Some Observations About the Number 318

Most of us know the name Eliezer in Hebrew is the original behind the Greek name 'Lazarus' which appears in our gospels.  A few of us also know it has a numerological value of 318 (א = 1; ל = 30; י = 10; ע = 70; ז = 7; ר = 200). 

It is impossible to argue that the Torah was not written with a mystical interest in letters and numbers. Why else would Genesis 14:14 says that Abram mustered his trained men, “born in his house,” to rescue Lot, and gives their number as 318? The point is clearly that Eliezer is some sort of angelic hypostasis and we have also suggested that he was Lazarus in the Marcionite gospel narrative (i.e. the equivalent of Luke 16:19 - 31). Yet what was his function in early Christian mysticism?

Since Clement has been demonstrated to take an interest in the number 318 (Strom. 6.11) and moreover, since this section of the Stromateis has been demonstrated by Schaff to have largely borrowed from a Marcosian text known to Irenaeus, is it possible to connect the gnostic hypostasis Sige (σιγη = silence) to Lazarus?

I demonstrated the existence of what I call 'the Phillips gospel narrative' so called because the Rev. C A Phillips was the first to discover a pattern in a section of text witnessed by various gospels related to the Diatessaron from Christian antiquity.  All I have done is added the first addition to Mark referenced in the Mar Saba document owing to it being a natural fit in this section.  The section reads:

1. The Rich Fool (Luke 12:13 - 21)
2. The Rich Youth (Mark 10:17 - 30)
3. The Rich Man's Discussion with Abraham in the Underworld (Luke 16:19 - 31)
4. The Resurrection of the Rich Youth (Clement's Letter to Theodore)

I have noted that Clement's attack against the Carpocratians in Strom. 3.2 suggests knowledge of a common non-canonical gospel related to this text and also to 'Secret Mark' of the Letter to Theodore. All the evidence seems to suggest that this narrative had the 'rich youth' who is resurrected from the tomb in (4) was the same 'rich youth' who questions Jesus about eternal life in (2) and who ultimately dies in (3).

I have also argued that the only way this narrative could have made any sense is if the 'rich youth' was understood to get the soul of Lazarus (i.e. Eliezer) when he entered the baptismal waters in (4). This was a completely different sacrament than the Catholic understanding developed from John the Baptist's supposed baptism of Jesus in our canonical texts (itself a narrative which von Harnack acknowledges did not appear in the Marcionite gospel). This ritual was called 'the redemption' in the Markan heresies (i.e. the Marcionites, the Marcosians) and it necessarily meant that one took on a new soul after coming out of the waters, a 'perfect' spiritual being who I suspect was Lazarus.

I wonder whether the numerical value of Lazarus's original Hebrew name is key to sorting everything out. For the number 318 is written out as שיח.  Yet the same letters in a different order mean 'to be silent' in Aramaic חשי or חשה in Hebrew.  As we read in Psalm 28:1:

To you, LORD, I call; you are my Rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent (חשה), I will be like those who go down to the pit.

Some other references include:

I have long time holden my peace; I have been silent (חשה), and refrained myself: now willI cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. [Isaiah 42:14]


Behold, it is written before me:I will not keep silence (חשה), but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom [ibid 65:6]

What I am now wondering is whether the gnostic hypostasis 'Sige' was really just a way of disguising the presence of 'Lazarus' in their baptism rites.  Notice that 'Lazarus' does not say a word in Luke 16:19 - 31.  The rich man 'beseeches' Lazarus for comfort but Abraham does all the talking.  Notice also that Eliezer does not speak in the story of Abraham in Genesis.  It would seem that 'silence' was part of Lazarus's personna.

Irenaeus repeatedly identifies the Marcosian interest in Aramaic and kabbalah. Their use of gematria and numerological ciphers would certainly have allowed for the disguising of the resurrection of 'Lazarus' in the baptismal waters (i.e. his being 'sent' into the soul of the rich youth) by referencing it as חשי (silence) especially in a ritual setting which in turn was rendered in Greek by Irenaeus as σιγη.

If the heretical concept of σιγη goes back to an Aramaic term which was chosen for its numerological value (i.e. to act as a disguise for 'Lazarus') then this statement from Irenaeus may well solve the mystery of Mar Saba:

Marcus then, declaring that he alone was the matrix and receptacle of σιγη (Silence). [Irenaeus AH 1.14.1]

I have always assumed that St Mark was the actual head of the sect reported as 'the Marcionites' in some reports and 'the Marcosians' in others. It was he who received the soul of Lazarus in the first addition to the gospel of Mark referenced in the letter to Theodore.