Revelation 1:8. Alpha and
Omega: “I am Alpha and Omega.”
This utterance,
the first of the utterances of God in the Book of Revelation, seems to be saying, not only
the awesome title “I Am,” but also
that “I Am the Alphabet,” since alpha and omega are the names of the first and
last letters of the Greek alphabet. This is a puzzling statement unless
and until we understand the significance of the alphabet as it is used in this
context.[i]
The alphabet is a
fit symbol of Christ for it is both human and divine. From its
earthly mother it inherits its practical, utilitarian and mathematical nature;
from God the Father of it and all other Lights, it inherits its generative
powers to reproduce spiritual things: Wisdom, Truth, Beauty, Inspiration, Faith, Hope,
and Charity.
We must receive
this revelation of Christ by examining the words in their context. The
context must not be sought in the later speculations of Pharisaic Judaism.[ii] The
usage in the Book of Revelation is not related to the
later mystical writings of the Gnostics nor the magical writings of the Kabbalists.[iii] [Kabbalah (Cabalah) is the system of magical, occult practices, using the
Hebrew alphabet for witchcraft and other occult practices in Judaism.] We
must rather look to the canonical Scriptures and to the historical and cultural
milieu preceding and during the time
of the writing of the Book of Revelation. We totally reject the occult use of the alphabet as practiced by the
Kabbalists even today.
Based upon the premise that the book was originally written in Hebrew, we should translate the
alphabetic terms back to the Hebrew. The equivalent
of alpha and omega in Hebrew is aleph
and tau. The aleph and tau, being the
first and last letters, represents the entire alphabet and is no doubt the
Hebrew word for alphabet. The word we
translate and is represented in
Hebrew by the letter vau, giving us
the three letters aleph, vau, and tau. These three letters, so arranged, spell the word translated sign, or transliterated ’ôwth, or the alternate shortened
spelling ’ôth.[iv]
We may readily see
that as aleph-vau-tau Christ is the totality of every word
that may be uttered, written, or read. He is The Word. However, there are
aspects of the ancient alphabet that are difficult to translate. One of those
is the fact that the oldest alphabets were not only letters, but were also
numerals. As the numerals, Christ is the entire realm of all that can be
measured or quantified, that is, all mathematics and science. But this is not
yet all that the term aleph-vau-tau
indicates, for in the earliest traceable stages, the alphabet was also the
means of designating the time-telling stars and constellations in their
time-telling movements as well as their function in navigation and cartography,
(Seiss, 177).[v]
Even now there is
a system for naming stars that uses the Greek alphabet – roughly in order of
their brightness within a constellation: alpha,
beta, gamma, … etc. To sum it up, as aleph-vau-tau,
Christ is All and in All: The Word, Time, Space, Wisdom, Life.
Origen in his Commentary said that the canonical books of the Hebrew Bible were twenty-two, “like the
letters of their alphabet.”[vi] This
was a fact noted also by Josephus and other writers of that era.
It indicates that they considered the alphabet as representing a totality; that
is, the complete Scriptures were contained in the twenty-two letters of the
alphabet.
The Semitic
alphabet has spread throughout the world to many languages and cultures
Consequently, it has been used in multitudes of ways and has followed various
lines of development. Much of the original idea of the alphabet has been lost
in some of its lines of transmission. Here I will try to show what the original
alphabetic idea is in the canonical Scriptures and how it is used as a fit
symbol of Christ in that context.
The Word ’Oth
(Aleph-Vau-Tau)
In Genesis 1:14 we have the account of the
creation of signs. The lights of the heavens, the sun, moon, and stars were
created for signs, ’othoth, plural of
᾽oth.
This plural represents the grouping, or pluralizing of the alphabetic
signs, creating the constellations.
These signs were for two purposes: to mark time, designating the times and seasons, and to give light,
separating the light from the darkness, (Gen. 1:14). From the creation, the signs, the aleph
ve tau, the alphabet, was intended to be both numerals and letters
witnessing to and symbolizing the Logos of the Most High God.[vii]
As time markers, they fulfilled a numeric function, to mark day and
night and the seasons of the year. As light-givers they were to fulfill a
literary and artistic function: to give Light on the earth and to separate Light from
darkness physically, and wisdom from ignorance intellectually. The original
alphabet represented these two distinct rays, the numerical, which first found
expression in the time-reckoning function and later in other mathematical uses,
and the linguistic, expressed in writing. At this first stage it should perhaps
be called the “numero/alphabet.” The original idea of the numero/alphabet
represented the idea of order.
