Gematria is the study of the numeric equivalents and relationships (Numerology) of the Hebrew language and Hebrew alphabet (and Greek) along with their spiritual associations. There are no numeric characters in Hebrew, just alpha characters; when someone wants to write a number, he or she would use the corresponding Hebrew letter associated with that number. Gematria is also used in divinatory practices. The Gematria of the number 616 equals (6+1+6 = 13 = 1+3 = 4) 4 and representative of the number and (spiritual) symbolic for Creation. This also relates to the pentagram along with the four quarters / corners / elementals or elements / watchtowers / gateways / portals of the Earth being North (earth, autumn), East (air, spring), South (fire, summer), and West (water, winter) and their correspondences. Further, these four gateways are the symbolic elements within the metaphysical universe or ethereal cosmos.
The alpha associations of 4 are the letters D, Delta (Greek, D), and Daleth (Hebrew, D). As for the number 666 = 9 and is the symbolic for Judgment. Regardless of the true fact that neither number represent any mythic beast, most New Testament manuscripts, the Book of Revelation of the Christian bible, and other religious texts still erroneously equate the number 666 with the Christian figurative machination of "The Beast". The alpha associations of 9 are the letters Th and T, Theta (Greek, Th), and Teth (Hebrew, T). In some modern critical interpretations, such as the Novum Testamentum Graece (i.e., the Latin name for the Greek language version of the New Testament, namely the Nestle-Aland editions), the number 616 is denoted as a variant of 666.
Moreover, there are the biblical associations between the Hebrew and Greek bibles as well as the many versions of the Old and New Testaments. For example, the “Book of Revelation” (also known as “The Apocalypse of John”) is generally considered to have been written by John the Apostle; Christians identify 666 as the mark of the Antichrist or the Beast and refer to the number 616 to be the Ancient Roman Emperor Caligula. From here, one can examine and analyze the information about the recent discovery of the fragment from the "oldest New Testament manuscript" found to allude in Revelation 13:18 that the number of the beast is supposedly 616 instead of 666.
In closing, there are the theomatic and isopsephic approaches that can be examined as well; according to the Wikipedia.com definitions: “Isopsephy (iso meaning ‘equal’ and psephos meaning ‘pebble’) is the Greek word for the practice of adding up the number values of the letters in a word to form a single number. The early Greeks used pebbles arranged in patterns to learn arithmetic and geometry. A Latin word for ‘pebbles’ is ‘calculi’, the origin of the word ‘calculate.’[1] Theomatics is a numerological study of the Greek and Hebrew text of the Christian Bible, based upon gematria and isopsephy, that its proponents assert demonstrates the direct intervention of God in the writing of Christian scripture. It was invented by Del Washburn in 1975, who coined the name ‘theomatics’ as a combination of ‘Θεός’ (‘God’) and ‘mathematics’, and wrote several books and web sites espousing the hypothesis.[2]”
Endnote: Theomatics concerns the scientific study and investigation, statistical evidence, and examples of the numerical structure within the text of the bible and bible codex (bible code). There are two types of codices (codes)--ELS (Equi-distant Letter Sequences, also known as Torah Codes) and Theomatics (often referred to as Gematria). Recommended resources for the study of Theomatics are the Institute of Theomatic Research and Theomatics Proven Solidly.
Rev. Dr. K.A. Sahure
Elder HP & Arch Hierophant
Temple of Kemetic Wicca
Denver Metro, CO
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[1] "Isopsephy." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 21 Mar 2006, 14:50 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 25 Jun 2006.
[2] "Theomatics." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 14 Jun 2006, 03:22 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 25 Jun 2006.
