66 66 Marcus and Colobarsus, who framed a new heresy out of the Greek alphabet; for," says he, they deny the possibility of discovering the truth without having recourse to these letters; and they even imagine that the whole plenitude and perfection of truth are displayed by means of them. For this very reason," he adds, they consider Christ to have said, ' I am alpha and omega;' and also, that Jesus Christ descended, that is to say, a dove came upon Jesus; now these two, that is to say, the letters & and ∞, and Tegisega, the Greek word for dove, contain each the number 801."* To the great body of evidence already produced in favour of the practice among the Greeks of counting the number in words, we shall only add three examples more; the first of which is w9, Thouth, the name of the Egyptian Mercury, represented by the number 1218. † The second is 'H 'Agx, The Beginning, a name of Jupiter, represented by the number 717. The last is an ænigma upon the *Non defuerunt post hos Marcus quidam et Colobarsus, novam hæresim ex Græcorum alphabeto componentes. Negant enim veritatem sine istis posse literis inveniri, imo totam plenitudinem et perfectionem veritatis, in istis literis esse dispositam. Propter hanc enim causam Christum dixisse: Ego sum A et Q. Denique Jesum Christum descendisse, id est, columbam in Jesum venisse, quæ Græco nomine cum Episεpà pronuncietur, ha❤ bere secundum numerum DCCCI.-Q. Sept. Flor. Tertulliani de Præscriptionibus Hæret. Tom. II. p. 487, Wirceburgi, 1781. C +, 9, w, 800, v, 400, 9, 9, 1218. H, 8, α, 1, p, 100, X, 600, 8, 717. See Bishop Newton on Apoc. xiii. 18. Greek word us, a mouse, and is contained in the following hexameter lines: * Non metuo fures, aliis sed furta timori Sunt mea, tota mihi nam furto degitur ætas. I am not afraid of thieves; but my thefts are a terror to others, for my whole life is spent in theft. If you desire to know my name, three numbers will give it you, which are 40, 400, and 200. The Rabbins have a species of mystic numbering, which forms that part of their Cabala, denominated Gematria; and is precisely the same with what the Greeks call ironía. As we shall have occasion to refer to this Rabbinical custom in the course of this work, it will be necessary to produce, by way of example, several instances of it. This practice among the Rabbins cannot well be traced to any very ancient source; yet it is certain that they dealt very much in Cabalistic mysteries so far back as the time of Clemens Alexandrinus; for this writer tells us that "the mysteries of the Hebrews are very like those of the Egyptians."† And it is well known that the loopia of the Greeks was in great estimation among the Egyptians long before the time of Clemens Alexandrinus, a most notable example of which is already *See Kircher. Edip. Ægypt. Gymnas. Hierogl. Class I. Symbol. c. 4, p. 31. Ed. Rom. 1652. TO † Εἰσὶ γὰρ τὰ τῶν Ἑβραίων μυσήρια ὁμοιώτατα τοῖς μυςηρίοις Twv 'AYUTTiwy. Clem. Alex. Strom. Lib. vi. Kircher. Edip. Tom. I. p. 210. Cab. Heb. given in the Basilidian god Abraxas. * The Rabbins conceived that in the words, I will bring forth my servant The Branch,' (ny)† the Messiah is to be understood, because he is also called The Comforter (D) in another scripture, where it is said, 'And the Comforter was far from me,' as this passage is explained in the Talmud under the Title Sanhedrim. Now the letters of the word ny amount to the number 138, $ .