The Copper Scroll Abacus: Is the Real Treasure Found In the Numbers?

Even the most intriguing mysteries have a sell-by date in a 24/7 mass communications age. But one has proven itself to be more enduring since a copper scroll was unearthed on the coast of the Dead Sea in 1952. Its content has baffled and confounded the biblical fraternity ever since, because the scroll listed 64 locations where vast quantities of gold and silver treasures were buried. 

Unsurprisingly, the lure of finding hidden treasures excited imaginations and led to archaeological expeditions. But all ended in failure because the descriptions to find the sites were incredibly vague. The scroll was dense with numbers, which I initially felt were the depth in cubits to dig at the various sites to find weights of treasure in talents. (Talents and cubits were the biblical units of weights and measurements.) But when I detected the indices to perform equations with some of those numbers, it introduced arithmetic into my investigation. Might those numbers be the stepping stones to a higher knowledge? 

Intelligent Data on the Scroll!

It seemed odd that a biblical fellow had simply dug 7 cubits and stashed away 22 talents of treasure as described on column seven of the Copper Scroll. We associate those two numbers of 7 and 22 with Pi, which is the ratio between the diameter and the circumference of a circle. If Pi was there by design, then it needed the evidence of a circle to confirm it. To my surprise it outlined the very next site as follows: “ Above the mouth of the water spring of Buz, in it three cubits towards the wall are buried 60 karsh of silver and two talents of gold.” Those three indices with 3, 60, and 2 multiplied out to 360, which are the number of degrees in a circle.

The revelations continued where at another site it seemed that a biblical character had read the Book of Enoch before he hid more of the treasures because the numbers on column nine were the same as Enoch’s solar calendar. Enoch’s book listed 13 weeks of 91 days and the later period was apportioned to 4 leaders to multiply out to 364 days. The instruction on the scroll had those three indices where it stated: measure out 13 cubits at a particular location to find 7 talents of silver and 4 coins. Those numbers multiplied to 364.

• Skeletons Found Near Dead Sea Scrolls Likely Belonged to an Enigmatic Religious Group
• At Least Five Dead Sea Scroll Fragments at the Museum of the Bible Are Fake
• Archaeologists search for the last Dead Sea Scrolls in the Cave of the Skulls

Illustrating Genesis 5:24 "Enoch walked with God; then was no more, because God took him away." (Dmitrismirnov / Public Domain)

Finding gems like Pi and Enoch’s 364 day calendar made the numbers themselves models for further consideration. The last sentence on the scroll told of the existence of a duplicate inventory, which listed the measurements and treasures item by item. Listings of numbers item by item prompted mathematical tables. Therefore, I listed the treasures and cubits item by item on tables.

The Numbers on Parade

When entering the details onto tables, I referenced eight translations of the Copper Scroll. These were with John Allegro, Garcia Martinez, Al Wolters, Michael Wise, Giza Vermes, Judah Lefkovits, Hack & Carey, and Emile Puech. Despite the erosion of the Copper Scroll, the eight translators had come up with practically the same numbers and that was reassuring. The translation by Emile Peuch occurred after the Copper Scroll had undergone comprehensive restoration. This enabled Peuch to list extra numbers, which had been illegible to the previous translators.

There was one number that was unrecognizable and another number whose value was suspect. The details of the Copper Scroll are shown in Table 1a and Table 1b. Try not to be intimidated by the two tables because the numbers have proven to be the authentic face of the Copper Scroll. This decoding exercise therefore is a numbers trail where they lead like stepping stones to the mysterious world of biblical antiquity.

Table 1a: Columns 1 to 6 of the Copper Scroll. (Author Supplied)

- The cubits and treasures are shown on the tables where the 64 sites/rows were arranged in twelve columns to reflect the layout on the scroll.
- There were extra numbers such as 4 corners, 3 platforms, etc. I later found that these numbers readily provided padding to form some particular totals.
- There were seven sets of Greek Letters listed as shown on the final column.
- The numbers highlighted in yellow were taken from the translation by Emile Puech.
- It is essential to state that ancient numerics, notations, and calculations are very different than what we use today.

Table 1b: Columns 7 to 12 of the Copper Scroll. (Author Supplied)

Matches Made in Heaven

The numbers appeared to acquire personalities in that tabular display because I got the strange feeling that some of them looked familiar. For instance, the first two numbers on the scroll were 40 cubits and 17 talents. In comparison, it outlined in the Old Testament that the flood started on the 17^th day and it rained for 40 days and nights.

