Gematria

Gematria (from Hebrew גימטריה, gimatr -ja ), also gematria or Gimatria, is the hermeneutic technique of interpretation of words with the help of numbers. This letter will be transferred to different keys to their corresponding numerical values ​​in order to develop from these meanings, and make connections.

History

The gematria based on the fact that in the Greek and the Hebrew alphabet as well as in the predecessor of the modern Arabic script, there were no specific numerical characters, but instead the letters themselves were used. Therefore, each word can also be read as a group of numerical characters. Your proportional structure, the sum of their individual values ​​or derived by other arithmetic operations value is then available for the word and can be set to other numbers, words, and word proportions in relationship. Gematria is found in many cultures, particularly pronounced it appears in the Jewish tradition.

The word Gematria is a Hebrew loan word from the Greek. The exact derivation is unclear. Probably was Greek γεωμετρία ( " geometria ", " land surveying " ) Pate. However, derivatives of τὸ γράμμα or γραμματεία (gr. " Written " ) were considered consonant with lightening conversion.

For the first time, the word palpable in Mischnatraktat Sayings of the Fathers ( פרקי אבות, " Pirke Abot " ), which states: " Astronomy and Gematrien are extras every of wisdom" ( Abot III). Whether hereby already Gematria is meant in a later sense is doubtful, since the parallel mention of astronomy, the contrast between heaven ( astronomy) and Earth ( geometry) seems addressed. In the treatise Terumot the Jerusalem Talmud states: "We groped here in error as the rod of the blind, until we opened up by חשבון גימטריא " ( pter V, 1). The Hebrew word used here means something like: " Gematrian calculation ".

In many places in the Old Testament, there are interpretations of a possible geriatric background. Gematria refers exclusively to the consonant letters of a text; the actual smaller vowel marks were added to the Hebrew and Aramaic Bible text later. However, already in the original text are marked in certain cases long vowels in Silbenauslaut by consonant letters as a placeholder ( Matres lectionis ), eg means the letter ו ( Vav ) at the beginning of a syllable [ w], in Silbenauslaut [u: ] and [o: ]. The "long" " Pleneschreibung " of a word is often according to the orthographic rules optional and can with the short " change Defektivschreibung ". Sometimes different versions have survived in various ancient manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, or are employed hypothetical another original spelling in order to reach a certain number results in gematischen conversion. Thus opens a wide field for speculation.

Serious indications of gematria in the Old Testament there are only a few:

• In Gen 14.14 EU is the speech he unleashing to the rescue of his nephew Lot of 318 servants of Abraham. This corresponds to the numerical value of Eliezer ( אליעזר ), the chief servant and confidant of Abraham Gen 15:2-3 EU. The importance of Eliezer is in turn " my God is help". It is thus a " speaking name ".
• 1 Kings 5,12 EU is reported that the wise King Solomon has sealed 1,005 songs. This corresponds to the numerical value of שיר למלך שלמה "Songs of King Solomon ".

These two relatively obvious examples of gematria in the Old Testament are not without controversy in the exegesis and should, if the interpretation is correct, have originated in the late period of the Old Testament.

In the New Testament is often in the Gospel of Matthew suspects an example gematrischer interpretation According to Matthew 1.17 EU, there are 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations from David to the Babylonian captivity and 14 generations from the Babylonian captivity to Christ; 14 corresponds to the numerical value of דוד "David".

The explicit use of Hebrew letters as numbers is not in the Hebrew Bible and attested in extra-biblical Judaism only in the 1st century BC. At this time, however, were Greek letters already number at least two hundred years in use so that it is assumed in the research, the gematria go back to Greek influences, and in particular the Pythagorean numerology. It should be noted that the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures from the Phoenician alphabet developed and were subjected to from there similar trends.

Method

Gematria is a method of hermeneutics, with a body or a word is interpreted in the light of its numerical structure. When Rabbi Eliezer ben Jose Hagaleli it is mentioned as the 29th of the 32 rules of interpretation.

In the interpretation of different methods are used. These include the following calculations:

• Forming the sum of the number of characters of a word and reference to words with the same value
• Into account the full value of each letter, where the letter is read again and counted as a word.
• Atbasch: the value is taken that letter as letter value that appears mirrored in the order of the alphabet. The value of the first character that is the value of the last, the second with the value of the second- last swapped etc.

Gershom Scholem cites over 70 different key implementation. For such dimensions, a large number of combination possibilities that open almost unlimited possibilities the understanding result. This makes an easy access to the methods and has also led to accusations of imaginative arbitrariness. The discovery of relationships and relationships between terms is understood, however, in Judaism as a mystical meditation, consciously working with agents of the Association.

Examples

Gematria can be in the Torah itself does not prove, although there is much explains etymologically. Here are some equations for gematrischem method of the rabbis:

• 2 משיח ( Mashiach - anointed, Messiah ) = נחש ( Nahash - snake): The numerical value of both words is 358 It is concluded that the cunning of the serpent is the man to appear as the Redeemer.

• 3 יהוה (YHWH ) = מקום ( Makom - City ): Makom is used in Judaism as a periphrastic designation of God. The numerical value of 186 Makom is the same value, the sum of the squares of the individual letters of YHWH ( 10-5-6-5 → 100 25 36 25 = 186).

• 4 In the biblical term "a land flowing with milk and honey ", the word chalaw, the Hebrew word for milk, a numerical value of 8 30 2 = 40 This should point to the 40 days that Moses spent on Mount Sinai.

The most popular and most effective biblical example of Gematria is found in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament (Rev 13,18 EU). There is the " number of the beast ", an anti-divine mythical figure indicated by " Sechshundertsechsundsechzig ". The most common resolution that number it points to the Hebrew transcription נרון קסר for the Greek name " Emperor Nero ".