Dear Friends,
Please note that the following teaching of the letters is under copyright, October 2022. You may share it, but make sure that you include this note, stating my name, etc., because eventually I will publish it. Many thanks!
Wendy Cohen
I love the Hebrew alphabet. Don’t you?
I love the significance of the letters,
The stories they tell,
The poetry they embody.
They speak to my heart like nothing else.
A unique, and very special, message from God.
I am excited to share their beauty with you.
There are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet, but some have multiple forms, and each form has a slightly different meaning.
We start with Aleph and go to Bet, etc.
Can you see the connection between AlephBet and alphabet?
Most western and middle eastern languages are created from the same letters.
But in Hebrew, each letter has deep significance and purpose.
When you put them together, they tell a story like none other.
I pray you receive a very special redemptive blessing from reading about them.
Shalom, blessings, and love,
Wendy
Aleph, the First Letter in the Alphabet
The aleph is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet.
It is God descending into this world
As above, so below.
In Hebrew, it is the first half of the Aleph Tav (Tav is the last letter)
In Greek, it is the first half of the Alpha and Omega
The Beginning and the End
Temporal Eternity
Aleph Tav, as a word, signifies something unique
The (aleph tav) God as opposed to a god
My (aleph tav) heart as opposed to somebody’s heart
In the beginning God created (aleph tav) the heavens and (aleph tav) the earth.
God’s creation. Unique. Specific. With a beginning and an end.
Now look at the image.
It has three parts.
Two yuds
apostrophes
exaggerated drawings of infinitesimal dots
minute explosions
God’s infinity penetrating temporality
His possession
above and below… what?
The firmament
Above and below a vav
an arm or a hook
penetrating earth
bringing us up
into eternity
God’s Love Song
God’s Giver’s Gift
God Himself
Making earth as it is in Heaven.
Created from nothing, the ultimate, timeless, spaceless reality, beyond discussion, beyond human comprehension, perfect, present everywhere, indivisible.
The first time Aleph is used is in Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created (aleph tav) the heavens and (aleph tav) the earth.
Beit, the Second Letter in the Alphabet
Beit means “house,” “in” or “on.”
God gave us the earth as a house within which, or upon which, we dwell.
All of Scripture begins with a “Beit.”
“In the beginning,” “b’reshit,” God created.
“Beginning, God created a house.”
Thus, Scripture is God’s House.
All of creation is God’s House.
But God is bigger than that.
Bigger than His House.
Bigger than His Word.
Bigger than His Universe.
(1 Kings 8:27, 2 Chronicles 2:6, Jeremiah 23:24)
Because of creation, there is now a home builder, God, and a home receiver, us
a subject and an object
eternity and now
Him and me
duality yearning for unity
individuality yearning for completeness
The intangible “Aleph” has become the tangible “Beit.”
The earth, of course, is our home.
And our “scripture” is written upon and through our bodies, our homes.
Ultimately, God is our home. Our only home.
What does the shape of Beit teach us about home?
It is protected above, below and behind, but is open in front
God does not look back at our sins, but looks forward at our coming perfection
We are to welcome God and others into our lives
We are to walk out of our homes to explore the world, His Home, in faith
Beit, as the second letter in the Hebrew alphabet, signifies duality.
But duality is nothing without the unity from which it transcended.
Gimmel, the Third Letter in the Hebrew Alphabet
Take a look at the letter Gimmel. It looks like someone running to bless, to restore, to provide righteousness and goodness, to set others back on the holy path. God does that for us. Likewise, we are to do that for others. That’s the fullness of Gimmel’s story.
Let’s review the first three letters …
In the first letter, the Aleph, God simply IS.
The Creator, beyond, outside, yet intimately within all of His creation
In the second letter, the Beit, He is the WORD that was used to create the world
Jesus. Yeshua.
Whose Body we all live within.
In the third letter, He is the Holy Spirit, running after us to provide for us,
to remove our spiritual poverty and give us His spiritual wealth,
to remove our meekness and give us His strength,
to remove our sorrow and give us His joy
to care
The first three letters are thus the embodiment of YHVH.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
In shape, a Gimmel contains a Vav, the arm of God, reaching down to earth, into our past, to heal us, and a Yud, the eternity of God, reaching down to earth, into our future, to bless us.
And we are called
To run after others
To be light and nourishment to the world.
To partake of the Great Commission
To “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.”
The letter Gimmel has a wordsake, the word “gamal.” Gamal means camel. Let us be God’s water carriers, bringing sweet life and refreshment to those in the desert, in the world.
The first time “Gimmel” is used in Scripture, it is used with the word “gadol,” which means large … God created the larger light to rule by day and the smaller light to rule by night. May our generosity, our kindness, our courage to help and bless, be GREAT!
(Genesis 1:16)
Dalet, the Fourth Letter in the Hebrew Alphabet
After meeting the Father in Aleph.
The Son in Beit
The Holy Spirit in Gimmel
We meet ourselves in Dalet
We meet ourselves walking through a door, out of poverty into glory
Or, that’s what we can imagine…
Dal in Hebrew represents humility or poverty
Delet (or dalet) represents a door
In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us that those who are poor, meek and grieving will inherit heaven and earth. They also will receive God’s comfort.
Recognition of poverty is our entrance into God’s Kingdom. Recognition of humbleness is our invitation into God’s lavishness
But …
In Gimmel, God is running after mankind, running to catch it to give it blessings,
And…
In Dalet, mankind is running away from God, thus towards greater poverty
Away from true freedom, towards fake liberty
Away from humbleness, towards worldly success
Away from true provision, towards deeper entanglement
Away from the doorway to God’s Heart, towards personal accomplishment
Away from its need for help
Yet there is hope …
The tiny bit of horizontal line, on the right, past the vertical line, represents humility
Those paying attention to what the Holy Spirit is saying
Those wanting to be caught
Those looking back, wanting to turn around
If only they’d just do it …
Sound familiar? Not yet the beatitude quoted above.
