The abundance of examples of number, acts of numbering, or of reckoning, associated with Abraham seem unparalleled of an individual elsewhere in The Bible.[1] This article investigates certain examples in Abraham’s life that provide insight into the mind of this prophet (Gen 20:7) and friend of God (2 Chron 20:7; Isa 41:8; Jas 2:23). It should be of significance to Abraham’s seed in Christ (e.g., Gal 3:16).
The value of numbers
Numbers measure, or represent, value; they facilitate reckoning. Abraham’s saintly seed, like the stars, are humanly uncountable, yet numbered in God’s heavenly book (Ps 69:28; Dan 12:3; Mal 3:16; Rev 21:27). God’s counting takes in both the stars and the saints (which the stars represent). Both are a heavenly host “which no man could number” (Rev 7:9). The many of this ‘innumerable [saintly] assembly’ (Heb 12:23) are measured on the value of one: “thy seed which is Christ” (Gal 3:16).
Here, number accounts for the quantity and quality of the sum of the Godly seed. The many numerically are qualitatively one. This is a plural-unity: “And did not he make one? … And wherefore one? That he might seek a seed of gods” (KJV ‘Godly seed’, Mal. 2:1. Cp. John. 10:34-36).[2] Therefore, number, both literal and symbolic, figures significantly in any account of the Gospel preached to Abraham and subsequently to his seed.
God counts
In Genesis 15, Abraham (Abram as he was then called), being old and childless, shows his concern for an heir. For how could God’s promises to him about his seed be fulfilled? God’s response is to ask him to count the stars! It was a rational option for God to select such a task for a human. For, beyond what could conceivably be attempted, or measured, lay the significance that met Abraham’s concerns. His limited vision was refocused. A metaphysical horizon appeared, and an eternal reality beyond the astrophysical came into view.
The heavens, the host of humanly uncountable stars, declared Abraham’s future in God’s glory. The stars he looked at were “the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1; 2 Cor. 4:18), signifiers of a seed whom he believed Yahweh would provide. The God of glory who had called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees (Acts 7:2) had foreknowingly ‘seen to’ it.[3] Abraham thereby, came to see his seed “afar off” (Gen 22:4, 14; Heb 11:13) and so rejoiced to “see Christ’s day” (John 8:56). Hence, even in this allegorical way:
The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations through faith, preached before the Gospel to Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed (Gal 3:8. Cp. Gen 22:16-18).
Abraham goes on to ask and receive further assurances about his seed in the context (see vv. 8-18). But given God’s response to him before this, the substance of his faith, about what he hoped for, is implicit. Abraham reckoned with what was spiritually seeable symbolised by the stars, and God became his rewarder (Heb 11:6):
I am thy…exceeding great reward….He believed in Yahweh and he counted it to him for righteousness (Gen 15:1, 6).
Where this text is cited in the New Testament [NT], the King James’ Version [KJV] uses three English terms: ‘counted’ (Rom 4:3), ‘accounted’ (Gal 3:6) and ‘imputed’ (Jas 2:23). However, the Greek NT in these passages simply has one word elogisthē. So this Greek term represents the Hebrew word yaHšübeºhä (‘he counted it’) used in Gen 15:6.[4] Elogisthē, like its Hebrew counterpart, is part of a family of words whose usage is specific to mental acts, reasoning, involving logical processes of thought, or reckoning. Calculating the sum of some experience, reckoning what it means, is analogous to functions associated with number.
If one wanted to identify this NT ‘accounted’ family by a common element then Greek ‘logos’ (or, the stem ‘log–‘) as used in the terms ‘word,’ or ‘logical,’ is most apparent. Romans 4 has much about Abraham’s imputed righteousness, and how this works also for the believer. Therefore, not surprisingly, the text uses this Greek ‘log[os]-based’ term quite densely over verses 3 – 24. The range of English translations for elogisthē and its cognates includes: ‘counted’, ‘reckoned’ and ‘impute’ as the table below, based on the KJV, shows.
