There is a branch of Jewish mysticism, called Kabbalah, dedicated to the study of numerical symbolism.
The Kabbalah studies the relationship between numbers and letters of the Hebrew alphabet through a method of analysis called gematria.
Even in the New Testament there are examples of symbolic use of numbers. I suggest you that contained in the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 1:1-17).
1:1 This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
1:2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 1:3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah (by Tamar), Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 1:4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 1:5 Salmon the father of Boaz (by Rahab), Boaz the father of Obed (by Ruth), Obed the father of Jesse, 1:6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
David was the father of Solomon (by the wife of Uriah), 1:7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 1:8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah, 1:9Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 1:10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 1:11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
1:12 After the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 1:13Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 1:14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, 1:15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 1:16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ, fourteen generations.
This passage, which we read during the evening Mass of the vigil of Christmas, at first glance seems dry and boring because it brings a list of odd names, mostly unknown to us. It almost gives the impression that it is unnecessary to waste mass to read a passage like this!
In fact, those who have had experience of writing something, know that the most important parts of a writing are the conclusion, but even more the beginning. The first chapter is called to contain indications of all that the reader will discover later on in the reading.
I remind you that Matthew the Evangelist was the publican Levi, a Jewish man who was familiar enough with the Scriptures to quote them often in his Gospel, written for a community of believers coming from Judaism . To confirm this, the commentators see a portrait of Matthew in these words attributed to Jesus by the Evangelist:
13:52 Then he [Jesus] said to them, “Therefore every expert in the law who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his treasure what is new and old.” (Mt 13:52)
From these elements we understand that the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew must have significance far denser than it appears at first sight. The gematria helps us to discover interesting reading levels.
The first words of the Gospel are:
1:1 This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matthew 1.1).
While Luke traces the genealogy of Jesus from Adam (Luke 3:38), first man, since his was a community of Christians coming from paganism, Matthew cites as the first forerunner of Jesus, Abraham as Patriarch of the People of Israel.
Matthew immediately highlights the relationship between Jesus and David, the greatest king of Israel, the descendants of whom the prophets foretold would become the Messiah, who would liberate the people of Israel.
Meaningful is the prophecy that Isaiah sees, a sprout from the stump of Jesse, father of King David:
11:1 A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s root stock,
a bud will sprout from his roots.
11:2 The Lord’s spirit will rest on him –
a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom,
a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans,
a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord.
11:3 He will take delight in obeying the Lord.
He will not judge by mere appearances,
or make decisions on the basis of hearsay.
11:4 He will treat the poor fairly,
and make right decisions for the downtrodden of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and order the wicked to be executed.
11:5 Justice will be like a belt around his waist,
integrity will be like a belt around his hips.
11:6 A wolf will reside with a lamb,
and a leopard will lie down with a young goat;
an ox and a young lion will graze together,
as a small child leads them along.
11:7 A cow and a bear will graze together,
their young will lie down together.
A lion, like an ox, will eat straw.
11:8 A baby will play
over the hole of a snake;
over the nest of a serpent
an infant will put his hand.
11:9 They will no longer injure or destroy
on my entire royal mountain.
For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s sovereignty,
just as the waters completely cover the sea.
Isaiah 11, 1-9
The Messiah will take upon himself the spirit of the Lord, and bring peace and harmony between people and in nature too.
This was the hope of every good Jewish man at the time of the birth of Jesus: the advent of the Messiah, descendant of David, which would bring liberation to the people and peace.
Matthew wants to say, even shouting to his community that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the expected son of David, and does so with all the tools at its disposal, including the symbolic meaning of numbers.
In fact in verse 17 of Chapter 1 at the end of the genealogy he will say:
1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ, fourteen generations.
The three times repetition of a word is a way in Jewish culture to give maximum emphasis. In Hebrew there is not the superlative: they use to create it by genitive, or by triple repetition of the word. For example, while we say "the holiest ," a Jewish says "holy of holies" or "holy holy holy."
Matthew, in the first chapter of his Gospel, repeats the name of David six times... but not only!
We return to verse 17 of chapter 1: here the number 14 is repeated 3 times.
For Jews, the letters of the alphabet have a corresponding number: eg: Aleph is 1, Beth is 2, etc..
The Hebrew words are made up only of consonants. Vowels were added later, and only to facilitate reading and understanding words.
Now, according to this rule, if we want to read the name of David without the vowels, the result is DVD.
In Hebrew the letter Daleth corresponds to 4 and the letter Vau to 6. Summing up the numerical value of letters in the name of David we obtain
(D) 4 + (V) 6 + (D) 4 = 14
In verse 17 Matthew, through the symbolism of numbers, repeats the name of David for three times. The result is that in his first chapter he calls that name, in connection to Jesus, for nine times (3x3!).
For his readers, jew-Christians, the message became clear from the outset: Jesus Christ, as narrated in the Gospel of Matthew, is truly the Messiah, the son of David.
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