Something cool about the Ancient Hebrew Pictographs

As I was beginning my Torah study this morning, I began to look at some words in the ancient Hebrew pictographic Alefbet (alphabet). How was the word "Torah" represented in the ancient characters and what were their combined meaning? Generally, the Hebrew meaning of the word "Torah" is instruction or teaching. But there is a deeper meaning that is brought out only in the ancient pictographic characters.

Hebrew is the only language in the world where the letters and the characters represent letters and meanings at the same time. For example, the letter "bet" corresponds to our letter B. In Hebrew, the letter "bet" has a "b" sound and is used as a letter in forming words. But, it's pictograph is the picture of a floor plan of a tent. The meaning of the letter "bet" is "house, home, abode or family." Similarly, the Alef (our A) which is depicted as an ox head in the ancient characters, means "head, first or mighty one". The Hebrew word for father is written Ab. It's ancient meaning was "the head of the household or family".

So, looking at the word "Torah" in the ancient pictographic Alef-bet, the word Torah is spelled Tav vav resh hey. I can't show the ancient characters as this blog doesn't support them, so I will just describe them. The first letter is 'Tav' which corresponds to our letter 'T'. It's ancient meaning was "Covenant or sign of the covenant". Our next letter is a 'vav'. It's symbol is a "tent peg or nail." It is pronounced here like our letter O. Next, we have the letter "resh" which is depicted as the head of a man, It meant "person, first, head or beginning."  And finally, we have the letter "hey". It is shown as a man with his arms raised and means "Behold, look, see." This is probably where our English expression "Hey!" comes from.

Now for the neat part, we can put these meanings all together and we have "Behold! A man nailed to a cross." The cross is the sign of our covenant with YHWH. Who was it that was given for a covenant for the people?

Isa 49:8 Thus saith YHWH, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped there: and I will preserve these, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

And also:

Isa 42:6  I YHWH have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Isa 42:7  To open the blind eyes, to being out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

Who does this refer to? It is Yahshua, our Messiah. He is the living Torah. Consider the following verse of scripture:

Psa 119:142  Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy Torah is the truth. 

Most translations still unfortunately translate "Torah" as "law". It gives a false understanding of the word "law" in the New Testament where it should have been translated "Torah".

We are all familiar with this verse:

Joh 14:6  Yahushua saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Now we see Torah is equated with truth in Psa 119. Didn't Yahshua say HE was the way, the TRUTH and the life? Yahshua is the living Torah. It is all about him from Genesis to Revelation. The whole Bible can be considered "Torah" as it contains the instructions of how YHWH expects us to live our lives. It is our instruction manual.


Now this brings me to the word "truth". In Hebrew, the word is "Emet", spelled Alef Mem Tav. We have the Alef for our mighty one, in this case YHWH or Yahshua. The "mem" is the 'essence, being and spirit". And lastly, the "tav" represents the covenant. When we put all of the letters and meanings together, we see it means "Truth is the spirit of YHWH/Yahshua."So we can conclude that the Torah is the Spirit of YHWH.

Incidentally, the 'mem' also represents water in Hebrew and is symbolic of the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh), not oil as is commonly taught. Oil in scripture represents the "Torah".

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Joh 7:39  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Yahushua was not yet glorified.)

And one more for dessert....

The Alef Tav means the "Mighty one of the Covenant". Yahshua said he was the alef tav or as it is written in the Greek, the alpha and omega. Yahshua is the mighty one of the covenant. Halleluyah - praise Yah!.

Sorry I couldn't use the ancient Semite character font, but it isn't allowed on this blog format.

Blessings,

Brick Parrish