| Romans | KJV | GNT Transliteration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4:3 | It was counted unto him for righteousness | elogisthē |
| 2 | 4:4 | is the reward not reckoned of grace, but | logizetai |
| 3 | 4:5 | His faith is counted for righteousness | logizetai |
| 4 | 4:6 | Unto whom God imputeth | logizetai |
| 5 | 4:8 | The Lord will not impute | logisētai |
| 6 | 4:9 | Faith was reckoned | elogisthē |
| 7 | 4:10 | How was it then reckoned? | elogisthē |
| 8 | 4:11 | righteousness might be imputed unto them also | logisthēnai |
| 9 | 4:22 | It was imputed to him for | elogisthē |
| 10 | 4:23 | That it was imputed to him | elogisthē |
| 11 | 4:24 | To whom it shall be imputed | logizesthai |
Abraham counts
Hebrews 11:19 comments on Abraham’s concern to reckon with the meaning of the Mount Moriah incident when God tried him (Genesis 22).
Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
No counting-related terms occur in the relevant part of Genesis 22, but in Heb 11:19, Abraham’s proving involves his ‘accounting’ (or ‘reckoning’) with the implications of his faith and God’s promises to him. (Logisamenos, the Greek term for ‘accounting’, is related to the terms found in Romans 4, listed in the table above). He reasoned with the reality of his belief in resurrection and its consequence for Isaac, the promised seed, whom he is preparing to sacrifice. Abraham’s reckoning focused on the need for resurrection, should his child of promise, Isaac, be killed. It is noteworthy that this experience is also parabolic (Heb 11:19, ‘figure’).
In this situation on Mount Moriah, ‘seeing’ is also associated with ‘reckoning’ as it had been in Gen 15:5 (“Look now toward heaven, Tell the stars….so shall thy seed be…And he believed in Yahweh and He reckoned it to him for righteousness.”) Abraham names the spot in that mount ‘Yahweh Yireh’, meaning: ‘Yahweh (he) shall be seen’. Figuratively, in this place, he received Isaac back from the dead. God had ‘seen to it’ that an animal was offered (typical of the Lamb of God) instead of Isaac. The place is associated with the person previewed: “in the Mount of Yahweh he shall be seen” (in Gen 22:14, the Hebrew, coupled with Biblical and exegetical perspectives, would centre-stage ‘he’ not the ‘it’ of English versions). The place where Abraham puts God’s name (cp. the language of Deut 12:5ff.) is ultimately where ‘Yahweh’ will be: ‘Yahweh shammah’ (Ezek 48:35).[5]
Abraham’s reckoning process was set in a circumstance of trial that was atypical in a key respect. No saint, before or since, has had to meet this condition: to be asked by God to sacrifice his only son; the seed and heir specially provided by God. This need not, of course, exclude other elements from being typical, or educative, for the believer. What is exclusive is that Abraham was uniquely involved with what God would do with, or in, His Son. The ‘Yahweh Yireh’ narrative echoes down time to Calvary as typical, in preview, of a Father’s sacrificial love (John 3:16) united with a Son’s sacrificial obedience (Heb 5:8). The significance and scope of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection impacted on Abraham, since his faith (which entails beliefs held about the work of God in Messiah/Christ) reckoned with that hope. The spirit of Christ was in this prophet and his experience (1 Pet 1:11).
Abraham’s service was to do with presenting the body of Isaac as a living sacrifice. Thus both body and mind were involved in his ‘accounting’ (Heb 11:19) what God could do for Isaac.[6] Such was the quality of mind of our father Abraham (Rom 4:16) that his example can still “command his children after him” (Gen 18:19; Rom 4:23-25). He would implicitly have this to say to us (Rom 12:1-2):
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The KJV’s ‘reasonable’ (in Rom 12:1), related in Greek to ‘accounting’, is equivalent to ‘logical’ (Gk. logiken). This is in the context of ‘mind’ and ‘prove.’ Hence, applied to Abraham when God proved him (Gen 22:1; Heb 11:17), his works (or ‘service’) of faith and obedience, sacrificing his son, were ‘logical.’ His reckoning was logical. Logical service is effected, or exercised, through a mind being ‘transformed’ (and thus ‘renewed’) in a mortal body, by Divine revelation.[7]
This shows that a true Christian saint, of the seed of Abraham, should combine undivided, or inseparably, the mind, will and body in serving Abraham’s God.
