eth_getBlockByNumber does not support symbolic block names

[mahileeb]

eth_getBlockByNumber does not support symbolic block names

Steps To Reproduce

Call eth_getBlockByNumber with a symbolic block number like "earliest" or "latest"

Expected behavior

Appropriate block number should be returned

Actual behavior

Exception is thrown:

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Illegal character 'r' found at index 2 in hex binary representation
	at org.apache.tuweni.bytes.BytesValues.fromRawHexString(BytesValues.java:63)
	at org.apache.tuweni.bytes.Bytes32.fromHexStringLenient(Bytes32.java:216)
	at org.apache.tuweni.units.bigints.UInt256.fromHexString(UInt256.java:152)
	at org.web3j.evm.EmbeddedEthereum$Companion.hexToULong(EmbeddedEthereum.kt:353)
	at org.web3j.evm.EmbeddedEthereum$Companion.access$hexToULong(EmbeddedEthereum.kt:349)
	at org.web3j.evm.EmbeddedEthereum.ethBlockByNumber(EmbeddedEthereum.kt:235)
	at org.web3j.evm.EmbeddedWeb3jService.ethBlockByNumber(EmbeddedWeb3jService.kt:248)
	at org.web3j.evm.EmbeddedWeb3jService.send(EmbeddedWeb3jService.kt:80)
	at org.web3j.evm.EmbeddedWeb3jService.send(EmbeddedWeb3jService.kt:57)
	at org.web3j.protocol.core.Request.send(Request.java:87)
	at org.web3j.protocol.core.Request$send.call(Unknown Source)

Environment

Describe the environment in which the issue occurs

• Web3J 4.9.4
• Java 17
• Operating System macOs