Truth is Stranger than Fiction

For a number of years now, I have heard, received emails, and read articles that point out an amazing pattern and design in the Bible:
There are 1,189 chapters in the Bible.
Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter.
Psalm 119 is the longest chapter.
Psalm 118 has exactly 594 chapters before and 594 chapters after, with Psalm 118 exactly in the middle.
594 + 594 = 1,188. Psalm 118:8 says:
"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man"
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This verse contains exactly 14 words, with THE LORD exactly in the center – 7 before and 7 after (the number of completion). This is apparently an amazing piece of information!
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Well, after all these years of knowing this, and communicating this same material, I am sorry to pop your bubble (and mine):
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The assumption is that Psalm 118:8 …. "THE LORD….. is exactly in the center of the Bible. According to chapter count, is not true. The central chapter in the Bible (the 595th chapter) is Psalm 117, not Psalm 118. Count them:
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Genesis 50
Exodus 40
Leviticus 27
Numbers 36
Deuteronomy 34
Joshua 24
Judges 21
Ruth 4
1 Samuel 31
2 Samuel 24
1 Kings 22
2 Kings 25
1 Chronicles 29
2 Chronicles 36
Ezra 10
Nehemiah 13
Esther 10
Job 42
Psalms 1-117
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Total 595
The 595th chapter in the Bible (with 594 before and 594 after) is Psalm 117:
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Psalm 117:1 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. 2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.
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Not only this, but the chapters breaks were added many centuries after the Scriptures had been originally written. Stephen Langton, an Archbishop of Canterbury. Langton put the modern chapter divisions into place around 1227 A.D.
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Of course, using chapter breaks to conclude any "inspiration" are hardly any reliable method. To conclude any "amazing design" from a change someone made to the original manuscripts (by adding chapter breaks) is to imply that God’s hand is in the design of those changes. To use that reasoning, we would have to re-think what modern scholars have done to recent translations and paraphrases!
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Since a chapter count is not a reliable means of finding the center of the Bible, we would think that we then need to do a verse count. There are 31,102 verses in the Bible. For this reason, there are TWO MIDDLE VERSES (#15,551 and #15,552):
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Psalm 103:1,2
"BLESS the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name."
"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:"
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Both verse 1 and 2 contain a total of 28 words, twice what we thought was the "center" of the Bible earlier!
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The MIDDLE FOUR WORDS (twelve words before and twelve words after) the MIDDLE WORDS are:
"BLESS HIS HOLY NAME"
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Although I regard the KJV an authoritative translation, in the original Hebrew, Psalm 103:1,2 contains TWELVE WORDS:
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Ps 103:1 [[A Psalm of David [David].]] Bless [barak] the LORD [Y@hovah], O my soul [nephesh]: and all that is within [qereb] me, bless his holy [qodesh] name [shem].
2 Bless [barak] the LORD [Y@hovah], O my soul [nephesh], and forget [shakach] not all his benefits [g@muwl]
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The SIXTH and SEVENTH words (center) are
"HIS HOLY NAME"
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This also is a beautiful nugget of edification, and I am not trying to be cynical. We can find truths throughout the Scripture, whether it is the central chapter or central verse or not.
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However, the story is not over.
In the same way that chapter breaks had been added to the Scriptures (explained above), The Hebrew Old Testament was divided into VERSES by a Jewish Rabbi, Nathan, in 1448 A.D. Robert Estienne, who was also known as Stephanus, was the first to divide and print the Bible divided into standard numbered verses in 1555.
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So now we have a new project – to find the CENTRAL WORD in the Bible. Perhaps you may be the first to find it. I have not found it yet. However, if you get there before I do, be sure to let me know so that I can share in the amazing discovery.-

©2006 David Film. www.DavidFilm.com