Please don’t be put off by this title! Although this study is about number patterns, it will have a progressively spiritual lesson to offer us as we proceed – indeed, a most important lesson. In P.T.105 we looked at some of the Biblical secrets locked up in numbers. Some may find it boring to contemplate numerical studies, and we are quite aware that interests and enthusiasms are very diverse amongst the Lord’s people, but we feel that the truths we now have to offer are so strange, so pointed, so wonderful, that we wish to encourage our readers to pause for a while and read these four papers. We think you will be astonished.
In mathematics, one of the simple school-room procedures is to look at number patterns. By this we mean that by using dots or stars, groups of numbers may be presented in patterns. Some may form squares, like 4 and 9. Others may be three dimensional, like 8, which is 2 x 2 x 2, a cube. But yet others may be depicted as triangles, and it is these that must interest us now. A triangle number is one that may be grouped as in the following examples. The first is 1, which we shall call the “trivial case.” Beyond this we have 3,6,10, and 15. (The 15 example is displayed below)
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Should anyone ask why it might be considered important to study triangle numbers, I would say that for some reason best known to the Lord, He decided to use these numbers to draw our attention to important themes. The recognition of PATTERNS is perhaps a hidden clue to MEANING. The following papers will bear this out.
There follows a lengthy list of triangle numbers, down to 75. Only a few of them appear in the Bible, and these are presented in colour. There may be others which we have not recognised yet. The five items in colour are the ones which will form the basis of discussion in the following papers.
| No. | Tr. | No. | Tr. | No. | Tr. |
| 1 | 1 | 26 | 351 | 51 | 1326 |
| 2 | 3 | 27 | 378 | 52 | 1378 |
| 3 | 6 | 28 | 406 | 53 | 1431 |
| 4 | 10 | 29 | 435 | 54 | 1485 |
| 5 | 15 | 30 | 465 | 55 | 1540 |
| 6 | 21 | 31 | 496 | 56 | 1596 |
| 7 | 28 | 32 | 528 | 57 | 1653 |
| 8 | 36 | 33 | 561 | 58 | 1711 |
| 9 | 45 | 34 | 595 | 59 | 1770 |
| 10 | 55 | 35 | 630 | 60 | 1830 |
| 11 | 66 | 36 | 666 | 61 | 1891 |
| 12 | 78 | 37 | 703 | 62 | 1953 |
| 13 | 91 | 38 | 741 | 63 | 2016 |
| 14 | 105 | 39 | 780 | 64 | 2080 |
| 15 | 120 | 40 | 820 | 65 | 2145 |
| 16 | 136 | 41 | 861 | 66 | 2211 |
| 17 | 153 | 42 | 903 | 67 | 2278 |
| 18 | 171 | 43 | 946 | 68 | 2346 |
| 19 | 190 | 44 | 990 | 69 | 2415 |
| 20 | 210 | 45 | 1035 | 70 | 2485 |
| 21 | 231 | 46 | 1081 | 71 | 2556 |
| 22 | 253 | 47 | 1128 | 72 | 2628 |
| 23 | 276 | 48 | 1176 | 73 | 2701 |
| 24 | 300 | 49 | 1225 | 74 | 2775 |
| 25 | 325 | 50 | 1275 | 75 | 2850 |
