A Little Snippet, part 8

Let’s look at the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet: aleph. Verse 1 of Genesis says: “In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heaven and the earth.” Elohim starts with aleph, in fact many of God’s names start with aleph: El (God, Mighty One), El Shaddai (God Almighty), El Olam (God Everlasting), El Elyon (God Most High). Also many facets of God’s nature begin with this letter in Hebrew: love, light, truth, faith, Sovereign Lord.

When you write the three letters in Hebrew that spell “aleph” you get 3 different words - eleph which mean “ox” or “thousand”, alaph which means “teach”, “learn” or “tame”, and aluph which means “prince”, “chief”, “leader”, “master”, “ruler”, “guide” and “teacher”. The first one, eleph, may seem weird at first if you’re trying to relate the letters to Biblical symbolism. However, an ox signified strength. It was the chief domesticated animal of the time and had to be “tamed”. That brings us to the second word, alaph, which means “tame” as well as “teach” and “learn” with the idea of learning by association. The last word, aluph (prince, leader, etc.), appears in Genesis 52 times, that’s 64% of all the times it appears in the entire Bible. I think Genesis is showing us very clearly who our leader, master and guide is: God.
(excerpt from pre-published edition of CROSSING THE SCRIPTURES by Debra Chapoton, copyright 2011.)