In the beginning

The Gospels capture the teaching of the apostles over time. Mark wrote first when the study of the mystery was still new. At that point, the apostles were teaching that the story of Christ began with the preaching of John the Baptist. That was in the forefront of their memories; some of them having been disciples of John.

When Matthew wrote 10 or 15 years later, their ability to understand the mystery had progressed. We should not assume that the authors wrote in isolation. Apart from those who disappeared into the far reaches, like Thomas who went to India, most were in communication with each other such that a council could be called in Jerusalem. Matthew was able to push the story of Christ back to Abraham. We can identify the hermeneutical tools that Matthew had learned that Mark did not have available from the differences in the way they handle Old Testament scriptures or added material from their memory about things Jesus did.

Luke had even more tools available, and another 10-15 years of study, to push the beginning of the story back to Adam.

John was the master of the mystery. Though there are many speculations where he got the idea of the Logos or the 'Word' in John 1:1, now that the mystery can be read, it is plain that he got it from Genesis 1:1 and from the Hebrew words themselves. Some of the tools he used to exegete his doctrine are still used by rabbis today, though they twist them to hide Christ. Our chapter on the dietary law instructed us that the rabbis do not make good teachers. Some will turn to them because of curiosity, or scholarly research to validate claims made here. Do so with care. Do not apply any method that they teach which you do not find practiced by the New Testament authors. They have perverted the teaching. Rabbi Blech provides several examples:

Rabbi Benjamin Blech examines the name Israel ישראל. He says it is an anagram for the names of the three patriarchs and four matriarchs of the nation of Israel. The yod יis for Jacob and Isaak. The shin is for Sarah. The rosh ר is for Rebekah and Rachel. The aleph א is for Abraham. And the lamed ל is for Leah.

So far this type of Anagram is not found in the New Testament. And it really is a bad anagram. Five letters represent seven people. What is there to constrain it to seven, can we add more people to make it twelve? They are not in any kind of order. Men and women are mixed; Sarah comes before Abraham. This has all the red flags of a free for all.

Blech notices that Israel starts with the smallest letter and ends in the largest letter signifying the humble beginnings a glorious destiny for the nation of Israel. Jesus said that all the scriptures spoke of him. Blech has the wrong focus.

Blech calls out that the word for 'honesty' is yashar ישר , using the first three letters of Israel. Now he is doing it right. Words derive their meaning from the meaning of the roots, gates and letters within. A root is a three letter combination which gets it's meaning from the gates and letters. A gate is a two letter combination which gets it's meaning from the letters. Israel is the 'integrity of God'; yashar-el. We don't rely solely upon the meaning derived this way. It is validated in other scripture.

Moses made the appeal to God's integrity before the Egyptians, when God was about to destroy Israel for worshiping the golden calf. Though Israel deserved to be destroyed, God had made a promise to Abraham. The reality of the situation is that God could have fulfilled (and did fulfill) his promise without the nation of Israel. But he honored Moses appeal because Moses was concerned about what it would look like to the Egyptians of his day who would not see the ultimate fulfillment.

The most egregious violation Blech makes is by scrambling the letters to לי ראש meaning 'I have a head'. This is pure nonsense. The order of letters is important when the meaning is combined to form a word. In the two-letter gate, if the order is reversed, there is a reversal in the sense of the meaning. Ab אב for father means 'After he created the heavens and the earth א he revealed himself to man ב.' God took the initiative to introduce himself. If the letters are reversed to form ba בא it means 'come'. Now it is an invitation. The sense has been reversed. Blech violates the very principle of Hebrew word formation.

Following the teaching of the rabbis, who refuse to acknowledge Christ, will only lead to confusion. Only use those tools demonstrated by the New Testament authors.

John's doctrine

Joh 1:1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Joh 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God. Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. Joh 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Like Paul, John taught from the Old Testament Without knowing Johns's methods of interpretation, it is nearly impossible to discover his source.

First we will examine the individual letters within the first three words of Genesis 1:1, Then we will extricate the doctrine of John from those same three words, using the tools demonstrated in other articles.

Letters: The foundation of meaning

Mt 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Yod י: the jot

The yod is conceptually an infinitesimally small dot. That is difficult to draw and even harder to see, so the yod is used to represent it. To the Greeks it is the iota. In English we call it a jot. It represents the first idea that God had for creation. It is pronounced yah;one of the names of God, and is a vowel, using only breath to form the sound. It signifies that God is spirit (the same word as breath).

As a metaphor, it can be used as a subject when referring to God; the one who created. It can be used as the completed action of creating, or as the subject of creation. It can even be used as an adjective to describe something new.

Vav ו: the tittle

The vav ו looks like an extended yod י. It is. It is like the first words God spoke to create the universe. It is the action which created, where the yod is the person who created. It is the horn of revelation declaring that God alone is God. The rabbis say that the vav looks like a horn. The horns in the Bible are declarations of God.

