Numbers

What’s in a number?  Do numbers have meanings?  Do numbers relate or connect to words or those things we call syllables and vowels, individually, that make up words?

Expressions I’ve heard, and you may have, about or relating to numbers, such as:

Your number’s up.

Count your lucky stars.

I’ve got your number.

There’s strength in numbers.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by moments that take our breath away.

Life is the greatest bargain; we get it for nothing.

In the Hebrew language (alefbet – from which we get alphabet) each letter is representative of a number.

It makes me think (and perhaps this is a truth; I haven’t researched it) that numbers existed before letters, but we wouldn’t have known them to be numbers because we didn’t have the vowels or consonants to describe them.  I’ve copied this from the web site Jewfaq:

Each letter in the alefbet has a numerical value. These values can be used as numerals, as the Romans used some of their letters (I, V, X, L, C, D, M) as numerals. The table at right shows each letter with its corresponding numerical value. Note that final letters have the same value as their non-final counterparts.

The numerical value of a word is determined by adding up the values of each letter. The order of the letters is irrelevant to their value: the number 11 could be written as Yod-Alef, Alef-Yod, Hei-Vav, Dalet-Dalet-Gimel or many other ways. Ordinarily, however, numbers are written with the fewest possible letters and with the largest numeral first (that is, to the right). The number 11 would be written Yod-Alef (with the Yod on the right, because Hebrew is written right-to-left), the number 12 would be Yod-Beit, the number 21 would be Kaf-Alef, the number 611 would be Tav-Reish-Yod-Alef, etc. The only significant exception to this pattern is the numbers 15 and 16, which if rendered as 10+5 or 10+6 would be a name of G-d, so they are normally written Teit-Vav (9+6) and Teit-Zayin (9+7).

Because of this system of assigning numerical values to letters, every word has a numerical value. For example, the word Torah (Tav-Vav-Reish-Hei) has the numerical value 611 (400+6+200+5). There is an entire discipline of Jewish mysticism known as Gematria that is devoted to finding hidden meanings in the numerical values of words. For example, the number 18 is very significant, because it is the numerical value of the word Chai, meaning life. Donations to Jewish charities are routinely made in denominations of 18 for that reason.

Some have suggested that the final forms of the letters Kaf, Mem, Nun, Pei and Tzadei have the numerical values of 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900, providing a numerical system that could easily render numbers up to 1000. However, there does not appear to be any basis for that interpretation in Jewish tradition. A cursory glance at a Jewish tombstone will show that these letters are not normally used that way: the year 5766 (2005-2006) is written Tav-Shin-Samekh-Vav (400+300+60+6; the 5000 is assumed), not Final Nun-Samekh-Vav (700+60+6). Indeed, writing it in that way would look absurd to anyone familiar with Hebrew, because a final letter should never appear at the beginning of a word! But even where numerology is used only to determine the numerical values of words, you will not find examples in Jewish tradition of final letters being given different values. For example, in traditional sources, the numerical value of a name of G-d that ends in Final Mem is 86, not 646.

In all likelihood you’ve also heard bantered about that the numerical value or equivalent representing haSatan is 666.  One needs take those numbers and assign the equivalent letter to determine what it might be.  Given there are three 6’s, and that the Hebrew alefbet states that the number 6 is assigned to the letter “W” – then haSatan’s mark or the mark of the beast is “WWW”. Today, whenever we see the “www” we automatically think of the “W(orld)W(ide)W(eb)” so does that mean that the web is the mark of the beast?  Certainly makes for interesting speculation especially given the number of atrocities occurring on the web:  child porn, pornography in general, child enticing & ultimately kidnapping rings preying on youth on the web, internet crime – a sordid display of things evil and definitely the opposite of what we might call “God” or “Good”.

I received the following information in an e-mail with respect to numbers and the tie-in with the Freemasons and society today.  I found it interesting reading, providing all types of plausible explanations.  Is it real, is it the truth?  You be the judge.

Most cults have their own system of number meanings and numerology. In the cult of the Free Masons there are several numbers that are their favorites. These include 3, 7, 11 and 13 and any multiples of that number.

The multiples that are most significant for them are 3X7 =21, 3X11=33, 3X13=39, 7X11=77, 7X13=91.

