.......... YESHUA (JESUS) CODE FREQUENCY TEST RESULTS ........

Previously an experiment was proposed to test the statistical significance of the frequency of Yeshua ("Jesus") ELS codes in messianic prophecies. Thatexperiment is now complete.

The count of ELSs of the name of Jesus in messianic prophecies was not found to be significantly greater than in similar passages of the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament. The count was not found to be significantly greater than in letter randomized versions of the messianic prophecies.

The following is a brief summary of the methodology and detailed results.

METHODOLOGY:

The Thompson Chain Reference NIV Bible (Zondervan 1983) was used to obtain a list of 51 prophecies from the Old Testament fulfilled by Jesus (as recorded in the New Testament of the Christian Bible).

Research was done to determine which names and spellings for Jesus could be supported biblically. It was determined that 1 spelling for Yeshua (yod-shin-waw-ayin) and 2 for Joshua (yod-hey-waw-shin-ayin and yod-hey-waw-shin-waw-ayin) met that criteria.

A search was made of the prophecies for any of the 3 spellings appearing as an ELS. To qualify as a "reportable ELS", both the first and last letters of the ELS had to be within the boundaries of the prophecy being searched. Reverse ELSs were allowed as were ELSs in the surface text (ie: Skip distances of 1 and -1). No ELSs were found in the prophecies at skip distances of 1 or -1.

The text searched was the Steve Gross electronic edition of the Koren text of the Hebrew Old Testament. For each of the prophecies, a hand comparison was done to verify the Gross text with a paper copy of the text (The Ben Chaim Hebrew Masoretic text, published by the American Bible Society, was used as the paper text for this comparison). No attempt was made to validate the thousands of texts used in the baseline samples. Those baselines were built entirely from the original Steve Gross text.

When discrepancies were found, the experiment was run both against the Gross text and a copy of the Gross text "corrected" to agree with the paper text. Several discrepancies were found but none affected the final results. The results reported here are from the corrected paper text. Most of the discrepancies involved differences in verse numbering between the Hebrew and English text. All references in this report are to verse numbers as they appear in the English Bible.

To evaluate the significance of the number of reportable ELSs found, the following procedure was used to create a random baseline for each prophecy.

For each prophecy, a set of texts was selected at random from the same book as the book that contained the prophecy. Each text in this random set started at the beginning of a verse and contained exactly the same number of letters as the prophecy being evaluated.

Typically 1000 such texts were selected for each set. If the Biblical book of interest had less than 1000 verses capable of serving as a starting point for a selection, then the sample was composed of every verse in the book that could serve as a starting point for a sample text. ( The starting point of the verse had to be at least as far from the end of the book as the required length of the sample text). An ELS count was obtained for each of the sample texts, using the same rules as were used for the prophecies.

One set of samples was created for each prophecy on the list.

A baseline was then established to get a count comparable to the actual count of ELSs in the prophecies. To do that, one observation was selected at random from each of the sample sets. The total number of ELSs in all of these selections was calculated.

This procedure was repeated 5000 times to create a distribution of totals from the sample sets.

From the distribution of totals, a probability distribution was created to determine the probability of the actual ELS count having been drawn from the random sets.

Four sets of prophecies were used in 4 different experiments as follows:

1) The primary prophetic references on the Thompson list were used. This produced a list of 38 prophecies. While 39 prophetic events were recorded on the Thompson list, 2 events were prophesied in the same verse. That verse was counted once only. (See the full Thompson list below).

2) Certain prophetic passages were adjacent to one another or overlapped one another. These adjacent and overlapping texts were combined and treated as a single text. This process reduced the list in (1) from 38 texts to 35 texts.

3) Both the primary and secondary references in the Thompson list were included. This produced a list of 51 prophecies.

4) The list from (3) had some adjacent and overlapping verses. These were consolidated as in (2) to produce a list of 43 prophecies.

These four sets of prophetic passages were used to run 4 tests. Results are reported in the table below with the notation of "verses" under the column "Random Baseline."

AN ALTERNATE BASELINE:

At the suggestion of Professor Brendan McKay a second set of tests was also made. In this second set of tests, the letters in each of the actual prophecies were randomized 1000 times to create a set of 1000 sample texts for each prophecy.

