Parasha
Shemini
Leviticus 9:1-11:14
By:
Dani'el Rendelman
Do you believe in coincidences?
Do things just randomly
happen?
Or, is there a greater
order to the events in life?
Think about the deaths of
two famous American presidents:
Ø Abraham
Lincoln and John Kennedy
both have seven letters
in their last names.
Ø They were elected
to office 100 years apart,
1860 and 1960.
Ø Both were assassinated
on Friday in the presence
of their wives, Lincoln
was killed in Ford's theater
and Kennedy in an automobile
made by the Ford motor company.
Ø Both assassins
went by three names: John
Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey
Oswald, with fifteen letters
in each complete name.
Ø Oswald shot Kennedy from a
warehouse and fled to a
theater, and Booth shot
Lincoln in a theater and
fled to a barn (a kind of
warehouse).
Ø Both succeeding
vice-presidents were southern
Democrats and former senators
named Johnson (Andrew and
Lyndon), with thirteen letters
in their names and born
100 years apart, 1808 and
1908.
There are
many startling similarities
between the assassinations
of Lincoln and Kennedy.
Just how did these
events occur?
Isn’t this a bit
strange?
The rabbis claim that, “coincidence
is not a kosher word!”
Just think about your life
and you’ll agree that things
don’t just happen. Fate is not in control.
Hidden within life and even
the Biblical text itself
are hints and clues of skillful
design. Jewish sages teach that there is a unity of
coincidence that exists
within the realm of the
universe. This idea is that through the opposites in the
world there is an overcoming
of boundaries, which produces
an establishment of harmony. Or to put it plainly the actions and affairs
in life mix EVENLY with
the reactions and circumstances
of the world.
People reap what
they sow, the rain falls
on the just and the unjust,
and all things work together,
this is amazing when you
consider the order of the
universe and the scope of
the Bible and its message.
You see,
things just aren’t written
down in the Bible.
The events of the
scriptures did not haphazardly
occur. The scribes did not just pick random numbers
and Hebrew letters.
Nor did the adversary,
may his name be blotted
out, sneak up on the Almighty
and tempt Adam and Chava
into sin.
Yahweh would not
be Almighty if this had
occurred. On the contrary, Yahweh is sovereign.
And the sovereignty
of Yahweh establishes the
fact that He is supreme. His Word proves over and over that there is
a designed plan within the
Scriptures.
What happens
in the Bible and in today’s
life doesn’t just happen
out of happenstance. Indeed, everything written within the text of
the Torah is Yahweh’s plan.
Take for example this week’s
Torah Parasha named “Shemini.”
This reading is Vayikra
(Leviticus) chapters 9,10,
and 11. These pages tell the story of some things that
just couldn’t happen by
accident. The priests begin their ministry on the eighth
day following the seven-day
period of ordination for
Aharon and his sons.
Fire falls from heaven,
as the Shekinah of Yahweh
inhabits the mishkan. Then, just as things are going on as planned
Aharon’s firstborn and second
born sons offer a “strange
fire” to Yahweh.
The two brothers
are struck dead.
The Parasha continues
with Moshe and Aharon disagreeing
on certain laws. After a resolution has been reached, instructions
are then given about ritual
purity and clean and unclean
foods. Is it a fluke that
these events took place
on the day after the seventh
day?
The truth is that numbers
in Scripture aren’t just
numbers, they are also symbols. With the Hebrew alphabet letters are numbers and letters are signs. The study of Hebrew letters is called “gematria.” In gematria each Hebrew letter is assigned a
number. An interesting insight
about Gematria is that if
two words have the same
number, there is a connection. One web site says “gematria is the calculation
of the numerical equivalence
of letters, words, or phrases,
and, on that basis, gaining,
insight into interrelation
of different concepts and
exploring the interrelationship
between words and ideas.”
Even with numbers and letters,
what happens in the natural
is a reflection of the supernatural. For example the number one speaks of unity and
sovereignty.
Seven is the numeral
of divine completion, perfection,
and wholeness.
And the number ten
is the number of law and
establishment.
It should be no surprise
to the Bible student that
something special happens
on day number eight of the
sanctuary’s formation. The number eight, shemini, is the symbolic number
of new life.
Shemini,
is associated with newness,
regeneration, and order. When the world was covered by the flood of water,
it was Noach who was the
“eighth person” (2 Kefa
2:5) who stepped out on
to a new earth to commence
a new order of things. "Eight
souls" (1 Kefa 3:20)
passed through it with him
to the new or regenerated
world. Also, on the eighth day of the life all Hebrew
boys are to be circumcised
as found in Beresheet 17:12. Eight is also the first cubic number, pointing
to the new life found in
the holy of holies and the
New Yerushalayim.
The
point is that numbers are
more than just numbers. The Creator did not just haphazardly allow things
to happen or allow things
to be written in the Scriptures. There is certainly a method and symbolism to
the use of numbers in scripture. Volumes more could be written about numbers,
numerology, gematria, and
their profound impact upon
Biblical understanding.
What is important
to remember is that accidents
just don’t happen. If there is great learning and insight to be
found in just the numbers
and letters of the Torah,
how much more then it’s
message as a whole.
To help you learn
more about numbers in scripture
and their significance,
provided below is a chart
for your use.
There
are no such things as coincidence
whether you are speaking
of numbers in the Bible
or Presidents in the History
books.
| |
Name(E) |
|
Number |
Meaning |
| |
Aleph |
|
1 |
Unity,
sovereignty, whole |
| |
Beth |
|
2 |
Division,
witnessing |
| |
Gimel |
|
3 |
Completeness,
resurrection |
| |
Daleth |
|
4 |
Weakness |
| |
He
|
|
5 |
Grace,
giant |
| |
Vau |
|
6 |
Man,
manifestation of
sin |
| |
Zayin |
|
7 |
Completion,
divine number |
| |
Cheth |
|
8 |
New
birth, new creation |
| |
Teth |
|
9 |
Plagues,
fruit of the Spirit |
| |
Yod |
|
10 |
Legal
number, testimony |
| |
Kaph |
|
20,500 |
Going
Out and Coming In;
military; generation;
redemption |
| |
Lamed |
|
30 |
Priest
hood, dedications,
blood |
| |
Mem |
|
40,600 |
Generation,
divine discipline,
trials, probation,
testing |
| |
Nun |
|
50,700 |
Congregation,
Ruach HaKodesh |
| |
Samekh |
|
60 |
Worldy
production, pride |
| |
Ayin |
|
70 |
Elder,
pastor, teacher,
Yisra’el |
| |
Peh |
|
80,800 |
Strength,
saints |
| |
Tzaddi |
|
90,900 |
Election,
new order |
| |
Qoph |
|
100 |
Divine
production, election
of grace |
| |
Resh |
|
200 |
Insufficiency
|
| |
Shin |
|
300 |
Almighty |
| |
Tau |
|
400 |
Being
without |
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