The Hebrew word for "letter" is ot (אוֹת),
which can also mean "sign" or "wonder." Each letter of the Aleph-Bet,
then, may contain signs that point to wonderful truths about life.
According
to midrash, the LORD God Himself taught the alphabet (along with the
numerical values, mathematical relationships, etc. for the letters) to
Adam ha-rishon, who then transmitted this knowledge to his sons, and
they passed this to their sons, and so on, until it was taught to Jacob
at the School of Shem in Salem (later renamed Jerusalem). Jacob taught
the secrets of the alphabet to Joseph, who used it to decipher dreams,
etc.
The Jewish mystics go so far as to say that the entire
cosmos was created from the 22 consonants of the Hebrew Aleph Bet,
called otiyot yesod (אוֹתיּוֹת יְסוֹד) or "foundational letters." Through the otiyot yesod
God formed substance out of chaos and brought forth existence from
nonexistence. In other words, the entire universe is created and
sustained by divine language (the Word of God). When the LORD spoke the
universe into existence, His words still echo throughout all of
creation, sustaining it and preserving it in being.
Rabbi Oshaya taught: When a human
king builds a palace, he does not build it with his skill alone; the
king employs a builder. Moreover, the builder does not bring it out of
his own imagination, but consults a blueprint - a plan and diagram - to
know how to arrange the chambers, doors, and passageways of the palace.
In the same way, God as both King and Builder consulted Torah and then
created the world.
- Midrash Genesis Rabbah 1:1
Yeshua the Mashiach is called devar Elohim ( דְּבַר אֱלהִים), the Word of God, and the Aleph and Tav ( אָלֶף וְתָו), Who upholds all of the created order by the word of His power. It is the Mashiach Yeshua alone Who is the true yesod ( יְסוֹד) or foundation
of life itself. Every holy utterance can be traced back to Him, and He
is the Source and Origin of all that is good, lasting, and righteous.
Indeed, Yeshua is called "the zohar of His glory" ( הוּא זהַר כְּבוֹדוֹ), that is, the radiance of the glory of God Himself, who "upholds all things by the word of His power" ( נוֹשֵׂא כל בִּדְבַר גְּבוּרָתוֹ) (see Heb. 1:3). Since He is the First and the Last, we can see that the otiyot will all reveal something about Him.
As various acrostics in Scripture reveal, the Hebrew letters and their order are
of divine origin. The Hebrew language is unique in this regard, since
you can learn something about God from the Hebrew letters themselves and
their spiritual properties. For instance, some claim that the order of
the letters within a word reveals spiritual properties. For example, if
the letters appear in a word in ascending order (i.e., from Tav
-> Aleph), the word connotes compassion (i.e., moving toward
Aleph/God), whereas if they appear in a reversed or descending order (i.e. from Aleph -> Tav), the word connotes the idea of justice. An example of the former would be the Name "Yah" ( יָהּ) and of the latter, the word "king" ( מֶלֶךְ). Other words are formed in "triangular" patterns, combinations of these attributes, etc. |
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