These sets were sampled 5000 times to create a second random baseline using the same procedure as was used with the "random verse" baseline, described in detail earlier. The results of this alternate test are noted in the table below as "letters" in the Random Baseline column.

DETAILED RESULTS:

The combination of the 4 sets of texts with the 2 randomization methods produced 8 results, summarized here.

Prophecy   # of    Random     ......... ELS counts ......   Probability

Set        texts   Baseline   Actual    Sample (mean) ave

1         38       verses       2            1.96              0.57
1         38       letters      2            1.49              0.43

2         35       verses       3            2.11              0.34
2         35       letters      3            1.61              0.22

3         51       verses       3            3.01              0.58
3         51       letters      3            2.68              0.50

4         43       verses       4            3.27              0.41
4         43       letters      4            2.90              0.33

Notes on the table:

1) The probability column is the fraction of sample totals having an ELS count equal to or greater than the actual count. It is therefore the probability of getting the actual count or greater at random from the sample sets. Smaller numbers are more significant. Generally a number of 0.05 or lower is considered statistically significant.

2) Each of the 8 reported results is based on an average of 3 runs under identical conditions but with a different stream of random numbers. From an analysis of the 24 total runs, it is estimated that the true probabilities are no more than 4% less than the values shown in the tables.

3) All of the ELSs found in the prophetic texts were for the name Yeshua Some of the Joshua spellings were found in the sample sets, but none were found in the prophecies. The 4th list was rerun to build a baseline for Yeshua ELSs only. In that test, eliminating Joshua ELSs from consideration reduced the probability from 0.22 to 0.18.

The following 4 ELSs were found for Yeshua:

Psalms 22:6-8    Start = 32             Skip = 11     Found in all sets
Zec 9:9          Start = 2              Skip = 22     Found in all sets
Zec 11:12-13     Start = 28             Skip = 24     Found in sets 2 - 4
Isa 11:1-5       Start at last "yod"    Skip = -72    Found in set 4

MESSIANIC PROPHECIES:

Following are all the Messianic prophecies and how they were fulfilled in Christ as listed in the Thompson Chain Reference NIV Bible, 1983, by Zondervan.

      OFFSPRING OF A WOMAN

Gen 3:15 "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (fulfilled in Gal 4:4; Lk 2:7; Rev 12.5)

      OFFSPRING OF ABRAHAM

Gen 18:18 "Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him." also Gen 12:3. (fulfilled in Ac 3:25, Mt 1:1; lk 3:34).

      PROMISED OFFSPRING OF ISAAC

Gen 17:19  "Then God said, 'Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him." (fulfilled in Mt 1:2; Lk 3:34)

      PROMISED OFFSPRING OF ISAAC

Gen 17:19 "Then God said, 'Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him." (fulfilled in Mt 1:2; LK 3:34).

      PROMISED OFFSPRING OF JACOB

Num. 24:17 "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not hear. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skills of all the sons of Sheth." also Gen 28:14. (fulfilled in Lk 3:34; Mt 1:2)

      WILL DESCEND FROM THE TRIBE OF JUDAH

Gen 49:10 "The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his."  (fulfilled in Lk 3:33; Mt 1:2,3).

      THE HEIR TO THE THRONE OF DAVID

Isa 9:7 "Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this." also Isaiah 11:1-5; 2 Sa 7:13. (fulfilled in Mt 1:1; Mt 1:6).

      PLACE OF BIRTH

Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." (fulfilled Mt 2:1; lk 2:4-7).

      TIME OF BIRTH

Daniel 9:25 "know and understand this. From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Annointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens' and sicty-two 'sevens'. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble." (fulfilled Lk 2:1,2; Lk 2:3-7).

      BORN OF A VIRGIN

Isa 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (fulfilled Mt 1:18; Lk 1:26-35).

      SLAUGHTER OF INFANTS

Jer 31:15 "This is what the Lord says: 'A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more." (Mt 2:16; Mt 2:17,18)

      ESCAPE INTO EGYPT

Hosea 11:1 "When Israel was a child I love him, and out of Egypt I called my son." (fulfilled in Mt 2:14; Mt 2:15).

       MINISTRY IN GALILEE

Isaiah 9:1,2 "Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Nathtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan--the people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." (fulfilled in Mt 4:12-16)

      AS A PROPHET

Dt 18:15 "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him." (fulfilled in John 6:14; Jn 1:45, Ac 3:19-26).

