The Divine Design of the Twenty-Two Spokes

(Chapter 6 of the Bible Wheel Book)

Word Distributions: The God of Infinite Detail

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Luke 12:6f

The Bible is a sacred tapestry of Divine Words woven by God into a portrait of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, the Saviour of the World. Threads of every color are distributed throughout its fabric, with each rising to prominence here and falling into obscurity there under threads of a different color. From the very beginning, Christians have been tracing these threads throughout Scripture to discern this portrait, which is, in fact, nothing less than the very Image of God shining in the glorious face of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor 4:6).

God's Word is unique amongst all other books because the image woven from its words is both historical and prophetical. It is simply impossible to maintain that the detailed fulfillment of the types and shadows established in the Old Testament, such as Christ's death and resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in relation to the Feasts of the Lord (pg 83), was nothing but a happenstance of history. There are too many independent and delightfully intelligent converging lines to allow for that possibility. The intended image is as clear as daylight and was established centuries before its fulfillment. Tracing out the infinite detail of this Divine Image is one of the greatest joys of Bible study, for "this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3).

The miracle of God's Wheel is that it transforms the metaphor of the Bible as "an image woven in a tapestry of words" into a literal description of its supernatural design (pg 42). Chapter 3 reviewed the Divine synergy of the four symbols – the Circle, the Cross, the Alphabet, and the Number Seven – that were "pressed down, and shaken together" in its geometric structure. Chapter 4 explored its nature as a Divine Seal and work of Theological Art. The upshot of those chapters was that God has united the content of His Word with its geometric form. The distribution of the threads – themes expressed with words – in God's tapestry forms a self-coherent visual image that exemplifies, amplifies, and reiterates the meaning of the words that form it! It is the ultimate illuminated manuscript (pg 75). A prime example was seen in the restriction of God's Self-Revelation as "First and Last" on the First and Last Spokes (pg 40) and the amplification of this pattern in the themes of the corresponding Books (Commencement and Consummation). Similar distributions characterize the entire structure of the Wheel, from the large-scale sevenfold symmetric perfection generated by the seven canonical divisions down to the exact placement of individual Books.

Distinctive Word Distributions in the Seven Canonical Divisions

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

Isaiah 28:10f

The seven canonical divisions are the basis of the sevenfold symmetric perfection of the Canon Wheel (pg 32). Each division is characterized by specific words that expressly cohere with its traditional name. This is a strong witness of the objective validity of the canonical divisions since they would be discernable by their characteristic word distributions even if we had not received them from the early Church. As you scroll over these graphs, you will see the dominant thematic patterns sequentially unfold. It forms a simple outline of the ebb and flow of the Everlasting Story.

Division 1: The Law (Torah)

• Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

Genesis 17:1f

Jews and Christians have always known the first Five Books as a unit that goes by various names such as the Torah, the Pentateuch, and the Five Books of Moses. It is also known as the "Book of the Covenant" because it records the first covenants God made with Noah (Gen 6:18), Abraham (Gen 17:1), and all Israel (Exo 19:5). The word "covenant" itself is distributed fairly broadly throughout all seven divisions, but the phrase "my covenant" as spoken by the Lord directly to Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the children of Israel distinguishes the Torah where it occurs 26 times (48%). It appears in each of the first Five Books, with the maximum in Genesis. The Torah is also clearly distinguished by the words "statute" and "ordinance" characteristic of the Old Covenant established in therein.

Division 2: Old Testament History

• Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1,2 Samuel, 1,2 Kings, 1,2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther

Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun,

Joshua 1:1

Precisely as one would expect, the continuous narrative of the Historical Books is naturally distinguished by the phrase "it came to pass." It appears between 13 and 40 times in each of the Twelve Old Testament History Books except Ruth (3x), 1 Chr (9x) and Ezra where, oddly enough, it is absent. The second greatest concentration appears in the Torah. The third maximum appears, again as expected, in the Five NT History Books. There are no occurrences in the Epistles, so the phrase "it came to pass" clearly distinguishes between the two primary divisions of the New Testament.

Another intriguing distribution is found in the Divine Title "Lord God of Israel" which appears almost exclusively in the Twelve OT History Books. The distribution is quite uniform throughout most of this division. It occurs between six and twenty-one times in all but four Books, and is missing only in Nehemiah and Esther, the latter being expected because of its unique design as a demonstration of God's Providence when He is acting from behind the scenes (Esther means hidden, pg 307). Of particular interest is that this distribution distinguishes this division even from the Torah which shares its historical character. There is a mystery as to why this title appears so frequently in the historical record but rarely in the prophets who were writing at that same time.

Division 3: Wisdom Books

• Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;

Proverbs 1:1f

Again, in precise agreement with what we would expect, the Five Wisdom Books are distinguished by their unique emphasis on the word "wisdom." Of its 234 occurrences in the KJV, 113 appear in this division. It is missing only in the Song of Songs. The distribution within this division is also instructive. Of its 113 hits, the maximum of 54 (48%) occurs in Proverbs at the exact midpoint of these Five Books. It aligns on the Wheel with the Book of Luke, which uses the word "wisdom" more than the other Gospels and also contains the most parables (proverbs). This is the basis of many links on Spoke 20 between Proverbs and Luke discussed in the Synopsis (pg 339).

The Five Wisdom Books are also distinguished by the frequent us of the word "understanding" which is often paired with wisdom, as in the verse quoted above.

Divisions 4 and 5: Major and Minor Prophets

• Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel
• Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee.

Zechariah 2:11

The Prophets, both Major and Minor, speak frequently of the things the Lord was or is yet to do in the future, so they are distinguished by the frequent use of the phrase "in that day." Though this does set apart the Seventeen Prophetic Books from the other five divisions, it does not differentiate between the Major and Minor Prophets. The distribution is dominant in Isaiah (43x) in the Major Prophets and Zechariah (20x) in the Minor. It appears in all but five of the Seventeen Books of Prophecy. It contrasts well with the phrase "it came to pass" characteristic of the Seventeen Books of History.

A similar phrase, "the day of the Lord," also characterizes these paired divisions. It is fairly uniform throughout all Seventeen Prophetic Books, appearing in four of the Major and six of the Minor Prophets. The graph looks like it distinguishes between them only because the phrase is particularly frequent in two of the latter (Joel and Zechariah). I present these distributions here because they clearly distinguish the Prophets in terms that naturally illustrate their character. There are other word distributions that distinguish between the two, but space prohibits a detailed review at this time.

Division 6: New Testament History

• Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

Matthew 1:23

The Five New Testament History Books record the fulfillment of all the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the First Advent of Christ, and so they are naturally characterized by the word "fulfilled." It appears in all Five Books of this division, with the frequency in each being Mat (16x), Mark (4x), Luke (8x), John (11x), Acts (9x). Not every occurrence of the word "fulfilled" in the Bible refers to fulfilled prophecy, but most do and so it is a good "rough marker" of the Sixth Canonical Division. A more detailed analysis would yield essentially the same results.

Division 7: New Testament Epistles

• Romans, 1,2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1,2 Thessalonians, 1,2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1,2 Peter, 1,2,3 John, Jude, Revelation

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Ephesians 2:8f

And now we come to the ultimate message of all Scripture, the essence of the Gospel declared in a single word: grace. This word is characteristic of the entire seventh division, in perfect correspondence to the spiritual meaning of the Seventh Day Sabbath that prefigured the rest we have in Christ through grace (pg 49). It appears in all but two of the twenty-two Epistles. As would be expected, the word faith generates an almost identical distribution.

From Large-Scale Symmetry to Correlated Fine-Structure

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Matthew 7:16ff

Perhaps the greatest single witness to the incomparable value of the Bible Wheel is the continuous, effortless, and overflowing abundance of fruitful insight it yields into the Holy Word. Scarce has been the day in the last decade since I discovered it in 1995 (pg 23) when I have not sat stunned at the revelation of some new wonder. It seems not to matter where I look in Scripture or what commentary I read (whether written by a skeptic or a believer), everything is alive and bursting with shouts of acclamation for what God has done in His Holy Word. A typical example is the day I wandered into the Evangel Bookstore in Seattle Washington and "chanced" to pick up H. A. Ironside's 1909 commentary on the Minor Prophets and read:

There are six books of the Old Testament that may be read together most profitably. I refer to Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, of the historical part of the Bible, coupled with the prophetic messages of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

I immediately recognized that these six Books are aligned on three consecutive Spokes. As displayed on the next page, they span Spokes 15, 16, and 17 on the first two Cycles. Though I had already discovered many links between them, I had yet to realize the depth of their historical and thematic coherence. Ironside's observation sparked my interest and as I researched it I found J. Sidlow Baxter's massive six-volume survey of the entire Bible called Exploring the Book where he closely examined the perfect symmetry of the Old Testament displayed in the table on page 28. Of all the authors I have read, Baxter came closest to discovering the pattern of the Wheel. He began by noting that the first two divisions – the Five Books of the Torah and the Twelve Historical Books – naturally cohere under the general category of historical so that "the first stretch of our Old Testament consists of seventeen historical books, falling in a natural sub-division of five and twelve." He then noted that the Major and Minor Prophets fall under the general category of prophetical and stated, in complete agreement with Ironside, that:

It should always be born in mind that the last three of the seventeen prophetical books (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi) should be read with the last three of the seventeen historical books (Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther), for in both cases the three books are post-exilic.

The exile Baxter spoke of here is the Babylonian Exile that lasted seventy years. It ended with the repatriation of Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple, as prophesied in Haggai and Zechariah and recorded historically in Ezra and Nehemiah. It forms a natural subdivision in both the historical and prophetical portions of the Old Testament. Baxter explained this relation in more detail, emphasizing the precise numerical correspondence between these portions of Scripture:

Moreover, as the last twelve of the seventeen historical books further sub-divide themselves into nine and three, the first nine being pre-exilic, and the remaining three (Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther) being post-exilic, so is it with these twelve minor prophets, i.e. the first nine are all pre-exilic, while the remaining three (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi) are post-exilic; and these two terminal trios, the last three historical books and the last three prophetical, have a reciprocal correspondence with each other.

Baxter's "reciprocal correspondence" manifests as periodic radial symmetry on the Wheel, with all the subdivisions aligning on the same sets of Spokes. The first Seventeen Books on the first two Cycles are divided in exactly the same way into groups of 5 and 12 with the latter further subdivided into groups of 9 and 3.

The words around the Wheel describe the correlated content of the divisions on the first two Cycles, highlighted in grey. We have, therefore, thirty-four Books aligned on seventeen Spokes coherently subdivided into three paired sets of 5, 9, and 3 Books, and all of this was recognized by well accomplished Biblical commentators decades before the revelation of the Wheel. This highly detailed substructure will now open our eyes unto an entirely new array of "unanticipated correlations" generated by the "surprisingly simple act" of rolling up the Bible like a scroll.

A Triplet of Triplets

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:9ff

The really amazing thing about the symmetry of the first two Cycles is that three of its dividing lines extend into the Third Cycle, marking two primary subdivisions of the Epistles. Consider first the paired triplets of post-exilic History and post-exilic Minor Prophets. They span Spokes 15 – 17 on Cycle 1 and Cycle 2. They align with the Epistles written by James and Peter on Cycle 3. These three Epistles are distinct from all the others in that they alone are addressed to those "scattered abroad":

• James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. James 1:1 (Spoke 15, Cycle 3)
• Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 1 Peter 1:1 (Spoke 16, Cycle 3)

Peter concluded his first Letter with reference to Babylon, saying "The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you" (1 Pet 5:13). We know his second Letter was addressed to the same group as his first because he mentioned his previous communication to them, "This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you" (2 Pet 3:1). Thus the three epistles spanning Spokes 15 – 17 on Cycle 3 are aptly described as "Epistles to the Scattered." This coheres with the primary theme of the Babylonian Exile – when God scattered Israel out of the Holy Land because of their incorrigible sin – that punctuates the first and second Cycles between the 14th and 15th Spokes. We have therefore a "triplet of triplets" – nine Books with correlated themes – aligned on Spokes 15, 16, and 17:

A close examination of this table reveals a highly detailed correlated fine-structure involving a host of unique links amongst these geometrically aligned Books. This testifies to the careful and precise Divine design of both the specific content of each individual Book and its exact placement in the order of the Canon. These links and their relations to the corresponding Hebrew Letters are traced out in extreme detail in Part II, The Synopsis of the twenty-two Spokes. For now we need only a few examples to get the basic idea of what is going on here. One of the most obvious links is between Haggai and Ezra 4:24ff:

Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them.

Ezra 4:24ff (Spoke 15, Cycle 1)

This passage contains the first mention of the Prophet Haggai in the Bible. The theme of rebuilding of the Temple and the time of Haggai's appearance – the second year of Darius – are identical to what we find in the opening passage of the Book of his prophecy:

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built.

Haggai 1:1ff (Spoke 15, Cycle 2)

The correlation between these Books is much more detailed than what might be assumed by their mere classification as "post-exilic." Haggai and Zechariah were the prophets during the historical era recorded by Ezra and Nehemiah. They prophesied in support of the people's labors to rebuild the Temple after returning from the Babylonian Exile. And now we can see the fearful symmetry of the Holy Word. There is one and only one other verse in all Scripture, outside his own Book, that mentions the Prophet Haggai – Ezra 6:14 – where he and Zechariah are again presented in the same order as their Books in the Canon:

And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

Ezra 6:14f (Spoke 15, Cycle 1)

	Spoke 15 KeyLink The Prophet Haggai
	Ezra 5:1Haggai 1:1

The Prophet Haggai appears only on Spoke 15; twice in Ezra on Cycle 1 and throughout the Book bearing his name on Cycle 2. This is the definition of a KeyLink – a unique word, set of words, or theme that is found only in Books geometrically correlated on the Wheel. We encountered a similar KeyLink based on the Aleph KeyWords Av (Father), Abraham, and Emunah (Faith) in the review of Spoke 1 (pg 67). As I stated then, so now I repeat; I have discovered many hundreds of KeyLinks like these that stitch together the whole structure of the Bible Wheel. It is as overwhelming wonder to behold. Discoveries like this have been my daily bread for nearly a decade.

Mutual Corroboration of Scripture and Tradition

Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

2 Thessalonians 2:15ff

Turning now to the second set of Books on Cycle 3 grouped together by extending three of the dividing lines from the first two Cycles, we come to the first Fourteen Epistles, spanning Romans to Hebrews. Many Christians are surprised to learn that modern scholarship disputes the Pauline authorship of some of these, even those that open with the words like "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ." Such speculations can be safely ignored by Christians who receive the Bible as the Word of God. For us, there is only one Epistle of uncertain authorship – Hebrews – since it does not have an opening salutation or any verse that unambiguously identifies the mortal through whom God spoke. But is its writer really unknown? Not in the eyes of the two main branches of the Church – East (Greek Orthodox) and West (Roman Catholic) – who receive it as a genuine Epistle of Paul, as did the second and third century writers Clement of Alexandria and Origin. Neither was it uncertain in the eyes of the Protestant Reformers who wrote its superscription "The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews" in the King James Bible, a position Wiersbe has shown to be strongly supported from Scripture alone. It is here that we discover an amazing mutual corroboration of this ancient Christian tradition with the newly revealed structure of the Wheel. The reception of Hebrews as a Pauline Epistle leads directly to another perfectly symmetric substructure that fully integrates with everything seen in the preceding pages:

We have here a mutual corroboration of multiplied witnesses. If we take the highly detailed symmetry of the Bible Wheel as a given, then we should expect the Fourteen Epistles to cohere with the pattern, thereby confirming the tradition of Pauline authorship of Hebrews. If, on the other hand, we take the tradition as a given, then it immediately manifests as yet another substructure that fits perfectly with the rest of the pattern. The validity of either one supports the validity of the other. Mathematically inclined readers may enjoy trying to calculate the probability that a structure like this could happen by chance. The answer is, of course, very close to zero. A general approach to this question is discussed here.

We also find an unexpected echo of this pattern in the plain text of Scripture. As reviewed above, the Babylonian Exile divides the Wheel between Spokes 14 and 15 on the first two Cycles, and when this line is extended into the third Cycle it divides between the Fourteen Pauline Epistles and the three "Epistles to the Scattered." The Babylonian Exile and the Number Fourteen jointly punctuate the Wheel and the pattern extends across all three Cycles. The amazing thing is that an identical pattern governs Matthew's genealogy of Christ, with its three divisions punctuated in exactly the same way (Mat 1:17):

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.

This correlation evokes a mystical sense of the whole Bible as the “book of the generation [literally genesis] of Jesus Christ" (Mat 1:1). He is the Living Word of God who created all things. The Written Word is analogous to Him because it is His Self-Revelation. This amplifies the traditional Christian understanding Martin Luther so clearly articulated in his famous dictum that "the entire Scripture deals only with Christ everywhere." It is precisely what we should expect from a genuine revelation given by the Lord of History (ΑΩ/את). He is the fount and fulfillment of all Scripture. Everything in the Written Word centers on the Living Word, from the creation He wrought in Genesis (Α/א) to His unveiling in Revelation (Ω/ת).

Zerubbabel and the Correlated Fine-Structure of the Capstone

Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

Zechariah 4:6f

The correlated fine-structure seen in the "triplet of triplets" and the Haggai KeyLink continues to compound with ever increasing density as we dig deeper into these Books. Haggai's prophecy was directed to Zerubbabel and Joshua, the leaders of the project to rebuild the Temple of the Lord. God also spoke to these two men through Zechariah, the prophet that follows Haggai in the canonical order. The particularly powerful words He gave to Zerubbabel are quoted above.

Just as Ezra and Nehemiah record the history of Zerubbabel on Cycle 1, so Haggai and Zechariah record the prophecy to Zerubbabel on Cycle 2. And now Zerubbabel himself shall bring forth one of the most amazing properties of God's everlasting Capstone. The top graph shows the distribution of his name throughout the sixty-six books. The horizontal x-axis, ranging from 1 to 66, represents the Books of the Bible and the vertical y-axis represents the total number of occurrences, or 'hits', found in each Book. The two largest spikes correspond to the Books of Ezra and Haggai, which are separated by exactly 22 Books in the Canon. Ezra is the 15th Book, Haggai is the 37th, and 15 + 22 = 37. This is why they are on the same Spoke of the Wheel.

The name "Zerubbabel" appears twenty-five times in the Bible. Listed in descending order, the frequency is: Haggai (7x), Ezra (6x), Zechariah (4x), and Nehemiah (3x). These four Books span Spokes 15 and 16 on the first two Cycles. The remaining five occurrences are from genealogies of 1 Chronicles (2x), Matthew (2x) and Luke (1x). The second graph shows the same data plotted against the twenty-two Spokes, with hits from different Cycles marked with bars colored black (Cycle 1) and grey (Cycle 2). There are no hits on Cycle 3. This results in two dominant spikes on Spokes 15 and 16 which contain 80% of all references to Zerubbabel. It gives a visual representation of the correlated themes in the four Books spanning the 15th and 16th Spokes on the first two Cycles. This demonstrates that the geometric structure of the Wheel is a mathematically measurable property arising from the Divine integration of its form with its content. Such thematic correlations appear throughout Scripture, as in the distribution of creation words which we shall presently review.

Distribution of Creation Words on the Wheel

Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created (bara) it.

Isaiah 45:8 (Spoke 1, Cycle 2)

The Greek and Hebrew words for God’s act of creation yield one of the clearest word distributions displaying the Divine design of the Bible Wheel. In the review of Spoke 1 (pg 61), Watts was quoted as saying that "Every student of Hebrew is aware the word 'create' in Genesis 1 is a rare word used only with God as subject. The highest concentration of uses of that word occurs in Isaiah 40 – 66." He was speaking of bara, which is translated as created in the quote of Isaiah 45:8 above. When this verse was rendered into Greek in the Septuagint, bara was translated as ktidzo, the standard Greek word used throughout the New Testament for the idea of creation.

The graph displays the distribution of these two "creation words" throughout the sixty-six books of the Bible. The search resulted in a total of 90 hits, with an average of about 1.4 (= 90/66) hits per Book. The most notable feature of the graph is the prominent peak corresponding to the 21 hits found in Isaiah, which means that bara occurs 15 times above average in that Book. It is quite obvious therefore that Watts was correct in his assertion about the distribution of this word. When listed in descending order, the first three peaks occur in the three Books from Spoke 1: Isaiah (21x), Genesis (11x), and Romans (8x). Just as the seven canonical divisions are distinguished by their characteristic word distributions, so also are the twenty-two Spokes. Each Book initiating a Cycle of the Wheel contains the maximum number of creation words in that Cycle. Genesis contains the greatest frequency in the first 22 Books, Isaiah contains the greatest frequency in the next 22 Books, and Romans contains the greatest frequency in the final 22 Books, though in this latter case the peak is not so pronounced.

The graph shows the distribution plotted on the twenty-two Spokes. The Cycles are marked with black, grey, and white bars. The correlated theme of creation manifests as a very prominent peak on Spoke 1, where the frequency is nearly ten times above average. Again, we have a mathematical measure and visual representation of the Divine integration of the Bible's content with its form. But to really appreciate the depth of Divine wisdom woven here, it must be remembered that the theme of creation links to the symbolic meaning of Aleph, the first letter of the Alphabet.

Alphabetic Integration with the Rise and Fall of the Kingdom

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

Psalm 2:6f

We began this leg of our journey into the blazing heart of God's Wisdom with the large-scale sevenfold symmetric perfection of the Canon Wheel and traced out its correlated fine-structure all the way down to the exact placement of individual Books. We constantly moved deeper into increasingly refined levels of detail only to discover an ever-increasing glory in its design. We now enter into yet another level that reveals the Divine integration of the dominant thematic flow of the first Cycle with the sequence of Letters in the Hebrew Alphabet. It is based on one of the most significant themes of the Old Testament – the rise and fall of the Davidic Kingdom – by which God established the whole typology of the Son of David and King of Israel fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and King of Kings.

The word translated as "my king" in the verse above is malki, formed from the standard Hebrew word for a king (melek) suffixed with a Yod to indicate personal possession. This is an example of the self-reflective coherence characteristic of the Hebrew language. As discussed in the next chapter, Hebrew is a building-block language where the meanings of the letters carry over into the meanings of the words they form. The letter Yod denotes a hand, the member of the body by which we grasp and control things, and so it is suffixed as a symbol of personal possession (pg 113). The word malki is formed from four sequential Letters that lie at the exact center of the Alphabet – Yod, Kaph, Lamed, Mem – read in reverse order (recall Hebrew is read from right to left). They span the following Books on Cycle 1:

If ever there were a sign of Divine design, this is it. The Hebrew name of the two central Books – Melakim (Kings) – is itself the plural of melek, the very word spelt by the alphabetic sequence! Furthermore, these four Books span the reign of all the kings of Israel and Judah except Saul who was explicitly rejected as king by the Lord Himself (1 Sam 15:26, pg 225). King David, called by God "my king" in Psalm 2:6 in prophetic anticipation of His Son, completely dominates the first and last of these four Books. His ascension to the throne and subsequent forty-year reign is the sole subject of 2 Samuel, and after ten chapters of genealogies, 1 Chronicles devotes its remaining nineteen chapters entirely to the reign of King David, closing with his death. We have, therefore, an exact correspondence of the content of these four Books and their placement in the Christian Canon with the pattern eternally established by God in the sequence of the Hebrew Alphabet. Simply stated, God designed the Wheel to be self-descriptive.

