Page 210 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

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CHAPTER 13 METALS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
CHAPTER 13 METALS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES 189
Comments
1. A possible reference to limestone (and therefore to the element calcium ) is
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made only once in the Bible, in Isaiah 27:9, where lime stone is called geer.
The same word is used in modern Hebrew. It is interesting to note that a
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bone, in Hebrew, that carries calcium in large proportion, is etzem, with a
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numerical value of 200—very close to that of geer (213).
2. Burned limestone —or quicklime , obtained in a limekiln, where chalk (cal-

cium carbonate) is calcined to produce quicklime—is addressed three times
in the Bible, twice with reference to burning (Isa. 23:12, Amos 2:1).
3. Zechuchit 13b in modern Hebrew is “glass.” This Hebrew name is mentioned
in the Bible only once, in Job 28:17. It is written therein with the first letter

zayin (the seventh letter in the Hebrew alphabet, corrersponding to the

English Z). However, this word can be written in Hebrew also with a first
letter samech (corresponding to the English S). As with the possible trans-

formation of Mazar into Mazal , to denote Venus and later all planets (refer
to section 8.3.4 for details), we believe that a comparable development has
occurred in relation to the Hebrew word for “glass.”
13a
The root of the word sechuchit (written with samech) is S.Ch.Ch. This is
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the root that gives rise to such words as “screen” (masach), “to cover” (le-sa-
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chech), and also, by a close root, “transparent” (sachui). Since the root
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Z.Ch.Ch originates such words as to purify (le-zachech), or “transparent”
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(zachuch or zach), it is understandable why both roots have originated
words for glass, the difference being only in their different first letters. In the

13a
analysis that follows, we use for glass the word sechuchit, which seems to
be the original word for glass (since it conveys the true function of glass—
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namely, to serve as cover, masach). Most importantly, the numerical value
13a
of sechuchit obeys the same statistical rule that all other materials are con-
sistent with.
4. The Bible does not relate explicitly to sodium . However, there is an allusion
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to a material named neter. It appears twice (Prov. 25:20 and Jer. 2:22). Most
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Jewish interpreters (like Rashi and Malbim ) agree that neter is some kind of

soil that in ancient times was used to rub into clothes in order to remove stains.
This explanation is still unrelated to sodium. However, the Latin name for
the latter—and this is how it appears in the periodic table of the elements—is

natrium . This is the same word as used in the Bible (taking into account
structural linguistic differences between the Hebrew language and Latin).
We were unable to pinpoint the origin of this strange association between
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neter and natrium. Given the active properties of sodium in water, which is