Who Knew The Number 26 Was So Cool?

I was enjoying little more reading in Exodus today.

15:26: saying, "If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statues, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I put upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord, your healer."

It struck me that the only commandments given the Israelites at that point were the observance of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and keeping the Sabbath.

This verse came shortly after the people had traveled in the "wilderness" (metaphor for this world we live in) for three days, and only had bitter water to drink. Moses was shown a tree (the Cross) by God, and he threw it into the water which sweetened it. Then the group of Israelites went to a place with 12 springs of water (Apostles) and 70 Palms (seventy is nations).

But that verse #26 is fascinating! I searched a little and here's what I found, and then verified:

• GOD in simple English gematria equals 26. G=7, O=15, D=4. 7+15+4=26 
• Gen 1:26 is the verse in which God says, "Let us make man in our image...."
• Adam in Hebrew gematria equals 45. Aleph=1, dalet=4, mem=40. Eve equals 19. Hay=5, Vav=6, Chet=8. Subtract Eve from Adam, 45-19, and you get 26.
• YHWH (Yahweh) in Hebrew gematria equals 26. Yod=10, Hay=5, Vav=6, Hay=5.
• In Gen 10, the descendants of Shem were listed. Presumably each of his five sons had children, grandchildren, etc. But only the sons of Arpachshad and Aram were listed, and only Arpachshad's descendants were listed to the 5th generation. The name Arpachshad is hard to translate, but it's possibly comprised of three words that are Gather, Vial, Bosom. In all, 26 of Shem's descendants were listed, though there would surely have been more.
• 26 AD is believed to be the year John the Baptist began his ministry, and also the year Jesus was baptized.

That was already an interesting find. So I started to look at the other 26's in scripture. It got even more interesting.

• Ex 26 is where God gives the description for building the Tabernacle. 
• Gen 26 is where God tells Isaac that he will fulfill the promises made to Abraham to make his descendants as numerous as the stars of Heaven and give him the Promised Land
• Lev 26 describes the blessings of obedience to God's commandments
• Num 26 is a list of the tribes and descendants. Definitely numerous.
• Deut 26 is a description of First Fruits, tithes, admonition to keep the commandments, and promises to make Israel his people, Holy to the Lord
• Psalm 26 is about how God will vindicate his people. I'd like to think that little discovery this morning was a little extra encouragement to me today based on what's been going on around here. And today just happens to be the 26th of the fourth month.
• Isaiah 26 (verses 19-20) according to Yacov Rambsel every 6th letter spells Natzal - 'to be jerked out' which is the Hebrew word equivalent to the Greek harpazo.

It never ceases to amaze and delight me to see the precision and intricacy of God's word. If you're not spending time reading it, you're missing out!

Eyes up!!