The Bible Code: “Teaching Them "Wrong"] Things” -- By: Richard A. Taylor

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 43:4 (Dec 2000)
Article: The Bible Code: “Teaching Them "Wrong"] Things”
Author: Richard A. Taylor


The Bible Code:
“Teaching Them Wrong] Things”a

Richard A. Taylor1

I. Introduction

Michael Drosnin, author of the 1997 New York Times best-selling book entitled The Bible Code, tells of flying to Israel on 1 September 1994 in order to convey to then Israeli prime minister Rabin an urgent and sober warning. Drosnin had learned that the only time the name Yitzhak Rabin appeared in the Bible code it intersected the words “assassin that will assassinate.” Drosnin had therefore concluded that the life of the Prime Minister was in grave danger. But he also thought that if immediate action were taken this imminent catastrophe could perhaps be avoided. When he arrived in Israel, Drosnin met with Israeli poet Chaim Guri, a close friend of the prime minister, who in turn conveyed Drosnin’s message to Rabin. Drosnin urged that the Bible code message concerning Rabin be taken seriously, especially in light of the fact that the same Bible code had also accurately announced the prior assassinations of Anwar Sadat, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, and Mahatma Gandi. Drosnin’s mission, however, did not meet with success. Less than a year later, on 4 November 1995, Yitzhak Rabin was unexpectedly killed by a Jewish assassin. 2

In the last five years or so there has been a rapidly growing interest in the cryptic messages alleged to be encoded in the Hebrew text of the Torah and perhaps in the rest of the Tanak as well. 3 An attempt to carry this approach over to the Greek NT is now in its early stages. 4 A steady stream of articles and books has appeared, 5 in some cases generating huge profits for publisher and author alike. As Jeffrey says, “The whole world is talking about the remarkable phenomenon known as the Bible Codes.” 6 Some of the more sensational messages thought by many to be found in the Bible code concern the following events: World War II, the Watergate affair, the Holocaust, the bombing of Hiroshima, the United States moon landing, the 1994 collision of a comet with the planet Jupiter, the Gulf War, the fall of communism, the Oklahoma City bombing, etc. Historical details connected with the names of Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, Hitler, Princess Diana, and many others are also said to appear in the Bible code, in some cases along with formidable messages of warning. The Bible codes also allegedly c...

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