Where does 'additional meaning' come from?
In order for God to hide a riddle in the historical events, there must be meaning hidden inside the symbols (numbers, letters and words) which relate those ideas.
Often the accusation of eisegesis, putting meaning into a text, is leveled at the New Testament authors' method of interpreting scripture. But the meaning is already there and made available to create the riddles. We need only observe them.
These are some the attributes of letters which already have meaning. They were available to the New Testament authors:
Order or position in the alphabet
The first letter of the Greek alphabet is the alpha, in Hebrew it is called aleph א. The last letter is the omega, in Hebrew the last is the tov ת or the final shin, depending if you are speaking of letters or numbers.
John refers to Jesus as the 'alpha and omega'. Ensuring that we don't miss the use of the meaning, he says 'the first and the last'. [1][2][3][4]
John (or Jesus) did not invent the use of the letters as numbers. The alphabets have order. The Hebrew letters are also the numbers. 'Alpha and omega' in Greek is a translation of 'aleph-tov' in Hebrew. Teh word spelled aleph-tov את often goes untranslated because the translators did not understand the mystery. It is properly translated as 'the beginning and end'.
In Genesis 1:1 it occurs twice. We can read it as: In the beginning, God created the beginning and end of the heavens, and the beginning and end of the earth.
The first sentence God gave to man implies that he is outside of time, and that in a timeless eternity, he has already accomplished his purposes. [5]
A number value
Since Hebrew letters are numbers, the New Testament authors sometimes use 'Gematria' in a limited fashion. The rabbis spoil the soup by using it in ways that cause confusion.
John says that there are three testimonies in heaven and three in earth. He has formed a doctrine based in notarikon (to be addressed below) and in gematria.
The word for heaven is שמים. It has a number value of 390 : 300 + 40 + 10 + 40 which reduces to 3: 3+9+0= 12 1+2=3. [6] The word for 'earth' ארץ also has gematria of 3. 1+200+90= 291:: 2+9+1= 12; 1+2 = 3.
A meaning using notarikon
'Notarikon' is the practice of observing meaning in the parts. Letters derive their meaning from the strokes.
Matthew uses the notarikon of the letter shin ש when he says that Jesus was named 'Yeshua' to fulfill a promise he would be called 'Emmanuel'. The strokes of the shin ש has the Word coming to earth, then returning with an increase. The implication is that Christ has obtained his bride. Now his name sounds like 'Yahweh' with a marriage in the center, or in his heart.
The meaning of it's name
The name of a letter can be spelled out. In English we can spell 'ay', 'bee' 'cee', etc. The letter aleph א has the name 'aleph'. The song "Doe, Ray, Me" plays on the meaning of the names of the English names for notes. Likewise in Hebrew, the names have meaning. 'Aleph' אלפ means 'one thousand'.
To see the 'first and the last' in a different way, we need to know that the last letter of the number sequence is the final shim which has a value of 1000.
The letter aleph א has the value of '1', and it's name 'aleph' אלפ means 1000 same as the number value of the final shin. The aleph, by itself, also says 'first and the last'.
The number of it's name
This phrase is used in Rev 13:17. [7]
It refers to the gematria of the name. The name of the letter aleph is אלפ which has the gematria of 3: 1+30+80=111 ; 1+1+1= 3.
The formation (or notarikon) of the name
The sub-parts of the name 'aleph' are seen below:
one thousand אלפ
- א-לפ -
- אל-פ -
אל |
prophecy fulfilled/ended ף
- א-ל-פ -
- א(ל)פ -
אפ |
taught, to, teaching ל
Can you see hints of the beginning and the end in the various 'break-outs'?
Puns
Learning word-play, puns and riddles are critical for language understanding. Unfortunately, the early Gentile-Greek church, did not wish to learn Hebrew. By about 400 A.D., Jerome could not find any Hebrew speaking believers in the church. Since then, Greek studies have focused on the 'scholarly' and precise meaning of words, preferring the Septuagint over the original Hebrew.
Actual Hebrew studies are of modern origin crippled by the fact that it was a dead language and was resurrected with the modern Zionist movements by non-Christian Jews. There is little motivation that the goyim (Gentiles) should be taught to understand Hebrew well. Often road-blocks and distractions from rabbis make learning Hebrew well, a difficult proposition.
A child hearing John the Baptist proclaim "Behold! The Lamb of God!" might have heard him say "Behold! The Word of God!", but this is hidden from the modern scholar by the unfortunate addition of a second set of vowels about 600 A.D.. It is further hidden by the 'scholarly' opinion that Hebrew and Aramaic are different languages rather than Aramaic being more like a Bostonian accent, or southern drawl, to Hebrew.
The word 'amar' אמר meaning 'word' is indistinguishable in writing from the word 'emeer' אמר meaning 'lamb' when the late vowels are dropped. This type of 'punning' is not really punning, since they are the same word and have the same notarikon or formation.
The Hebrew child, upon hearing 'Yeshua' might have heard the true pun 'Yah shuach' meaning 'God humbled', a hint to his incarnation which is truly 'God with us'.
It appears that the substitution of an aleph א for an ayin ע is an intentional device in the language of God to distinguish between the spiritual and fleshly meaning of a root word. The swapping of a 'he' ה and a 'chet' ח distinguishes betwwen ignorance and understanding.
There are many such mechanisms which seem to be systemic, owing their consistency to the nature of the Hebrew language observable in formations and notarikon.
Pattern
Pattern is prophecy. God doesn't say something once, but expresses the same idea repeatedly. The idea can be found in a letter, word, sentence, or section of scripture. It can be observed in plain language, riddles, figures, shadows, types, and even in the lives of the people within scripture as though they were parables.
It is the repetition or recapitulation of an idea in various ways that calls attention to the idea. The joining of the various artifacts clarifies the idea. It is like placing transparencies on top of one another, where each just has a part of the idea expressed.
There were three women at the same well. Rebekah, Rachel, and the woman at Sychar. Rebekah and Rachel are separated by a generation and a few chapters. The woman at Sychar is separated by a few thousand years, a different author and book, and a different culture and language. Yet the well joins them into a pattern.
Rebekah was chosen by the Father; Rachel was wooed and worked for by the Son. 'Sychar' means 'intoxicated' as a hint of Pentecost and the workings of the Holy Spirit. It is there that the bride was gathered to the Son.
It is the pattern that adds meaning to the bare text. Rather than being a raw history of the workings of men, it is a rich history of the workings of God. The condition of the well and circumstances around each event are illuminating.
References
- ↑ Re 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
- ↑ Re 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
- ↑ Re 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
- ↑ Re 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
- ↑ Nu 23:19 God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
- ↑ John used the system of Gematria where final form letters have the same value as the normal form letters.
- ↑ Re 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