The number 39 which is a combination of a single 3 plus its multiple of 3 is a ritualistic number.  Sometimes it is called a dark magic number.  Another significant number for them is 19.5 which are half of 39.

The number 33 is highly significant for the Masons because of the 33 degrees of Masonry that are the levels of study required to be a master Mason.  Many of conspiracy theories assert that a 33^rd degree Mason which is the highest level is a worshipper of Lucifer.

They also practice a form of Gematria where letters are significant in the cult.  In Free Masonry where certain letters of the alphabet are important. These letters are -

3=C

7=G

11= K

13= M

W = 6   This is a hangover from Greek Biblical Gematria systems.

Oddly most internet URLs add up to 666 because they start with www.   Many conspiracy theorists think that this is indeed something that the Freemasons made up.

The Washington Monument which was built by Freemasons is also rife with Mason numerical symbolism . It is 555 feet high which equates to a height of 666 inches.  This is of course the number of Satan. It is also 111 feet deep into the ground which is another significant number.

In case you haven’t guessed all numbers in triplicate are also deeply meaningful to the freemason cult.

Another mark of the freemason is supposed to be in the Internal Revenue Code Book.  The law that says that everyone must have a social security number is called Code 666.  This is why some conspiracy theorists also sometimes casually refer to the social security number as the “mark of the beast.”

In Russia they use a similar bar code to identify their citizens. This is called the 666 code.

Speaking of bar code every bar code that marks every consumer product in America begins with a 6, ends with a 6 and has a 6 number in the middle of the sequence of numbers.  This too is considered to be a Free Mason sanctioned “Mark of the Beast.”

The number 7 seems to be very prominent in the car manufacturing industry that has had a long time association with the freemasons.

For instance the company GM adds up to 13 in Freemasonry symbolism. The Dodge Company gives its customers a 7 year, 70,000 mile warranty.

As to the significance of thirteen, all are aware that it has come down to us as a number of ill-omen. Many superstitions cluster around it, and various explanations are current concerning them

One of the most famous demonstrations of the freemason presence is on United States Currency. There are 13 stars in the Masons square on the treasury seal on U.S. paper money.

Microsoft is an organization associated with Freemasonry. A close look at the logo for the giant product reveals that it is composed of 33 dots which is a very mystical number.

The logo for the United Nations is similar. There are 33 spaces in it if you count the center space which actually qualifies it as being a Masonic symbol.

Conspiracy theorists who are into numerology also insist that John F. Kennedy was done n by Freemasons. He was killed right next to the 33rd degree latitude line in the 11th month on the 22nd. Ironically the monument that erected to his memory was an Egyptian obelisk that boasts the eternal flame of masonry on top.

The famous attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan is also seen by many conspiracy theorists as having something to do with the freemasons because it took place on the 30th day of the 3rd month which numerically reduces down to a 33.  The 33 degree symbolizes a death engineered by a master mason.

There have been many master masons who have been great leaders in this world (George W. Bush among them) and sometimes you have to wonder if a powerful freemason is behind the governments and big corporations use of numbers in triplicate.

The name I go by when writing or blogging is Shammah.  Shammah is

S = 60

H = 5

H = 5

A = 1

M = 40

M = 40

A = 1

H = 5

Total:  157 = 1+5+7 = 13

I do not know the meaning behind the number 13, except to say things like what is written above, that it is an “unlucky” number.  I wonder how much of a lie this is; perhaps it is the mirror opposite of truth when we hear it is an unlucky number.  Perhaps the evil one uses it to have us superstitious folks stay away from it, so that we do not see, hear or experience the power of goodness encompassed in the number 13?  How many buildings do you enter that, though they have 14 floors or more, they do not have or show as having a 13^th floor?  There really is a 13^th floor; it’s just be numbered otherwise – i.e. 14.

Scripture tells that when YHWH spoke he told the peoples that “My ways are not man’s ways.”  If we choose to live and believe the ways set out, invited, adopted or twisted by man, then of course the choice we’ve made has not been the way of YHWH.

What’s in a number?  It makes up a name or is it the other way around, the name makes up the number?  Because our language is the language of letters, we live life by the letter and not the number.  What if we were to live life by the number and not the letter?  Would the life as we see and know it appear differently?  Would we behave differently?

What’s in a number?