Number Symbology: Old Testament

To read through the Old Testament, the Torah, Kabbalah, and other sacred Hebraic writings is to become well aware of how the Hebrews used the science of names and numbers in their number-letter code. By this code they wished to obscure their meanings from the uninitiated, and at the same time to reveal their inner teachings to the initiate.

Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has several meanings - for example the letter Aleph (A) means "life-breath, power, source;" while the letter Beth (B) means "house, shelter" - and so on with every letter. The symbology allowed hidden teachings to be evident to those who knew how to read the deeper message contained in the names of all persons and places described. Scholars could also penetrate the mask of allegory and receive or give divine guidance through numbers and letters.

For example, the story of Cain slaying Abel is about fraternal rivalry. But symbolically, the name Cain means body and materialistic human desires, while Abel stands for the soul and idealistic human nature. These characters were so named to warn that materialism would kill spiritual ideas; hence Cain was said to have killed Abel. (Genesis 4:8).

Many biblical characters who reached periods of spiritual growth and development in their lives were given new names by divine direction. Thus Abram became Abraham (Genesis 17:5) and Sara became Sarah (Genesis 17:15). In both cases, the Hebrew Heh (H), a letter meaning "light" was added to the name to denote the attainment of spiritual light.

New Testament writers also made name changes to point out an individual's spiritual progress. For example, Saul became Paul after his conversion to Christianity (Acts 9:1-22 and 13:9). This symbolized the removal of the Hebrew Shin (S) and its replacement with the Hebrew Peh (P). Shin means "tooth or fang or a serpent. "Peh means "mouth." After this change, Saul became Paul, the spokesman for Christ (Acts 13:9). As Proverbs 22:1 states, "a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches."

A further use of numbers in biblical language involves recounting the number of years a person lived, begat and died. These numbers did not refer to the person's age in years, but rather to progress in spiritual attainment. The meaning of the name of the begotten indicated the development of a characteristic. Cycles also were indicated by the generations of descent. For example, from Adam to Noah there were nine generations, and from Noah to Abraham there were also nine generations. That made Noah the ninth from Adam, and Abraham the ninth from Noah.

Adam had three sons - Cain (body), Abel (soul) and Seth (replacement for Abel to carry the spiritual light). In a parallel situation, Noah also had three sons - Shem (spirit), Ham (physical nature) and Japhet (mental nature). These names represented the growth of humanity in consciousness after eighteen cycles of change.

Abram meant "father," while Abraham implied the added faith in God which he had come to realize. At ninety-nine years of age, Abraham begat Issac, whose name meant "joy in divine sonship." Issac begat Jacob, whose name meant "illumination through unfolding soul." Jacob's twelve sons (Genesis 35: 22-27) refer to the twelve types of consciousness represented by the twelve character types in the signs of the zodiac.

To study the whole Bible in this light is to have a lifetime of fascinating discovery. It can be said that Hebrew, more than any other language, offers us a great opportunity to study the profound power and significance of names.

Here is a short list of keywords for the numbers in biblical times: 

0. Source before manifestation.
1. God, the one immutable divine unity.
2. Duality - human, not divine.
3. Attributes of 1+2=3 - union of divine and human qualities.
4. The idea of solidity - steadfastness.
5. Humanity with its five developed senses.
6. Equilibrium, fitness, peace.
7. Humanity's septenary nature, cyclic fullness.
8. Accumulation, strength, power, augmentation.
9. Consolidation, conservation, humaneness. 
    (The true mission of the 9 is to serve as a minister 
    of God on earth.)
10. God and humanity, father - mother - deity, completion.

Modern numerology has grown partly from these concepts. The numbers and letters reflect meanings from the past coupled with many added spiritual interpretations. Meanings of our names today have deep significance and can be delineated letter by letter and number by number as we attain cycles of expression year by year in our own lives.

0 GENESIS, which means "first cause," relates to the primordial source. The first few verses of Genesis pertain only to the one God, as divine creator, who brings the world into existence out of the void, or from the unmanifest.

1 "LET THERE BE LIGHT" (Genesis 1:3). The first spiritual emanation was light. If our soul continues to follow the light, we will get back to our source. 1 stands for a beginning, a new start and unity.

2"... AND GOD DIVIDED the light from the darkness" (Genesis 1:4). In 2 there is duality, day and night, heaven and earth, man and woman and all pairs of opposites. Thus the development of choice began between good and evil, true and false and positive and negative.