How does this anguished chase get resolved?
The answer is in the next letter.
Four signifies a building, a structure. In poverty, mankind builds in vain.
The first time Dalet is used in Scripture, it describes the pain of childbirth, after the Fall. An expression of poverty. A doorway into misery.
Let’s watch God shut it.
Hei, the Fifth Letter in the Hebrew Alphabet
Caught
Embraced
Saved
How? Through a Yud????
Yud means eternality, holiness, the ever-presentness of the Almighty God
Piercing through the veil and penetrating earth
A Yud added to a Dalet, the fourth letter, creates a Hei
The Yud takes the impoverished Dalet person, estranged from God, running desperately to overcome his poverty, and changes him into a home for the LORD
The Yud, on the left side, on the bottom of the Hei, stops the person’s forward movement. When embraced, it encases him in Peace, Love and Truth
It trips him up or blesses him
It is a staff for him to lean upon or a rock to stumble him
He can’t escape it. He can’t ignore it. He can’t keep running blindly away from it
Since Hebrew is read from right to left, that little Yud is always in his future
Hei is the number five.
Five often signifies grace
The Giving and Forgiving Hand of God
With the Hei, Grace catches up with mankind
Mercy becomes our walking staff
We move forward like Jacob after He wrestled with God
Successful and prosperous in all ways. For eternity
Look at the little protrusion on the top right
That protrusion represents the listening ear of mankind
Listening behind us, God guides us forward. In front of us, He directs our path
We have nowhere to go. But we can go, at peace, wherever He sends us
A light to our paths and a lamp to our feet, (Psalm 119:105) we think His thoughts, speak His words, do His actions, reveal His truth, bring the breath of His Revelation to all we meet. Hei! It sounds like the breath of life, and it is!
First used in Gen 1:1, it is the great signifier, “the.” In THE beginning, God created …
God’s Hei is calling you! Let it lead you to His Throne of Mercy.
VAV, the Sixth Letter in the Hebrew Alphabet
The First Five Letters have shown us God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, our impoverished state without God’s Presence, and our rich estate within God’s Presence. We have seen God’s preeminence, His desire to create a home for us and His passion to chase after us. After all of that, what does the Sixth Letter, Vav, show us? The fullness of ALL GOD HAS TO OFFER US!
When a person lets themselves be caught by Gimel, the Holy Spirit, when they go from spiritual poverty to spiritual wealth, from a Dalet to a Hei, they can celebrate God’s Lightning Rod, His Vav, coming down from heaven.
(Gimel is the 3rd letter, Dalet is the 4th letter, and Hei is the 5th letter. Please read those sheets for more clarity.)
They can travel up and down on Vav, like Jacob’s ladder, becoming part of it, rejoicing in the journey back and forth from heaven to earth, through praise.
A Vav looks like a straight vertical line
But sometimes it has a hook on the top
It can reach down from heaven to bring us startlingly rich illumination
It can hook us up and elevate us to heaven
The great guardian connector between Heaven and Earth
God’s Arm of Love
The Shepherd’s Staff
It empowers us and humbles us
The nails in Yeshua’s hands and feet
The vertical power of the Cross Yeshua carried
The vertical power of the Cross we carry in His Name
When we submit to His transforming power, die to ourselves, we can become a lightning rod, a shepherd’s rod, a ladder, to bring His Kingdom to earth, for others.
We become part of God’s Vav.
Since Vav is the number six, it represents the last day of creation
The day that gave God the most pleasure, when He was most satisfied
The day His work of creation was complete
The day God created the animals and mankind
Our day.
The day we were created to connect with God. To be vessels for worship and praise.
As the Great Connector, Vav literally means “and.” The first time it is used in Scripture is in Genesis 1:1. God created the heavens AND the earth. Connection.
Zayin, the Seventh Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet
The sixth letter of the alphabet, Vav, is the Great Connector
The seventh letter, Zayin, is the Exultant Connector, the Victorious, Crowned Vav
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM.” John 8:28
“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to Myself.” John 12:32
Yeshua, on the cross, drew all to Himself. We know Him as I AM (God)
I AM was a raised up connector between heaven and earth
The nails in his hands and his feet looked like Vavs
They created a highway into His Father’s Heart
His Glory
His Victory
His Resurrection
His Power
His Holiness
His Mission Fulfilled
On Earth as it is in Heaven
First Fruit of New Life
Finished
Zayin
The moment He rose from the grave will be remembered forever
The moment He rose victorious over death is eternal
Eternal
Hallelujah!
We can rest in that assurance
In Him, we also are eternal.
The Zayin looks like a sword, with the crown representing its hilt. Jewish sages say it also looks like male genitalia. The victory of LIFE is embodied in the creative act. Likewise, the letter first appears in Genesis 1:11, as zera, which means seed.
Think of it this way. Yeshua is the weapon that established our victory in God. But first, He is the one who created the world, LIFE, as the Word of God.
He is our Victorious, Creative, Protector
Because He protects us, we can rest in Him
Our Shabbat Rest
Zayin is the seventh letter of the Hebrew Alphabet
On Shabbat, the seventh day, God rested.
In Creation and in Victory we have our rest
The Story of the First Seven Letters
First, in the Aleph, we have the ineffable, beyond everything expression of God. he cannot be understood, He cannot be known. He cannot be comprehended. he is beyond everything we can understand, and yet His lightning bolt, His vav, blasts down from the future, above, in heaven, towards and onto the earth, below, from His future, from His completed truth into our past and into our present. The two yuds, one above and one below the vav, communicate the blessed truth that what is above, His ineffable presence, will pierce, throughout time, into our world, and constantly be there to set us free.