Counting stars
Combining the preceding discussion with an earlier one about the stars, number and reckoning, these matters can be extended. It is important to note that Abraham’s inability to count stars was not a negative experience for him. Why it was not so lay in what the host of stars represented to him personally. This positive moment of revelation would increase, not diminish, his interest in numbers, or reckoning, after that. Indeed, as shown in the table below, he put numbers to much use. In this instance, however, in Genesis 15, God had done the calculation. Abraham counts with his knowledge and belief about his Creator and God responds with His spiritual reckoning of Abraham.
Reckoning on this same basis, that nothing was too hard for God (Gen 18:14; Rom 4:19), both Sarah and he, though aged, were rewarded with the (beginning of the) promised seed in Isaac (Rom 9:9; Heb 11:11). God resurrected (‘quickened’ – revived) Sarah’s (dead) womb (Rom 4:17-19), showing that overcoming death is the ultimate hope in the promise of the seed.[8]
Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable (Heb 11:12).
Or, as Abraham is presented in Romans 4 (I give a literal rendering in bold type):
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickens the dead, and calls the not being, as being.[9]
Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. (Rom 4:17-18)
Abraham’s human counting limitations were resolved in terms of his absolute reliance on God’s infinite capacities. The Cosmos tells such a story. It did for Abraham, and it also does in the Sarah allegory of the heavenly Jerusalem (Gal 4:24-26; Heb 12:22-23; Rev 3:21; 21:2).
For Abraham, then, the story behind the starry-heavens he attempted to ‘tell’ (‘count’) was of the “the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth” (Gen 14:22) and His handiwork (Psalm 19). For at any time, His creation, manifold and marvellous, offers an evidential measure of “His eternal power and Godhead” (Rom 1:20-21).
Ur, a city of Mesopotamia, from whence he had been ‘called out’, was given over to worship of the heavens. Yet, Abraham saw in the stars his hoped for seed, and beyond the stars, their Creator who should be worshipped. In his gaze heavenward, Abraham would appreciate that his God “tells the number of the stars; he calls them all by their names”, and His “understanding is ‘without number’ (Ps 147:4-5). ‘Without number’ (or ‘there is no number’) is the basic sense of the two Hebrew words ’yn mspr translated aptly by KJV as ‘infinite’.
Counting stars in Genesis 15 led Abraham to see that “the heavens declared the glory of God” (Ps 19:1). The Hebrew for ‘tell’ (“Tell the stars, if you be able…”) in Gen 15:5 is a cognate of ‘declared’ (or ‘number’, in the plural form: msprym) in Ps 19:1. These terms connect with the Hebrew for ‘number’ – mspr – as used in the rendering: ‘without number’ or ‘infinite’ of Ps 147:5. So the sense of the original, in Ps 19:1, is that the heavens ‘number’ (or ‘number-out’) the glory of God. The future manifestation of the glory of God, in sons brought to glory in Christ (Heb 2:10), is computed by the uncountable stars that shine in the brightness of the firmament (Dan 12:3).[10]
A significant contrast impacts on the narrative in Genesis 15, through the common element of ‘counting’. God’s ‘counting’ of Abraham transposes the issue from one in which finite objects, like stars, are to be numbered. The Hebrew word for ‘number’, ‘tell’ or ‘declare’, based on the stem/root ‘s-p-r’, is used of the act which Abraham was asked to engage in. But ‘counted’ (cf. Hebrew: Hšb), used of God’s act, transforms numbering into ‘reckoning,’ not of quantities, but of a quality: belief in Yahweh.
In sum: this extra-terrestrial allegory, experienced by Abraham as written aforetime of him, declares for all time that:
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts (reckonings) than your thoughts (reckonings) (Isa 55:9). [Both instances of KJV ‘thoughts’ are from the familiar Hebrew Hšb, used of God’s ‘reckoning’ of Abram in Gen 15:6.]
For us, as for Abraham, God’s friend, there is infinite value in God’s thoughts revealed in the Scriptures. As the Psalmist aptly puts it:
Many, Yahweh my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts [‘reckonings’ Hebr. Hšb] which are to us-ward: they cannot be ranked (or, ‘ordered’) unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered [Hebr. mspr]. (Ps 40:5).
