Cool Stuff You Learn Reading this Blog

1) 
If you list the 66 books of the Bible in three columns Proverbs, Luke and 3rd John all line up. They also line up with the 20th Hebrew letter, resh. The symbolic meaning of resh is “head.” (Ever heard of Rosh Hashana? The Jewish New Year or “Head of the Year.”)

Also, the letter resh starts the Hebrew word for friend which occurs more than twice as often in these 3 books combined than any other 3 books. Think about that!


2) 
The Greek word for proverb is parabole from which we get parable. So the book of Proverbs should line up with the New Testament book that has the most parables, right? It does! There are more parables in Luke than in any of the other Gospels. (John has none.) Proverbs are words of wisdom. When Luke tells the same story (parable) as Matthew and Mark, Luke makes a reference to wisdom. (See for yourself: Luke 21:12-15, Matt. 10:19-20, Mark 13:11-12) (Luke 11:49, Matt. 23:34)

Luke describes Jesus (2:40, 52): And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

3)
So how does 3rd John match up with Proverbs and Luke?   To connect Proverbs and Luke to the tiny letter of 3rd John we can look at the word friend, mentioned in #1 above – that the word friend occurs many times – and see a connection with the word “health.” This word appears more in Proverbs than any Old Testament book. Luke was written by a physician. 3rd John opens with John saying he will pray for Gaius’s health (the only reference to health in all 22 epistles).