Complicated beyond belief. Took me a while to sort this one out in how they had arrived at their conclusion, for they did not originally show their homework.
Hebrew:
Balam ... the son of Beor, the soothsayer
Others have cited Joshua 13:22 KJB, HOT and Numbers 24:3,15 HOT, in reference to Balaam's (the apostate prophet) Hebrew Gematria equaling '666'. However, when the Hebrew Gematria is considered, the name [Balaam] of itself does
not in any way come to the '666' total (see below; “= 142 (with final, 702)”):
Joshua 13:22 KJB - Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them.
Joshua 13:22 HOT - ואת־בלעם בן־בעור הקוסם הרגו בני־ישׂראל בחרב אל־חלליהם׃
[Balaam]
ב Beth [Psalms 119:9-16] = 2
ל Lamed [Psalms 119:89-96] = 30
ע Ain [Psalms 119:121-128] = 70
ם) מ) Mem (as final) [Psalms 119:97-104] = 40 (as final, 600)
= 142 (with final, 702) [sub]
[(the) son (of)]
ב Beth [Psalms 119:9-16] = 2
ן) נ) Nun (as final) [Psalms 119:105-112] = 50 (as final, 700)
- -
= 52 (with final, 702) [sub]
= 194 (with finals, 1404) [cumulative]
[Beor]
ב Beth [Psalms 119:9-16] = 2
ע Ain [Psalms 119:121-128] = 70
ו Vau [Psalms 119:41-48] = 6
ר Resh [Psalms 119:153-160] = 200
= 278 [sub]
= 472 (with finals, 1682) [cumulative]
[(the) soothsayer]
ה He [Psalms 119:33-40] = 5
ק Koph [Psalms 119:145-152] = 100
ו Vau [Psalms 119:41-48] = 6
ס Samech [Psalms 119:113-20] = 60
ם) מ) Mem (as final) [Psalms 119:97-104] = 40 (as final, 600)
= 211 (with final, 771) [sub]
= 683 (with finals, 2453) [totals]
Furthermore, even when considering the entirety of the phrase,
“Balaam … the son of Beor, the soothsayer”, in the Hebrew [
“בלעם בן־בעור הקוסם”] of Joshua 13:22 HOT, it too, does not total '666' without serious manipulation and special pleading:
[“ו Vau [Psalms 119:41-48] = 6”, must be removed twice (effectively, -12), as well as the article “ה He [Psalms 119:33-40] = 5” (effectively, -5). The evidence cited to be able to make this change, is a differing spelling of the Hebrew, as found in Numbers 24:3,15 HOT:
Numbers 24:3 KJB - And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
Numbers 24:3 HOT - וישׂא משׁלו ויאמר נאם בלעם בנו בער ונאם הגבר שׁתם העין׃
Numbers 24:15 KJB - And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:
Numbers 24:15 HOT - וישׂא משׁלו ויאמר נאם בלעם בנו בער ונאם הגבר שׁתם העין׃
The difference between Joshua 13:22 HOT and Numbers 24:3,15 HOT, is in the spelling of the Hebrew name “Beor”:
Numbers 24:3,15 HOT reads, “בער”, “Beth, Ain, Resh”, but
Joshua 13:22 HOT, reads “בעור”, “Beth, Ain, Vau, Resh”.
As well as in the Hebrew spelling of “son (of)”:
Numbers 24:3,15 HOT also reads, “בנו”, “Beth, Nun, Vau”, (no 'final', ending in “Vau”), “son (of)”, but
Joshua 13:22 HOT, reads “בן”, “Beth, Nun (final)”, “son (of)”.
Therefore, those unscrupulous Kabbalists that are purposefully manipulating individual letters, to arrive at the conclusion they pre-desired, take this opportunity to point out that if a single “ו”, “vau” makes no difference between the meaning of the 3 texts in the Hebrew name “Beor”, why cannot the “ו”, “vau” of Joshua 13:22 HOT in the name of “בעור”, “Beor” be removed, or ignored, or instead simply combine both sets of phrases, ignoring the “בעור” of Joshua 13:22 HOT, utilizing only the spelling of the Hebrew “Beor” from Numbers 24:3,15 HOT. This would effectively alter the phrase to be counted from:
Original [Joshua 13:22 HOT]:
“בלעם בן־בעור הקוסם”
to [altered, nowhere to be found in scripture [HOT] version 1.0]:
“בלעם בן־בער הקוסם”
This would not be enough in and of itself, so two other steps must be taken. The first would be to ignore the difference between the “בנו” of Numbers 24:3,15 HOT and the “בן” of Joshua 13:22 HOT. The Kabbalists already 'justified' the negation of one “ו”, “vau” and would not want to draw attention to this difference, as it would counter-act, their purpose and add back one “ו”, “vau”.
Furthermore, an additional “ו”, “vau” from “הקוסם”, “soothsayer” must also then be removed, or ignored in Joshua 13:22 HOT, as there are still too many letters, or values and the numerical pre-destination of '666' would not be achieved. The “ה He [Psalms 119:33-40] = 5” would also have to be removed or ignored. The justification, for the change of leaving out the “ו”, “vau”, and “ה”, “He” would come from the variant spellings of the word:
This word “הקוסם”, “soothsayer” is used 17 times in the OT:
קסמים - “diviners”; Deuteronomy 18:14
ולקסמים - “diviners”; 1 Samuel 6:2
וקסמים - “diviners”; Isaiah 44:25
קסמיכם - “diviners”; Jeremiah 27:9
וקסמיכם - “diviners”; Jeremiah 29:8
הקסמים - “diviners”; Micah 3:7
והקוסמים - “diviners”; Zechariah 10:2
קסומי - “divine”; 1 Samuel 28:8
והקסמים - “divine”; Ezekiel 13:9
בקסם - “divine”; Ezekiel 21:29
מקסם - “divine”; Micah 3:6
יקסמו - “divine”; Micah 3:11
כקסום - “divination”; Ezekiel 21:23
וקסמים - “divining”; Ezekiel 22:28
וקסם - “prudent”; Isaiah 3:2
הקוסם - “soothsayer”; Joshua 13:22
לקסם - “use”; Ezekiel 21:21
The problem with doing this, is that the variants with the “ו”, “vau” in other places are ignored [11/17], as well as those other variants that have the “ה”, “He” [3/17]. Also ignored are the other variants which add several differing letters, such as “ל”, “Lamed”; “י”, “Jod”; “מ”, “Mem”; “כ”, “Caph”; “ב”, “Beth”. The Kabbalist would only desire the 3 root letters “קסם”, “Koph, Samech, Mem”.
The manipulation would then go from:
altered [nowhere to be found in scripture [HOT] version 1.0]:
“בלעם בן־בער הקוסם”
to [nowhere to be found in scripture [HOT] version 2.0]:
“בלעם בן־בער קסם”
Yet, even after all this serious distortion and manipulation, by Kabbalists, it is
not enough to alter the original to come to the pre-determined '666', as there is also the case of special pleading to then be made in regards the 'finals', see as follows:]
... to be continued ...