To have the mind of Christ, the seed of Abraham, is to be the beneficiary of a wonderful work: a work of calling through revelation. God’s reckonings are higher than our reckonings or He is not God. To counter our lower thoughts, or to transpose them God-ward, are the infinite and effectual resources of the Holy Scriptures. Without God’s condescended thoughts in His word to effect righteousness in us, we could not be saved.
Numbers in the life of Abraham
Abraham counts, or is associated with number, in a variety of circumstances in his life:
| Genesis | Numerological features of the Genesis text concerning Abraham | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12:4 | Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran |
| 2 | 13:16 | And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. |
| 3 | 14:14 | And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. (In context, the scene is set with Elamite Chedorlaomer’s reign of 12 years, mention of a rebellion against him in 13th by five kings in Abraham’s region, and in 14th year there’s a war of four kings including Chedorlaomer against the five. The four take Lot captive with others from Sodom.) |
| 4 | 14:20 | And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes [tenths] of all. [Hebrews 7:2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all….] |
| 5 | 15:5 | And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. |
| 6 | 15:6 | And he believed in Yahweh; and he counted it to him for righteousness. |
| 7 | 15:9 | And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. |
| 8 | 15:13 | And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years |
| 9 | 15:16 | But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again |
| 10 | 16:3 | Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in…Canaan |
| 11 | 16:10 | And the angel of Yahweh said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude |
| 12 | 16:16 | And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram. |
| 13 | 17:1 | And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, Yahweh appeared to Abram, and said… |
| 14 | 17:12 | And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations |
| 15 | 17:17 | Abraham …said, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? |
| 16 | 17:20 | And as for Ishmael…twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. |
| 17 | 17:24 | And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. |
| 18 | 17:25 | And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. |
| 19 | 18:2 | And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him |
| 20 | 18:6 | Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal |
| 21 | 18:24 -32 | Peradventure there be fifty… forty five… forty… thirty… twenty… ten righteous within the city: wilt you also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein…? |
| 22 | 21:4 | And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. |
| 23 | 21:5 | And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. |
| 24 | 21:28 | And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. (‘Seven’ is also the Hebrew for ‘oath’ or ‘sware’. The name ‘Beer-sheba’ is ‘the well of the seven/oath.’) See the section ‘A well numbered seven.’ |
| 25 | 22:4 | Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. (Cp. Hebrews 11:13 re. ‘afar off,’ and 11:19 re. ‘accounting.’ ) |
| 26 | 22:17 | …I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore. |
| 27 | 23:1 | And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. |
| 28 | 23:2, 19 | And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron. Hebron was also where Abraham buried her (v. 19). ‘Kirjath’ (KJV) is Hebrew for ‘city.’ The name ’arba‘ is Hebrew for the number ‘four’.[11] |
| 29 | 23:15 | My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead. |
A well numbered seven
The life of Abraham has encouraged interpreters to work on the numerical values of the Hebrew alphabet. This interest connects with the insertion of the 5th letter of the alphabet ‘h’ (Hebrew: hē) into his former name ‘Abram’ to create the name ‘Abraham’. Also, Abram’s selection of a band of 318 trained servants to secure the rescue of Lot, and not “some round figure like 300 or 350”,[12] has provoked much speculation.[13] However, this article now turns to look, finally, at Abraham’s deliberate use of the number seven, a highly significant number in Scripture. The table, above, listing instances of number in his life can be a starting point for other investigations.
In the text of Gen 21:22-34, Abimelek and Abraham make a covenant, which was Abimelek’s way, perceiving God to be with Abraham (v. 22), of his being sure that Abraham would not “deal falsely” with him (v. 23). Abraham reproves Abimelek because his servants had violently seized a well from Abraham. However, Abimelek requests an oath for confirmation of the end of this strife (Heb 6:16).
In Abraham’s act of covenant, he makes a deliberate play on the linguistic relation between ‘oath’ (‘swearing’) and ‘seven’ in Hebrew. The evident pun is encoded in his naming of Beersheba. This place, meaningfully named, witnessed to the pact between them.
