Secret of the Hebrew letter Bet

Transcript of “Secret of the Hebrew letter Bet”

The second letter of the Hebrew alphabet is BET. The numeric value of BET is two. The pictogram or symbol behind the shape of the letter BET is a tent. The tent symbol indicates a house or household. If you were to visit Israel today, you might make a tour to the Negev Desert, and there you might see a bedouin encampment. Bedouin tents are like the tents that were used by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and by the Israelites in the wilderness. They are set up with their back to the wind, open in the front. It was their dwelling place, wherever they stopped. It was where their household gathered. The name of this second letter of the Hebrew alphabet is BET. BET as a word is spelled BET YUD TAV. The word means a house or household. “Beit lechem” – Bethlehem, we would say – the village where Jesus was born ” means “house of bread”. The word BET YUD TAV is pronounced BET when it is linked with another word, identifying a particular place. Another example, “Beit El” – we are more familiar pronouncing that “Bethel” – meaning, “House of God”. But the word BET YUD TAV – the same spelling – is usually pronounced “bayit”, and it means “house or household”. “Bayit” can also mean “a royal palace” or “a temple”. So the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is called in Hebrew, “Har ha'bayit” – literally, “mountain of the House” ... “House” meaning Temple, and referring to the Temple that King Solomon built. That temple of stone replaced the tabernacle in the wilderness, the Tent of Meeting that the Israelites had carried with them from Mt Sinai. The temple in Jerusalem that Solomon built was destroyed by the Babylonians, rebuilt by Zerubbabel and then destroyed by the Romans 37 years after Jesus' death and resurrection. In chapter 7 of the book of 2 Samuel, we find what theologians call, “the Davidic Covenant”. God made several unconditional promises to King David. Here are some of those promises: (2 Samuel 7:11b-16) (11) The LORD also declares to you that the LORD will make a house for you. (12) When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish His Kingdom. (13) He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of His Kingdom forever. (14) I will be a father to Him and He will be a son to Me ... (15) My lovingkindness shall not depart from Him ... (16) Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever ... Note: The LORD promises to do this. It will be His doing. The LORD will make a house (or household) or temple from the line of King David. It will flow from someone who is a descendant of King David. The Hebrew word for “descendant” is “zerah” (ZAYIN RESH AYIN), which is often translated “seed”. God made a similar unconditional promise to Abraham, about the blessing that would flow through a descendant of his. In Galatians 3:16 we learn that this “seed” (singular) is Jesus. (Back to 2 Samuel chapter 7 ...) It was God who said that He would establish the kingdom of this descendant of King David. That descendant would build “a house” (bayit in Hebrew – BET YUD TAV) for the name of the LORD. And a final point – it was God who promised that He would establish the kingdom of this descendant forever. The Hebrew word “forever” is “ad olam”. God says it three times in the passage. The promise, through the Messiah, is forever, eternal, everlasting. There was obviously a partial fulfillment of these promises through Solomon, son of King David, who built the first Temple in Jerusalem. But the fulfillment of the promises of the Davidic Covenant could not come solely through King Solomon. That physical temple was destroyed. The second Temple was also destroyed. The kingly line, from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, through the tribe of Judah, and through King David, was finally established through Jesus. In the New Testament, in Matthew chapter 1, we learn that Jesus’ legal line of descent came through King David, and King Solomon, to Joseph, who was the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus. But Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. In Luke chapter 3, we learn that Jesus’ blood line of descent came through King David, and a brother of King Solomon – Nathan – through to Mary. 73 years after Jesus’ birth, all genealogical records were lost when the Romans destroyed the second Temple. So, if the promised seed of David was not Jesus, no one else would ever be able to prove their right to lay claim to the title of Messiah of Israel. In the days of His ministry on earth, Jesus declared that: He is the temple of God He is the house and household of God Jesus is recorded as saying: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19). And then in verse 21 we are told, “He was speaking of the temple of His body”. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 the first verse, we learn that the earthly tent of our life on earth will be torn down, “but we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” In 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 4 and 5 – these are Jewish apostles and disciples of Jesus, who are writing, by the way – we are told that we have come to Jesus, the living stone, and we also, “... as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house ...” And finally, in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 19 through to 22, we learn that: We are of God’s household (verse 19) Jesus is the chief cornerstone of this temple (verse 20) We, as believers in Jesus, are growing into a holy temple in the Lord (verse 21) We are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit (verse 22) We have placed our faith in Jesus Christ. We are in Him. And He is God’s living Spiritual temple. God’s family. God’s household.