בס״ד
It is very exciting for me to write this blog post. I believe it is a very timely post and it’s something that I’ve been studying for a while, only to finally arrive at a place in which I’m able to articulate what it is that I want to share.
To begin, I must say this:
I love science, especially that of important things.
Now what could be more important than things pertaining to who we are, why we are here, why we exist, where we came from, and the like. Existential questions. These questions I find to be the most interesting and most meaningful to me. To find the answers to these questions, the science of them, is one of the most compelling journeys one could ever embark on.
Now what is science anyways? According to one definition in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, it is, “the state of knowing : knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding.”1 I love to learn things, to know how things are interconnected, and not be ignorant or have a misunderstanding concerning things,
This is the journey I’d like to invite you to come on with me.
I’m so grateful to have been raised in a home with parents who placed utmost importance on pursuing the answer to the questions of our existence. In addition to this, I’m so grateful to have been given the opportunity to earn an Associate In Science degree from college, where I studied biology, chemistry, and calculus. Combining these backgrounds, I’ve been challenged to reconcile what I’ve learned from religion compared to what I’ve learned from studying the physical universe surrounding us.
Without any overly-fancy, scientific words, this is what I’d like to discuss with you throughout this article.
What originally inspired the research that this article contains was a video shared with me over the Internet. In this video, some conspiracy theorists were postulating that because there are Jewish symbols used in Freemasonry, certainly Freemasonry has infiltrated Judaism and certain Jewish practices should be avoided or even condemned as pagan…
The Seventh Celestial Body
One “evidence” which this conspiracy video put forth was that because there is a hexagon shape seen on the north pole of the planet, Saturn, then the hexagonal Star of David must certainly be an ancient symbol used for the worship of the god Saturn…
But wait! Why is there a hexagon shape on the planet Saturn?!
Who do we think created the planet Saturn? Satan? I mean sure, yeah, “Satan” and “Saturn” sound similar, but… “In the beginning G-D created the heavens and the earth.” If G-D created all of the planets, did HE create every one, but Saturn (and maybe all of the dinosaur bones too)? I realized quickly how ridiculous the argument was which this video made.
However, I did find it quite fascinating that this hexagon shape exists in both the images of the planet Saturn and the Star of David…
If G-D did create the planets, why would HE put a hexagon, the same shape seen in the Star of David, on the planet Saturn, of all planets?
What can we say about the planet Saturn?
Interestingly, Saturn is the last planet we can see with our naked eye from the surface of the Earth. This would’ve been true for the ancients, as well, who didn’t have astronomical telescopes. It is also, if counting the Sun, the seventh major celestial body in our solar system. This may account for why the first day of the week came to be called, “Sunday (Sun-day),” after the first celestial body, and the last, the seventh day, came to be known as, “Saturday (Saturn-day).“
Saturn is the 7th major celestial body and the Sun is the 1st, the Earth being the 4th in our solar system.
What else do we know about the planet Saturn?
It is the first planet from the Sun to have a prominent ring system around it.
A ring.
The seventh and last (that can be seen with the naked eye).
A Jewish symbol.
Fascinatingly, these “coincidences” are not very coincidental. In Jewish, biblical symbolism, rings and the number ‘7’ are very significant.
In fact, they appear in nearly every physical, covenantal sign G-D gave mankind in the Bible.
The Seventh Day Sabbath
One example of a sign of the Covenant in the Bible between G-D and HIS People, is called, the “Shabbat (Sabbath).” The Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week, what is now called, “Saturday,” named after the seventh celestial body which bears the hexagon shape, like the Star of David. Did you know that the ancient Hebrews did not call the planet, Saturn, after the pagan Roman god, but rather, “Shabbtai (שבתי),” which has the same root letters and meaning as Shabbat (שבת)?
Is it possible there is another covenantal connection between the signs of the covenant and the Star of David? We will return to this later…
The Sabbath day is the seventh day and also the last day of every week. It repeats in a cycle, like a circle, a ring, every week forever. It is also the fourth of the Ten Commandments. Interestingly, the numbers, ‘4,’ and, ‘7,’ are symmetrically situated only in a sequence of 10 objects…
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
It doesn’t work like this in any other sequence of numbers. For example…
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9
The symmetrical number opposite ‘4’ in a sequence of 10 items is ‘7,’ which leads us to the seventh of the Ten Commandments,
“You shall not commit adultery”
–Exodus 20:14
The commandment to keep the Sabbath day is symmetrical with the commandment not to commit adultery.
