Each finger comprises 3 parts (phalanges, I think is the technical name) so when you take your left thumb and touch the first part of your index finger this corresponds to "1" right up to the final part of your little finger being "12" Extend one digit on the other hand to note each completed set of 12 and two full hands makes 72. It's a method commonly used in the middle east today.
Youll have noticed that being cryptic is something of a recurring theme in religion. If it was so important for people to understand it and all so simple, it wouldn't be cloaked in code. Cf Nostradamus' quatrains (delightfully abstruse - can be interpreted how you like) or the use of Latin in liturgy - a language few people understand. Similarly the scientologists only reveal their most ridiculous fables once you have coughed up a lifetime of money. i wonder why? No I don't.