Second, in the Beit, we have the intimate sense of God, the One who comes to earth, to establish a home for us, who makes all of HIs incomprehensible glory into something we can contain and that can contain us, that we can experience, and that chooses to experience us intimately and personally, on earth as it is in heaven. It is Jesus, our Home. It is Yeshua, our home. It is glorious to live within the embrace of God’s House.
Third, in the Gimmel, we have the Holy Spirit of God running after us to bless us and encourage us and take care of us. We have the Giver seeking the receiver, and His yearning for the receiver to be ready to accept all He has to give us.
Fourth, in a seemingly tragic moment, we have the Dalet, the poor person running away from the Gimmel, trying to find his own wealth in life, his own purpose and well-being, when the Gimmel is running after him to give him everything. And yet, the Dalet is also the door. The poor person will arrive at the door to salvation, and will stop to receive the gift.
And from that, we have the firth, the Hey, when the “Yud,” the spark of eternity in the hearts, souls, minds, and spirits of mankind has now become the walking stick, or even the foot, of the pilgrim, and the pilgrim has walked through the door of salvation into the Presence of the Living God, who will always now go before him, on his journey through life.
Which leads us to the sixth, the Vav, God’s “hook,” the way He hooks us to Himself, His lightning bolt from heaven, His shepherd’s staff, ultimately Yeshua on the Cross, all the ways He connects Himself to us, and gives us the ability to connect back to Him. Ultimately Yeshua on the Cross, the nails, or vavs, in His hands and feet. It is also Jacob’s ladder. And we become part of that ladder, one with the angels going up and down on that ladder, part of God’s transmission of Himself into our earthly realm. We pick up our own crosses, dying to ourselves, and becoming lightning bolts from heaven to earth, portals of His Love and Joy.
And that leads to the seventh, God’s Victory in Yeshua’s Resurrection, within which we will eternally rest.
Chet, the Eighth Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet
The Bridal Canopy
With a Vav on the left and a Zayin on the right, connected with a little umbrella, like a Chuppah, the Jewish wedding canopy, Chet brings us into God’s Bridal Feast. Why???
The Vav represents the descent of …
God’s Glorious Powerful Loving Righteous Merciful Arm to mankind to bring
His Kingdom to earth
His Will to earth
His Heart to His people and His people to His Heart
“God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:4
And the Zayin represents God’s eternal/now victory
It represents the Resurrected Messiah in the lives of all believers
God’s Glorious Victory eternally ascending and descending upon mankind
Together, the Arm of God pours down His Victory upon the earth
Reaching down from within His Victory to touch us with His Love
The two letters are connected by God’s Bridal Canopy of love
From God’s side, the canopy is much more than we can explain or understand
But for us it represents…
Our decision to bind ourselves to God’s Covenant with us
Our commitment, choice, allegiance, self-sacrifice, trust, love, surrender
Our faith, an ability given to us from God Himself
The word “Chuppah” starts with the letter Chet
Chet is the first letter of Chayim, life
Chet is the first letter of Chadash, new
New life is under the Chuppah
We enter into newness of life under Christ’s Chuppah
Chet is the number eight, and eight represents new life, transcendence, the beyond
Living our lives as Messiah’s Bride we transcend earth’s imprisonment
Fulfilling all Yeshua died to accomplish we transcend fleshly limitations
Demonstrating the victory of His Outstretched Arm we transcend death’s sting
Anyone throwing a bridal bouquet????
Tet, the Ninth Letter in the Hebrew Alphabet
The Bridal Canopy of Chet, the 8th letter, has led to the womb of Tet, the 9th letter
Of course! The 9th letter, Tet, would signify birth, as we carry God’s truth to fruition
It even looks like a womb, ready to release its children
A flower ready to burst forth with seed
Following our narrative, the Father (Aleph), the Son (Beit), and the Holy Spirit (Gimel) chase after impoverished mankind (Dalet), giving him the richness of Heaven (Hey). God pours down His blessings (Vav) and crowns him with victory (Zayin), bringing him to the bridal canopy of Covenant (Chet), through which he will now bear children.
Good children from a good God.
But not always easy to see …
The first time Tet is used in Scripture, it is used to connote “good,” in the word “tov”
“And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.” Genesis 1:4
But when goodness got corrupted by the Fall, spiritual darkness was no longer divided from light, and the letter “Tet” came to signify everything we birth, the good, the bad, and the ugly, all our knowledge and actions, thoughts, deeds and feelings
Tet became anything but beautiful
And yet, according to ancient Jewish sages, we are to see everything as a blessing Even tragedy is to be seen as good, knowing God will work something good out of it
Reflected in the New Testament, “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
“Count it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have a perfect work, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:3-4
Yeshua re-separated the light from the darkness.
He redeems everything for those who love Him, who are called to His purpose.
In Him, even the most broken fruit is turned to good.
In Him, the letter Tet and the “womb” of mankind give birth to the inexplicable, extraordinary goodness of God.
Let us become that womb, only birthing beautiful things, always separating the Light from the darkness, impregnated with True Life from God Himself.
