Bruce Michael
Well-Known Member
Tubingen researcher J. A. Bengel was the founder of modern textual criticism- " the first Protestant author who treated the exegesis of the New Testament in a thoroughly critical and judicious style." But he was more than that.
He was more than some dry academic, but a man with a genuine intensely Christian soul life. He penetrated into the Biblical mystery of numbers, particularly the Apocalyptic numbers.
In his exposition on the Revelation of St. John (1740) he calculated and that the breaking loose and binding of Satan would occur in the summer of 1836 and that the world would endure for 7777 7/9 years after its inception. Rudolf Steiner once pointed out that when Bengel hit upon the number 1836, he had come near to important spiritual facts (the beginning of the materialistic age).
As the sun poured its bright rays through the room of Edward Moricke he wrote:
-Br.Bruce
He was more than some dry academic, but a man with a genuine intensely Christian soul life. He penetrated into the Biblical mystery of numbers, particularly the Apocalyptic numbers.
In his exposition on the Revelation of St. John (1740) he calculated and that the breaking loose and binding of Satan would occur in the summer of 1836 and that the world would endure for 7777 7/9 years after its inception. Rudolf Steiner once pointed out that when Bengel hit upon the number 1836, he had come near to important spiritual facts (the beginning of the materialistic age).
As the sun poured its bright rays through the room of Edward Moricke he wrote:
"Over the armchair it freely glides,
Then to the bookcase just beyond,
There, in parchment & leather bound,
The godly Fathers of Swabia stand:
Andreas, Bengel, both the Riegers,
With Oetinger are to be seen,
When the sun reads these names of gold,
They glow more golden beneath his kiss."
-Br.Bruce