Decoding The Bible Code
A Review Of: Decoding The Bible Code, by John Weldon, with Clifford and Barbara Wilson
John Weldon, Ph.D., writing with Clifford and Barbara Wilson, has done a fine job of summarizing the state of the Bible code through the end of 1997, in the book Decoding the Bible Code. (Since it appears that Weldon is the principal author of this book, I'll refer to him as the author throughout this review, though I really mean all three authors.)
Weldon writes from an evangelical Christian perspective. He makes it clear that he's not quite convinced by the evidence for the codes. On the other hand, he can't and won't rule out the possibility that the codes are for real. He urges us not to get too excited about the whole thing. For him, it would be terrific news if the Bible code were real, but no great disappointment if it turns out a hoax. He thinks it may be several years before we know the truth about the matter. In the meantime, he'd rather that we not get too worked up over it.
Weldon's book is full of such common sense. He's the only author I've seen who doesn't take a stand. This is a refreshing break from the many authors who seem all too willing to rush to judgment on evidence that isn't all that clear-cut. It takes guts to say "maybe" when everybody else is shouting "yes" or bellowing "no."
For the most part, Weldon's discussion of the Bible code is accurate. However, once in a while, correctness takes a hiccup. For example, on page 51, speaking of the Great Rabbis Experiment, he asserts that
"...the key scientists who examined the Bible code have confirmed its technical aspects. This includes the three referees for Statistical Science; Harold Gans, the retired expert code analyst; and the professors at Harvard, Yale, and Hebrew Universities [sic] -- all eight of whom started out as skeptics and ended up becoming believers."
This is not quite correct. The eight mathematicians named have indeed examined the evidence. Of these, only Gans could be called a believer in the code. The referees all believe a subtle error underlies the article in question. The professors named, Furstenberg, Piatetski-Shapiro, Kazhdan, and Bernstein, have not said they are believers; they have said that the work is "serious research carried out by serious investigators." The clear tone of their public statement is that the apparent encoding in the Bible is interesting but requires a very high level of statistical significance before we should believe that it's real. In other words, they're very much in line with Weldon's own beliefs -- wait and see. It's not clear why Weldon missed this.
Weldon is on firmer ground when he takes on the Bible Ouija board games used willy-nilly in Michael Drosnin's 1997 bestseller The Bible Code. I haven't seen a scientist or Biblical scholar yet who sees any merit in Drosnin's work, and Weldon summarizes well the case against Drosnin's version of the codes. Drosnin is an easy target, and Weldon does a workmanlike job dismantling his book.
Weldon also looks at the alleged "Yeshua codes" discovered by Messianic Rabbi Yacov Rambsel. Rambsel's case is as weak as Drosnin's, and Weldon wastes little time in making that point.
If you're looking for solid technical arguments, however, you won't find them in this book. Weldon is not mathematically sophisticated. The result is that he simply can't evaluate some of the statistical claims made for the Bible code. Nor does he appear to be unusually expert in Hebrew. For example, on page 78, he quotes Ronald Hendel's Bible Review article published in August 1997. There, Hendel makes a comment about "vowel letters" that misleads most readers who don't know Hebrew. Weldon misses a chance to explain what Hendel really means (Hendel is correct, but confusing). Later, on page 142, Weldon summarizes his "call to caution" by referring back to those vowel letters -- and now it appears that Weldon himself has not understood Hendel.
(For the record, Hendel's comment refers to certain Hebrew consonants, (yud and vav are the most common culprits), which began to be used in a secondary role as vowel indicators in the 9th or 8th century B.C.E. Hendel is not referring to vowel points, introduced many centuries later, which are never used as consonants. But all this is a minor quibble. For the most part, Weldon gets his facts straight and interprets his sources correctly.)
Another thing you won't find in this book is very many examples of actual codes. For that, see Michael Drosnin's book or Jeffrey Satinover's or Yacov Rambsel's or Grant Jeffrey's (all reviewed on this site). Instead, you'll find analysis of the codes, and some of this analysis is not found in any other book.
In chapters 5 through 8, Weldon gives a number of reasons why his readers should be skeptical of the Bible code. Prominent among these is the fact that the Bible code arises out of a Kabbalistic milieu, with all the quasi-occult baggage that implies. His target here is the Christian reader; Jews and New Agers are much more likely to look kindly on the Kabbalah connection than the evangelical Christian audience Weldon is writing to. But for those not averse to Kabbalah, Weldon gives other reasons to be suspicious -- most of which center around the fact that the Bible code (as promulgated by Drosnin and Rambsel) is so doggone fuzzy it just doesn't seem to have much content. Weldon shies away from looking hard at the Great Rabbis Experiment of Doron Witztum, Eliyahu Rips, and Yoav Rosenberg. That's too bad, because this experiment is one of the few really solid scientific pieces of evidence for the Bible code.
Weldon wraps up with a final chapter suggesting that we not confuse the baby with the bathwater. If the Bible code turns out to be false, let's please remember that this has no bearing on the truth or falsity of the Bible, he says. On the other hand, if the code proves true, Weldon fears a boost to Kabbalism. Either way, therefore, he sees the Bible code as at least a nuisance, at worst an outright danger.
The book does not really live up to its title. The Bible code is not decoded here. (Nor is it debunked. Nor is it proved.) Rather, the Bible code is questioned here. That's not a bad thing, but it wouldn't have made a very sexy title.
Should you buy this book? Oh, why not? If you're a believer in the Bible code, this book will give you pause, though it probably won't destroy your faith. If you're a skeptic, the book will give you a useful summary of arguments against the code. In either case, however, you won't find proof. The book that settles the question of the Bible code to everybody's satisfaction has yet to be published.
Browse on Amazon: Decoding The Bible Code, by John Weldon, with Clifford and Barbara Wilson
