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Numerical Secrets of the Bible: Rediscovering the Bible Codes

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The use of gematria is an important tool in discerning the word of God, and has been employed very usefully by the Hebrew sages over several millennia.
There are numerous gematria errors in this book, which invalidate much of the research.
For example, on page 13, the author correctly gives the Hebrew letter mem its value of 40. However, on page 34, he gives it the value of 13. The letter mem is the 13th letter of the Hebrew `aleph-beis', but 13 is NOT its value.
This error is then compounded dramatically by using it to assist in determine the value of the name Abraham. The author gives Abraham the value of 41, but it is fact 248 (1 + 2 + 200 + 5 + 40). By having ascribed Abraham with the value of 41, the author then goes on the link this with the 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus.
On page 35, he gives the Greek word ichtus (meaning fish) the number of 77, when it is in fact 1219 (10 + 600 + 9 + 400 + 200).
On page 136, the Hebrew mem is again given the value of 13, and this time it used in arriving at the value of the name Moses. The author gives this name the value of 39, but it is in fact 345. Again we are presented with some very misleading analysis based on the number 39.
Errors like this abound.
Finally, I question the use of a pejorative term like "Bible freaks" (page 157) when kinder terminology could be employed. Also it is annoying to have paragraphs closed with rhetorical questions ("So what?" - page 157). It is an amusing device, but the use of such a device is often employed to deceive or divert attention.

A new epoch in Bible scholarship begins right here. With an awesome display of scholarly acumen and reverent insight, Labuschagne demonstrates how the texts of both testaments are controlled by an intricate scribal "logotechnique" extending through letters, words, sentences, subjects, and metaphors at virtually every level of textual organization. Hiding nothing, and presenting his findings in a way which any of the Bible's millions of Hebrew readers can verify for themselves, he exposes the textual integrity which Jews have consistently defended against modern mainstream European and American scholarship. By finding the same methodology in the New Testament he documents it as essentially the product of Jewish Christianity. The consequences of Labuschagne's analysis should inspire a revolution in how the Bible is studied. Labuschagne addresses this work primarily to scholars, but by exposing the prevailing blindness of current Bible scholarship as to how the texts were composed he alerts a much wider readership to a necessary and inevitable transformation in how the clergy of all faiths are educated. At this fragile historical moment when, willy nilly, we enter a new ecumenical age whether we like it or not, this technical analysis of an ancient literature by which many of our self-images are nurtured constitutes a brave and noble contribution to liberal education. Ernest McClain, Emeritus Professor of Music, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

Prof. Casper J. Labuschagne has written a primer on numerical characteristics of the biblical text. In seven chapters we are being introduced to a great number of quantitative structures he has discovered in the Bible, especially structures using the numbers 7, 17 and 26. Furthermore this book gives an insight into the still antagonistic debate in theology about the validity of numerical research as such. We do not find a mathematical 'proof', but there is a lot of plausible evidence in favor of the numerical features Labuschagne has found. This book is an important contribution to the discussion on numbers as structuring devices in biblical writings in general, especially since there is no such thing as a 'textbook' on this subject.
(More detailled information can be found on my homepage section review no. 2.)