Editing Bible code (section)

===Criticism of Michael Drosnin===

Journalist Drosnin's books<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scientists claim the Bible is written in code that predicts future events |url=https://bigthink.com/the-present/scientists-clai-the-bible-is-written-in-code-that-predicts-future-events/ |access-date=2022-06-22 |website=Big Think |language=en-US}}</ref> have been criticized by some who believe the Bible code is real but that it cannot predict the future.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/bib-code.html |title=The Bible Code |publisher=Leaderu.com |access-date=2010-05-02}}</ref> On Drosnin's claim of [[Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin|Yitzhak Rabin's assassination]], Drosnin wrote in his book "The Bible Code" (1997) that "[[Yigal Amir]] could not be found in advance". Critics have noted a huge error in the "code" Drosnin claimed to have found: Drosnin misused the Biblical verse {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|4:42}}. Scholars note; "For example, citing again the passage intersecting with Rabin: that passage is from Deuteronomy 4:42, but Drosnin ignores the words immediately following "a murderer who will murder." What comes next is the phrase "unwittingly" ({{Transliteration|he|biveli da'at}}). This is because the verse deals with the cities of refuge where accidental killers can find asylum. In this case, then, the message would refer to an accidental killing of (or by) Rabin and it would therefore be wrong. Another message (p.&nbsp;17) supposedly contains a "complete" description of the terrorist bombing of a bus in Jerusalem on February 25, 1996. It includes the phrase "fire, great noise," but overlooks the fact that the letters which make up those two words are actually part of a larger phrase from {{bibleverse|Genesis|35:4}} which says: "under the terebinth that was near Shechem." If the phrase does tell of a bus bombing, why not take it to indicate that it would be in Nablus, the site of ancient Shechem?"<ref>{{cite web |first=Jeffrey H. |last=Tigay |author-link=Jeffrey H. Tigay |date=October 13, 1999 |url=http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jtigay/codetext.html |title=The Bible "Codes": A Textual Perspective |website=Sas.upenn.edu |access-date=2010-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100515211813/http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jtigay/codetext.html |archive-date=May 15, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Drosnin also made a number of claims and alleged predictions that have since failed. Among the most important, Drosnin clearly states in his book "The Bible Code II", published on December 2, 2002, that there was to be a World War involving an "atomic holocaust" that would allegedly be the end of the world.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KJAYraVzvCMC&q=2006 |title=Bible Code II: The Countdown |year=2001 |access-date=2010-05-02|isbn=978-0-14-200350-3|author1=Drosnin, Michael}}</ref> Another claim Drosnin makes in "The Bible Code II" is that the nation of Libya would develop weapons of mass destruction which would then be given to terrorists who would then use them to attack the West (specifically the United States).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KJAYraVzvCMC&q=Libya |title=Bible Code II: The Countdown |year=2001 |access-date=2010-05-02|isbn=978-0-14-200350-3|author1=Drosnin, Michael}}</ref> In reality, [[Libya]] improved relations with the West in 2003 and gave up all their existing weapons of mass destruction programs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1220-08.htm |title=Libya Gives Up Nuclear and Chemical Weapons |publisher=Commondreams.org |date=2003-12-20 |access-date=2010-05-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100628064041/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1220-08.htm |archive-date=June 28, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> A final claim Drosnin made in "The Bible Code II" was that Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat would allegedly be assassinated by being shot to death by gunmen which Drosnin specifically stated would be from the Palestinian Hamas movement.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KJAYraVzvCMC&q=Arafat+Hamas |title=Bible Code II: The Countdown |year=2001 |access-date=2010-05-02|isbn=978-0-14-200350-3|author1=Drosnin, Michael}}</ref> This prediction by Drosnin also failed, as Yasser Arafat died on November 11, 2004<ref>{{cite news| url=http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/10/arafat.obit/index.html | work=CNN | title=Palestinian leader Arafat dies at 75 | date=November 11, 2004 | access-date=April 26, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100601124116/http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/10/arafat.obit/index.html| archive-date= June 1, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> of what was later declared to be natural causes (specifically a stroke brought on by an unknown infection).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Arafat-died-from-stroke-linked-to-infection-2610847.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119090230/http://articles.sfgate.com/2005-09-08/news/17388635_1_medical-records-percy-army-teaching-hospital-unexplained-death-last-year |url-status=live |archive-date=January 19, 2012 |title=Arafat died from stroke linked to infection, records show / Review finds poisoning unlikely, rebuts rumor that Palestinian leader had AIDS|work=San Francisco Chronicle – SFGate|date=2003-12-14 |access-date=2010-05-02 | first1=Steven | last1=Erlanger | first2=Lawrence K. | last2=Altman}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/08/international/middleeast/08arafat.html?_r=2&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FSubjects%2FP%2FPoisoning%20and%20Poisons&pagewanted=print | work=The New York Times | title=Medical Records Say Arafat Died From a Stroke | first1=Steven | last1=Erlanger | first2=Lawrence K. | last2=Altman | date=September 8, 2005 | access-date=April 26, 2010}}</ref>