Yud: The Tenth Letter in the Hebrew Alphabet
The smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet
A dot
A squiggle
Expressing the greatest reality in all of creation
The tiniest fraction of Its essence changes the world
Mankind can only experience the smallest fraction of It and survive
Absolutely and totally uncontainable, uncommunicable, unreachable, unrelatable, undecipherable, within and without everything, controlling and organizing and maneuvering all, providing absolute freedom of choice, absolutely in charge
Conceivable, approachable, available, vulnerable, overwhelmingly near and present
Human, relational, encouraging, supporting, demanding, exalting, glorifying, righteous
God
In Yud, God’s eternity penetrates the earth
In Yud, the tiniest fraction of Himself penetrates and changes all of creation
Nothing compares
Yud is the first letter of Yeshua and the first letter of YHVH
It is the most frequently used letter in the Hebrew alphabet
Now let’s go back
With the 8th letter, Chet, we stood under the Bridal Chuppah between God and man
With the 9th letter, Tet, we gave birth to God’s goodness
With the 10th letter, Yud, we hold the baby
The essence, the substance, of God’s eternity, in the temporal world, is in our hands
His Seed
Ten Commandments.
Ten generations from Adam to Noah
Ten generations from Noah to the plagues
Ten plagues
If God had seen 10 righteous men in Sodom and Gomorrah it would have been saved
Ten, therefore, is the number of justice and truth
God’s essence, penetrating our temporal realm, creates good judgment
The WORD “YUD” contains a Yud, a Vav and a Dalet
Yud, the eternal penetrating the earth
Vav, God’s arm reaching down to earth
Dalet, impoverished mankind
Yud: The eternal arm of God reaching down to impoverished mankind, just and true
Kaph, the 11th Letter in the Hebrew Alphabet
The palm of the hand
A spoon that serves food
That is the meaning of the word Kaph
God spoon-feeds us His loving kindness and gives us just what we need
In contrast, the letter Kaph is empty
The curve faces sideways, to the left, not up
It is poured out like a drink offering
Its curve looks like a bent over, humble person, empty-handed, bowing before God
How can a spoon of nourishment emerge from a humbled, empty, servant of God?
When we are empty God can pour out to others through us …
Christ emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, born in the likeness of men. (Phiiippians 2:7)
Yeshua bent down to care for us
We bend down to serve others
Yeshua bowed down to worship His Father.
We bow down to worship God.
Those who are humble are exalted
The meek inherit the earth
The one who grieves rejoices
Yeshua wore a Crown of Thorns (Matthew 27:29, Mark 15:17, John 19:5)
He was crowned with glory and honor for suffering death (Hebrews 2:7-9)
He gives us the Crown of Life when we endure trials (James 1:12)
He gives us the victorious Crown of Righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8)
He gives us an Imperishable Crown (1 Corinthians 9:25)
Those who serve will be exalted
Those who bow before their King will be uplifted
Those who have a pure heart will see God
Kaph has the numerical value of 20.
The Hebrew word for 20 has the gematria of 620.
Ketter, which means crown, has the same numerical value.
It is used uniquely in the Book of Esther.
Esther was crowned with Kaph. Willing to sacrifice her life for her people, she bowed down before her king to protect them, feeding him at a feast to save their lives.
Some say she fed him with a spoon. She was victorious. That is the power of kaph.
Lamed, the 12th Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet
Lamed means to learn, and also to teach
As we learn from God’s Heart He prepares us to teach
A Lamed looks like a shepherd’s staff, and that’s what it originally was
As we lean upon our Shepherd’s Staff we learn how to walk
God’s Shepherd’s Staff guides us forward
But like Jacob we can no longer walk forward without it
Redeemed and humbled, our “crutch” is our greatest strength
The bottom part of the Lamed is the Kaph
The upper part of the Lamed is the Vav
A Kaph is the palm of a hand, lifted up
It looks like a person bent over in humility, empty
A Vav is God’s Arm reaching down into our lives
Coming down the birth canal of a woman to save us
The Kaph and the Lamed combined become a well-spring of God’s Presence, constantly teaching us, showing us how to learn and teach others in His Name.
When we, with cupped hands, receive all God has to give us, then lift our palms up so our fingers reach to the sky, we drip His wonderful nourishment over everybody and everything. Hands lifted high, dripping His goodness down to earth, we are filled with gratefulness for His blessing. But it is God’s Arm extending down through us, in Yeshua, that explodes into our world with His Ravishingly Redeeming Beauty.
We can be filled every moment of every day to a greater degree than the day before
We can walk out into the world bringing forth his glory on earth as it is in heaven
Filled and empty, empty and filled, redeemed, restored and restoring
We lean on God’s Staff, and we become a staff, in Him, for others
The numerical value of lamed is 30. It is prophetic of Yeshua’s ministry.
Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh (Genesis 41:46)
King David began to reign when he was thirty years old (2 Samuel 5:4)
Messiah was thirty years old when His ministry began (Luke 3:23)
Zechariah the prophet’s work was valued at thirty shekels
When Zechariah was given the money he threw it to the potter (Zechariah 11:12-13)
Judas was given 30 shekels of silver to pay for Yeshua’s betrayal (Matthew 26:15)
He hung himself and the priests used the silver to buy the potter’s field (Matt 27:9-10)
Mem: the 13th Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet
A very popular Hebrew song, taken from Isaiah, Chapter 12, verse 3, starts like this:
“You will draw water in joy from the Springs of Yeshua.”
The Jewish people don’t translate it like that. They translate the word Yeshua as triumph or victory. But Yeshua is the literal translation.
The word for water in Hebrew is the plural of Mem, Mayim.
And the word for springs starts with a Mem, Mainei.
So, what do you think is the meaning of the letter Mem?
Water! It has two forms. One is closed and the other is open.
The open one represents God’s revealed truth
The closed one, only used at the end of a word, represents God unrevealed mysteries
Torah is considered the Revealed Waters of Truth by the Jewish sages
Messiah is considered the not-yet revealed Waters of Truth
He will be revealed at the end of the age (like at the end of a word)
Messiah is considered the water carrier
According to the Hebrew sages there is no water but Torah. Yeshua is the Living Torah
Water Scriptures that reveal and confirm the truth of our Messiah Yeshua:
I will pour water upon thirst and a flood upon dryness.
