Isaac Newton- uses Torah to Calculate the Apocalypse

Documents Shed Light on Scientist's Religious Beliefs

By MATTI FRIEDMAN
AP
6-19-2007

The first modern scientist Sir Isaac Newton, who first discovered the mechanics of our solar system and gravity, was certain, that there was a hidden code in the Bible, that would reveal the future.

He learned Hebrew, and spent halve his life trying to find it. Newton was still searching for the code, when he died.

JERUSALEM (June 18) - Three-century-old manuscripts by Isaac Newton, calculating the exact date of the apocalypse, detailing the precise dimensions of the ancient temple in Jerusalem, and interpreting passages of the Bible - exhibited this week for the first time - lay bare the little-known religious intensity of a man, many consider history's greatest scientist.

Newton, who died 280 years ago, is known for laying much of the groundwork for modern physics, astronomy, math and optics.

But in a new Jerusalem exhibit, he appears as a scholar of deep faith, who also found time to write on Jewish law - even penning a few phrases in careful Hebrew letters - and combing the Old Testament's Book of Daniel, for clues about the world's end.
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In a document, Newton interpreted biblical prophecies to mean, that the Jews would return to the Holy Land before the world ends.

He posited: "The end of days will see, the ruin of the wicked nations, the end of weeping and of all troubles, the return of the Jews captivity, and their setting up a flourishing and everlasting Kingdom."

In one document, Newton discussed the exact dimensions of the Temple. He believed, that its plans mirrored, the arrangement of the cosmos, - and he sketched it.
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Yemima Ben-Menahem, one of the exhibit's curators said, the papers show Newton's conviction, that important knowledge was hiding in ancient texts.

"He believed there was wisdom in the world, that got lost. He thought it was coded, and that by studying things like the dimensions of the temple, he could decode it," she said.

The Newton papers, Ben-Menahem said, also complicate the idea, that science is diametrically opposed to religion. "These documents show a scientist, guided by religious fervor, by a desire to see G-d's actions in the world," she said.

This article weakens the argument, of science verses religion; and gives crediblity to the Jewish religion.