If a poet wrote weather or census reports we wouldn't be surprised if some poetic phrases showed up in the reports. If a mathematician wrote a historical account or an article on botany, we wouldn't be surprised if some interesting use of numbers were used. Now imagine a divine mind using people to write stories, songs, poetry, histories and more. This Mind may not even be trying to do anything special when we uncover creative patterns in details that just seem boring at first glance. One of many examples is below in the Flood account in Genesis if we take the time to study the details:
7 days of waiting for the Flood (7:4)
7 days of waiting for Flood - restating the initial 7 days of waiting (7 :10)
40 days of Flood (7:17a)
150 days of water triumphing 7:24)
150 days of water waning (8:3)
40 days of waiting (8:6)
7 days of waiting (8:10)
7 days of waiting (8:12)
While the above structure doesn't require a divine mind, a human mind would have drawn attention to this structure in the passage. And there are many times when the writers of the Bible do point out literary organization that helps with memorization, etc. What we find here is a subtle organizer who hid this structure in a way that only the curious mind would see it. It also uses the numbers 7 and 40 which will later unfold as obvious recurring numbers throughout Genesis and the entire Bible.
The below number patterns and ratios are another “coincidence” found in the life spans of the Patriarchs and greatest leaders of Israel. They are not pointed out as anything special in the writings and one has to find the ages in completely different sections of Genesis in order to compare the numbers to each other and see if anything unusual appears. I am indebted to some curious minds that could see the number patterns quickly when they are set along side each other. Abraham lived 175 years, Isaac lived 180 years and Jacob lived 147 years. The math that connects these ages - in chronological sequence - can be seen in the Squaring and Co Efficient numbers that underlie these numbers.
Person Age Sq Co Ef Sq ∆ CoEf ∆
Abraham 175 5 7
Isaac 180 6 5 1 -2
Jacob 147 7 3 1 -2
The sum of these factors equals the same for all - 17 (e.g. - 5+5+7, 6+6+5, 7+7+3) Joseph and Moses lived 110 and 120 years respectively. The number 110 was considered the perfect age to live to in Egypt and 120 was and is considered the perfect age to live to in Judaism.
If you are not a “numbers person” the patterns above may not impress you. It should impress you because these features occurring by mere coincidence is highly unlikely. So much so that some believe these patterns and aspects mean the ages should not be taken literally, though they do reflect a master author and mind behind the Bible accounts. I think they should be taken literally and it is not just the writing that has a divine mind behind them but the very lives of these people – and all of us – have a divine mind orchestrating the years of our lives. (And much more than the mere years).
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