I will pour My Spirit upon your seed and My Blessings upon your offspring. Isaiah 44:3
Whoever drinks of the water I will give him will never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water gushing up into eternal life. (John 4:14)
Now on the last, great day of the feast, Yeshua stood and cried out, saying,
If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. (John 7:37)
A mikveh, starting with a Mem, is supposed to change a person from impurity to purity
A mikveh, or baptism, is required for conversion to Judaism
Yeshua required a mikveh for all new believers
Mem is the number 40, and 40 is the number of transformation.
Yeshua transforms absolutely. Consider the power of transformation in these examples
Noah’s Flood lasted 40 days
Receiving the Ten Commandments, three sets of 40 days:
Moses on the mountaintop, Moses repenting, Moses back on the mountaintop
Spies scouting the Promised Land for 40 days leading to 40 years in the wilderness
Yeshua met with the disciples for 40 days after His Resurrection.
Nun, the 14th Letter in the Hebrew Alphabet
Within the holy waters of Mem, the 13th letter, the 14th letter, Nun, swims like a fish
As I began to study the letter Nun, I had a vision of a man draped over a bench, with his arms and legs dangling, being whipped mercilessly. Then, as they salted his wounds, he twisted uncontrollably. I got up to pick out the shards from his skin. As I removed the first few he disappeared, replaced by a glorious visage of God’s Light.
The position of the man looked like the letter Nun, knocked down. The experience was of Yeshua, before His crucifixion and after His Ascension. What was God telling me?
The letter Nun is identified by Jewish sages with the Aramaic word for fish, Nun. They describe these fish as eternal. Does that make sense? Eternal fish? An Aramaic word defining a Hebrew letter?
An even stranger mystery emerges. The Talmud, the foundation of Jewish education, was written in Aramaic. It was first compiled in 300 AD. In it, fish are called “Nun.” We know that Christ, as the Fisher of Men, drew all people to Himself by His wounds. The Jews reject that. Yet their sages say the final letter “Nun” in the word “Nun” represents the exultant Messiah and the first, bent over, Nun represents the suffering Messiah. Are they grasping the ungraspable?
The word Nun contains three letters, a normal, bent-over Nun, a Vav and an ending, upright Nun. A normal Nun looks like a hunched, humble person, a Vav like God’s Arm reaching down to earth, and an ending Nun like a lightning rod, going straight down from heaven to the world below, to the line of the text. The sages believe it brings the downward flow of God’s energy into the deepest abysses. They believe Messiah will bring down that flow when He comes. And they believe we will be like the first Nun, bent over and without glory, till we encounter the Vav, God’s outstretched arm, after which we will become righteous like the final Nun, helping heal the world. They understand, in letters, therefore, what they refuse to understand, in flesh. Remarkable.
In Psalm 72:17, the word “Ynun,” the future tense of “Nun,” is used. I have translated it literally, and put “Ynun” in bold. “His Name will be eternal; before the sun His Name will endure; all nations will bless themselves in Him; He leads us on the straight path.” From the “Ynun” they get the concept of eternity, which they apply to the fish, and they know Nun is talking about Messiah.
Nun is the number 50 in Hebrew.
50 days between the Feast of First Fruits and Shavuot, when the Law was given
50 days between Resurrection Sunday and Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given
50 years from one Jubilee to the next, when people were restored to their inheritance
50, Nun, is the letter and number of Freedom, of Inheritance, of Proper and Restored Relationship with our Father in Heaven.
The Story of the Second Seven Letters
Don’t you love, love, love, seeing God’s Prophetic, Redemptive Hand in everything in our lives? Watching how the details all shine out His Glory? When we find His Prophetic, Redemptive Hand in His Word … in new avenues of discovery?
The first seven letters, in summary:
1. God, the Father, created the world in Aleph.
2. He created a home where He could dwell with us, as Emanuel, Yeshua, in Beit.
3. He chased after us, in His Spirit, to bless us and teach us, in Gimel.
4. We ran away to do our “own thing” in Dalet, walking through the door of destruction, becoming poor.
5.Then, He caught up with us and embraced us in Hey,
6. Pouring His Heart of love down to us in Vav,
7. Crowning us with His glory in Zayin.
And the next seven letters.
8. He married us in Chet.
9. We became pregnant with His Seed in Tet,
10. Giving birth to His Essence in Yud,
11. Walking in the humility of His Love in Kaph,
12. Becoming His disciples in Lamed,
13. Filled with His waters of truth in Mem,
14. Swimming in His Sea of Redemption in Nun.
And now, we continue …
Samach, 15th Letter in the Hebrew Alphabet
Samach looks like a circle.
With no beginning and no end, it has no demarcations to divide time and space.
No landmarks. No points of interest. Nothing stops or interrupts its motion.
Circles represent eternity and completion in many cultures.
One can travel around them endlessly without any distractions.
But with God, eternity is full of things to observe and experience and enjoy.
How do events begin and end in a world without time? Without limits?
How is space divided when space is endless?
When our circle is complete, when we return home, we will know.
Limitless knowing in God is Samach.
Eternal, uninterrupted communion with God is Samach.
As above, so below, without any division.
In the Nun, the 14th letter, we saw the Suffering Messiah who set us free.
Now, with Samach, our holy communion goes on forever and ever. Uninterrupted.
The word “Sof,” in Hebrew, starting with a Samach, means “the end.”
“Ein Sof” means there is not end. Period. And no beginning either.
“Saviv” means round. God surrounds us.
