Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

John,

The 'codes' which you mention in some detail are gematria. This is certainly 
a very different
kettle of fish to the 'codes' which Drosnin finds. Gematria has relevance for 
the actual reading of
a text and it is a well attested phenomenon. Drosnin's codes go beyond 
context, however, and claim
to find a sort of soothsayer's message at numerous points. Occasionally, the 
context in which the
individual 'code' appears has some connection with code, but it is not 
necessary. Essentially,
whereas Gematria is a deliberate device employed by an author, the "codes" of 
Drosnin are a device
which the author apparently had no idea he was writing. We cannot put the two 
cases into the same
category. As you say, Drosnin's codes appear to be quite sensationalist.

Best regards.
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GEORGE ATHAS
 Dept of Semitic Studies,
 University of Sydney
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