Bullinger ’s Bible Number Reference: This book has long been used by Bible scholars as a valuable guide to the study of Biblical Numerics. Number In Scripture has been used by Pastor Arnold Murray for many years because it provides an in-depth and easy to understand overview of Bible numbers and a good additional study to the book Biblical Mathematics which the Chapel has offered for many years. When planning this book Bullinger noted that the Bible clearly testifies that God’s Way is perfect (Psalms 18:30). For this to be so he reasoned that God’s perfectness must be manifested throughout the Bible in a supernatural design. Certainly a part of this perfect design must be perfect in number as His words would have to be spoken and written, in the right way, at the right time, in the right order, and in the right number. He believed that when we see Biblical numbers used not by chance, but by design; not haphazard, but with significance; then we can have new insight to the living Word of God. Bullinger’s Number In Scripture is divided into two parts: Supernatural Design and Spiritual Significance.
Supernatural Design: Dr. Bullinger begins with a fascinating account of the many number designs as found in the heavens, chronology, nature, physiology, chemistry, sound, music and color. He continues by reviewing the numerical structure of the Books, chapters and words found in the Bible. Many of his detailed comments are expansions to those found in the Companion Bible and Witness of the Stars which are also offered by the Chapel. In his documentation, Bullinger makes considerable use of the structure and numeric design of both the Hebrew and Greek alphabets. Many of these language examples include both words and phrases making it plain that God’s design is literally found in every “jot and tittle” of His Word and His Laws just as Jesus said in Matthew 5:18.
Spiritual Significance:’. Most of the pages in Number In Scripture are dedicated to very detailed discussions of individual numbers found in the Bible. While many writers had previously commented upon the significance of some numbers found in the Bible, Bullinger could find no comprehensive work summarizing all of the numbers together. As Bullinger said in his preface, “There seemed, therefore, to be room, and indeed a call, for a work which would be more complete, embrace a larger area, and at the same time be free from the many fancies which all, more or less, indulge in when the mind is occupied too much with one subject” Anyone familiar with any of Dr. Bullinger’s works can testify as to his amazing documentation skills. He is never one to leave out details, yet he had the God given ability to write in such a way as to gently lead his readers through what can be very complex thoughts and considerations.
Bullinger’s documentation format for individual numbers is to first summarize the meaning of each number, then give examples found in Scripture to back up his assertions. Next he expands the basic meanings into derivations which can be quite numerous. For example he devotes 41 pages just to cover the number “one” and 26 pages to the number “seven”. There are forty-six numeric studies which cover individual numbers as well as the special relationships between some numbers. He also covers the “gematria” of Hebrew and Greek words, that is to say a study of how the numeric equivalence of each Hebrew/Greek letter can be totaled in a word to then provide a remarkable relationship to other words found in the Bible. As an example, the reader learns that the numerical value of the Seth line of names collectively is a multiple of “8” (Resurrection and Regeneration) while those of the Cain line collectively is a multiple of “13” (Adversaries and Rebellion).
Author/Publisher E.W. Bullinger
