The Bible As Menorah

[alanraj]

Throughout the ages the Menorah has been understood to represent the everlasting light of God's self-revelation. This coincides with the Christian understanding of the purpose and function of God's eternal Word. After all, His first words were "Let there be light!" The Wheel reveals the unity of these two great lights. The sevenfold structure of the Biblical Canon perfectly integrates with the sevenfold form of the Menorah. The radial symmetry of the Canon Wheel manifests in the symmetric distribution of books on the branches. Click the image to view a larger version.

The Hebrew letters running down the center column represent the number of books on the corresponding branches. The letters are:

Tav: 22nd letter

Heh: 5th letter

Lamed: 12th letter

Heh: 5th letter

When read as a word, these letters spell "Tehilah", which means PRAISE! The plural form is Tehilim, which is the Hebrew name of the Book of Psalms.

Tehilah is a Tav KeyWord that God used in the last verse of the last alphabetic Psalm, Psalm 145.21:

My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

The actual Hebrew reads "Tehilet (the praises of) YHVH (the Lord) y'dabar (shall speak) pei (my mouth)." Tehilet is the construct form of Tehilah.

The verses describing the design of the Menorah specify that there are to be three bowls on each of the six branches, and four on the center column:

Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers.

The total number of bowls is therefore:

3 x 6 + 4 = 22

These bowls naturally correspond to the 22 Hebrew letters, the containers (delimiters) of God's creative impulse.

Historically, there has been some confusion as to how to design these 22 bowls and the six branches. The image to the right shows how Moses Maimonides understood the divine pattern for the Menorah. In his understanding the bowls were supposed to be pointing down to represent the outpouring of the Wisdom of God. Others believe they should be upright, which is how I represented them in the image at the top.

The ramifications of this divinely ordained pattern are endless. The Numbers 3, 7, and 22, which figure prominently in the design, are also prominent in the design of the Bible in the form of the Wheel with its 3 Cycles, 7 Canonical Divisions, and 22 Spokes! Endless wonder and beauty! Praise the Lord who has given us His Holy Word!

The structure of the Menorah also integrates with axis of the Wheel, with the Tav on the central pillar referring back, yet again, to the Crucifixion. Taking just the distinct letters from the central column yields the Tav KeyWord (Talah, to hang). God used this word to describe the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ when He gave this command in Deuteronomy 21:22f

And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

We know that this applies to the crucifixion because Paul quoted it in reference to Christ in Galations 3.13. Thus we see how the Menorah - designed by God Himself more than a thousand years before Christ was born - points to that one event that defines what the Bible is really all about and reveals how this is the source and essence of the great light of the Gospel.

The word Tehilah also intgrates with the numerical weight of another Tav KeyWord - (Tawm) which means perfect, complete, done, or accomplished. It is used in the latter sense in the acrostic verses of Lamentations 4 (verse 22):

The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.

We have the identity:

(Tehilah, Praise) = 440 = (Tawm, Perfect)

Note that 440 (= 20 x 22) is a multiple of the Key Number 22. These two ideas are united in the words of the Lord Jesus (Matthew 21.16):

And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?

And so we can see a little of God's infinite Wisdom displayed in the integrated Bible/Menorah, and how all of this reveals the light of salvation through the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonder it is to see the Gospel adorned with such beauty and grace! Praise His Holy Name!

More details on the menorah posted soon!

[BibleWheel]

Hi folks!

My name is Richard McGough and I am the author of BibleWheel.

I have just completed a book about the Bible Wheel. You can download a FREE electronic version from my site.

It is an extremely powerful apologetic for the Divine Inspiration of the Holy Bible because it reveals how God designed its whole structure on the pattern of the Hebrew Alphabet which He Himself established in the TEXT of Scripture in the Alphabetic Verses (most notably Psalm 119).

God SEALED the Bible from Aleph to Tav, the Hebrew equivalent of Alpha and Omega!

There is so much to say! I would love to answer any questions people might have about it.

In Christ our Everlasting Lord,

Richard

[ElijahSK]

I must say, I didn't know what I was expecting when I first looked at this topic. But I was been most pleasantly surprised! I found out alot of interesting little tidbits just from a couple minutes browsing around your site. I got the ebook, and look forward to reading it cover to cover shortly.

