The Clavicula Salomonis or 'The Key of Solomon' is an ancient book of esoterica, apparently the most famous and important of all Grimoires, or handbooks of Magic. It is rather dense in its language but appears to cover may topics from astrology, love, prayer and the art of conjuring.
The 144,000 is a number that I have heard used in reference to 12,000 of each of the 12 tribes of Israel. Specifically, a Pennsylvania State Trooper on Interstate 80 (don't ask...) who was a Jehovah's witness explained to me that this was the number of places in heaven. Talk about your chosen people.
Of course, 10 of those tribes have been lost for about 2500 years so today there are only 2 known tribes of Israel left. This might provide some congruence for the 2 tribes currently configured on the island (the cave vs. beach dwellers). Of course with the impending completion of the raft, this could change.
Welcome jharve and good work! I just wanted to point out that although many denominations believe that the 144,000 is a literal number of the saved, many more believe it is a symbolic number that just represents the saved.
I'm pretty sure that I've heard of on tribe of Israel missing out because of something, but I'll have to do a little research and get back to everyone on that.
The numerical symbolism is a definite number for an indefinite number.
1. 12 stands as a symbol of God's people - 12 tribes of Israel represented ALL of God's covenant people, even though the tribe of Dan is omitted. A multiplication would express all of God's saved, not one was missing.
2. 10 stands for completeness and 10 x 10 represented total complete ness -- nothing lacking.
3. Thus 12 x 12 x 10 x 10 x 10 is a way of simple stating that all of God's saved believers were present -- none were missing!
Okay, here we go. In Revelation 7:4-8, the 144,000 are listed by tribe as being sealed. 4Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. 5From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, 6from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, 7from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, 8from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
Now, here's a little Biblical history. Israel (or Jacob), had 12 sons: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. When Joseph died, he blessed his two sons, Ephraim and Manassah, with his inheritance. Today's Israelites come from one of these twelve sons, and since that time, the children of Israel represented the chosen people of God. During the Exodus from Egypt, these people camped by their tribe, only we don't see the tribe of Joseph, his tribe was split into two by his son's names.
However, when we get to symbolic reference of the chosen in Revelation, we see that the tribe of Dan is missing. (Interestingly, so is Ephraim, and Joseph is back.) Mannasah, Joseph's son, replaces Dan's place as one of the 12. Now, I'm not sure what Dan did, but apparently he (his tribe) chose to turn away from God at some point.
Another bit of interesting Bible trivia, we also see this with the twelve disciples. Judas betrayed Jesus and there were only 11, but when the Christian chuch is formed in Acts, God chooses Matthias to replace him. (see Acts 1:12-26)
The numerical symbolism is a definite number for an indefinite number.
1. 12 stands as a symbol of God's people - 12 tribes of Israel represented ALL of God's covenant people, even though the tribe of Dan is omitted. A multiplication would express all of God's saved, not one was missing.
2. 10 stands for completeness and 10 x 10 represented total complete ness -- nothing lacking.
3. Thus 12 x 12 x 10 x 10 x 10 is a way of simple stating that all of God's saved believers were present -- none were missing!
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