Pythagoras says, "2 is the imperfect condition into which 'being' falls, when it becomes detached from the monad, God." Manly Hall in The Mystical Christ, states, "When the eyes of the both are opened, the sight of the soul is obscured."

3 THE FIRST TRINITY - Adam and Eve and child. Thus 3 means manifestation and expansion. Other trinities survive in our world - body, soul, and spirit, and the three divisions of mind - conscious, subconscious and super-conscious.

4 MANY BIBLICAL REFERENCES are taken from the cycles of the natural world. The symbology of the four seasons and four winds is embodied in Ezekiel's vision of the four living creatures - the face of a man, the face of a lion, the face of an ox and the face of an eagle (Ezekiel 1:5-14). These four relate to the four fixed signs of the zodiac.

The four elements appear symbolically as the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the fire of the Lord and the products of the earth. Genesis 2:10-14 tells of the "river out of Eden which parted into four heads." The rivers were named Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel and Euphrates. Metaphysically these names mean spirit (fire), breath (air), body (earth) and blood (water). These symbolize spirit, mind, body and soul which are the four principles that vitalize the material body during the earth life.

5 METAPHYSICALLY a "river" represents vital force. Human beings are the container of this force, as a "garden" symbolizes the body. The river of Genesis 2:10-14, described under number 4, represents the flow of humanity itself throughout the earth, which divides and divides until it covers all the earth. The 5 is the number of humanity with out five developed senses. The five senses are introduced in the early chapters of Genesis to indicate that the senses are essential in human creation; and therefore 5 is the number of humanity.

Five plays an important part in the story of David and Goliath. "... and David chose five smooth stones out of the brook" and "David took a stone and smote the Philistine (Goliath) in the forehead. The stone sunk into the forehead and he fell to the ground, (1 Samuel 17:40). The five stones represent the spiritualization of David's senses. David believed in the indwelling God of love and had learned to depend upon the spiritual power within himself. According to a mystical legend, when David touched the five stones they became as one stone, thus combining the total powers of his senses. The name Goliath means material power; thus the story is meant to demonstrate the power of the spiritual over the material.

6 THE PREPARATIONS for the emergence of humanity had all been made during the five days of creation, so on the sixth day, God made human beings. "In the image of God created He him, male and female created He them," (Genesis 1:27). So 6 is associated with generation, motherhood, fatherhood, domesticity and service. Home, family and children are the concerns of 6; human relationships and love abound.

Moses the first lawgiver, patterned the Ten Commandments after the Lord's example of creating the universe in six days. "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work" (Exodus 20:9). Therefore 6 is related to labor and service, as shown by the sixth sign of the zodiac, Virgo.

Through love, the sixth sense is to be developed as people demonstrate their godliness. The Book of Ruth is keyed to the number 6 and to love. In Ruth 3:15, Boaz gives Ruth six measures of barley, symbolic of love and protection.

7 IS THE PRINCIPLE NUMBER in the Bible; it is used innumerable times (some say over three hundred sixty) throughout both the Old and New Testaments. "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God ... For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth ... and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20: 10-11).

One of the most profound examples of the use of the symbolic number 7 is related to the fall of Jericho in the Book of Joshua, 6: 1-20:

And the Lord said unto Joshua, "And ye shall compass the city ... and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days ... And the priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets ... When they make a long blast with the ram's horn and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city shall fall down flat.

It becomes evident that the fall of Jericho was not by warfare but rather was by the principle of the 7. Victory was achieved by means of the positive vibration of sound which had been built up to a tremendous power.

8 THE MYSTERY of the 8 is that of eternal and continuous spiral motion, which is constant throughout the universe. The life force currents sweep through the body in the form of a figure 8, following the cerebro-spinal and the sympathetic nervous systems, like radiation's of light. This is why in deep meditation one sees a real light within. The [symbol o0] horizontal 8, means "as above, so below." It is a symbol of power. In Genesis 17:10 the rite and covenant of circumcision was to be performed on the eighth day of a manchild's life. This was considered one of the most important covenants between God and humanity.

9 IS THE ULTIMATE, containing the forces of all the other numbers. It stands for a complete cycle of growth. The nine generations from Adam to Noah and from Noah to Abraham indicate stages of growth and development. Noah was the ninth from Adam, and Abraham was the ninth from Noah.

When Abram received his covenant from God and his new name, Abraham, he was "ninety and nine years old" (Genesis 17:1-5). Symbolically, his age reduces to a 9, to indicate that this was a period of time in which a spiritual cycle had been completed. The addition of the Hebrew Heh (H) to Abram's name carries a 9 vibration as well.