‘Beersheba’ is composed of two Hebrew words. The word ‘Beer’ transliterates into English letters the Hebrew for a ‘well’. However, the word ‘sheba’ [Hebr. šb` ] is used by Abraham with two senses in mind. Both senses relate to what is taking place. One sense is ‘seven’ the other is ‘swear’ (cp. ‘oath’).
When, in verse 24, Abraham proceeds to formalise the pact, pronouncing an oath as Abimelek requested, he says, “I will swear”. In the Hebrew this is (an ‘Imperfect’/Future form) related to ‘sheba’. So, this word is about ‘oath’ making (‘seven-ing’!).
Abraham now gives Abimelek an unspecified number of sheep and oxen, for the purpose of making a covenant (v. 27), which they then enact. Next (in v. 28), Abraham sets aside ‘seven’ ewe lambs by themselves, prompting Abimelek (v. 29) to enquire what this signifies. If we were following the Hebrew text we would observe at this point that (a form of) ‘sheba’ (as in Beer-sheba) is actually ‘seven’ for the number of ewe lambs.
Abraham explains (v. 30):
For these seven [ sheba` ] ewe lambs shall you take of my hand in order that it shall be to me for a witness that I have digged this well [ ‘beer’ ].
The narrative records (v. 31):
Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware [ cf. sheba` ] both of them.
In short, whereas ‘seven’ and ‘well’ were put together (i.e. in ‘Beer-sheba’), now the place, duly named, links ‘well’ with ‘oath’ ( sheba` ). Textually, as it has been shown, the term ‘well’ ( ‘Beer’ ) has ‘seven’ and ‘oath’ in a before and after relation, marking the literal number sense first, then the transposition into the figurative ‘seven’, that is ‘oath’, last. The choice of ‘seven’ for the collective number of ewe lambs intends a physical representation of the oath: they are ‘oath’ ewe lambs.
‘Seven’, therefore, and ‘oath’, equally name the place Beersheba: it is ‘well of (the) seven’; or, ‘well of (the) oath’. The name Beersheba marks an instance of numbering with a pointed significance. Numbering is linked to naming; the name embodies ‘number’ in its subtly contrived meaning. So, this record of Abraham’s judgment provides a relevant perspective on faith, number and meaning in the Bible. This incident, with many others, depicts a consciousness of the significance of number in a prophet of Yahweh.
So, the representation within the Bible of Abraham’s faith and works (e.g. Heb 11:17; Jas 2:21, 22), and the relation of covenant ‘oaths’ to inheritance perspectives (Exod 6:8; Heb 6:13-20; 7:1-4, 21-22, 28), serve as a basis for this circumstantial deployment of the number ‘seven’.
‘Seven’ (as in ‘seventh day’ – Gen 2:2-3) is also associated with ‘rest’, as in the ‘sabbath(-rest)’ [Gk. sabbatismos] that lies ahead (Heb 4:1-11). In this context, and apocalyptic ones, ‘seven’ symbolises the end of a sequence (of events, or a process). So, although it connects to the numbers that precede it, it represents a state of affairs discontinuous with them. In other words, the symbolic and ordering roles of ‘seven’ show that it marks a transition from one phase to another different and final one. Such a view of this number is consistent with Abraham resolving the dispute with Abimelek.
The number ‘seven’ is quite dominant in the composition of The Apocalypse. Also, in this last Biblical book it is regarded as wisdom to have the understanding to count the number of the beast (Rev 13:18). Abraham, in the first Biblical book, engaged in counting and uses number symbolism, including the use of the number ‘seven’, with advanced spiritual understanding.
His numerological behaviour is construable as (true) Christian faith in action. Abraham’s reckoning approach is typical of the mind of Christ, a necessity for the seed of Abraham (Gal 3:16, 29).
[1] Another case is that of Peter in the NT, who is associated with experiences in which the number three occur.
[2] The Hebrew: zera` ’élōhîm is susceptible of two complementary senses: ‘seed of gods’ and ‘seed of God’. A brief summary: the ‘Godly seed’ of the KJV are the ‘gods’ of whom Jesus speaks in John’s Gospel (10:34-35), where he cites Ps 82:6’s use of ’élōhîm applied to “children/sons of the most high”. They are the saints, individuals who are agents or recipients of God’s word (e.g. Exod 7:1). This concerns ‘God-manifestation’ in a believer in which the ‘one(ness)’ of which Jesus speaks in John 10:30 is extended: “that they may be one even as we are one” John 17:20-23). An alternative expositional route is to focus on (the Abrahamic) ‘seed’, e.g. via 1 Pet 1:3 “…God and Father…hath begotten us again… (v. 23) Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” The seed of God’s word sown in the hearts begets God’s sons and daughters, producing a God-seed with His image and likeness (as said in creation to the ’élōhîm, Gen 1:26-27).