Samach is the 15th letter of the alphabet. One is the number of God, and five is the number of Grace. Added together, 1+5=6, the number of mankind. Created on the 6th day by His outstretched arm, the letter “Vav,” God blessed the earth through us. Vav’s value is six. Mankind was created by God, His outstretched Grace, for blessings.
The numerical value of SAMECH is 60. In addition to six being the number of mankind, ten, the letter Yud, is the number of infinity, God piercing into the world. 6×10=60.
Confused? Please go back and read the explanation of Vav and Yud. That will help.
The circle: 6×10, Vav x Yud
Vav, 6: God’s strong arm establishes His kingdom on earth through the first Adam
Yud, 10: God pierces the fallen world with Himself, eternity, through the second Adam
The Samach starts the 3rd cycle of 7 letters.
Aleph began the 1st one, and spoke of God creating the universe.
Chet began the 2nd one, the letter 8, and spoke of the Bridal Canopy.
Samach began the 3rd one, and speaks of complete, eternal, restored communion with our creator.
Ayin, the 16th Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet
“If your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light.” Matthew 6:22
From Nun, we received our salvation.
Then, from Samach, we received perpetual wholeness with our LORD
Now, from Ayin, we receive the freedom, the opportunity, to see through God’s Eye
Why?
Ayin means eye and it also means fountain.
The single eye of God.
Without guile. Pure. Holy.
The eye that sees all the light of all eternity
That saw all the light of all eternity before light was even created.
The eye that sees every single thing we do
That is the Fountain of the LORD’s provision.
The fountain God gave Hagar when He saw her distress in the wilderness.
The fountain God gives us when He gives us eyes to see the world through His eye.
We have been created in His Image.
We sit beside Him on His throne.
We are literally part of His Body.
We rule with Him.
We have His eye, in our hearts, in our souls, in our spirits, with which to see mankind, to see the world, to see our friends, to see our enemies as our friends. To SEE.
We can choose:
Two eyes
In our humanity we can see the world as dual, a fight and struggle between good and evil
Or we can see the world through the single, pure eye of God, through the Tree of Life
“The light of the body is the eye. If, therefore, your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light. but if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Matthew 6:22-23
That verse is spoken right after the LORD’s prayer.
The numerical value of Ayin is 70.
70 members of Jacob’s family when he went down to Egypt
70 days Jacob was mourned by the Egyptians
70 elders saw YHVH on Mt. Sinai
70 date palms and 12 “Ayin” of water where the Israelites camped in Elim, In Exodus 15:27
70 years in Exile for the people of Judah
70 weeks for Israel to complete her transgression in Daniel 9:24-25
70 years of a man’s life in Psalm 90
To see through God’s Eye, is to see the redemptive journey with which He blesses us.
And it is the 16th letter.
1=God 6=mankind 1+6=7
7= covenant with the LORD, sitting and dwelling with Him in agreement. An eternal Shabbat
When mankind sits in covenant with God, he sees Him and sees through Him forever.
Pey, the 17th Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet
The good person, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth what is good; and the evil out of the evil brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from his abundance of heart. Luke 6:45
The word Pey means mouth.
The letter Pey means mouth, and thus it means word, expression, vocalization, speech, breath.
Pey is preceded by Ayin, the Eye (of God), in the Hebrew alphabet.
Therefore, we must see what God is showing us before we speak.
We must appreciate, learn, and appropriate His wonderful wisdom before we speak.
Through Ayin we visualize the reality God is wanting to create.
Through Pey we bring it forth into existence.
God created the world with His Word.
Afterwards, He saw that it was good.
But we first need to see His goodness.
Afterwards, we can co-create our world with Him through the words He gives us.
If we take the last seven letters and put them into a sentence, this is what we receive:
When we choose to experience God’s eternity (Yud), we learn to be victorious through our God-given humility (Kaf) , we become God’s disciples (Lamed), swimming in His Wisdom (Mem), knowing our Redeemer (Nun), dwelling with Him in uninterrupted communion (Samach), seeing the world through His Eyes (Ayin), and thereby we gain the authority to speak His Word, so that our words, in Him, never come back void (Peh).
God’s language, letters and all, speaks volumes!
The chronological number of Pey is 17.
1 = God. 7 = His covenant with us. 1+7=8.
8 = the number of new beginnings.
When we covenant with God, we enter into our new beginning.
The numerological value of Pey is 80.
Moses was 80 when he led the Israelites, when he gave us the Ten Commandments.
Joshua and Caleb were 80 when they led the Israelites into victory in the Promised Land.
Eighty can be seen as the number of declarative, God-driven, matured authority.
At the beginning or middle of a word, Pey is curled up, like a closed mouth holding onto a house.
What? Just follow along a bit more to understand….
At the end of a word, Pey is straight and strong, like an open mouth pronouncing upright words.
The closed Pey reminds us to listen before we speak, keeping our words within our “house” until they are ready to be spoken.
The ending Pey reminds us that when our mouths are ready to bring forth the praise and truth of YHVH, we should speak to bring His Glory to earth.
Beit, which means house, is what the “empty space” inside of Pey looks like. Since it is the first letter of Scripture, “B’reshit,” in the beginning, it is the seeding concept for God’s Word. Thus, Scripture is God’s Home for us, His Home for Himself within His creation, as revealed through His Mouth, His Word. When we embrace His Home within us, He gives us room to speak His homecoming to others.
Tzadi, the 18th Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet
18 means life
True life
Life lived rightly
In God
Without inhibition or fear, freely and obediently to YHVH
With righteousness
Tzadi, the 18th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, means righteousness
A righteous person living a righteous life
A tzaddik is an extension of YHVH, transformed by God to help people
A holy, set-apart person
Like Yeshua…
“Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” (Lev 11:44)
“I am YHVH who made you holy.” (Lev 22:32)
“Be holy to Me, for I, YHVH, am holy.” (Lev 20:26a)
I have separated you from the people to be mine.” (Lev 20:26b)
“I make myself holy that they also may be made holy through the truth.” John 17:19
“He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him, in Love.” Eph 1:4
The Tzaddik, holy and blameless in love, is sent out to bring God’s fullness to the world.
