Why does gematria matter? I used to have the Bible Codes program for my computer. You quickly learn how subjective the whole thing is.
Spellings of Hebrew words vary over time.
One has to assume that EVERY LETTER in the Bible is EXACTLY the same as in the original autographs. This is patently untrue as is evidenced by the myriad variations in the various manuscripts and fragments are still extant.
Hebrew has no vowels. They are inferred or are read based on traditional readings.
How do you spell the names of people whose names don't have a Semitic origin?
When using codes, the skip interval can be chosen by the user until they find something they believe is significant.
The "standard gematria" number set that is found in the Talmud is not used in the bible. Neither are any of the other gematria methods, because they were invented in the middle ages. The first thing to understand is that everyone has been using the wrong number set for the bible, and that is like putting the wrong key in a locked door. Secondly, biblical gematria isn’t about assuming that words which share the same value bear some type of mystical underlying relationship to one another. The words are the building bricks and the summation is the edifice completed. Some gematria calculations in the bible can run for several pages. They can have the feel of a dissertation or essay.
What Gematria is…
Gematria is written with a specific number set and read using exactly the same number set. I sometimes hear the argument put forward that it doesn’t really matter what number set you use, but this comes from the fallacy of believing that gematria is something imposed upon the text by the reader rather than an inherent feature of the text, deliberately put there by its authors. This is important to understand. If the point of the text is to tell you there are 365 days in a year, but your incorrect number set is giving you a different number, then the scribes meaning has been missed by you. It doesn’t matter what words share that same wrong number in the database. Its just wrong.
I assume since you’re reading this that you’re familiar with the concept of written grammar, but have you ever paid mind to numerical grammar? It is by convention to numerical grammar that we structure our mathematical calculations the way that we do. For instance, understanding the sum [ 220 / 7 = 31.428571r ] requires us to know which elements of the sum are arranged where and for what reason. And before we do any calculation we also need to be familiar with the signs for math functions (like +, -, *, /, $, %, !) . Therefore, because we require knowledge of the conventions, we need some degree of formal education in order to do math, and the same is true for biblical gematria. There are numerical conventions for biblical gematria; it has a type of numerical grammar. There are hebrew words that are reserved to indicate where gematria is present (so there is no arbitrary skip interval), and what to do with it (add, multiply by 10, divide, subtract, etc).
The Rabbi's have a way of checking that any new Torah scroll is identical to the original that is ancient in practice, and in actual fact they have managed to keep textual variation at a minimum.
"How do you spell the names of people whose names don't have a Semitic origin?"
You transliterate the best you can.
"Hebrew has no vowels. They are inferred or are read based on traditional readings."
I don't see the relevance to gematria? The vowels of a word do not affect its number.
Why does it matter? There are 4 methods of biblical exegesis known as the PaRDeS. The last method (the Sod) is secret and not taught but nevertheless it is there and to fully understand any verse of the bible one must be able to navigate all four methods of exegesis and each interpretation must not negate the meaning of the other three. It matters if you want it all from any verse in the Torah you study, and if you want to know whether you've got it all too.
