In the Book of Genesis, Elohim changes the name of Sarah and her husband Abraham from Sarai and Abram, and this gives the gematria of their names a different value. Sarai 213 became Sarah 208 (-5) and Abram 243 became Abraham 248 (+5). Not coincidentally each name is concordent to a span of time; with 208 weeks being exactly 4 years and 248 days being 9 anomalistic months. In each verse where the name change occurs, the value of the justification for the name change equals that of the name; Abraham (248) = המון גוים נתתיך ‘of many nations I have made you‘ (Genesis 17:5).
‘Then Elohim said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, not call her the name Sarai, for Sarah the name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” ” –Genesis 17:15-16.
שָׂרַ֣י Sarai 213, שָׂרָ֖ה Sarah 208,
(Not included in this verse: הָגָ֖ר – ‘Hagar’ 208; יִצְחָ֑ק – ‘Isaac’ 208; ישראל Israel 244).
213 Sarai + 31 Shall come = 244.
30 And she shall be + 89 of Nations + 100 Kings + 160 of people – 135 from her = 244.
Shall be her name 48 + of people 160 = 208.
247 And I will bless + 30 She shall be + 89 of Nations = 366 (days in a leap year).
We see Abraham’s value of 248 first pop up in Genesis 1:4 with הָא֖וֹר + הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ = ‘the Light’ + ‘the darkness’ = 248, but also the value of Israel 244 is made through calculations in Genesis 1:2-3 from א֑וֹר Light 207 + וחשך and darkness 37 = 244.
The gematria used in these calculations is proprietorial to the Seven Palaces of the Merkabah. The values given in the Talmud are a blind due to the prohibition of Judah the Patriarch on discussing the Merkabah, given that gematria is a key component of the Merkabah. The values are the same as standard except (for logographic reasons) the shin = 3 (not 300) and the tav = 4 (not 400), and no final values are used for Ashuri final letters (because Paleohebrew didn't use final characters).