Page 120 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

CHAPTER 5 “DOUBLE” AND A MESSAGE OF SYMMETRY
CHAPTER 5 “DOUBLE” AND A MESSAGE OF SYMMETRY 99 99

called Samuel three previous times, on each occasion calling the name
of Samuel only once. Only at the fourth time, after Samuel has finally

realized that God is calling on him (and not the high priest, Eli, as he
previously thought), the name of Samuel is called twice—indicating,
perhaps, that now “all of Samuel” is clearly ready for the call of God.

This latter interpretation is compatible with how Jewish sages explain God’s

double calling of the names of the most revered of biblical figures. For example,
the Malbim (1809–79), in his interpretation for the above quote from 1 Samuel ,

explains that God calls twice in order to awaken the two parts, the bodily and the
spiritual, so that the recipient is ready for the word of God.
Life-after-death advocates may have their own different interpretations why
“life” in Hebrew conveys a meaning of “double,” in a symmetrical way. We do not
attempt any here. The only purpose of this subsection was to indicate a peculiar
phenomenon that a most central word in Hebrew, that which characterizes all the
living, is given in a symmetrical double, not unlike all names of symmetrically
double organs of the human body.

These are all coincidences … maybe.