I understand your skepticism.
I have a similar disdane for anything having to do with meanings of numbers of letters and words etc. . . . I realize there are some such things which are not technically numerology. But still, I don't like anything hinting of numerology.
Thankfully, the Bible Codes are an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT THING. And, they MAY WELL BE what Daniel was speaking of in terms of some of God's Revelations being locked up, hidden until the far future.
I don't think Drosnin's 'Bible Codes' stand a lot of scrutiny nor do the scholars. They are typically too short to be of any statistical significance.
I do suspect, however, that even some of his will turn out to have been true--but that one cannot say so ahead of time based on statistical analysis.
The others with incredibly awesome statistical probability factors--there's no other explanation but designed codes.
There have been a couple of extensive fairly designed, strictly designed comparisons between War and Peace in Hebrew and The Bible. It used to be thought early in the science of The Codes that 14 or so letters was quite significant. We've learned through such comparison studies as the above two that 30 letters may not be significant. But, the math has progressed such that 40, certainly 50 and 60 or more letters long Codes are astronomically significant.
I'll post the latest study below.
Then there's the issue of some claiming that because of vowelless Hebrew text, one can make them say anything. Solid internationally respected Hebrew scholars vet each code very carefully and scoff at this accusation.
THE BIBLE ITSELF declares that it is God's pleasure to hide things AND God's pleasure that man searches them out. And Christ makes clear that things are hidden from the unrighteous but made clear to those who truly Love Him. I wouldn't want to say that Drosnin is free of pride about the Codes. But I have been impressed with the humility of even the acclaimed scholars involved in the Codes otherwise. Some can pontificate with the best of them but most are unusually marked by humility, IMHO.
One reason is the awesome beauty of the Codes. One can easily have the response of the prophet seeing The Lord High and lifted up--woe is me, a man of unclean lips.
It's awesome enough to have a beautiful, complex code of over 60 letters. But then to have another very statistically significant code on the same topic cross that code making a cross shaped dual code--that begins to get very interesting indeed. Then to have maybe 5-15 or more other codes show up in the SAME matrix--all in the same general topic area--that makes it even MORE interesting.
Then when one notices that the KEY WORDS OF THE LONGEST CODE CROSS IN THE MIDDLE OF KEYWORDS ON THE SAME TOPIC IN THE SURFACE TEXT . . . the statistics are hard to even construe skillfully enough to calculate. When they are construed in any calculatable way, Excel can't handle the numbers that large. The statistical significance is off the charts, so to speak.
Then there's the really stupid, audacious, ignorant, brazen skullduggery on the part of the detractors in published assaults against the codes. Thankfully, their comments have been proven ridiculous. Had they any shame, they'd have been shamed into silence.
I'm still sometimes annoyed by the cryptic mysteriousness of the Codes. However, I keep reminding myself that the surface text has plenty Scriptures--especially prophetic Scriptures--which are much the same.
The below excerpt comments on Codes about the snipers. The published code came out with details about the snipers before they were captured but was not widely known enough beforehand and so was of evidently no use in searching for them.
"-- In "Washington in Fear," researcher Moshe Aharon Shak has come up with the beginnings of a very interesting cluster on the Washington-area snipers. He presents what he has found so far in this detailed article, which reveals aspects of the sniper team that have not been released by authorities. "
from:
http://www.biblecodedigest.com/download/full/ Other excerpts worth follow-up at the Bible Codes.com site from the link above:
"January 2003 Issue
-- Briefing: Fascinating Christmas ELS discovered in Aramaic New Testament. Unique Saddam Hussein codes."
"-- Islamic Nations ELS Extensions Experiment: Critics have long argued that ELSs comparable to Bible codes can be found in any book. We undertook an experiment to test this hypothesis using the names of Islamic nations, and here we present the first results. Bible code skeptics and proponents will be surprised."
"-- The Ezekiel 37 Cluster Cannot Be A Coincidence: Using key results from the Islamic Nations Experiment, and an ELS Extension Model derived in a technical addendum, we show that the Ezekiel 37 cluster is conclusively beyond chance."
"-- Visual Crosses: Dramatic appearances of cross formations in Isaiah 53 cluster may provide some clues as to the possible identity of the "suffering servant," who is the subject of the surface text of Isaiah's best-known prophecy."
"May 2003 Issue
-- Briefing: SARS Report Posted. Saddam ELSs Form a Stick Figure in a Literal Passage about the Fall of Babylon."
"-- Victory in Iraq Clarifies Saddam Codes: Immediately following 911, we began discovering Saddam Hussein codes in the Ezekiel 37 and other clusters. Most of them didn't make much sense when we found them, but time and events have shed light on them."
"-- True Head to Head Comparison, Continued: The preliminary results of the second phase of our Islamic Nations study are in with the details of an experiment pitting ELSs in the book of Ezekiel against an equal number from Tolstoy's War and Peace. Two Hebrew experts researched the ELSs. And their findings, along with an analysis of the results, make for fascinating reading."
"-- FAQ: Vowel Play in Code Translations? A reader passes along the criticisms of a Hebrew and Greek professor regarding the problems posed by vowels, or that lack thereof, in codes. And we respond with both barrels, or comments by Ed Sherman and Nathan Jacobi."
"July 2003
-- 20 Questions: And answers on what have we learned about Bible codes, bottom line, in the nearly five years that we have been researching them. In this brief report, we present the main conclusions we have reached."
"-- True Head to Head Comparison, Continued Part 2: This is the final installment of the Islamic Nations Extension Experiment, begun in the March issue and continued in the June issue. It shows that longer codes [up to 30 letters] can be found in any book, but not as frequently as in the Bible [and by far, not AS LONG--beyond 60 letters]."
"August 2003
-- Draft of Haralick's Paper Responds to WRR Skeptics: Professor Robert Haralick, one of the most respected mathematicians in the world, has released a draft of his new study blistering McKay et al's War and Peace experiment."
"October 2003 Issue
-- Briefing: History Channel's Documentary on Bible Codes is a Big Success."
"November 2003 Issue
-- Briefing: New World Record Long Code Discovered. Possible Solar Flare Codes Update.
-- Crystal Night Codes Among New Holocaust Findings: Research on Holocaust codes in Deuteronomy continues on the eve of the 65th anniversary of Crystal Night, the stunning "wilding" aimed at Jews throughout Germany. A group of new Crystal Night codes have been discovered in the cluster, and other recent discoveries are covered.
-- Long Codes with Long Skips: ELSs with many letters and huge skips are fascinating not only because of their messages, but because of what their mere existence may imply. What conclusions can be drawn from these mega-codes that spread across enormous areas of Old Testament text?"
"December 2003
-- Another Perspective on the New 73-letter Code: The new world-record 73-letter code in the Isaiah 53 cluster is not only astounding in terms of its length and its message. There is a strong relationship between the contexts of letter locations and the content of the code itself."
"January 2004
-- Update on the Incredible Isaiah 53 Cluster: This astonishing cluster of codes centered on the final days of Jesus Christ has yielded up more faith-building ELSs, including the longest code ever discovered. The details are included in a short article about the latest discoveries."
The evidence is there. It won't force disbelievers to believe. The fair-minded will find fascinating material to ponder.
Thanks for your kind reply.