What is the origin of the practice of gematria?

gematria is a method of assigning numerical value to words, phrases and letters that have both spiritual and secular meanings. This practice can be traced back nearly 3000 years to ancient Hebrew literature, but also appears in Greek and Roman sources as well. It has evolved throughout the centuries and found its way into many different cultures and religions, including Kabbalah, Islam, Paganism and Christianity.

The Jewish version of gematria was used by rabbinical scholars starting in the Second Temple period, when they turned to cryptic interpretations of Passages in the bible. The numerical values of words were used to unlock hidden truths or divine insight on their meaning. They assigned certain symbolism to each letter in the Hebrew alphabet and then related them back to biblical passages, known as exegesis or interpretation based on allegorical numbers.

The etymology of the word gematria itself is from the Greek gematria meaning "geometry" or "something measured" – so scholars would interpret biblical text through an application of geometric principles. An example might be when two different words in a passage have the same numeric value (for example Y-H-V-H = 26 / R-A-C-H-A-M = 26). This would indicate a correlation between these two ideas or concepts that had been designed by a higher power such as God Himself.

While Jewish Gematria is typically used for religious purposes or divination, it has also crossed over into other areas such as astrology (in which numbers play a very important role), numerology (believing that numbers possess unique qualities) as well as art and literature where numbers are often thought to represent deeper meanings or messages on even a mundane level. Interestingly enough even popular song lyrics often contain associations between words with similar numeric values such a "She loves you = 58 = I love you = 58" featured in The Beatles classic "She Loves You"