group of ‘living’ atheists should motivate us to ask and answer this question, not necessarily the assumptions of the dead Drosnin who we can’t save or drown by our arguments now!
The Bible Code: 3 Systems of Bible Code
According to Bakers Illustrated Bible Handbook, edited by Aniel Hays and J. Scott Duvall @ 2011, all code systems, as have been proposed by various scholars, can be narrowed down to only 3 systems; OT-era system (atbash), NT-era system (gematria), and the modern computer-era system (equidistant letter sequencing).
The atbash Bible Code!
In the first system, a simple alphabetical cryptogram in which one uses the first letter of the alphabet to represent the last letter, the next to represent the second last, and so forth (that is, A to represent Z, B to represent Y, C to represent X, and so forth) is applied. Examples of verses talked of to be bearing this kind of coding are; Jeremiah 25:26; 51:1; 51:41. Evidence shows atbash to have been used as early as 1200 BC and Jeremiah’s use of the code is agreed upon by many to be true. However, the better approach is, why would Jeremiah use atbash?
First, the code is so simple or, better put, was so common and simple in Jeremiah’s time that it surely would be useless to use it to hide important message. In other words, Jeremiah didn’t use the code to hide the message from some people, especially the Chaldeans or Babylonians. Secondly, in response to the common suggestion that Jeremiah was afraid to openly say ‘Babylon’ since he was proclaiming terrible things against her, scholars remind us that the whole book of Jeremiah is full of such open terrible prophecies and Babylon is open called out or cursed! Why would the prophet see it important to shy away from the name in these few verses? Third, authors at got questions cite another possibility that actually these parts weren’t written by Jeremiah himself, but someone and this someone wanted to protect the prophet in case the message landed in terrible Babylonians.
The bakers handbook has an answer: Probably out of sarcasm (not necessarily about being secretive-the code is simple, and also not fearing to say out Babylon-He already had or has said a lot of negative things about Babylon). Regarding sarcasm, his message must have been something like this: “his great power Babylon-which frightened you so much that you used secret code words to describe her-will be destroyed by God completely”
In my view, I think this and the possibility of someone else other than Jeremiah to have written the message are the most possible reasons.
The Gematria Bible Code
Basically, in Hebrew language, the letters of alphabet can be used to represent letters in words (the normal use of alphabet) and also represent numerical numbers, for example, Aleph, the first letter in Hebrew alphabet can be used as a letter in a word, but can as well be used to represent a numerical number, 1. Beth the second letter in Hebrew alphabet represents 2, etc up to the 9th letter representing number 9. The next consecutive letters represent 10, 20, 30, up to 90. Those that follow represent 100, 200, 300, up to 900, and so forth!
Considering the Gematria Bible Code, the proponents suggest that the interconnection between letters and numbers is much more than just what we have explained above. In other words, according to this code, there are hidden meanings! And by applying little mathematics (like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division), all hidden words and meanings can be got. For example, the word father has 2 Hebrew letters; Aleph (and Aleph represents 1) and (and Beth represents 2). And thus, father is equal to (1+2=3), mother is equal to (aleph-1+mem-40= 41), and a child is equal to (yod-10+lamed-30+dalet-4=44). Therefore, father plus mother is equal to child (3+41=44).
Considering the idea that this type of coding was not known in OT writing times (though was wide-spread by 1st century), it’s highly unlikely that it was used in OT writings. However, some Jewish movements, for example, Kaballah, insist that the OT has a lot of the code! On the other hand, the code must have been common in times of authorship of NT and might have been employed by NT authors. Those who advocate for this code suggest that Revelation 13:18 was written in the code and thus the number 666 stands for Hebrew letters that, if their alphabet letters are considered, give out the name Nero Caesar. However, since in apocalyptic language, numbers can symbolically represent many things, it can’t be established beyond doubt that John really employed the code or was just symbolizing as it is always done in apocalyptic writings.
On the other hand, 666 can mean a lot of other names other than Nero. See the meaning of 666 here, and explore discussions regarding this mystery number here on stack exchange!
The Equidistant Letter Sequence Bible Code
The third code system suggests that, in the Bible, there are names or words hidden by ‘spacers’ (a number of other letters or thousands of other letters between the letters that form the hidden word or name). For example, finding the word CAT in the verse, count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age who come to serve in the work in the Tent of meeting (numbers 4:3), shall need us to first remove spaces (that is, countallthemenfromthirtytofiftyyearsofagewhocometoserveintheworkintheTentofmeeting) and apply the computer software to identify the spacers, connect the letters being separated and we shall have CAT (that is, C, jump 32 letters, A, jump 32 letters, T, and you will have CAT-see bold letter above). Three-letter word with only 32 spacer letters is easier, and long words with thousands of spacer letters can be complex and mystical.
Advocates for the above coding suggest that the assassination of Israel’s prime minister Yitzhak Rabin had been predicted in the Bible (starting with Deut. 2:33, the advocates started counting, skipping 4,722 letters to find second letter in Deut. 4:42, kept on the process till the last letter in Deut. 24:16). Claimers say that the Bible has had most of the world’s phenomenon (president Clinton, Watergate, Apollo moon landings, the 1929 stock market crashes, and others) written about in this code.
Seriously, a lot of evidence shows the above code to be nowhere in the Bible. First and foremost, change the Bible version and you have lost the count, consider the changes in the grammar of even the original languages (Hebrew and Greek) and still you won’t have the same results, and, lastly, the very many spacer letters (thousands) can make you land on words that don’t necessarily represent the truth (see the introduction above).
NB: Also, I had talked of this in my writings about the existence of God and Bing bang theory
READ THIS TOO: Does God exist? Bing Bang Theory has holes!
Conclusion on Bible Code
Generally, it is highly likely atbash code is in the Bible, gematria is either there or not, and the modern computer-era code is highly likely nowhere in the Bible. So, are there codes in the Bible? Yes! Importantly, suggests most trustworthy biblical scholars, they don’t have a significant effect on anyone whether that someone knows them or not. In other words, our faith cannot be affected by knowing or not knowing the codes, that is, if they even exist. In other words, whether the idea that there are bible codes in the bible is true or not, it has no effect on us, the usual consumers of Biblical text and the truth it teaches!