This makes sense if the Sabbath day is a sign of G-D’s covenant, because for Israel to violate that sign is symbolic of committing adultery against G-D, like the breaking of a marriage Covenant between a man and a woman.
The Wedding Ring
If we have Signs of Covenants between G-D and mankind, do we have a sign of covenant between people?
Yes, absolutely! We call it a wedding ring, and it goes on one of our fingers.
I recently asked the question of why it goes on our “ring” finger. What traditionally makes us put it on that finger, in particular?
There are several unsatisfactory explanations, including that it is a Roman tradition, but I note for the present what Jewish sources state,
that the index, or pointing, finger is the true “ring finger.” 3
Why might this be so?
Hold up your hands…
What you may see when you do this is that, just like the Ten Commandments, there are ten fingers with the two index fingers occupying both the ‘4’ and ‘7’ positions.
A sign of the covenant made between a man and his wife in marriage is like the sign of the Sabbath between G-D and man. A ring corresponding to the number seven represents a never-ending cycle, eternity, representing G-D’s never-ending faithfulness to those in Covenant with HIM
(On a side-note, I also find it cool that the end of the thumb is situated directly across from where the ring sets on the index finger, making it an ideal location for fidgety people like me to touch and spin the ring around the finger with your thumb, as a reminder of the covenant).
The Rainbow
Another example of a covenantal sign is the rainbow. In the Bible, G-D made a covenant with mankind, promising not to destroy the earth with a flood ever again, designating the rainbow as a sign, a seal of this covenant. In the rainbow, we can see that there are seven distinct bands of color that are visible to the human eye, colloquially referred to in the Computer Age with the acronym, ROYGBIV (R-ed, O-range, Y-ellow, G-reen, B-lue, I-ndigo, V-iolet).
It is interesting that the LGBT movement of recent times has insisted on using a rainbow as its own standard, except that the colors of their rainbow specifically only number six. Whereas the number seven represents completeness and covenant faithfulness in the Bible, the number six conversely represents imperfection and unfaithfulness (Remember, 666?).
Contrary to popular belief concerning certain redheads and their pots of gold, there is no actual end to a rainbow. On the contrary, rainbows in nature are complete circles, complete rings, like wedding rings, without end or beginning. We only see the half that is above the horizon. That’s why if you spray a garden hose on a sunny day, you may see a full circle rainbow in the mist.
Sevens In Music
“Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the L-RD with shouting and with the sound of the horn, with trumpets and with cymbals, making music with stringed instruments and harps.”
-1 Chronicles 15:28
Music is central to the Bible, whether the songs of Miriam, Moses, David, the Psalms, the Song of Songs, or the Song of the Lamb. The Jewish people don’t read, but rather sing the words of the Torah in the synagogue. Wonderfully, in music, there are seven notes in every major or minor scale. Scales repeat in a cycle, like a circle, and like the days of the week, the first repeats after the seventh. So in a musical scale, the eighth note is the same as the first note. Music is a gift and expression of covenantal faithfulness from G-D to humanity and humanity to G-D. Perhaps that’s partly why we find music so meaningful…
The Seven of Heaven
At this point, we have the planets, the days of the week, the ring finger, the rainbow, and the musical scale with each testifying to this concept of a circle and the number ‘7’ being used as signs from G-D of covenant faithfulness.
Perhaps the most significant usage of the number 7 in the Bible is when we are told that there are Seven Spirits of G-D. In Isaiah 11, they are listed as follows:
The Spirit of the L-RD,
the Spirit of Wisdom,
the Spirit of Understanding,
the Spirit of Counsel,
the Spirit of Might,
the Spirit of Knowledge,
and the Spirit of the Fear of the L-RD.