As signs, these
highest of all symbols, were created as a witness of and to the Most High God,
to teach and to inspire worship. We should therefore not wonder that they have
been prostituted to idol worship throughout history in many cultures of the
world. That is all the more reason we should appropriate them, as symbols, to
the worship of Christ, their
legitimate and intended use.
But the plural
form, ’othoth, may be a reduplication
of the form which was already intended to be a plural; that is, the original
root may have simply been the single letter aleph.
Adding the feminine plural morpheme –oth
would make the word mean “plural aleph(im).”
Sometime later, however, the form came to be understood as a singular and a
reduplicated plural morpheme –oth was
added. Such reduplications are attested many times in historical linguistics.
If this be the
case, the original aleph would have
had the meaning “sign,” and its plural would have been “signs.” The original plural, then, aleph ve tau, would have indicated the
signs of the alphabet, from aleph,
the first letter, to tau the last
letter. The word ᾽oth would therefore
mean “the alphabet as signs.”
Evidence that this
was indeed the case comes from the form ᾽au
and tau both of which mean “a sign,
mark.” The original plural of aleph then was the feminine form ’oth and the original of tau was the masculine tam meaning “finished, complete.” The aleph
began the circle and the tam
completed the circle at the same point, making aleph ve tau the description of a single point of the completed circle, and thus of the
circle itself, the complete alphabet. This is clearly what Christ meant when He said: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending”; that is, that the ending and the beginning were one and the same point.[viii]
Christ became the overlapping anchor between the “this age” and “the age to
come.” 2 Esdras 6:7 shows that the “dividing of times” means “the end of the
first age and the beginning of the age that follows.”
Seiss says that, due to the proclivity
of the Jews to idolatrous worship of the heavenly bodies, all the figures of
the zodiac were erased and the Hebrew alphabet was substituted in
their place, (p. 177). Seiss’ view is perhaps an
anachronism, for the more likely scenario was that the zodiac signs were from
the creation first designated by the Hebrew alphabet and only when the Hebrews fell into idol worship did they
use the signs of the Greek zodiac, the circle of animals. In other words, the Greed zodiac was a later development of what was originally the Hebrew alphabet.
Some history of
the alphabet will help to demonstrate its significance as a symbol of Christ. The alphabet did not originate as the phonetic system we have today
which roughly represents speech sounds. It had a long history before it reached
the phonetic stage of development. As
the handwriting of God upon the
heavens, it was universally significant to all mankind. Being able to read
the signs of the heavens and to know the seasons was a matter of life or death
as well as a spiritual experience. Having already acquired this basic significance,
it was ideally suited to go into the whole world when it developed into a
phonetic system.
The primal idea of the alphabet was that of an immutable order, an order witnessed to by the order of the
time-indicating signs of the heavens. Possibly the first
use of the graphic symbols of the alphabet was as numerals for counting and
naming this ordered series of the progression of time-indicators, the sun, moon
and constellations for time-reckoning, that is, the days, months and years, for
example, “day one,” “day two,” as in Genesis chapter one.
As symbols of
order, it consequently became a mnemonic device for memory units of all kinds.[ix] In time
the mnemonic use of these signs for oral literary and historical units
developed into semasiographic writing,[x] which,
at some point, produced the idea of correlating the signs with speech sounds.
At this point the alphabet became phonetic as we know it today.[xi]
The major steps in
the history of the development of the alphabet as it progressed through a
continual differentiation of usage, meaning, and signs is somewhat parallel to
the ever-increasing Light of Christ.
[i] See also my
Commentary on Revelation 1:7, “Coming.” In the Hebrew alphabet the first letter is called Aleph and the last letter is called Tau. The
Hebrew word ’ôwth, (consisting of the letters aleph-vau-tau,), is used in Dan.7:13 regarding the “coming” of the Son of Man in the clouds.
[ii] The modern shameful misuse of the Scriptures in the so-called "Omega Code" take their ideas from the Jewish misuse of the alphabet. For example among the non-canonical apocalyptic writings
are the Alphabets of Rabbi Akiba,
about 1100 AD:
“Apocalyptic Literature, 6. The
Alphabets of R. Akiba,"( 680-1). "The chief center of thought of all
of them [i.e. the Alphabets,] is the mystical signification, already mentioned
in the Talmud, of the letters of the alphabet and of their written
forms, and the mysteries of the names of God made up of four, twelve, and
forty-two letters. In the Jerusalem Talmud
(Hagigah.ii.77c) there is a dissertation on the letters by means of which the
world was created, and there, as in these writings, it is stated that the
present world was created with He (ה)
and the future with Yod (י), and eschatological
theories are built up out of the forms of these letters.