It was not with just single numbers but instead the matches were with couplets and that was as rare as finding twins. To accelerate the exercise, I employed the use of a search engine and found many more matching couplets in the Old Testament. A new mystery had unfolded for what was so important about those matching numbers in the Old Testament.

As Old as Methuselah

During the matching exercise, sets of those Greek letters had acted as brackets to form the initial couplets. However, there was only one number between the Greek letters of HN and OE and it was 65. The number 65 led me to the first age of Enoch, which was listed with all of the ages of Adam’s generations in the Book of Genesis. I felt a twinge of somberness because the listed ages appeared like inscriptions on tombstones. This was fascinating because the Copper Scroll had stated that the duplicate inventory was in a cave with tombstones at its mouth. The names and final ages of three of those patriarchs are listed on the tombstones below.

The names and final ages of the three patriarchs are listed on the tombstones. (Author Supplied)

Those ages were in the realms of folklore myth because Enoch became a father to Methuselah at 65 years and lived to be 365 years old. Methuselah set the world record where he lived to be the world’s oldest man at 969 years. His son Lamech lived to be 777 years old and his son Noah supposedly lived to be 950 years old.

Because Enoch first age of 65 was set between two groups of Greek letters, it perhaps indicated that some of the ages of the other patriarchs might also be laid out between Greek letters. A calculator was my abacus and so I added up all of the treasures and cubits beginning at the Greek letters HN and continued until I reached the letters ΣK. The total in the sequence came to 937. That result was short of Methuselah’s final age of 969 years by 32. It was a close encounter especially as there was one number missing on the scroll due to erosion.

I checked the totals of the numbers of treasures between the Greek letters of ΔI and ΣK and they added up to 745. This total was 32 short of 777, which was same number as the final age of Lamech. It was like the testimony of two witnesses because the number 32 had featured in two equations thus giving a good indication that it was the original value of the missing number. The floodgates soon opened and the final ages of all of the patriarchs of Adam’s generations and Noah’s descendants were unveiled where they formed into modular sequences.

Using the modules as building blocks, I found that there was a spectacular alignment that ran sequentially from row seven to row sixty three on the Copper Scroll. The modules included Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Jared, and again Lamech as shown in the illustration below.

The modules included Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Jared, and again Lamech. (Author Supplied)

In mathematical terms those modules had acted as checksums, which is a method used to verify that numbers had retained their original values intact. There were several parallel alignments and they identified the value of the two eroded numbers and also confirmed that that all of the other numbers were reliable.

The Duplicate Inventory

It seemed peculiar where the numbers in the module between row fifty nine and sixty three added up to 775, which was just 2 short of the final age of Lamech at 777. Because Hebrew numbers were represented by letters, I wondered had the encoders substituted two words instead of numbers? If so, what purpose could those words serve? This was supposed to be a treasure map and therefore, the prime suspects were the two words silver and gold. The final listings of those two words to form the number 777 were with gold vessels and silver vessels whose pieces totaled 600 talents. Peculiarly, it was also in the column where the duplicate inventory was listed.

I decided to search for those two words of silver and gold in the Old Testament. Until recently, it would have been the daunting task of reading all of the Old Testament to calculate their total listings. It was so easy therefore to enter the word gold and the word silver into a search engine. I found a total of 336 listings of gold and 264 listing of silver and their combined total came to 600 listings. It was an astonishing one hundred percent match with 600 on the scroll and 600 listings of the words gold and silver in the KJV of the Old Testament.

I then searched for 600 talents and found only one listing in the Old Testament. This was in Solomon’s temple and it was truly divine because it outlined where 600 talents of gold were used to decorate God’s holiest house in the temple. It seemed as if a divine aura had suddenly illuminated the treasure trail especially when I became conscious of the listings of cubit measurements to build Solomon’s temple. I knew that there were 386.5 cubits listed on the Copper Scroll and now there were hosts of cubits to be counted in the temple dimensions.

The outcome had that Eureka factor because the total came to 386.5 cubits, which was a perfect match with 386.5 cubits on the Copper Scroll. A trend of matches had developed to suggest that the Old Testament was the duplicate inventory.

• Secrets in 2,000-Year-Old Scorched Scrolls of Herculaneum to be Revealed with New Tech
• Secrets of Ancient Scroll of En-Gedi are Digitally Unraveled
• The First Temple: Crowning Achievement of King Solomon and Home of the Legendary Ark of the Covenant

The ancient city of Jerusalem with Solomon's Temple. (Trialsanderrors / Public Domain)

A Unique Calendar is Unveiled

The investigation became even more fascinating when I found that two of the numbers with 609 and 9 on column three of the scroll were loaded with information when they were multiplied together. The ancient method to multiply was to add the biggest number multiple times. For example, the number 609 would be added 9 times. The additions oozed with knowledge where three times 609 at 1,827 equated to five solar years, six times 609 at 3,654 to ten years and nine times at 5,481 to fifteenth years. It proved to be a method the encoders had employed to show that the numbers represented days and could be converted to solar years. I had broken the secret encryption code of the Copper Scroll.

