Chapter 1.1.0 Recognizing the alphabet
God spoke and created the heavens and the earth. In order to speak, he had to have words. His words must be a part of him and must be eternal since they existed before he created. Furthermore, all the words of God are referred to in the singular. [1] The Word of God is eternal like God and is also the agent by which all creation was made. [2]
Since the Word IS God, all the things that make the Word of God must also be God. The Letters also predate creation. Individually and in combination forming the various words of God, they reveal God. Each letter is a metaphor which speaks of God. As with any metaphor, the actual expression has primary and secondary meanings.
Letters too, require strokes to express them, and they too are a part of the Word's revelation. This section will begin with the strokes, and build the letters. Initially, the focus will be on the strokes, ignoring the order of the letters. Then the letters will be considered in order. You need not learn the strokes and letters, but must have a confidence in the consistency of the use of the metaphors as words are build. Initially it may seem strange, but as you see it come together, as no other language does, it is appropriate to be in awe of God.
The square letters
The square script, also known as block script is called the Ashuri script by Jewish sages, who purport to believe that it originated with the Assyrians. However, others Jewish sages suggest that it originated with God. The evidence they site is that here is no known sacred text written in the supposedly earlier paleo-Hebrew script. The idea that the Jews would write their most sacred texts in the language of their captors is as unbelievable as the claim that American Indian Jews wrote their sacred writings in Reformed Egyptian.
Why does it matter if it originated by the Assyrians or by God? Because the Biblical claim is that God revealed himself to man. How could this occur if they did not have a common language? The Bible related conversations that God had with various men. If we can't trust that these conversations are recorded accurately, how can we trust the salvation offered by those conversations.
The template
The letters are formed around a square. There are generally drawn and interpreted from the top left corner to the top right corner. Then down the right side, to the left across the bottom, and up the left side. The top horizontal represents that which can be known about heavenly or spiritual things. The lower represents earthly things or things of the flesh. God communicates with man down the right side, and man communicates back to God up the left side.
There are two primary strokes, and two primary corners. A short stroke is a yud. It is the tenth letter of the alphabet. A long stroke is a vav; the sixth letter. There is a square, and a rounded corner. The square corner indicates a partial communicatio such as a command, or teaching. The rounded corner indicates that the communication includes personality, we will call it revelation.
Examine some clusters of letters:
- יון
References
- ↑ Ps 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
- ↑ 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.
