Comments by the Editors

My investment of time and expense devoted to Repetition in the Bible by Gioacchino Cascione has paid me huge dividends.  Cascione has spent three decades using sophisticated Bible software to study the original Greek and Hebrew texts of the Scriptures.  He has discovered the use of “Hebraic meter” throughout the inspired writings of the prophets and apostles which he documents in detail in his book.  Gioacchino Michael Cascione’s research does not attempt to put forth new doctrines and teachings from the Scriptures, but it does confirm and amplify the teachings of God through His prophets and apostles.  The chiastic structure found in many sections of the Bible has captured the attention of recent scholarship dealing with the text of Holy Writ.  Cascione’s research has taken a further step in identifying Hebraic meter first used in the Pentateuch and then carried through the rest of the Bible.  This meter, like chiasm, has been virtually invisible until recent times.  Few scholars such as Umberto Moshe David Cassuto, Eyal Rav-Noy, and Diana Jill Kirby, whose research Cascione has combined with his own, have ventured to investigate repetition in the Bible.  Hebraic meter provides internal evidence of a divine signature authenticating the inspired text of the Bible.  Cascione puts forth thought-provoking suggestions regarding Biblical genealogies, the use of numbers in the Bible, and the value of the Vulgate over and against the Septuagint in textual criticism.  He also provides evidence for the literary connection between Song of Solomon and the Book of Revelation that may well leave the reader with a deeper appreciation and respect for both of these books.  Any one of the above items will more than justify the investment in the book.  While the book supplies the Greek and Hebrew for advanced Bible students, it also supplies the English translation of these texts to make it easy for the common reader to follow the argumentation and to see the evidence for the author’s presentation of the Biblical patterns.

—Rev. Robert A. Dargatz

The author wrote two earlier books titled In Search of the Biblical Order, and in this third book he furthers the goal of those first two books.  Repetition in the Bible is a significant advance both in the data he supplies, as well as the conclusions based on this data.  One does not have to agree with every assertion Cascione makes to realize the evidence is overwhelming that there is a pattern of constant repetition woven into the fabric of many of the books of the Bible.  The evident repetition by the New Testament Greek of the pattern established 15 centuries earlier in Moses' Hebrew gives further affirmation of the unity of Scripture - and in so doing, it establishes a corollary of verbal inspiration as well as a clear refutation of any attempt to classify the Bible as an accumulation of purely human writings.  A must-read for anyone who does biblical study.

—Prof. David Kuske

We live in a day when what is crass and ugly is celebrated and what is pure and lovely is denigrated.  The Church’s precious heritage of beautiful hymns and liturgies are discarded in favor of crass, shallow, and sentimental “Christianized” pop music.  The Christian heart longs to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord in his temple.  Traditional Christians have long argued that matters of aesthetics are not purely subjective.  To their defense comes a remarkable book written by a theologian whose theological training was preceded by an education as an artist.

Christians have always appreciated the literary beauty of God’s written Word.  What we have not appreciated, and what this book brings to our attention, is a beauty of verbal repetition in the Bible.  With the help of computer technology, Rev. Cascione brings an artist’s eye to the structure of the biblical text.  He finds an amazing tapestry of repetition woven into the Scriptures.  He discerns no new teaching.  He discovers no secret code.  He learns nothing of biblical teaching we did not already know.  What he does find disproves the claims of the critics that the text of the Bible evolved over a period of time, being redacted by various editors.  Repetition of words and phrases, especially in multiples of seven and ten, prove a deliberation that could not have occurred under the scenario contrived by the critics.  Rev. Cascione utterly destroys the documentary hypothesis that has prevailed in academia for generations.  He demonstrates the integrity of the biblical text from Hebraic meter within the text itself.  He demonstrates a consistent numerical meter throughout the whole Bible.  This book is an especially valuable tool for those engaged in textual criticism.  Reliance on unprovable theories and speculation without evidence must give way to the evidence within the text itself of the text’s authenticity.

—Rev. Rolf Preus

Other Reviews

Repetition in the Bible is a most valuable addition to any pastor's or teacher's library, for it provides exegetical insights available nowhere else.  It is a study of word and phrase counts in the text, particularly in the Gospels, Revelation, Genesis, and Exodus.  The author points to the theological meanings of these counts, and also to their value in sorting out occasional textual disputes.  Of particular interest is his convincing case that the Biblical numerical system is based in three centers: seven, ten, and twelve. His study of the numerical values in the Biblical genealogies and early chronologies helps bear this out.  I highly recommend this book, as I also do Rev. Cascione's earlier In Search of the Biblical Order. Anyone working with the text of the Bible should have both of these close-at-hand at all times.

