Thu. December 28, 2000
Champaign, IL -
Details of the Christmas story have been found encoded together in the ancient Hebrew text of the Bible, written nearly a thousand years before the event.
The surprisingly extensive collection of predictions was discovered beneath the surface text of the book of Proverbs earlier this month by Bible Code Digest researchers.
In announcing the finds, the monthly e-newsletter and web site (www.biblecodedigest.com) noted that its researchers suspect there are many more similar codes yet to be found in the passage.
Centered around a puzzling Christmas message, the researchers have so far found dozens of Hebrew equidistant letter sequences (ELSs) such as Mary, Joseph, Bethlehem, stable, manger, nativity, shepherds, star and angels.
The cryptic 14-letter focal ELS reads "Christmas is a gift to him and to the mother," and runs backwards every 19th letter from Proverbs 15:30 to 15:22.
Researchers are not sure of the meaning of the message, although they note that both Joseph and Mary appear near it.
The complete cluster of Christmas codes appears to span Proverbs 14 through 17.
Bible scholars believe Solomon, the son of King David, authored most of Proverbs. He reigned as king of Israel from 970-930 B.C.
Equidistant letter sequences are Hebrew words and phrases made up of letters with equal numbers of other letters, or "skips," between them.
According to veteran mathematician R. Edwin Sherman, director of the Bible Code Digest, the odds against these words appearing by chance is less than one in a trillion.
"Any small number of shorter codes could just be coincidental," said Sherman. "But there are far too many of them in this array to be there by chance."
Sherman is a consultant to Fortune 500 companies and government agencies on insurance risk, Sherman uses extensive statistical analysis to evaluate the validity of Bible codes.
Researchers included Sherman, physicist and Hebrew expert Dr. Nathan Jacobi, and Dave Swaney, editor of the Bible Code Digest.
Bible Code Digest researchers use search software developed by the pioneering Israeli scientists whose paper announcing the significance of Torah codes was first published in the prestigious journal Statistical Science.
The software uses the Koren version of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament.
Significant code clusters like this are typically connected thematically to the surface text above them. For instance, another less mathematically-significant Christmas cluster was discovered during the project beneath Micah 5:1-2, a well-known prophetic passage about the Christmas story.
This verse reads, "But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall he come forth to me, he who is to be ruler in Israel; and his origin is from ancient time, from days of old."
The researchers are so far baffled by the lack of such a connection for this cluster. The Proverbs text where the Christmas codes are located is seemingly the same advice for living given throughout this revered book, and has no obvious link to the Christmas story.
Bible code research gained the world spotlight three years ago with the publication of several best-selling books on the subject. But research into Bible codes has been going on since the Middle Ages, when rabbis began noticing remarkable ELSs in the Torah.
Code research took a quantum leap forward with the introduction of mathematical analysis of German and Japanese codes during World War II, and the advent of personal computers a few decades later. Bible code researchers use the same basic methodology to search for codes in the original Hebrew.
Bible Code Digest researchers have discovered several other meaningful code arrays in the Old Testament. The most significant is a massive cluster beneath Isaiah 52 and 53 about the crucifixion of Christ. Another is an extremely significant group of Holocaust clusters in Genesis and Deuteronomy.
They also recently announced discovery of a new form of code called mosaics, which are word patterns that when analyzed statistically indicate authorship of portions of Genesis was far beyond the abilities of humans.
The following is a partial list of the Christmas ELSs found to date:
61623; Christmas is a present to him and to the mother
61623; Son of Mary
61623; Joseph
61623; Mary
61623; Betrothed
61623; City of David
61623; Bethlehem
61623; Star
61623; Jesus the Messiah
61623; Stable
61623; Manger
61623; Angels
61623; Homage
61623; Deer of the dawn (star of the ast)
61623; Son of Man
61623; Cow shed
61623; Shepherds
61623; Atonement Lamb
61623; Hope
61623; Adoration
61623; Virgin
61623; The Magi
61623; Gifts
61623; Gift of myrrh
61623; Gift of frankincense
61623; Gift of gold
61623; The root of Jesse
61623; Savior
61623; Cradle of straw
61623; A Banner for the peoples
61623; A Covenant of the people
61623; Light of the nations
61623; Holy Child
61623; Holy new-born Child
61623; Newborn King
61623; Son of the Highest
61623; He will be great
61623; Wonderful Counselor
61623; John
61623; The Baptist
61623; Carpenter
61623; Elizabeth
61623; The Word
61623; The Promised One
61623; Anointed One
61623; Ruler in Israel
61623; Seraphim
61623; Herod
61623; Prophetic
61623; Cross
61623; Immanuel
61623; Atonement
61623; Descendant of David
61623; Pilgrim
61623; Awesome Jehovah
61623; Angelic
61623; Childbirth
61623; Ephratah
61623; Astrologer
61623; Camel
61623; Camels
61623; Astrologers
61623; No room
61623; At the inn
61623; Redeemer
61623; Jehovah
61623; Miraculous
61623; Lamb of God
61623; Second Adam
61623; Son of Jehovah
61623; Peace (Shalom)
61623; Fulfillment
61623; Lord
61623; Heavenly
61623; Census
61623; Miracle
61623; Wonderful
61623; Counselor
61623; Wreath of thorns
61623; Living Jehovah
61623; Glory
61623; Glorious
61623; Foundation
61623; Roman tax
61623; Holy
61623; Caesar
61623; Gabriel
61623; Quirinius
61623; From Nazareth
61623; Simeon
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