Dec 21 2012

The Beauty of Numbers – 7


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Sacred Geometry and Marked Men

Chapters 35-36 bring us to the end of this structural analysis of the book of Numbers. The position of this final cycle is in red.

Overview of Numbers

Genesis/TranscendenceCreation:
1 – Israel called and arranged as a New Creation
Exodus/HierarchyDivision/Delegation/Passover:
2 – Leadership disputes, failures and judgments
Leviticus/Ethics GivenAscension/Firstfruits/Altar:
3 – Levitical offerings and “firstfruits” victories
Numbers/Ethics OpenedTesting/Pentecost:
4 – Israel fails the jealous inspection
Deuteronomy/Ethics ReceivedMaturity/Trumpets:
5 – Israel’s national festal offerings
Joshua/SanctionsAtonement/Vindication:
6 – Vengeance upon Midian, Dividing the Land
Judges/SuccessionBooths/Glory
7 – Cities of Refuge; Marriage of Female Heirs

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Dec 8 2012

The Beauty of Numbers – 6


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

We have reached the sixth cycle of Numbers, which seems to include chapters 30-34. Seeing as it has been a while since we looked at Numbers, here’s the overview again, with this next cycle in red.

Overview of Numbers

Genesis/TranscendenceCreation:
1 – Israel called and arranged as a New Creation
Exodus/HierarchyDivision/Delegation/Passover:
2 – Leadership disputes, failures and judgments
Leviticus/Ethics GivenAscension/Firstfruits/Altar:
3 – Levitical offerings and “firstfruits” victories
Numbers/Ethics OpenedTesting/Pentecost:
4 – Israel fails the jealous inspection
Deuteronomy/Ethics ReceivedMaturity/Trumpets:
5 – Israel’s national festal offerings
Joshua/SanctionsAtonement/Vindication:
6 – Vengeance upon Midian, Dividing the Land
Judges/SuccessionBooths/Glory
7 – Yet to see

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Oct 26 2012

The Beauty of Numbers – 5

“Israel’s ministry was to purchase every single day with blameless blood. Every morning and evening enjoyed by the nations was paid for in Yahweh’s name.”

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

After the spectacular stories of Balaam and Phinehas, it is no wonder the modern mind has problems when the Torah suddenly crunches its gears to speak once again in detail about offerings. To the higher critic, this is simply evidence of a hodgepodge of scrolls gathered together by an ignorant and hurried scribe. For the believer, it adds to the niggling sense that the Bible has an internal logic which neither your pastor nor any Christian book you have read so far seems to be able to solve, despite many valiant attempts.

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Oct 18 2012

The Beauty of Numbers – 4

Part 1   |   Part 2   |   Part 3

Strange Fire

We’ve reach the central “cycle” of the book of Numbers, the attempt by Balak to destroy Israel. To the unbeliever, it is a story about a talking donkey. For believers, it is a story about a wicked prophet and a carnal people. For those with a wide angle “Bible Matrix” lens, the entire landscape suddenly comes into focus as something familiar and terrifying.

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Sep 15 2012

The Beauty of Numbers – 3

Part 1   |   Part 2

Lifting up the Best

Numbers didn’t seem to be long enough for there to be seven “matrix” cycles, but it seems now that this may be a possibility. For the Covenant “five” to “bloom” into a seven, the “Ethics” of the Covenant structure is split into three: Firstfruits, Pentecost and Trumpets, or “Head,” “Fire’” and “Body.” Since Cycle 3 is “Firstfruits,” we should expect the story to include motifs such as Ascension, the Altar-Land, Levitical ministry, the firstborn, tithing and “devotion.” Hey, guess what comes next in Numbers?

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Sep 11 2012

The Beauty of Numbers – 2

The Holy Herringbone

Part 1 here.

We’ve covered the first “Covenant cycle” in Numbers, which in theory should set the pattern (fractally) for the remainder of the book. Here’s my go at the second cycle, which (again, in theory, if my suspicions are correct), should be an “exposition” of the second part of the first cycle, which concerned the “military” arrangement of the tribes around the Tent of Meeting (Delegation). So, even though this cycle works through all seven steps, each step should reflect an “Exodus/Hierarchy” or Delegation theme. Each step thus has two literary “spatial coordinates,” an X and a Y. Each step must thus employ a symbol that pertains to two different Covenant steps, or describes the relationship between them.

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Sep 1 2012

The Beauty of Numbers – 1

Bulls and Basins

“You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.” (Songs 6:4)

An online friend recently questioned the repetition found in Numbers 7. The offerings of each tribe are identical, yet each is listed in full. Surely, this was a waste of expensive parchment? Architecture is important to God, no less literary architecture, and it seems to me that the “fullness” of the Offertory in chapter 7 is the result—or the liturgical response, to the military “forming” of Israel in chapter 2.

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Aug 16 2012

God Gave Them Up

“Now therefore fear the Lord (T)
and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. (H)
Put away the gods that your fathers served (E)
beyond the River and in Egypt, (O)
and serve the Lord.”
(S)
Joshua 24:14

40 Years of Harlotry

Israel famously wandered in the wilderness for forty years. They were tested, offered as a sacrifice and refined with the holy fire of the Law of Moses. This “threshing” process appears at the centre of the Bible Matrix. It is pictured as the time of harvest (Pentecost – the giving of the Law), and as the burning eyes of the Lampstand watching over Israel (sun, moon and five visible planets). In the Covenant pattern it is the “Ethics,” the bit where God lays out the rules for success. Threshing is also a biblical euphemism for sexual relations. At this point, under the Lawful eyes of God, Israel is either shown to be a faithful bride or an adulteress. Is the fire of her desire true or “strange” (foreign). We can see this pattern in James 1:15. It is a sick parody of the Covenant process because it begins with a “false word.”

[This post has been refined and included in Sweet Counsel: Essays to Brighten the Eyes.]
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Jul 20 2012

Red Cord, Blue Threads – 1

Hope and Holiness

A Structural Analysis of Numbers 15:37-41

He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.”  Ruth 3:9

The passage in Numbers 15 concerning Israel’s tasseled robes contains all the matrix elements, but it has taken a few days to crack what’s going on structurally (although it’s more like cutting a diamond). The first difficulty is that English translations swap words around, so the text below sticks to the Hebrew word order. Secondly, a number of the stanzas leave out lines, or “matrix threads,” to make a point. The only way to identify these is to parse the entire passage. If you finish the puzzle with the pieces you have, you can see where the holes are!

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Apr 29 2012

The Bone of a Man

“There’s nothing like bones to remind you of your heritage.”

Further to the previous post, the structure of the declaration in Numbers 19 concerning contact with the dead seems to support the assertion that, since the fall, flesh is corrupt but clean bones are “bridal” memorials. Firstly, look at where the “bone of an Adam” appears in the structure:

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