—James B. Jordan
Director, Biblical Horizons Ministries
Scholar-in-Residence, Theopolis Institute

Repetition in the Bible is a new book by Gioacchino Michael Cascione, edited by Rev. Professor David Kuske, Rev. Professor Robert Dargatz, and Rev. Rolf Preus. As a Bible translator in the Ukraine, I was one of the consultants on the Hebrew quotations and checked the accuracy of nearly 1,500 verses in 3 of the 10 chapters.

With so much written and spoken about the Bible, it is hard to imagine that in 2015 someone could be the first to write a book about repetition in the Bible. The book exhibits more than 400 examples of repetition, quotes more than 5,000 verses, and claims to have printed little more than 1% of the possible data. How is this possible? How could so many scholars not have been aware of what Cascione is writing about?

Cascione presents the Bible as an other-worldly book that defies the natural order. He exhibits, examines, and explains repetition in the Hebrew and Greek text. He even theorizes how it got into both the Hebrew and the Greek. With 30-plus years of experience in exegesis, I’ve never seen anything like it. He is not writing something new about what the Bible says. Rather he is writing about how the Bible says what it says. Actually, everything he writes about is very old. It has been there since the beginning, we just did not see it.

Cascione insists on a title that is like steak without sizzle. I’ve told him people will not know what he is talking about. However, he states that without an accurate taxonomy (label) readers will not get to the real issues he is addressing. There is no point of comparison with any other literature in any other language. People must see what the repetition is in order to understand the concept.

His book presents irrefutable refutation of the Higher Critics by establishing the authenticity of the text. Gioacchino Michael Cascione of Marana, Arizona, has singlehandedly demolished the Documentary Hypothesis, the foundation stone on which the liberal superstructure rests. Not that he didn’t have help from such tremendously original scholars as Umberto Cassuto, but I don’t know of any other pastor or professor who could have done this work even if he knew where to look. (It took genius to invent the atom bomb, but to reinvent it just takes competent physicists and engineers.) Cascione is building the atom bomb that will blow the foundation out from under the entire structure of religious liberalism.

The book, which will be published in December, 2015, will be ignored, for the simple reason that it cannot be refuted.

But for you and me, it will be very reassuring to have certain knowledge of things we always accepted just by faith, namely, that we possess the original text. When you read this book (and at only twenty dollars, you can’t afford not to), you will know and be able to prove that the canonical books of Scripture are actually written by the hand of the prophets and the apostles, and they are not just the collected ideas of wandering shepherds and fishermen about a Jewish carpenter.

—Rev. Roger Kovaciny
Ukraine Bible Translator

Certain events are milestones in the history of the church. They are rarely recognized as landmark events when they take place, but are identified as such by future generations. All of a sudden a paradigm shift occurs, and the church may be moved in new direction.

This is what will happen when Gioacchino (Jack) Michael Cascione releases his book, “Repetition in the Bible”, in January, 2016. Initially, many will ignore him. But slowly, over time, this little book about how the Bible is written (415 pages) will be shown to be irrefutably true...and the liberal world with its Documentary Hypothesis will be turned upside down.

Through the investigation of the rarely discussed subject of repetition Cascione takes the reader on an archeological expedition with nothing more than the Bible in our hands. He shows us more about the inexplicable reality of the text than we ever thought possible, its authenticity, authorship, accuracy, and unparalleled majesty.

This comes at an opportune time in the life of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Our textual critics, because they know the original manuscripts of the Bible do not exist for either the Old Testament or New, falsely assume the Scriptures we have in hand today are somewhat “plastic”.

That means “changing” our understanding of the text as every new form of criticism is used to dissect, demean, and question the ancient manuscripts on which the Bible is based. This is the same question that Satan asked Eve. “Did God say?" Now this is what we think God said, appears to have said, might have said, could have said, or even meant to say. We will have to research that and then we will get back to you later.

The “plastic text” raises a “red flag” of concern among many. It begs the question: “Can we have any sense of ‘biblical authority’ when our textual critics are making the case that our Bibles are based upon plastic/changing texts and not the original, inerrant manuscripts?”

Of course they assure us we should not be alarmed. They tell us we can still speak of biblical authority. However, their authority is not the authority of the text alone - above the church and norming the church. Rather, for them, it is an authority that comes from and through the church with the church norming the text because the church hears Christ being preached in that imperfect, ever changing text (i.e. Gospel Reductionism). [“Is my Nestle text authoritative? Yes it is, because it is the church’s text, Christ her Lord is preached in that text, and the church recognizes that the Lord works through that text as the Lord of creation unfolds history.” (Dr. Kloha).]