One question. Are you ever going to release mp3s or videos on these topics?

Well, for now I'm off to start reading. Thank you Alan for the topic post. Thank for Richard for the exhaustive study and for providing it to us all freely.

[Guest shiloh357]

I would be very careful what you read here, as the site above references Gematria which is really rooted in the Kaballah (Jewish mysticism/occultism). Furthermore, the author links to Rabbi Itzak Ginsburg, a master Kaballist and an authority on Gematria. Kaballah in any of its forms, is not Christian. Any theology that employs such a thing is bound to be faulty.

[BibleWheel]

I must say, I didn't know what I was expecting when I first looked at this topic. But I was been most pleasantly surprised! I found out alot of interesting little tidbits just from a couple minutes browsing around your site. I got the ebook, and look forward to reading it cover to cover shortly.

One question. Are you ever going to release mp3s or videos on these topics?

Well, for now I'm off to start reading. Thank you Alan for the topic post. Thank for Richard for the exhaustive study and for providing it to us all freely.

HI ElijahSK,

Great to meet you. I look forward to discussing my work here. As for mp3, I do have a couple radio intereviews online but the link is currently missing (I'm away from my home computer so I'll have to fix it tomorrow).

Richard

[BibleWheel]

I would be very careful what you read here, as the site above references Gematria which is really rooted in the Kaballah (Jewish mysticism/occultism). Furthermore, the author links to Rabbi Itzak Ginsburg, a master Kaballist and an authority on Gematria. Kaballah in any of its forms, is not Christian. Any theology that employs such a thing is bound to be faulty.

Hi SHilo357,

Thanks for posting this warning, it is very important that people be reminded to be Bereans (Acts 17:11), testing EVERYTHING by the Word of God.

The sole topic and only foundation of my work is the Bible and the Bible alone. The Bible Wheel reveals how God designed His Word on the pattern of the Hebrew Alphabet. He laid its foundation within the Holy Text itself in the Alphabetic Verses, most notably Psalm 119. Note the topic of Ps 119 - from beginning to end, (from Aleph to Tav) it declares the praise, power, and glory of God's Word. This corresponds to the title of Jesus Christ, the Alpha Omega whose name is called the Word of God (John 1:1, Rev 19:13).

Just as God used the Hebrew Alphabet as the template for the great Psalm of His Word in the very heart of His Word (Ps 119 is two chapters removed from the exact center of Scripture) so also He used the Hebrew Alphabet as a template for the large-scale structure of His Word, the 66 Books of the Holy Bible.

As I stated in an early post, the Bible Wheel is an extremely powerful apologetic because it makes the Divine Unity of the Holy Bible self-evident, and proves beyond all doubt that God designed every detail of His Word because the books on each Spoke are supernaturally integrated with the meaning of the corresponding Hebrew letter.

For example, consider the Alphabetic Psalm 34. The verse corresponding to the 16th letter Ayin, which means Eye, is found in one and only one other verse of the Bible, 1 Peter 3:12:

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous ...

1 Peter resides on Spoke 16, corresponding to the 16th Letter Ayin. This is an example of an Alphabetic KeyLink that displays the divine design of Holy Scripture on the pattern of the Hebrew Alphabet.

I have discovered countless links like this. It is an overwhelming witness to the Divine Design of the Holy Bible.

The witness is so simple any child can understand it. It is as simple as a Circle and the ABCs.

But there is one group that I hope and pray will understand it to the salvation of their souls.

The Jews KNOW the meanings of the Hebrew letters! They can not deny the information I present. The correlations between the meaning of the letters and content of the corresponding books is incontrovertible.

Thats why I link to Rabbi Ginsburgs site. He is a well known opponent of the Christian faith. He is therefore a HOSTILE WITNESS (the best in a court of law) that confirms the divine design of the Holy Bible.

Thats the ONLY reason I cite him. He bears witness (unwillingly I am quite sure) to the truth of what God has done in His Holy Word!

As for the study of numbers in Scripture - Christians have studied this topic since the beginning.

You say that it is rooted in kabbalah. I say it was designed by the Lord God Almighty for His glory. I am quite sure we could have an excellent discussion on this point.

In Christ our Everlasting Lord,

Richard