That person does not live for himself, but for God and for others.
Us, in Yeshua, to the extent that we submit to Him.
The process of God’s Truth as described in His letters, as fulfilled in Tzaddik, starting with Pey:
Before the mouth, before we were prepared to speak, Pey, we learned to see through the Eye of God, Ayin, live within God’s wholeness, Samach, and walk in His redemption, Nun.
We, the redeemed, are whole in God, we see through His Love, speak His truth, and are sent out in righteousness to bring God’s True Life to the world.
But in Yeshua we became a Tzaddik all at once. The process was instant.
Reborn in Messiah, we carry all of God’s righteousness within ourselves.
The only true Tzaddik dwells within us.
The whole fulfillment of the Hebrew letters is given to us within Yeshua, the only true Tzaddik.
Tzadi is the number 90. A ninety year old person is considered weak, but spiritually mature. Humble but strong in the LORD, He is considered to be in direct communion with God.
A Tzadi can take two forms: At the beginning or in the middle of a word, it is bowing on its knees. At the end of a word it stands straight. In the midst of challenges, true Tzaddiks will be on their knees, seeking the LORD for wisdom and truth. At the end, they will rise in glorious praise to their LORD and maker. But both expressions happen simultaneously and continuously. We are always seeking greater submission to the LORD and we are always standing tall in praise and worship.
The rabbis say the letter Tzadi is married to the letter Aleph, which represents God.
We are married to our Bridegroom King, bringing forth His Kingdom on earth.
Kuf, the 19th Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet
Are you a monkey? A holy, set-apart person? Or a holy monkey?
Say what????
The word Kuf means monkey. The word Kadosh, which starts with the letter Kuf, means holy.
We may begin in foolishness, but when we keep welcoming the holy fire of God, we will become holy.
After the glorious relationship with God described in the previous letter, the 18th letter, as a Tzaddik dedicated to His Will and His Ways, we come to Kuf, where we must decide our destiny.
Are we going to be monkeys, going around imitating God, doing what we think we are called to do, pretending to be Tzaddiks, with no understanding of who we really are in Christ, and no true relationship with God…
Or …
Are we going to live our lives, holy unto Him, devoted to Him, set apart for Him, as true Tzaddiks, learning more and more of His ways …
Or …
Like David, when he danced before the ark, are we going to become so “sold-out” for God that we no longer care what we look like, what we do, how we express ourselves, because we only care about God. If people think we are acting like monkeys, who cares? We are pouring out our love for God.
Loving God so passionately, choosing Him again and again, beyond rhyme or reason, regardless of the cost, is the gift of Kuf.
Visually, Kuf looks kind of like a Resh and a Vav, with the Vav hanging down below the line.
Resh means head, and it asks a question. Who is your head? Is it God, yourself, or some kind of foolishness you follow?
Vav means the Arm of God descending to earth. But this unique Vav hangs below the line, below the earth. Thus, it also asks a question. Do you, in holiness, dip down into the world of falsehood to pull others back into the truth? Do you reach out to the lost in compassion and love to bring them up? Following our Tzaddik, Yeshua’s example? Or do you fall below the line of morality, truth and love, and get lost in the ugly morass? Depending upon your head, your Resh, you will choose one way or the other. If you are a true Tzaddik, true follower of the LORD, He will sustain you and keep your head up.
Kuf’s numerological value is 100. One hundred can mean perfection or death, but 10×10 means the government of the government, God’s government over all the earth. Thus, Kuf’s message, numerologically, is the same as the message of the letter itself. It can bring us perfection, true government, or death.
Choose carefully. “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)
Let’s go back to the word Kadosh, with which we began. It is comprised of a Kuf, Dalet, Vav and Shin.
At the beginning, we are like Kufs, monkeys
Not wanting to know the difference between good and evil, we are running away from God, like a Dalet
He stops us with His Vav, His Arm of Power Grace, coming down to earth to protect us and correct us
Then His Shin, His Fire, encircles us as we are redeemed and saved.
We become Kadosh. And that’s how the monkey leads us to holiness.
Resh, the 20th Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet
Nothing to eat
No place to sleep
Destitute
No way forward
Hopeless
Resh
Put an Aleph into the middle of Resh and it becomes Rosh
Headship
Kingship
Dominion
Messiah Himself
Without Yeshua, we are destitute
Morally bankrupt
No matter how wealthy, no matter how kind, nourishing and loving, we are hopeless
Our days are numbered and our end will be merciless
Put God into the middle of our lives, and we are exalted
Glorious
Wonderful
Humble
Free
Delighted
Adored
Patient
Compassionate
Like the Kuf, which we studied in the previous lesson, Resh is a letter of decision
Will we rule together with Christ or be ruled over by evil?
Will we experience eternal destitution or eternal kinship?
The choice is ours.
“As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!“
A brief review of the last three letters:
When we become a Tzaddik, a completely sold out person for God, with no other agenda than to serve God and our fellowman, we become holy, set-apart, free, a redeemed Kuf, reliant for everything upon our Messiah, our Rosh, our Head, in YHVH, living a victorious life under YHVH’s Kingship, completely liberated.
Shin, the 21st Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet
What in the world can this letter possibly mean? All the different threads do not seem compatible!
Shin literally means tooth.
Some say it is shaped like fire.
Some say it is shaped like a crown.
It represents the triune nature of God and it represents the three patriarchs.