Gioacchino (Jack) Michael Cascione comes along and destroys the critics’ false presuppositions imposed upon the texts they are handling! His book proves the authenticity of the “original text” found within these texts based u! pon the Divine repetition (i.e. Hebraic meter) that has always been there.

Read the book! Let it sink in. Be amazed you are holding the first book in history which records Divine repetition throughout the Bible and lays before you the galactic ramifications! A paradigm shift is happening. A new hermeneutic is being revealed. What we have here is proof that we, indeed, have the “original texts” of the Apostles and Prophets in our extant texts today.

—Rev. Steven Flo
DeSoto, Missouri

Anyone who has ever taken the time to compare a patchwork quilt with a masterfully-woven tapestry, knows that there is a difference. While the patchwork quilt may convey some semblance of design and structure, it remains a disjointed work holding together fundamentally different pieces, stitched together from different materials, garments, and cloths. It lacks internal coherence and unity. Any unifying structure is merely superimposed by the artist. A rug or tapestry, on the other hand, no matter how random or unstructured it might appear to the observer, is joined together with warp and woof. It is tightly bound and held together according to geometric rhythms and patterns.

While such a comparison may sound odd when applied to the Bible, this illustration provides a helpful picture of the current state of biblical scholarship. It has long been maintained, particularly in academia, that the Holy Scriptures are comprised in what one might call a patch-work fashion. Many scholars maintain that the editors and authors of Scripture have assembled narratives, poems, genealogies, sermons and other records and stitched those materials together to comprise the various books of the Bible. The crassest expressions of such views can be observed in such things as the Documentary Hypothesis (the theory that the books of Moses weren’t written by Moses but were assembled out of various sources and with different, disjointed motives), the supposed multiplicity of authorship within Isaiah, and the supposed Q-source in the synoptic Gospels. These and other theories view Scripture much like a patchwork quilt, often denying both the internal unity not only of the doctrinal content but also of the text itself.

In his soon-to-be-released book, Repetition in the Bible, Gioacchino Michael Cascione challenges such a patchwork approach to Scripture on the basis of evidence provided by Scripture itself. By offering countless examples of “Hebraic Meter” in the Gospels, the books of Moses, Revelation and other portions of Scripture, Cascione demonstrates not only an internal integrity behind the disparate books and styles contained in Holy Scripture, but an overarching genius and unifying coherence. His research strongly argues that Scripture is not simply a patchwork quilt pieced together in disjointed fashion by writers, editors and copyists, but that when one approaches Scripture, he is actually viewing a work of unparalleled unity, art, beauty, poetry and wisdom beyond what many, even many Christians, might ever have imagined. 

The following are reasons why this book should be read, both by pastors and laity alike:

1)    This book offers proof of its claims, not based on theories and opinions of scholars, but based on demonstrable evidence from Scripture. With one’s own Bible or readily available Bible software, the claims made by the author can be tested.

2)    Repetition in the Bible truly elevates the readers’ view of the Holy Scriptures. In a day and age where the patchwork view of Scripture threatens to tear Scripture apart at the seams, it is refreshing to behold the majesty and artistry of God’s precious word with fresh eyes once again.

3)    Cascione convincingly challenges and refutes such theories as the Documentary Hypothesis and the evangelists’ utilization of the so-called Q-source.

4)    The reader is challenged to judge the writings of Scripture not in accordance with a Western view of history and literature, but to understand Scripture on its own terms and in accord with its own unique compositional structure. That is to say, Cascione brings to light the reality that Scripture is not simply the writing of Shakespeare, Homer, or any other Western mind. To interpret and understand its writings as we do other Western texts (as much of biblical scholarship attempts to do) actually does a great disservice to the Scriptures.

5)    This book offers wonderful insight into such a difficult book as the Song of Solomon and clearly demonstrates its interrelatedness with the rest of Scripture as well as its Christocentric nature.

6)    Cascione gives new insight into the so-called “Synoptic Problem” and helps address questions as to their interdependence or independence.

7)    Repetition in the Bible offers helpful suggestions for many textual critical questions and argues strongly, if not convincingly, in defense of the inspiration of Scripture and even towards an established text. Additionally, Repetition in the Bible gives valuable insight into the nature and reliability of the Hebrew Masoretic Text as opposed to the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament). Cascione’s findings must certainly be taken into account when evaluating these texts.

8)    This book does more to elevate and exalt the writings of Moses as the masterful work of poetic and artistic genius than perhaps anything else this reviewer has read before. If for no other reason, this book should be read for what it has to say about the Pentateuch and Mosaic authorship.

—Rev. Brandt C. Klawitter
Chaplain - Germany