Divine Invitation
Studying Hebrew is something I have always wanted to do. I honestly felt it was too far over my head, so I never started. It was not until I was reading a book that introduced the letter Hei ה that intrigued me to seek more. As I mentioned in a couple of posts earlier, “Worship” and “Praise And Worship,” I found a book that clearly explained so much about the Hebrew alphabet and language that I could not stop wanting to learn more. Each letter I read about felt like God was unveiling biblical mysteries to me. It was like a divine invitation to seek more of Him.
I am going to start a series on the Hebrew alphabet, and I hope you will join me on this journey. Please do not let the fear of it being over your head deter you. I want to share with you what God has taught me, and I cannot wait to hear how it changes your life, like it has mine.
Pray
Biblical Hebrew is unlike any modern language. There is such a depth to each letter and can seem beyond our human comprehension. It is hard to get past a western mindset where an A is invariably an A, and 2 + 2 is always 4. I encourage you to ask God to speak to you as we study these letters. Pray that He would reveal something new to you about Himself. Please continue to read with an open heart and mind.
I plan to keep you on your toes and not go in alphabetical order. Every letter is unique and has multiple meanings. It is said that this is one way the Bible is the living Word of God, because of the multiple meanings of the letters and the words they make up. You can read a scripture now, and then several years later read it anew and receive a different, even deeper meaning from the same scripture. Before reading scripture, pray. Ask God each time to reveal to you what He wants you to receive that day.
The Daleth
The first letter we will begin with is the Daleth ד. The Daleth is the fourth letter and has the numerical value of four. Many of the letters’ meanings come from their shape. For instance, the Daleth looks like an old man bent over, so it represents humility. The website Walking Kabbalah says humility as represented by the Daleth is “the self-nullification, or nullification of the ego, necessary to realize one’s inherent connection to the Creator.”
This leads us to another meaning of the Daleth and that is a door, gateway, or portal. This door illustrates the opening God offers to us to enter the spiritual realm. The Daleth is an invitation to look deeper into what the Lord might try to show you, but we are always too busy to see it. Since learning about the Daleth, the Lord has challenged me to slow down and really look around and take it all in. It reminds me of Psalm 100:4, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.” (NLT)
The Invitation
It is springtime here in Montana. Well, it should be. It snowed eight inches two weeks ago and then yesterday it was 90 degrees. Go with the flow, right? Since the snow has cleared except on the mountaintops, the animals have come to life. Seriously, there have already been two grizzly bear attacks. But here in my little neck of the woods it has been beautiful and quite peaceful. The birds are chirping; the bunnies are hopping, ground squirrels are peeping up out of the ground, and there were even deer peeking over the fence. There is life in abundance.
While mowing the yard, I spotted where a robin had laid her eggs on the ground under a bush. They were vibrant. I had that sense that God had extended an invitation for me to look closer at his creation through these beautiful eggs. The vibrancy of their color stood out, and I felt the presence of God. That is the Daleth. Through creation itself, I felt an incredible invitation to enter the Lord’s presence.
The Breastplate
I thought about the instructions God gave for building the tabernacle and the temple, and all the colors He instructed them to use. Specifically, when describing the ephod, the breastplate the priest wore, God said “The craftsmen must make the ephod of finely woven linen and skillfully embroider it with gold and with blue, purple, and scarlet thread.” (Exodus 28:6 NLT) He continues by instructing them to make it with onyx, red carnelian, pale-green peridot, emerald, turquoise, blue lapis lazuli, white moonstone, orange jacinth, agate, purple amethyst, blue-green beryl, and green jasper. All the stones were set in gold filigree. Can you imagine what this would have looked like and the value of it?
The New Jerusalem
God designed all the colors, each one unique and beautiful in its own way. If God created all of this on Earth, what must Heaven be like? Revelation 21:10-27 gives us a brief glimpse into Heaven. Just like the priests breastplates God uses these same stones in the new Jerusalem. It says, “It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal.” We see God uses pure gold, jasper, sapphire, agate, emerald, onyx, carnelian, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth, amethyst, and pearls. My favorite part of this scripture is the end where it says, “And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.”
Divine Invitation
A simple egg and a divine invitation of entering the spirit realm is what the Daleth is all about. Taking those moments when God invites us to learn more about Himself. The author Chaim Bentorah says, “We must pause in our busy lives to anticipate the many little Daleths or doorways that God will open to share with us the things of the Spirit, fill what is lacking or deficient in the physical world, to take the poverty of this physical world and fill it with the blessings of God’s spirit.”
The Daleth encourages us to slow down and look around. What is God trying to show you? Does He speak to you through the uniqueness of flowers, the sound of waves crashing, or maybe even the sunrise or sunset? What might God have placed right in front of you, where He is offering an invitation for you to enter His presence and learn from the creator.