It is the first letter in (El) Shaddai, God Almighty, and is written on the cover of Mezuzot, the prayers Jewish people put on their doorposts, reminding them of God’s protection over their homes.
It is the first letter of
Sh’ma: Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the LORD is One
Shalom: Peace
Shabbat: Covenantal Rest.
It is the last letter of Esh, which means fire. (The first letter is Aleph, which means God the Creator)
Thus, Esh could be defined as God’s Fire.
On the prosaic side, it also means “that” or “who,” a very common preposition in modern Hebrew.
So, how do we put this together?
Here is my take on it:
Teeth are needed for chewing, especially meat. A toothy comment is one we need to chew upon. Delicious meat used to be called toothy, because people enjoyed chewing it. Regular fire cooks meat, but God’s Holy Fire cooks us, enflames us, and makes us delicious. When we speak, enflamed with God’s Spirit, God speaks through us, and our words become “toothy.” People want to chew upon what we say. Through His fire, we enter into His Triune Presence, we receive our crowns, and we know Him as our Protector, our El Shaddai, our everything. As we cast our crowns back down at His Feet, in gratitude, we hear Him, Sh’ma, we have His Peace, Shalom, and we rest in His Eternal Shabbat. God is our last word, and the last letter of His Fire is Shin.
From teeth to Fire, we are rejoicing in being eaten up by His Holy Goodness.
But with Shin, as in everything, we can remain on the surface. And even on the surface, God, El Shaddai, protects us. Even on the surface, we can eat His Meat, His Son, thank Him for the gift of eternal life, and receive His goodness. But we can dive much deeper. We can become totally engulfed in God’s Holy Furnace. Then, we become a reflection, like purified silver, of His Holiness.
I find the cost wonderfully, exhaustingly, overwhelmingly magnificent. it is worth everything it costs me, and I have never encountered anything that cost me more dearly … but oh … what it brings!
Can we even begin to count the rewards?
Note that Shin’s numerological value is 300. Three is the number of the Trinity, and it is even considered a number, in Hebrew, for the fullness of God. It includes Aleph, the Father, Beit, the Son, and Gimmel, the Holy Spirit. One hundred is 10×10. Ten means authority or power, so 100 means God’s Government, the authority of authorities.
Thus Shin represents the fullness of God’s Authority, His Government, on earth. When we serve this One, we get to co-create Heaven on Earth with Him, we get to co-conspire with Him to bring the fullness of His Kingdom, His Kingdom Authority, here. “Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Now, that adds meaning to writing it on the doorposts of our houses, and upon our gates!
Tav, the 22nd Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet
Most of us have heard the expression “the Aleph Tav, the Alpha and the Omega.”
Now, as we complete our journey through the alphabet we arrive at the Tav.
When we began our journey, with Aleph, with the Word of God as the Arm of God, we learned how YHVH broke into temporal existence to create the world, and how His spark of eternity shone both above and below. The alphabet began with God creating the universe.
Now, at the end, with Tav, we are learning about love, His Love that encompasses all of mankind. Love that embraces all of life, all of hope, all of relationships, all of goodness, all of truth and all of compassion. Love that goes beyond enterprise and entrepreneurship, but includes both, beyond anything we can understand, completely sacrificial and completely self-fulfilling at the very same time.
Christ, as our example, completely fulfilled His human purpose through His Sacrifice, and Tav represents the power of that sacrifice over our lives. It includes a Dalet, signifying errant mankind, running away from God, and a Nun, signifying God’s redemptive suffering and victory over us. We all know its self-fulfilling cost and its enormous love gift for us.
Tav includes all the messages of all the alphabet:Â
God Himself (Aleph), God creating His home with us (Beit), God chasing after us when we ran away (Gimmel), God stopping our flight (Dalet) with His embrace (Hei), God reaching down to correct and bless us (Vav), God’s victory over us (Zayin), God marrying us (Chet), God impregnating us with His Seed (Tet), God’s Seed being born through us (Yud), God teaching us humble obedience (Kaf), God’s Seed discipling us (Lamed), God’s Waters nourishing us (Mem), God’s Messiah taking all our sins and becoming victorious over us (Nun), God’s wholeness encircling us (Samach), God’s Eye watching over us (Ayin), God speaking through us (Pey,) God’s wisdom transforming the world through us (Tzaddi), God giving us His Holiness (Kuf), God being our head (Resh), God being both our fire and our ability to chew His food (Shin).
Tav is all of that because Tav is truth.
The first letter of Truth, EMET, is Aleph.
The second letter of Truth is Mem, which is in the middle of the Hebrew alphabet
The third letter is Tav, which completes our journey, as above so below.
The truth of a journey is often discovered only at its completion.
Tav, numerologically, is 400, which represents the completion of trials.
God promised Abraham his descendants would spend 400 years in bondage before arriving home.
David had 400 men when he was running away from Saul.
The Second Temple was dedicated with 400 lambs.
In Paleo Hebrew, the Tav looks like a cross. So, in completion, Tav, the truth, represents the Cross.
The letters make this glorious paragraph: God Himself created the universe and made us a home. He chased after us when we ran away, and stopped our flight with His embrace. He reached down from heaven to proclaim His Victory over us, marrying us, then impregnating us with His Seed, until we birthed Him as a human being. God teaches us to walk humbly before Him. He disciples us, washes us clean in His waters, and destroys all of our sins in His victory over us. His wholeness encircles us, we learn to see through His Eye of Wisdom, Hecauses us to speak His Truth,His wisdom transforms the world through us, He gives us His Holiness, being our head, our fire and our truth.
Blessings and love!
I pray you have been blessed and encouraged!
Shalom!
Wendy Cohen
FREEDOM 
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