As I was reading an old Bible that I purchased at a library book sale recently in Southbury, Connecticut, (because I generally like old books, especially Bibles, and because this one featured old pictures and paintings of Israel) I noticed a section at the end entitled “FOUR THOUSAND QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS” with a subtitle that explained it was intended to open up the scriptures for students and Sunday-school teachers.
I opened up randomly to a page that explored the Book of Luke and focused on a series of listed questions & answers on Luke 18. Question #405 stated: “What state of the heart is acceptable in God’s sight? The following answers was first on the list, and from my favorite Psalm – Psalm 51, which was put to a hauntingly beautiful choral piece ‘Miserere’ by Italian composer Gregorio Allegri for exclusive use at the Sistine Chapel.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalm 51, v.17)
I then read the second answer and something immediately stood out to me, especially since I have been pondering the tetragrammaton for God’s name ‘YHVH’, which some transliterate into ‘Jehovah’ or ‘Yahovah’ and other similar variations.
Here is the second answer taken from Isaiah 57:
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
The stressed italics on “is Holy” is the Bible’s addition, not mine. I then thought to myself how odd that is and recalled how the Seraphim call out in both Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord.”
Isaiah 6:3 – And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
Revelation 4:8 – And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.’
This certainly got me thinking. Might the true name of God be hidden from us in plain sight? Yes, we have been told by ancient Bible scholars and examiners of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran that the four letters YHVH were found written on the parchment of the oldest copy of the Word of God ever found on earth; but might the true name of God have been altered on purpose? Isaiah 5:7 seems to be indicating quite clearly that God Almighty’s name is ‘Holy’. It’s also very interesting that this word ‘Holy’ has four letters just like ‘YHVH’.
I am of the belief that numbers in the Bible have significant meaning, such as with the 7 days of creation and the 40 days and 40 nights references. I also believe that the chapter and verse numbers might have meaning and one can make connections between the use of these numbers to gain further insight into the word of God. I do not subscribe to any Kabbalistic or New Age/Gnostic beliefs surrounding numerology, but I do think God uses certain numbers in the Bible to convey a deeper understanding of His word. I also believe that the Hebrew language (from which all other languages are derived) is the divine language given to us from God and that perhaps the 22-letter Hebrew alphabet and the corresponding number values of each letter really do enable a deeper understanding of the Bible when certain connections are examined.
The numerical value of the tetragrammaton of the name of God ‘YHVH’ is Y (yod)=10, H (hey)=5, V (Vav)=6 and another H (hey)=5. When you add those digits together (10+5+6+5) you get 26, which can be further reduced to a single digit (according to the rules of numerological reduction) by adding the 2+6, in which case we get the number 8.
If we do the same numerological reduction for the English word ‘Holy’, using the English Ordinal cipher where A=1 and so on, we get the value of 60. The Hebrew word ‘Holy’ is ‘Qadosh’ and literally means “to be set apart for a special purpose”, according to Hebrew researcher Jeff Benner. Beacsue the Hebrew word “Ha’ means “the” as in ‘Ha Messiach’ when referring to “the Messiah”, the word ‘Ha’ could be added to the beginning of the Hebrew word for ‘holy’ (‘qadosh’) so that it becomes “the Holy One’. In fact, God Almighty is often referred to as ‘ha’kadosh’ the Holy One in Hebrew.
The 4 Hebrew letters that spell ‘Qadosh’ are, according to Jeff Benner of the Ancient Hebrew Research Center: Quph, Dalet, Vav, Shin. The corresponding numerical value to these Hebrew letters are: Quph (100), Dalet (4), Vav (6), and Shin (300), which can be reduced to (1+4+6+3) the number 14, and further reduced to (1+4) the number 5.
When we examine the numerical value of the full Hebrew title for the Holy One, which is ‘Ha’Qadosh’, we just add in the value of ‘H’ (Hhet) which is 8 since it is the 8th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So if we add 8 to 14, we get 22. That is a master number and is generally not reduced further. It is interesting that the value for ‘Ha’Qadosh’ the Holy One has the same numerical value as the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, 22.