There were seven numbers between the Greek letters of ΔI and TP and these included those numbers with 609 and 9. I found that those seven numbers formed into an equation whose total converted to 17 years 6 days plus 1 extra day that was inferred in the script. Because I had previously researched biblical calendars, I recognized that the 17 year period was an integral part of a long lost calendar system. This calendar was very unusual because it projected particular long periods in time by counting out the days in intervals of 777 days. For instance, the 17 year 7 day period represented eight intervals of 777 days as follows:

The 17 year 7 day period represented eight intervals of 777 days. (Author Supplied)

There is evidence to suggest that the prophets used this unique calendar to predict when the Messiah would grace the earth.

The main periods in years of this unique calendar were 17, 100, 117, 217, 1,000, and 3,000 years and six constellations of the zodiac at 12,960 years. It was noticeable that the two numbers with 17 and 100 were the top two numbers on the scroll and they both added to form the third number of 117. Two more of the remaining numbers were formed from the totals of sequences while the last two were formed from computations. The most prolific listings however was where I found seven sequences whose totals came to the number 777 on the scroll as outlined in the image below.

The most prolific listings revealed seven sequences whose totals came to the number 777 on the scroll. (Author Supplied)

Therefore, there were a total of fifteen sets of the number 777 on the Copper Scroll, which indicated that the unique calendar was the real priceless treasure from the scribes in antiquity.

The Sign of the Cross

Every jigsaw game comes in a box with the big picture on the cover so that the child can piece all of the parts together. But there was no such image accompanying the Copper Scroll. However, particular design features were evident with those seven modules of the number 777 for they formed like a spine from row ten to row sixty three on the Copper Scroll. To build the big picture I formed all of the other sequences of the secret calendar periods into modules.

On reading the instructions on the scroll it specifically indicated that the treasures were spread out in four corners and this was where the eight periods of 777 days from the solar equation were located. The corners were identified by the terms of the east, west, north, and south coordinates. Those four coordinates were often taken to symbolize a solar cross. The notion of a cross type structure was on the cards.

I thus laid out those seven 777 modules in a vertical position. It was astonishing to find that the eight remaining periods of 777 days were fixed at the exact position on the scroll to form the two arms of a cross. It meant placing the two existing 777 modules out to the north and south corners. The equation with 17 years seemed to preordain that all of those 777 modules were to be labelled as periods of 777 days.

It seemed uncanny yet it was prearranged how the 117 year and 217 year modules were located to form the top part of the stem. Likewise, the indices of the 1,000 year and 3,000 year modules were also fixed there to enhance that part of the picture. The 12,960 year module was formed where its indices were located and thankfully, the 365 day module was in the same place because it made the image symmetrical. However, there was a blemish where the 777 day module on the north arm was shorter than the one on the south arm of the cross.

This decoding exercise was full of surprises. When I added up all of the modules listed as days on the cross with the fifteen 777 day periods together with the 365 days, the total came to within 32 days of 33 years. Finding the modules to build a cross was bizarre but encountering what is reckoned to be the final age of Jesus at 33 years was mystifying. I wanted to fill that gaping void on the cross but was a new module of almost 33 years intended. It proved to be because the numbers in that gaping void added up to 32. It was like fitting a 32 pin plug into a 32 pin socket because the insertion catered for the 32 days making the period exactly 33 years. It also completed the cross with perfection. The jigsaw was complete, and the sign of the cross was the big picture on the Copper Scroll as shown below.

The jigsaw was complete, the sign of the cross on the Copper Scroll. (Author Supplied)

A Revelation

The Copper Scroll is now decoded, and its numbers have proven to be gems of intelligent data. There is still a revelation in store where the outcome from the matching exercise will show how the indices of this 777 day calendar were brilliantly hidden in plain sight in the Bible. It was the final conclusive proof to show that the Old Testament was the duplicate inventory. This may disappoint all those who marveled at the thought of vast treasures being unearthed. However, the discovery of the encoded secret calendar and the image of the cross are priceless wonders to captivate imaginations for generations to come.

Top image: The Copper Scroll part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Source: Mahdi Abdulrazak / CC BY-SA 2.0.

 The full outline of decoding the Copper Scroll is in my book The “Copper Scroll” Bible at www.sevenbiblewonders.com.

By Michael Hearns