      AS A PRIEST, LIKE MELCHIZEDEK

Ps 110:4 "the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: 'You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." (fulfilled in Heb 6:20; Heb 5:5,6; 7:15-17).

      HIS REJECTION BY JEWS

Isa 53:3 "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not." also Ps 2:2.  (fulfilled in Jn 1:11; Jn 5:43; Lk 4:29; 17:25; 23:18).

      SOME OF HIS CHARACTERISTICS

Isa 11:2 "The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him--the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." also in Ps 45:7; Isa 11:3-4. (fulfilled in Lk 2:52; Lk 4:18).

      HIS TRIUMPHAL ENTRY

Zec 9:9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." also in Isa 62:11. (fulfilled in Jn 12:13,14; Mt 21:1-11; Jn 12:12).

      BETRAYED BY A FRIEND

Ps 41:9 "Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me." (fulfilled in Mk 14:10; Mt 26:14-16; Mk 14:43-45).

      SOLD BY THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER

Zech 11:12 "I told them, 'If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it' So they paid me thirty pieces of silver." also in Zech 11:13.  ( fulfilled in Mt 26:15; Mt 27:3-10).

      MONEY TO BE RETURNED FOR A POTTER'S FIELD

Zec 11:13 "And the Lord said to me, 'Throw it to the potter'--the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord to the potter." (fulfilled in Mt 27:6-7; Mt 27:3-5; 8-10).

      JUDAS'S POSITION TO BE TAKEN BY ANOTHER

Ps 109:7,8 "When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him. May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership." (fulfilled in Ac 1:18-20; Ac 1:16-17).

      FALSE WITNESSES ACCUSE HIM

Ps 27:12 "Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence." also in Ps 35:11. (fulfilled in Mt 26:60-61)

      SILENT WHEN ACCUSED

Isa 53:7 "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth." also in Ps 38:13,14. (fulfilled in Mt 26:62,63; Mt 27:12-14).

      STRUCK AND SPIT ON

Isa 50:6 "I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting." (fulfilled in Mk 14:65; Mk 15:17; Jn 19:1-3; 18:22).

      HATED WITHOUT CAUSE

Ps 69:4 "Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal." also in Ps 109:3-5. (fulfilled in Jn 15:23-25)

      SUFFERED VICARIOUSLY

Isa 53:4-5 "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by god, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." also in Isa 53:6,12. (fulfilled Mt 8:16,17; Ro 4:25: 1 Co 15:3).

      CRUCIFIED WITH SINNERS

Isa 53:12 "Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (fulfilled in Mt 27:38; Mk 15:27, 28; Lk 23:33).

      HANDS AND FEET PIERCED

Ps 22:16 "Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet." also in Zec 12:10 (fulfilled in Jn 20:27; Jn 19:37; 20:25,26).

      MOCKED AND INSULTED

Ps 22:6-8 "But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads; "he trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."  (fulfilled in Mt 27:39,40; Mt 27:41-44; Mk 15:29-32).

      GIVEN GALL AND VINEGAR

Ps 69:21 "They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst." (fulfilled in Jn 19:29; Mt 27:34, 48)

      HEARS PROPHETIC WORDS REPEATED IN MOCKERY

Ps 22:8 "He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." (filfilled in Mt 27:43).

      PRAYS FOR HIS ENEMIES

Ps 109:4 "In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer." also Isa 53:12. (fulfilled in Lk 23:34).

      HIS SIDE TO BE PIERCED

Zech 12:10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son." (fulfilled in Jn 19:34).

      SOLDIERS CAST LOTS FOR HIS CLOTHES

Ps 22:18 "The divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." (fulfilled in Mk 15:24; Jn 19:24).

      NOT A BONE TO BE BROKEN

Ps 34:20 "He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken." also in Ex 12:46. (fulfilled in Jn 19:33)

      TO BE BURIED WITH THE RICH

Isa 53:9 "He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth." (fulfilled in Mt 27:57-60).

      HIS RESURRECTION

Ps 16:10 "Because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay." also Mt 16:21. (fulfilled Mt 28:9; Lk 24:36-48).

      HIS ASCENSION

Ps 68:18 "When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious--that you, O Lord God, might dwell there." (fulfilled in Lk 24:50-51; Ac 1-9).

...... END OF REPORT .........