I pondered the English letters in the word ‘HOLY’ and thought perhaps the letters – when analyzed as Hebrew letters which have pictographs and meaning attached to them, unlike English alphabet letters – then maybe I could see a representation of God within the meanings?
It is important to note that God Almighty confused the languages and scattered the nations across the face of the earth (Genesis 11:7). But God also plans to give a pure language to all of mankind, as prophesied by Zephaniah 3:9 (KJV): ‘For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.’ I believe that language is English, and this is evidenced by how many other countries outside of North America teach English in their schools and it is often used as the common language for people from different nations to communicate in, even if it is not the primary language for either country.
Interestingly, the Literal Standard Version of this passage translates the same passage as: “For then I turn a pure lip to peoples, “” To call all of them by the Name of YHWH, “” To serve Him [with] one shoulder.”, actually uses the tetragrammaton YHVH for God’s name. And Young’s Literal Translation uses the name ‘Jehovah’ in its translation of Zephaniah 3:9: ‘For then do I turn unto peoples a pure lip, To call all of them by the name of Jehovah, To serve Him with one shoulder.’ It seems as if the modern Christian world is really pushing the use of ‘Jehovah’ (derived from YHVH) or YHVH itself, or the transliterated ‘Yahovah’ to be used for the name of God. The King James version and other older Greek and Latin-based Biblical texts do not insert a suggested name for God in Zephaniah 3:9 and elsewhere. These older Bibles only use ‘LORD’ or “Lord God” in places where God’s name is intended.
Let’s examine the name ‘Holy’ as the possible real name for God and examine the letters in English according to my theory that English is the “pure language” given to mankind by God in the days leading up to Christ Jesus the Messiah’s return. But since English letters are not given pictographs and meanings, we will use the ancient paleo Hebrew pictographs and meanings assigned to the Hebrew letters, and transfer this meaning onto the corresponding Latin/English letter equivalents.
Hebrew is read from right-to-left and since this is the original direction God intended text to be read, let’s examine the word ‘Holy’ in the opposite direction, starting with the first letter ‘Y’, which is a ‘Yod’ in Hebrew. The ancient pictograph for the Hebrew letter ‘Yod’ is a working hand and it means “hand” and “work”. The second letter is the ‘O’ , which is the ‘Ayin’ in Hebrew with a pictograph that depicts an ‘eye’ and means “to see, to watch, to know” and it is a silent letter making no sound in Hebrew. The third letter is ‘L’ or ‘Lamed’ in Hebrew with a pictograph that shows a ‘shepherd staff’ and means “to teach, yoke, authority and to bind”. The fourth and last letter in the word ‘Holy’ is ‘H’ which is ‘Hhet’ in Hebrew with a pictograph of a ‘tent wall’ and a meaning of “wall, outside, divide).
While examining these letter meanings in relation to God, to me the letter ‘Yod’ indicates God’s working hand that created all that is in the heavens and on earth, and it is reminiscent of the Seraphims saying: in Isaiah 6:3: – And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
The second letter ‘Ayin’ (eye) indicates God’s ability to see and know all, even our thoughts and what’s true in our hearts. He is watching us always and there is nothing we can hide from Him. All of our actions and thoughts should be in obedience to His word as exemplified to perfection in Jesus Christ. As Christ Jesus taught us, (Luke 10: 27″ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind’. He sees and knows if we are doing this and if we are living in righteousness. There is nothing we do or say that God does not see and hear. He even knows our thoughts.
The third letter is ‘L’ or ‘Lamed’ in Hebrew. The pictograph is of a ‘shepherd staff’ and it means “to teach, yoke, authority and to bind’. Jesus Christ is, of course, our best teacher and the Good Shepherd. The word ‘yoke’ is used by Jesus in the Bible, as in Matthew 11:30: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden light.” A yoke is what steers and guides and that is what Jesus is to us.
The last letter (going right to left in the word ‘Holy’) is an ‘H’ or “Hhet’ in Hebrew which is a pictograph of a tent wall and means ‘a wall, outside, divide). This reminds me of Nehemiah’s building of a wall in Jerusalem and restoring God’s law. This point in time when Nehemiah built the wall and brought back the law, was very close in time before the birth of Jesus Christ.
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