As a prefix, the vav is translated 'and'. Like the word 'and', the vav divides two things and joins them in order to clarify or makes things more understandable. It tears them apart and puts them together.

It also is a vowel, pronounced waw. All the other letters of the Hebrew alphabet are formed with yods and vavs. It is said that Hebrew has no vowels. this is patnt nonsense. You cannot pronounce words without vowels. But every letter, since it is formed by vowels, and consonants are formed by interrupting breath or vowels, ... every letter has embedded vowels. Other conventions indicate if the vowel should be pronounced before or after the consonant.

Since the vav clarifies things, it can be 'translated' as ' a certain' or a 'distinct' something.

Aleph א

The aleph א is a silent letter. The proper answer to an ancient riddle says that Genesis 1 starts with an invisible aleph, it being the first letter of the alphabet.

It is formed with a yod-vav-yod where the vav separates two yods or 'creations'. Since there is only one creation, this is interpreted as separating two aspects or views of the one creation. This thought is expressed in multiple ways:

God spoke and created the heavens and the earth

The waters above were separated from the waters below

The Spirit hovered between the waters

The firmament was between the waters

There was war between heaven and earth

The aleph can be translated as 'I'. Hidden in the aleph is the name of God he gave him self before creation. Because the aleph is a silent letter, you cannot say his name. If we try to pronounce the yod-vav-yod which form the aleph, it would sound something like 'ee-oo-ee' which is very similar to Yahweh. It is a matter of myth that we can't say 'Yahweh', because this is the name God told Moses to call him. We really can't say his name in the aleph, because the aleph is silent.

Shin ש

The shin ש is formed with a vav ו descending on the right, and a zayin ז returning on the left. Attached is a second zayin ז returning with the first. As a metaphor is speaks of the word of God coming to earth, and then returning with an increase .

This metaphor can be expressed in several ways:

It is Christ (the Word) returning with his bride which is like him .

It is the Spirit giving the bride life enabling her to return with Christ

It is an expression of the marriage of Christ and his bride.

Dalet ד and rosh ר

These letters represent a communication from God. Notice the top right corner of the dalet ד is a right angle, and it is rounded for the rosh ר. The rosh is a communication with personality. It is God walking in the garden with Adam, or the three visitors to Abraham. You can ask questions to a rosh kind of communication. In these writings the word 'revelation' is used as a technical term to express the idea of the rosh.

The dalet, with the square corner, is less than this. It is a command. It expresses the idea of God speaking the world into existence or of giving the law. There is no dialog with a dalet kind of experience. Yes, in the general usage, there are revelations. For clarity sake, 'command' is used for a dalet kind of experience.

He ה

The he ה is formed with a dalet and a vav returning part way up the left side. It represents 'hearing' as in the sheep hearing his voice Though the sheep hear his voice, the do not understand the words. The short vav returning on the left signifies only a partial response.

Final Mem ם

Some letters have two forms; one when found inside a word and one when placed at the end of a word. Since the meaning of the letter is formed by the strokes which form it, a letter and it's final form have a related meaning, but it is different. The final mem ם is formed by connecting a kof כ and a zayin ז at the top and bottom. The mem מ is formed by connecting them only at the top. Both letters represent the marriage of the Son of God כ to his bride ז. The mem is a metaphor for the Father arranging the marriage. The final mem symbolizes the completion of the marriage in the flesh, being connected at the bottom.

Rosh ר

The difference between a dalet ד and a rosh ר is that the top right corner is square for the dalet ד and rounded for the rosh ר. They both represent a communication from God, but the dalet with the square corner is like a command; God spoke and formed the universe, or he gave the commandments to Moses. The rosh is like a personal communication with dialog; God walking with Adam in the garden. In these writings 'commandment' will be used for the dalet and 'revelation' will be used for the rosh.

Bet ב

The Hebrew letters are formed using a square template. They are called the square text letters. There are other forms of Hebrew writing used in common discourse, but the square text letters are the sacred letters. They are the letters which were formed on the tablets of Genesis and the scrolls of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. They were only seen by a few since the writings were kept by a few men and eventually hidden in the temple. They only show up late in archeology when Israel went into captivity and their captors defiled the holy implements of the temple by using them in parties. The defiled the language by using it for common discourse.

The stokes obtain their meaning from the location within the square template. The upper horizontal stroke re-presents heavenly things which can be known about God. The lower horizontal represent earthly things. The right vertical comes down from heaven to earth. The left vertical returns to God. In the letter he it only returns part way up, signifying that there is only a partial return or response, since the commandment is not understood.

The bet ב is a rosh ר which connects to a lower horizontal. The rosh is 'a revelation' and the bet is 'a revelation to man'. The focuss of the revelation is now upon the one receiving it.

Tov ת

Lamed ל

Genesis 1:1

Ge 1:1 In the beginning God... Bereshith bara elohim בראשית ברא אלהים

References