Genesis 5:21-24: “And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters; and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”
Did Enoch live to be 365 years old. Perhaps. Certainly not as we calculate years based upon a Julian Calendar, but still his age was right up there with the red woods. However, for me, a more interesting question is why are so many verses wasted on giving details about someone’s age? I mean the Bible is the only Word from God we’ve got. Surely as a good author God would not waste time with such frivolous things like all the numbers in the Bible, ages, dimensions, length of events etc. There are many, many signs and wonders that God performed, that are not recorded and here He wastes three perfectly good verses where He could have recorded some great, exciting miracle. Instead he talks about the age of Enoch.
Logically, the Master of the Universe was not wasting His time nor our time with a bunch of numbers to fill up space so he could get his minimum number of pages to get His book published. If He devoted three verses to the age of Enoch, He had a mighty good reason for it.
The fact is, the Hebrew uses its letters for numbers and every letter represents a number. Every word will have a numerical value. You can go to our website on www.chaimbentorah.com where we have a link under Gemetra which will take you to a site where the numerical value of every word is given. Unlike English, Hebrew is a relationship language. If a word is spelled the same but means two different things, like the English word trunk. In English this could mean an elphants nose, a piece of luggage or a log. We do not look for a relationship between these meanings as there is really none. But in Hebrew there would be some relationship between these words. The same with it’s numerical value. If two seemingly different words have the same numerical value, you need to search for the relationship between these words. Let’s take the number three hundred for example.
When my study partner asked about a certain number and what it represented, I had to dig through my old notes. As most of you in my class know I spend very little time on the Gematria (numerical value of Hebrew words) and my class notes only list a handful of numbers. As I pulled out my old, yellowed notes which managed to survive a flood and looks like the magna carta, I decided to have a little fun and see if there was any hidden messages in the ages of the patriarchs.
Let’s just take a look at Enoch. This is the old boy who didn’t become a father until he was sixty five and then lived another three hundred years before he just sort of vanished, taken to heaven without dying. What words in Hebrew have a value of three hundred and what is the relationship between these words and Enoch?
Note it says that he walked halaka the righteous walk for three hundred years. Three hundred is the number of the Holy Spirit. Ok, let’s take ride down the three hundred road. Three hundred is the number of soldiers that Gideon took to battle. Actually, including Gideon there were three hundred and one. The letter Shin is also the number three hundred add an Aleph which is the number one to the Shin which represents unity with God, and you have three hundred and one. Aleph, Shin, spells the word fire. Through the Holy Spirit (three hundred)and fire (perhaps the torches held by the soldiers?) you had total victory over the Midianites.
Matthew 3:11 tells us that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Sprit (three hundred) and Fire (aleph, shin, three hundred and one). Genesis 1:2 tells us that the Spirit of God moved over the face of the waters. Spirit of God is Ruach Elohim, the numerical value for Ruach Elohim is also three hundred. Hael Hagadol Hagebor (The Great and Mighty God) has a numerical value of three hundred. In Ezekiel 1 we read of Ezekiel’s vision of the wheel within the wheels surrounded by fire (three hundred). The word wheel Hagalakal has an numerical value of three hundred.
What does it all mean? I don’t know except that I recognize this a splendid opportunity to search out God’s heart and see what three hundred means in my walk with Him. For Enoch it meant a trip to Paradise. For Gideon it meant victory, For Ezekiel it was the passion of God, For God it was the creation of the world, For me? Well, I shall spend the day seeking the heart of God as to what it three hundred means to me. When I find out I won’t tell you because that will be between God and I and prejudice you in your personal search as to what it means in your halaka (righteous walk, three hundred) with God. To find out you must seek Him and search for Him with all your heart.
Recent Comments