Introduction
The Torah—the foundational body of divine instruction in the Hebrew Scriptures—stands at the heart of Jewish identity and spirituality. Traditionally ascribed to Moses, the Torah encompasses not only law but the very covenantal framework of God’s relationship with His people. In the New Covenant, Jesus Christ offers the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13; Luke 11:2–4), not as a replacement for Torah, but as its consummate fulfillment. This essay explores how the Lord’s Prayer is the Torah re-spoken: a creedal, covenantal, and chronosanctifying invocation that transforms the law written on tablets into prayer inscribed on the heart.
The Gematria of תּוֹרָה (Torah)
The Hebrew word Torah (תּוֹרָה) comprises the letters:
- ת (Tav) = 400
- ו (Vav) = 6
- ר (Resh) = 200
- ה (Heh) = 5
Gematria of Torah=400+6+200+5=611
This number—611—is not arbitrary. It aligns perfectly with the rabbinic tradition which holds that Moses transmitted 611 commandments, while the first two commandments of the Decalogue were spoken directly by God, giving us the full 613 commandments of the Torah.
611 + 2 = 613: The Rabbinic Tradition of the Mitzvot
According to Babylonian Talmud, Makkot 23b, Rabbi Simlai teaches:
“613 commandments were given to Moses: 365 negative commandments corresponding to the solar days, and 248 positive commandments corresponding to the parts of the human body.”
Of these, 611 were delivered through Moses, while the first two (“I am the Lord your God…” and “You shall have no other gods…”) were heard directly from God at Sinai (Exodus 20:1–3; Deuteronomy 5:4–5). This profound structure is confirmed by Rashi in his commentary on Deuteronomy 33:4 and later codified by Maimonides in his Sefer HaMitzvot.
Numerical Alignment: 611 and 168
The Lord’s Prayer, in Luke 11:2–4, when analyzed using the identifier formula:
Identifier = Book # + Chapter # + Verse #
Gives:
- Luke 11:2 → 42 + 11 + 2 = 55
- Luke 11:3 → 42 + 11 + 3 = 56
- Luke 11:4 → 42 + 11 + 4 = 57
Total=55+56+57=168
This result is astonishingly the arithmetic mean of the divisors of 611, which are {1, 13, 47, 611}: Mean=(1+13+47+611)/4=168
This reveals that the identifier of the Lord’s Prayer is encoded within the very gematria of the Torah—a mathematical witness to its role as Torah fulfilled in the Messiah.
Petitions as Torah Themes
Each line of the Lord’s Prayer corresponds to a key theme within the Torah:
| Petition | Torah Parallel |
|---|---|
| Our Father in heaven | God as Covenant Father (Deut 32:6) |
| Hallowed be Thy Name | Sanctity of God’s Name (Exod 20:7) |
| Thy Kingdom come | God as King over Israel (Num 23:21) |
| Thy will be done… | Obedience to divine law (Deut 6:4–5) |
| Give us this day our daily bread | Manna and provision (Exod 16) |
| Forgive us… as we forgive… | Atonement rituals (Lev 4–5; Exod 34:6) |
| Lead us not into temptation | Wilderness testing (Deut 8:2–5) |
| Deliver us from evil | Divine rescue from enemies (Deut 20:4) |
The Lord’s Prayer is therefore not a theological abstraction but a Torah in motion—the divine law prayed, lived, and embodied.
Chronosanctification: 168 and Sacred Time
The eight daily prayer times, derived from the permutations of the number 153, finds its numerical basis in the value 168—which also happens to equal the total hours in a week. The Lord’s Prayer thus functions not only as a theological summary but as a sacred rhythm of time, mirroring the structure of creation itself.
Gematria of the Five Books of the Torah
Let us now consider the Hebrew gematria of the names of the five books of the Torah:
- Genesis – בְּרֵאשִׁית (Bereshit) = 913
- Exodus – שְׁמוֹת (Shemot) = 746
- Leviticus – וַיִּקְרָא (Vayikra) = 317
- Numbers – בְּמִדְבַּר (Bamidbar) = 248
- Deuteronomy – דְּבָרִים (Devarim) = 256
Total=913+746+317+248+256=2480
This total is 10 × 248, a number that is itself theologically rich.
The Theological Significance of the Number 248
- Positive Commandments: The number 248 represents the positive mitzvot in the Torah—commandments of action and devotion.
- Embodied Obedience: Rabbinic tradition equates 248 with the number of limbs and organs in the human body, symbolizing that the whole person is to obey God.
- Torah Structuring: The gematria of the Torah’s book names totaling 2480 implies that the Torah is a blueprint for sanctifying the human body tenfold.
- Connection to the Lord’s Prayer: If 248 is the obedient body, then 168 (the Prayer’s identifier) is the spiritual breath—the rhythm of time and devotion that enlivens the body with prayer.
- Divine Perfection: The 248th even number is 496, a perfect number—hinting that the one who obeys (248) and prays (168) is made perfect in God’s covenant.
Conclusion
The Lord’s Prayer is not merely a petition; it is a prophecy fulfilled, a creed of the New Covenant, and a distillation of Sinai’s voice. It is Torah reborn—not as burden, but as blessing. It encapsulates divine instruction not in stone, but in supplication.
And the numbers declare it:
- Torah = 611
- Divisors’ Mean = 168
- 168 = Lord’s Prayer Identifier
- 248 = Human body commanded by Torah
- 2480 = Gematria sum of the Torah’s five books
The Lord’s Prayer is the Torah breathed into time.
It is the sanctification of the whole person, across all hours, unto the fullness of God.
The Lord's Prayer: A Mathematician's Creed 