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Bible code research yields seven words By Melissa Martin ASHLAND � A Hebrew scholar and a mathematician have found what they call one of the most significant discoveries in the field of Bible code research. Nathan Jacobi, an Ashland scientist and Hebrew teacher, found a seven-word sentence encoded in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. "Everybody I�ve shown it to thinks it�s phenomenal," said Jacobi. The longest code to date had been 13 letters long, but the new code is 22 letters long. "This is almost an Olympic event," he said. The chances of finding a sentence-length code in a Hebrew text is one out of 685 billion times 1 billion, said Ed Sherman, an actuarial. He owns an Ashland firm that runs insurance statistics for several Fortune 500 companies. That�s as rare as a blindfolded person finding a single red coin hidden in a stack of quarters 450-coins deep and covering the continental United States, Sherman said. "It�s really quite astonishing," he said. Jacobi and Sherman�s newest code is Shakak Meal Yeshua Shmi Az Sasu Avim, which is translated into "Gushing over Yeshua was my mighty name and the clouds rejoiced." Yeshua is the commonly agreed-upon Hebrew name for Jesus, Jacobi said. The code was found in Isaiah 53, a text that prophesies the coming of Jesus Christ as messiah. Scholars attribute the text to a prophet who lived six centuries before Christ was born. "People ask me if my enthusiasm for this find means that I�m a Christian now," said Jacobi, who describes his spiritual beliefs as neither Jewish nor Christian. "I tell them not any more than searching for Holocaust codes about Hitler makes me a Nazi." Bible codes are found by searching the Hebrew text for letters at certain intervals to form words. Sherman and Jacobi use an Israeli computer program that eliminates spaces between words, then chooses every third letter, for example, to find hidden messages. "It�s like breaking down the DNA of the Bible," said Dave Swaney, part of the Ashland research team. He is editor of Bible Code Digest, the online magazine that released Jacobi and Sherman�s findings today. Rabbi David Zaslow, of Havurah Shir Haddash in Ashland, said he has great respect for Jacobi, who teaches Hebrew at the Havurah. "But I�m not convinced that the Bible codes are anything more than random and that the body of Shakespeare or Homer�s Odyssey would also have to be tested to see what alleged codes might appear," Zaslow said. "Judaism does not depend upon God hiding codes inside our sacred text," he said. By its nature, Hebrew is a coded language that draws students to search for hidden messages, Zaslow said. But whether Jewish or Christian, clergy are often not receptive to Bible code research, Jacobi said. For Sherman, who is a Christian, the codes further his belief that the Bible is the inspired word of God. He has written an online book explaining the mathematical tests he applies to Bible code research. "I can�t even begin to fathom how the top cryptologists could do this kind of stuff," he said. "There is no way this was written by a human being." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA