EXTRA! A Tribute to Ivan Panin

On this date in 2006, I serendipitously stumbled upon a rare book. Ivan Panin had privately published in 1934 by the University Press at Oxford, the book "Numeric Greek New Testament," a title only stamped on the spine. The subtitle enigmatically explains that it is the text in the original Greek that he "established" by means of Bible Numerics. Here is how he introduces it:

"This edition of the Greek New Testament is a revision of its text by means of Bible Numerics, the name given by the present writer to the hitherto, in all literature, unparalleled numeric phenomena of the Bible discovered by him in 1890."

He goes on to promise a second volume, in addition to numerous monographs "done by the writer during the last forty years." Other than the number that is the basis of this blog, what more biblically significant number is there than forty!

What Mr Panin has done is remarkable for an individual. His accuracy is superior to the work of several editors of the 19th century. Even 21st century online editions continue the corruption of contractions used in Strong's Dictionary (counting two words as one). Mr Panin also drops the simplistic style of counting as one word the two words in Greek for the word "fourteen" that occurs three times in 1:17.

And that is how Joseph is marked as the first word numbered 666 in the Greek Testament; this distinction given to a man who utters not one word.

My admiration for decades of dedication by a man calculating the most accurate ordering of the original words of each "book" is also directed to the original authors. Accolades to a more contemporary practitioner demystifying "mystical" texts must also be given to the late Dr Barbara Thiering. If Mr Panin's book is a "father lode," then reading the explication of every clause of Revelation in her book "Jesus of the Apocalypse" eleven years earlier, still remains the mother lode of logical reasoning.

Both these small giants, a Canadian and an Australian, are to me like ones whispering in the wilderness. His virtually absolute obscurity is the inspiration that drives this enterprise. Her relative infamy is similar to the reaction to the women's visit to the tomb in Luke 24:11.

Originally, I intended to make a demonstration of the mechanics of Matthew's masterpiece, the sermon of Rabbi Jesus. This being the thirteenth posting, I now realize I could have made a list of what occurs thirteen times (the word "serpent," minus the redaction of Mark 16:18), or the oddity of the 13 words of John 13:13.

My tribute to Mr Ivan Panin on this first day of the thirteenth year of Bible numerics, is a demonstration of the symmetry of the opening 700 words of the fortieth book of the Christian Bible that simply reveals that LORD is 666 (also note 144, 544 and 644).