The Bible tells us that these are the Seven Spirits, or Winds (as the word also translates), of G-D which are sent through all the earth from G-D. Isaiah 11 tells us that all seven of these spirits shall rest upon one human, namely, the Messiah. Not only that, but Paul writes in 2 Corinthians and Ephesians letters that the giving of the Spirit of G-D to HIS people is a “seal,” a sign of the renewed covenant with the House of Israel and House of Judah.
If seven is the number of Spirits of G-D that the Bible relates, then we can say that the number ‘7’ represents the G-D of the Bible, specifically. By our examination of the significant, “coincidental” role the number ‘7’ plays in the Universe that we can observe, we see that one sig-nature number of the real G-D of the Universe is seven.
Perhaps this is evidence that the G-D of the Bible is indeed the real G-D of the Universe…
I want you to see the unity of G-D through the unity of G-D’s Creation.
For if there be a G-D, HIS signature must surely be on all that HE has made, and there must be evidence that HE indeed, and no-one or nothing else, is responsible for creation.
Now that we have identified the number ‘7’ as being the number of the G-D of the Bible and have seen its appearance in the planet Saturn, the Sabbath day, the rainbow, and the true wedding ring finger, let us look at another significant place we see the number ‘7’ appear in the Bible…
The Menorah
“You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece. And six branches shall come out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side.”
–Exodus 25:31-32
The Golden Menorah is one of the primary items G-D instructed the People of Israel to place inside the Temple, the Place of G-D’s Glorious Abiding Presence in Jerusalem. The menorah was a lamp stand made of one piece of gold with six branches coming out of the main, center body which itself had a branch coming out of the top. A prime usage of the number ‘7’ within the Temple, the Menorah served as a source of light within the Temple Sanctuary.
This made for a total of seven branches, with seven fires lit in the lamps of each branch – seven lights…
Here again, we see Divine instruction involving the number ‘7.’ Fascinatingly, the branch which came directly out of the middle of the main, center body of the menorah also happens to be the 4th branch, counting from the furthermost right branch (In Hebrew, the language and culture of the Bible, you count and read from the right to the left). All of the other branches appear in symmetrical pairs all centering around this 4th, central branch, which has no symmetrical pair-partner branch.
If you overlay the Seven Spirits of G-D over the Seven Branches of the Menorah, placing the Spirit of the L-RD as the center branch and body from which all others branch out, you begin to see amazing patterns which are alluded to elsewhere in the Bible…
For example, if you trace ‘wisdom’ to the pair-branch partner of the other side, you find ‘fear of the L-RD.’ If you trace ‘understanding,’ you find ‘knowledge,’ just as this verse says,
“The fear of the L-RD is the beginning of wisdom,
-Proverbs 9:10
And the knowledge of the HOLY ONE is understanding.”
The HumAn-orah
I recently discovered that if you look at the anatomy of the human body, you can quickly recognize these same ‘menorah’ patterns. Just as the Menorah has a main body with seven branches, so the human torso is a main body with seven ‘branches.’ The outer four are paired as our arms and legs. The inner three are ‘branches’ which relate directly to the reproduction of life, the passing of ‘the fire, the flame, the light of life.’ The center, 4th ‘branch’ is where actual new life emerges from the body, for both the male and female body. I find this incredibly fascinating and non-coincidental!
Not only the human torso, but also the head of the body demonstrates this ‘menorah’ pattern. There are seven openings to the head. Three pairs of openings are found centering around one single opening. The ears, eyes, and nostrils, center around the mouth.
Fascinatingly, the Bible says in Proverbs 18:21,
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.”
And in James 2:6a,
“And the tongue is a fire…”
So too, ‘fire’ can proceed out of the mouth, the 4th ‘branch’ of the ‘menorah,’ either to bring life, or to cause destruction and death.
Not only do you see two main ‘menorah’ patterns in the anatomy of the human body and head, but you also can see direct correlation between the two. If you compare the pairs between the two patterns, starting from the outer pairs and working your way to the inner pairs, you can find some really amazing correlations. The arms correlate to the ears. In the Bible, emphasis is put on your actions, represented by the arms and hands, matching with what you hear G-D instructing you to do, represented by the ears. The legs correspond to the eyes, for the blind struggle to walk.
