Chapter 1.1.11 Aleph א
- Contents
- Section 1: How we got the Bible
- Part 1.1: God invented an alphabet
- Chapter 1.1.11 Aleph א
- Part 1.1: God invented an alphabet
- Section 1: How we got the Bible
Contents
Primary metaphor
The aleph is first noticed by it's absence in the beginning of Genesis 1:1 which starts with the bet; the second letter of the alphabet. Modern rabbis remember to ask the question; Why does it not start with the aleph (the first letter), but they do not remember the proper answer. They attribute personality to the letter and say that it was humble. Others say it is a reminder not to speculate what came before. [1]
It's meaning from the strokes, as seen previously, is: God spoke and created the heavens and the earth. Being a silent letter (not pronounced) and in Genesis 1:1 an absent letter or invisible letter, it means that when God spoke and created the heavens and the earth, there was no one there to see or hear him do it. [2]
The first visible aleph is in the first word of Ge 1:1 בראשית bereshith 'in the beginning'. In sequence, letter by letter bereshith says, a revelation to man ב, it is revealed that ר, God spoke and created the heavens and the earth א. It has the same meaning as the first invisible occurrence.
It can also be read in combination with other letters from bereshith.
Aleph as God spoke and created...
bar-a בר-א
the son בר spoke and created the heavens and the earth א. [3]
bara ברא
created. Previously stated, the Word pre-existed creation. And since words are used to make the Father known, and only the Son makes him known, the Word is the Son AND the Son is the Word. The word bara says that the son created, but it also says the Word created or the Word who created. The aleph has the same meaning as before.
ra רא
see. Seeing is a metaphor for understanding. [4] By the letters: it is revealed ר that God spoke and created the heavens and the earth. True understanding comes from acknowledging that God alone is the creator God. [5]
rash ראש
head. Seeing רא that did not return void ש; understanding that was put into action. The aleph carries its meaning as it is embedded in the ra רא. What happens if a revelation returns but does not have the aleph in the middle? If there is no acknowledgement of God as the creator? The word resh רש (dropping the aleph from the middle) means destitute and evict. If one returns to God and does not acknowledge him as God hes is evicted and destitute.
at את
eternal or everything/all. This word is not translated, but it means from when God spoke and created until his work was completed or from beginning to end. It is every thing and every time.
Aleph secondary metaphors
Aleph as separation between heaven and earth
The primary metaphor speaks of the creation of everything in heaven and earth. They are separated in creation but also joined as one creation.
Aleph as the separation between light and dark
One of the main tropes of the Bible is that of light and dark. Light represents the holiness of God and dark represents his love/grace. Throughout the law are prohibitions against mixing. These prohibitions are against mixing law and grace. When men mix then they become confused. If a judge sets a criminal free, men do not marvel at the wonderful grace... they complain that there is no justice. But if they are the criminal and not set free, they do not praise the wonderful justice, but complain that there is no mercy. [6]
Spirit
John uses the aleph in the word for earth ארץ to represent the Spirit. [7] The other two letters represent the water and the blood. Similarly he derives Father, Son and Holy Ghost from the word for heaven שמים. [8]
John is teaching us to use the metaphor as we read scripture. The vav separates two things and joins them. Originally it was the word which separated the heavens and earth in creation. Here it is the Spirit between two waters. [9]
Firmament
It is the firmament between two waters. [10] Sometimes the focus is on the firmament reconciling the two things rather than dividing. So although it CAN mean war, it can also mean peace. The context is king.
It can refer to the one who created or the creation, the time of creation (the beginning), the river between two lands, or the thing that divides two nations in war or joins them in peace.
War
One extra-biblical author uses the aleph for war. [11] This symbol agrees with biblical doctrine of a war between God and man, the spirit and the flesh. [12]
It is more significant to observe that the author of the Gospel of Thomas was familiar with the metaphoric nature of the alphabet letters, and that his usage is consistent with that of the New Testament authors.
References
- ↑ http://jewishexponent.com/so-why-it-torah-begins-%E2%80%98bet%E2%80%99
- ↑ Job 38:4 ¶ Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
- ↑ Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
- ↑ Isa 41:20 That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, ....
- ↑ Isa 43:10 Ye [are] my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I [am] he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
- ↑ Ge 1:3 ¶ And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. Ge 1:4 And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness. Ge 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
- ↑ 1Jo 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
- ↑ 1Jo 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
- ↑ Ge 1:2... And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
- ↑ Ge 1:6 ¶ And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
- ↑ Gospel of Thomas saying 16: Jesus said, "Men think, perhaps, that it is peace which I have come to cast upon the world. They do not know that it is dissension which I have come to cast upon the earth: fire, sword, and war. For there will be five in a house: three will be against two, and two against three, the father against the son, and the son against the father. And they will stand solitary."
- ↑ Ro 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