[3] Compare my intentionally angled ‘seen to it’ with ‘He will be seen’ (because: ‘He will see to it’) = He will provide’ – Hebrew: yireh – used by Abraham later in his life (Gen 22:14). This matches how God speaks of choosing David in 1 Sam 16:1, using the past tense/sense of yireh: ra’ity: God had seen to it. He had, in His way of seeing the not seen (as yet), provided a replacement for Saul. God sees not as man sees.
[4] The basic sense of ‘reckon’ (etc.) is maintained whether the grammar is identical or not. The grammar shifts to passive in the NT where the Gen 15:6 text is re-used.
[5] The instances of ‘place’ (where God puts His Name) relate to the use of ‘there’ or the motioning ‘there’: ‘thither.’ The ‘there’ is that singular place where Yahweh is to be installed. Hence, His name will be ‘there.’ The Hebrew term ‘shammah’ is used for ‘thither’ and ‘there’ in Deut 12:5ff and many times in Ezekiel. In Ezekiel, ‘shammah’ / ‘there’ has its final application, the target of the prophecy, around the function of ‘there’, is thus achieved in the last verse of the last chapter: 48:35.
[6] Of course, in Gen 22:6, we are told that “both of them”, father Abraham and son Isaac, “went together”. The word ‘together’ is a developed sense of the Hebrew for ‘unity’ or ‘one.’ So Isaac could have said “I and my father are one” (John 10:30). It is not surprising, therefore, that Heb 11:19 tells us that this experience was coded as a ‘parable’ (KJV has ‘figure’ for the Greek term commonly translated ‘parable’ in the NT.)
[7] This is analogous to the quickening process within Sarah’s dead womb and Abraham’s aged body to produce a Godly seed (Rom 4:17, 19-20).
[8] All this preceded Mount Moriah, and thus fortified, or focused his thinking on that occasion.
[9] I have adjusted the translation to conform more closely to the Greek. It also helps to focus on the aspect of ‘beings’ yet to be, by resurrection. Those who died in faith, for whom the Gospel effects renewed life (cp. Matt 22:32.)
[10] Daniel 12:1-4: 1And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. 4 But you, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
[11] Scripture also makes a point of telling us that there is a ‘seven’ relation between Hebron and an Egyptian city: “Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt” (Num 13:22).
[12] J. MacQueen, Numerology: symbolism of numbers in literature, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 1985), 6.
[13] See: (i) C. H. Roberts, Manuscript, Society And Belief in Early Christian Egypt, (London: The Schweich Lectures; 1977), 35-36, 78. In the context of a palaeographical examination of Nomina Sacra, and their abbreviations, Roberts mentions the Epistle of Barnabas’ symbolic interpretation of the number 318 (Gen 14:14). This represents the Greek letters tau for 300, and iota eta for 18, as signifying the cross and Jesus, respectively. However, it is not obvious that the Hebrew components of the number ‘318’, šmnh `śr wšlš m’wt, are open to the speculative reading found in this Greek post-Biblical source. The numeral 318 “written not in words but in symbols, contrary to the practice of Graeco-Jewish manuscripts” (Roberts, p.78) has also been found in the Yale Genesis Codex. (ii) The Hastings Bible Dictionary, Vol. III (T & T Clark. 1900): 566-567, “…the number 318 is the equivalent of ‘Eliezer’ [Hebr. ’ly`zr], if the numerical values of the different letters of this name are added together: 1+30+10+70+7+200=318”. It would be a coincidence if the number of Abraham’s ‘trained servants’ stood in such a relation to ‘Eliezer,’ the only name known of a trained servant of Abraham”, but the text does not mention Eliezer by name in Gen 14, and this rests on assumptions about Hebrew letters having numerical values.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One