The center 4th ‘branch’ of each ‘menorah’ pattern is more obvious in how they correlate. These are the parts of the body which engage in the most intimate interaction possible between human beings, which in them contain the ability to produce ‘fire’ unto great destruction and death, or unto whole new life (reproducing more ‘menorahs’).
To conclude this section about the human ‘menorah,’ I want to show how each ‘menorah’ pattern gives a triangular shape, the points of the triangles meeting where the neck of the human body is. These two ‘menorah’ patterns give us two triangle shapes which are inverted from each other, which looks like a ‘tent’ or ‘tipi.’ The Bible teaches that the human body is like a ‘tent’ for the human soul and G-D’s spirit. Not only that, but if you overlap these inverted triangles over each other, you receive a Star of David.
Therefore, the human body itself is in this way the shape of the Star of David.
The Star of David
As was said before, the Star of David appears when you overlap two inverted triangles over each other. The strongest shape you can possibly make is with three lines and it’s a triangle. I learned from Rabbi Daniel Lapin that the weakest arrangement you can make with three lines looks like what I sketched below. If you take the inverse of this arrangement of lines and overlap it over the other, you will create the Nazi swastika. Therefore, it can be said that the opposite of the Nazi swastika is the Star of David.
The same hexagon shape which is found in the center of the Star of David is the same exact hexagon shape we find on the North Pole of the planet, “Saturn,” the seventh major celestial body of our solar system and the first one which has a ring around it. We have seen how the symbols of the ring, number 7, and Star of David represent Covenant between mankind and the G-D of the Universe.
Awesomely, there is a Bible verse where this Covenant is directly expressed by G-D…
“Thus says the L-RD,
Who gives the sun for a light by day,
The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night,
Who disturbs the sea,
And its waves roar
(The L-RD of Hosts is HIS name):
“If those ordinances depart
From before ME, says the L-RD,
Then the seed of Israel shall also cease
From being a nation before ME forever.”
–Jeremiah 31:35-36
In this verse, we read that G-D makes the celestial bodies an eternal sign of the Covenant between HIMSELF and Israel. How clearly is this seen in the seventh celestial body, which is the first with a ring around it and bears the same hexagonal shape as the symbol of the Jewish people and Flag of the modern State of Israel? Do you think Jeremiah knew in the sixth-century BCE, or any Jew until the Space Age for that matter, that the planet Saturn shared the same symbols of covenant and mark as the Jewish People and Nation?
Circumcision
Another sign of the Covenant we see G-D give HIS People is that of circumcision. In circumcision, the foreskin is removed off of the 4th, center ‘branch’ of the human ‘menorah,’ as we discussed above. What is left is a circular mark on the skin, like a ring, which remains as a sign of the Covenant between G-D and man.
But this is not the only kind of circumcision the Bible describes…
There is also the circumcision of the lips, as Moses says,
“Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?”
–Exodus 6:30b
Perfectly, the lips are also the 4th, center ‘branch’ of the ‘menorah’ of the human head, as could be seen above in my sketches.
What is the other circumcision we see in the Bible?
“Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.”
–Deuteronomy 10:16
The heart is the other circumcision we see in the Bible. But where do we see a ‘menorah’ pattern in either the Bible or in Creation, where the heart is the 4th, center ‘branch’ of the ‘menorah,’ as in the circumcision of the flesh and of the lips?
Oddly enough, in Eastern philosophy, there are seven “energy centers” of human consciousness. Each of these “energy centers” correspond with one of the seven colors of the rainbow (which we mentioned before) and are also associated with certain symbols. Coincidentally, the 4th, middle “energy center” happens to be the heart and its symbol is exactly that of a Star of David…
The symbol for the fourth “energy center,” which is green and has a six-pointed star, like the Star of David
Whether you believe in these “energy centers” or not, the Biblical allusions and natural correlations are so strikingly similar and would speak more of a corruption of the truth, rather than just a plain, flat-out lie conceived out of nowhere.
To go on further, we see that the color of the rainbow which lies at the center, ‘4’ position and corresponds to the heart is the color green. It is interesting that we generally associate the color green with the concept of life. We find this in the Bible too,
“Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.”
–Proverbs 4:23
Is it any coincidence that the planet which we call the “Green Planet,” the only planet that produces and sustains life of many kinds, is also at the center, ‘4’ position of the major celestial bodies beginning at the Sun?
