Biblos

What is symbolism ?

A symbol is a mark, sign or word that indicates, signifies or is understood as representing an idea, object or relationship.
Symbol = Token, Watchword = σύμβολον _(symbolon) = σύν _(syn) – together + βάλλω _(balo) – to throw, put

Symbolism use symbols to add more levels (layers) of meaning in a text, so a deeper understanding of it.

What is gematria ?

Hebrew gematria or Greek isopsephy is the practice of adding up the number values of a word letters to get a single number in order to get more informations (interpretations) of the word.

This approach can be applied to other alphabets also (latin, english, etc) but the hebrew one is the most relevant as this language is much richer.

How and why the Bible use symbols and gematria

The bible is a very complex book with different levels of understanding. It is full of symbols, especially in the book of Daniel, in Revelation (Apocalypse) book and in the 4 gospels where Jesus speaks often in parables.

In Revelation, Christ advice us to apply gematria in order to identify the antichrist:

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six (666).Revelation 13:17,18

The ancient hebrew, named paleo-hebrew, was very similar to ancient greek (800-300 BC), so both with right to left writing direction. The koine greek (300 BC – 330 AD) is the language in which the Septuagint Old Testament and the New Testament were written and it is quite similar to the modern greek.

Let’s see the meaning of the first letters of greek and hebrew alphabet: