For a wider explanation of the matters outlined here, please see the book.
Anagrammatic Dispersion
To convey an otherwise secret portion of their message, the gospel authors rely upon riddles configured for the capable reader to solve. Key amongst the methods adopted by these Gnostic writers is anagrammatic dispersion, where selected words are concealed within other words. It is a technique strongly hinted at when the author of Revelation alludes to the Bible as "a book written within and backwards, sealed down with seven seals" [Rv.5:1].
Some examples in English will illustrate how anagrammatic dispersion works. We can easily:
- conceal the name PAUL within the word ' Pe AcefUL' { within }
- use the word ' MAJEStic' to hide the name of JAMES { within and backwards }
But the gospels were written in Greek, and the names selected for this treatment were generally the names for key players in the narrative. Until you learn to recognise these names, the characters concerned go effectively in disguise. Their proper identities are "hidden from your face", precisely as Cain threatens in the narrative at Gn.4:14.
It follows that readers who don't know what to look for are tantamount to blind. They risk being led badly astray, forming entirely the wrong conclusions when they read the gospels. The same risk faces all who read in translation, it being impossible for them to see what once was hidden in Greek.
It is standard in the gospels to conceal the names of those who spell trouble. For example:
Note: The phrases cited above are taken direct from the following verses in the gospels and NT letters:
[1] Mt.14:20, 16:9; Mk.8:19; Jn.6:13
[2] Jn.15:22
[3] Jn.11:25
[4] Mt.10:40; Mk.9:37; Lk.9:48, 10:16
[5] Lk.22:20, 1Cor.11:25
[6] Mk.15:17; Jn.19:5
It is understood in scripture that the serpent is Satan [qv: Rv.12:9, 20:2]. Then Jewish tradition asserts that Cain is the offspring of the serpent [Gn.4:1], a point apparently confirmed by the NT passage at 1Jn.3:12. There is also a reference at Col.1:15 to Jesus as "firstborn of all creation", a unique descriptor for Cain. In fact the gospel authors portray Jesus consistently to be Cain-in-disguise. But they stop short of explicit identification, relying instead upon anagram and other riddle techniques as the means by which intelligent readers may penetrate the 'secret', recognising that Jesus is Cain.
What pertains to ' the kingdom of the heavens' is declared in the gospels to be 'hidden' [eg. Mt.13:33, 13:44]. Then Jesus says of the 'Father' that "he has hidden things from the wise and the learned, and revealed them to infants" [Mt.11:25; Lk.10:21]. This may suggest that the technique for hiding things is really quite simple. Finally, Jesus declares that what has been hidden will be found [Mt.10:26; Mk.4:22; Lk.8:17, 12:2]. So a knowledge of what has been hidden, and how this has been done, is vital for every reader of the gospels. How remarkable, then, that so few know these things in our age.
The Sign for Cain
Examples [5] and [6] above, where the name of Cain may be found embedded in other words, have their origin at LXX Gn.4:15-16. It is there that the sevenfold 'sign' for Cain is first declared, and immediately demonstrated by having Cain's name appear seven times in that same passage.
Subsequent use of this 'sign' in LXX Genesis brings the total of instances to 490, the figure (seventy times seven) given at LXX Gn.4:24, and again at Mt.18:20-22. Then in the fourth gospel we find the 'sign' for Cain deployed 153 times, the figure given at the end of the gospel as the count of 'big fish' successfully landed [Jn.21:11]. It is by such means that the solution to scripture's deeper mystery is confirmed to the competent reader.
In the passage at Mt.26:20-46 the actions now ascribed to Jesus match those already ascribed to Cain [Gn.4:3-5]. Following the sacrifice 'from the fruits of the earth', Jesus becomes sad and falls to his face. It is precisely the behaviour of Cain. Yet ironically the disciples fall asleep and, like so many readers of the gospel, fail to notice what Jesus is doing.
The narrative has reported already how agreement was reached for Judas to give away the identity of Jesus. But in the course of composing that report the author himself has 'given away', to attentive readers in every age, the proper identity of Jesus - just by deploying the 'sign' for Cain. It is in this way that we learn the otherwise secret 'identity' of Jesus... from the mention of thirty pieces of silver and a good opportunity [Mt.26:14-16] :
The moment comes eventually for Judas to expose Jesus. It is to be done by means of a sign... which now takes the form of a kiss [Mt.26:48-49] :
At this critical point of the encounter we find in the Greek text the word:
In the narrative of the gospel, Judas is the one to identify Jesus. Yet the writer of the gospel extends to all his readers the means to identify Jesus for themselves... unerringly by means of this simple device.
Back in the narrative, Roman governor Pontius Pilate, recognising who Jesus is, seeks to let him go [Lk.23:14-16].
Ironically, the priests and the crowd do not know the sign. Blindly ignorant of Jesus' proper identity [Acts 13:27], they go on to procure his crucifixion [Acts 13:28]. In this way Cain's own prediction is achieved. For in Genesis Cain says: "I shall be hidden also from your face" and "Each one finding me shall kill me" [Gn.4:14].
It is in the narrative of the gospels that he is killed, at the hands of those who do not know the sign.
Saussure's Anagrams
Swiss scholar Ferdinand de Saussure [1857-1913] is widely considered the founder of modern linguistics. In the course of studying Saturnian verse, and similar Latin poetry roughly contemporaneous with LXX Genesis, he deduced that the writers exploited anagram methods as the means to conceal certain words in their text.
In The Cambridge Companion to Saussure [CUP, 2004, ISBN:978-0-521-80486-8], Peter Wunderli writes (p.177): "The question, however, arises of how we know which elements are liable to be anagrammatised. Saussure's answer was that it would normally be a name or a word of central importance for the text. Since the anagram technique appears to have its origins in religious literature, the most likely candidate is the name of god invoked by the poet, and strenuous efforts are made accordingly to discover his 'presence' in the text."
Saussure's observations appear to offer independent confirmation that it was known in the ancient world to exploit anagram techniques in epic writing. But there is no indication that Saussure realised the vital role played by anagrams in the texts of the gospels, nor that he knew the 'sign' for Cain.
J H Hatfield