On an additional note, most scientists believe that the Moon was produced as the result of a planetary-mass object colliding with the Earth and causing a separation between the Earth and what eventually became the Moon, like the cutting of a cosmic blade. This created the conditions in which life was able to be sustained on Earth. I beseech you to ponder the similarities between this separation and that afforded by the circumcision of the flesh, lips, and heart.
Now that we have discussed how even the anatomy of our bodies testifies to the covenantal faithfulness of G-D and the signs of the Covenants HE has made with Israel and mankind, we can see also how truly we are created in the image of G-D. Our bodies and spirits are so intimately tied up with G-D and HIS Creation so that there is no separating us from G-D.
G-D is One, and we are truly one with HIM…
Seven Species
Another set of seven we see in the Scriptures are the seven species of the Land of Israel, described in Deuteronomy 8:7-8, 18:
“For the L-RD your G-D is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and [date] honey… But remember the L-RD your G-D, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.”
Like I showed at the beginning of this blog, the pomegranate bears a Star of David shape in its calyx and is of a particularly more round, circular shape than all the other Seven Species. These are more symbols of covenant dealing with the nature of earth and the Land of Israel, specifically.
Tefillin
Another sign that we see in the Bible, which continues the pattern of the number ‘7’ and the symbol of the covenantal circle, is tefillin, the prayer phylacteries worn by Jewish men since ancient times.
I will do another blog about the special significance and meaning of tefillin, but for now I will show one verse from whence tefillin is derived:
“Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”
-Deuteronomy 11:18
There are four passages in the Torah which command to bind their words “as a sign on the hand.” These four passages are written on four separate scrolls which are contained in leather boxes bound to the hand and the forehead by leather straps. As mentioned before, the number ‘4’ is significant in relation to covenant.
The hand tefillin are placed on the 7th extremity of the ‘human menorah’ – the arm. The leather straps are wrapped circularly 7 times around the arm. Not only that, but a direct reference is made to the seven-branched menorah in the blessings spoken while putting on the hand tefillin. The head tefillin are placed around the 7th and highest ‘energy center’ (crown of the head).
In fact, the same word used in the Hebrew here for ‘sign (אות),’ is also used in every place in the Bible mentioning a ‘sign (אות)’ of a covenant (rainbow, circumcision, Sabbath, etc.). Therefore, we conclude that tefillin, employing the same symbols of covenant, is another physical sign of covenant among the others mentioned in the Scriptures.
Kippah
Tefillin is not typically worn all day by Jewish men, but there is another article which is worn all day and employs the same pattern symbolism of Covenant. The Hebrew kippah, or Yiddish yamulke, creates a circle shape around the crown of the head, a seven.
Cain’s Mark
The last sign of covenant which I will mention is actually one of the very first mentioned explicitly in the Bible. It is the sign given to Cain…
“And the L-RD said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the L-RD set a mark (sign, אות) on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.”
-Genesis 4:15
We aren’t explicitly given the symbol of the circle, but we are told that the L-RD gave Cain a sign and made a covenant with him that HE would take vengeance sevenfold for Cain’s murder, a reference to the covenantal number 7.
This is incredible because we are told that Cain was the first human being born after the Fall. He was the first murderer. He committed arguably one of the greatest sins, and yet, G-D had mercy on him and made a covenant promising to protect Cain with a seal, a sign guaranteeing HIS promise.
This should give us great hope. Despite our great sins and even murders, G-D has given us many signs, especially through HIS People Israel, that HIS grace endures forever.
I share in the exultation of Paul:
“For G-D has imprisoned all in disobedience so that HE may be merciful to all.
O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of G-D! How unsearchable are HIS judgments and how inscrutable HIS ways!
“For who has known the mind of the L-RD?
Or who has been HIS counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to HIM,
to receive a gift in return?”For from HIM and through HIM and to HIM are all things. To HIM be the glory forever. Amen.”
-Romans 11:32-36
Works Cited
1 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/science
2 https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia21327/hail-the-hexagon
3 http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/481776/jewish/The-Marriage-Ring.htm
עין לציון 