מנחם which is exactly the same that is found in In the When therefore the prophet says, "I will bring forth my servant The Branch," (ny) it is as much as if he had said, my servant The Comforter, (D) who will be the Messiah. Scripture where it is said, "And Rebekah his wife conceived," ¶ (inw8 hpan i) the Rabbins assert that it is implied, that she brought forth fire and stubble, because 1 (his wife) contains the number 707, as well as the words w וקש ** (fire and stubble) found in the 18th verse of Obadiah, where it is said, "The house of Jacob shall be a fire-and the house of Esau for stubble." From the 11th chapter of Genesis, and 1st verse, * See before, page 25, + Zech. iii. 8. + Lam. i. 16. n, 8, 2, 40, 3, 90, 138; and 2, 40, 1, 8, 1, 50, 2, 40,= 138.-See Aben Ezra and Kimchi on Zechariah. See Buxtorfii Lexicon Talmudicum in verbum 2, where several of the following examples of the Gematria will be found, 1 Gen. xxv. 21. ***, 1, w, 300, n, 400, 1, 6, 707; and x, 1, w, 300, 1, 6, P, 100,, 300,-707. where it is said, "And the whole earth was of the Rab (ויהי כל הארץ שפה אחת) ",one speech bins imagine that it was the Hebrew language which was then spoken, on account of the words лn now (of one speech) being said to contain in) לשון הקדש the same number with the words the holy tongue). * In Gen. xlix. 10, where it is said, wx, (Shiloh shall come,) the Rabbins contend that it is the same as if it had been said, The Messiah (n) shall come, because the + משיח and יבא שילה same number is found in which signifies (אליעזר) 66 It has been asked what is that now (lily) men tioned in the book of Esther? The Cabalists inform us that it is the same with nos (Esther,) because both words contain the same number 661. The name of Abraham's chief servant, Eliezer, My God a help," contains a number equal to that of Abraham's servants sent out against his enemies, whence the Cabalists conclude, that this patriarch was assisted by God to perform great things. § Dp, (Macom,) a Rabbinical name for God, is said to be the * v, 300, 5, 80, 1, 5, X, 1, n, 8, ♫, 400,=794; and ↳, 30, , 300, 1, 6, 1, 50, n, 5, p, 100, 1, 4, w, 300,-795. I cannot discover why this should be called an example of the Gematria, as the latter phrase evidently contains one more than the former. +, 10, 2, 2, 8, 1, v, 300,, 10, 7, 30, п, 5,358; and , 40, , 300, ", 10, n, 8, 358. ‡, 300, 1, 6, v, 300, 3, 50, n, 5, 661; and, 1 D, 60, , 400, 7,200,=661. § 8, 1, 4, 30, 4, 10, y, 70, 1, 7, 7, 200, 318; and Abraham's servants that went out to battle were 318. See Gen. xiv. 14. same with the sacred name 7, (Jehovah,) because the former name contains a number equal to the square of that which is contained in the latter. * ba, (he hath chosen Israel for a people,) is asserted to allude to the words (131 17, † (he hatly formed 613,) not only because each of these two phrases contains the number 913, but also on account of the Hebrew letters contained in the Ten Commandments amounting exactly to 613, the number in the word G (in the beginning,) has the same number with 1, (he formed according to law,) whence it is gathered that God in the beginning created all things with a reference to the Law. § * (In the beginning he created,) ,בראש השנה נברא has the same number with (it was created in the beginning of the year,) *, 40, p, 100, 1, 6, 2, 40, 186; and, 10, 7, 5, 1, 6, 7, 5, =26, the square of which is 186. +, 10, v, 300,, 200, x, 1, 5, 30, 2, 2, 1, 8, 1, 200, 3, 24 3, 70, 2, 40, ', 10, 2, 40,-913; and, 10, %, 90, , 200 m, 400, 7,200,, 10, 1, 3, 913.. 1 The Rabbins divide the 613 letters in the Ten Commandments into two grand branches, viz. 248 and 365; the former they denominate positive, because what a man is commanded to observe is contained in them; the latter they call negative, be→ cause what is forbidden to be done is comprised in the remaining 365 letters. The Cabalists think it remarkable that 8, Abraham, should contain the number 248, and esteem it a mark of his perfection.-Kirch. Edip. Tom. I. Cabala Hebr. pp. 324, 325. §3,2,1, 200, x, 1,.v, 300, ", 10, n, 400,-913; and 2, 2, n, 400, 1, 6, 200, n, 5, 1, 10, x, 90, 7, 200,-913.. |