Yet there is, as always, more, ever more! The blazing glory of God's revelation knows no limit. The graph shows the distribution of melek on Cycle 1. Exactly as should be expected, the Books describing the kings themselves contain the greatest frequency of the word "king." The distribution follows the rise and fall of the Davidic Kingdom. It mimics a bell curve that is both maximized and centered on Spoke 12, corresponding to the Lamed at the exact center of the word melek, highlighted on the x-axis. It is really important to sit back at this point and ponder what is going on here. We are witnessing a standing miracle; the self-descriptive and self-coherent design of the order and content of the Books of the Bible upon the pattern of the Hebrew Alphabet.

The beauty of these results is that they are as obvious as they are simple. The abundant fruit of this Divine Tree of Wisdom just falls into our hands, fully ripe, freely available to all who hunger. Everything lies plainly on the surface. We are simply skipping across the thematic mountaintops of God's Word, touching upon major themes such as Creation, Consummation, the Babylonian Exile, the rise and fall of the Davidic Kingdom, fulfillment of prophecy and the Gospel of God's Grace. Consider what we have seen in this chapter! Here is a list of the 26 distinct (though overlapping) groups of Books we have reviewed:

• 1 Group of 3 Books on Spoke 1 (Genesis, Isaiah, Romans) and their relation to Aleph:

• Distinguished as the First Books of the Law, the Prophets, and NT Epistles
• Distinguished by the maximal frequency in the distribution of creations words

• 1 Group of 3 Books on Spoke 22 (Song of Songs, Acts, Revelation) and their relation to Tav

• 7 Groups (canonical divisions) spanning all 66 Books, each set apart by distinctive word distributions

• 3 Groups of 17 Books each (51 Books total) with the following coherent subdivisions:

• 2 Groups of 5 Books (Torah and Major Prophets) aligned on the first five Spokes.
• 2 Groups of 12 Books (OT History and Minor Prophets) with coherent subdivisions:

• 2 Groups of 9 Books (Pre-Exilic OT History and Pre-Exilic Minor Prophets) aligned on Spokes 6-14.
• 2 Groups of 3 Books (Post-Exilic OT History and Post-Exilic Minor Prophets) aligned on Spokes 15-17, with coherent subdivisions:

• 2 Groups of 2 Books on Spokes 15 and 16 (Ezra, Nehemiah and Haggai, Zechariah) marked by the distribution of Zerubbabel and events after the return from exile.
• 1 Group of 2 Books on Spoke 15 (Ezra, Haggai) marked by the Haggai KeyLink

• 1 Group of 3 Books (Epistles to the Scattered) that extends the pattern to Cycle 3.
• 1 Group of 14 Books (Pauline Epistles) that extends the pattern to Cycle 3.

• 1 Group of 4 Books on Cycle 1 (2 Sam – 1 Chr) correlated with "my king" and David's Kingdom

This seemingly extensive review of the Divine design of the twenty-two Spokes has really been little more than a hint of the endless depth of Wisdom revealed in the supernatural structure of Holy Scripture. The patterns of the Bible Wheel are utterly pervasive, spanning everything from its large-scale sevenfold symmetric perfection to its correlated fine-structure revealed in the exact placement of individual Books. To properly understand and appreciate the fullness of this revelation, we need to explore the Divine design of the Hebrew Alphabet. It is to this task we now turn.

Next: Chapter 7 of the Bible Wheel Book

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