“In the Babylonian Talmud (Shabbath. 104a), also, all sorts of
similar interpretations are given in regard to the names, forms, and
combinations of the various letters, and are made to bear upon eschatological
questions in the same way as in these apocalypses. In Kiddushin 71a, it is said
that the mysteries of the three names of God were treated as esoteric doctrine
and that whoever became thoroughly initiated into the mystery of the name
consisting of forty-two letters might be sure of inheriting both the present
and the future world. Similarly, R. Akiba, the reputed author of the “Alphabets,” is especially
commended in the Talmud as interpreter of the strokes, dots, and flourishes of
the letters (compare, for example, Men. 29b; see also Akiba Ben Joseph),” Jewish Encyclopedia, JE, Vol 1 KTAV Publishing House, Inc., New York, 1901.
(Prepared by more than 400 scholars and specialists.) Isodore Singer, project
and managing editor.
Some scholars attempt to show that these
"Alphabets" borrow their theosophical speculation from the writings
of Islam, ("especially in “Monatschrift,” viii.115 et
seq."), however:
"Later Jewish literature had the
widest and deepest influence on the formation and development of the views and
teachings of Islam .... From the
presence of mystical speculations about the essence and being of God, etc., in
the Arabic literature,
similar to those in the Neo-Hebrew, it is quite impossible to conclude that they found
their way from the former into the latter; rather would the opposite conclusion
be justified," (ibid.).
In other words, Islam's Koran took much of its teachings from the Jewish Talmud.
[iii] See "Kabbalah (Cabalah)" and "Zohar", The New Jewish Encyclopedia, Revised edition, eds. David Bridger, Samuel
Wolk, (Behrman House, Inc., Publisher. 1976).
[iv] See Commentary at 9:11 “The Hebrew Tongue” also at 16:16
“Armageddon.” The texts considered
sacred to Judaism are as follows:
Targumim = “translations.”
The Babli is the Babylonian Talmud and the Yerushalmi is the Jerusalem Talmud.
Midrash is: (1) the haggadic or halakic exposition of the underlying significance of a Bible text. (2) A collection of Midrashim. (3) cap: the Midrashic
literature written between the 4th century BC and 11th century AD.
Haggadah is: (1) ancient
Jewish lore forming esp.
the nonlegal part of the Talmud. (2) The Jewish
ritual for the Seder, (Passover feast).
Halakah
is the body of Jewish law supplementing
the Scriptural law and forming especially the legal part of the Talmud. Judaism
considers the New Testament and Christianity as heretical.
[v] "In the
perspective of early Christians who compiled listings of heretics, Israelites
who rejected Jesus as Messiah were
quintessential heretics. Among this group, the Pharisees were remembered for
their devotedness to astrology: 'Fate and astrology were quite popular notions
with them,' writes Epiphanius.... Epiphanius
further recounts how they possessed a vocabulary of their own in Hebrew for the zodiac and
other celestial beings," (Malina, 74).
[vi] As stated by Eusebius, History of the
Church, 6.25; that the Apostle John wrote the Book of
Revelation (ibid. 6:25.10).
[vii] It could well be
argued that this heavenly Pattern is the written
Name of God. Its
incorporation into the Temple meant that God's
Name was there. That is, the Temple was created and designed for the purpose of
an observatory of the heavenly Pattern telling the times and seasons and
teaching the wisdom of God. See also my Commentary at 1:3 "Christ as Light and Time."
[viii] The KJV includes the
phrase "the beginning and the ending" but this is at the translator’s
privilege for it was not in the original Greek. The KJV translators felt it was necessary in order to
bring out the sense of the verse. The RSV leaves out the phrase "the
beginning and the ending" here but includes it at Revelation 21:6 and 22:13
where the saying is repeated, see "First and Last" my
Commentary on 1:17.
[ix] A mnemonic device is a system used to recall the proper
order of items in a sequence; i.e. any group of items to be remembered could be
arranged according to this fixed numero/alphabetic order and so be more easily
recalled.
[x] Semasiographic writing is defined by Gelb as "… a stage
of writing in which meaning– not words or sounds– are suggested by signs,"
Ignace J. Gelb, A Study of Writing: The
Foundations of Grammatology, Second
Edition, (Chicago, Ill., University of Chicago Press, 1962), 15.
[xi] The Behaviourist School says that language is the only
medium of human communication and all human intercommunication outside of
language is nothing but a secondary substitute for language, that thinking and
ideas are “silent talk.”
Gelb says that the
Behaviourist School is wrong in some instances, that there is not a complete identity of speech and
writing, that in the earliest writing, the images expressed meaning without a
"linguistic garment." Only after the development of a phonetic system
was writing practically identified with speech and lost its independent character.
(ibid.)
