Secret of the Hebrew letter Tet

Transcript of “Secret of the Hebrew letter Tet”

The ninth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is TET.

The numeric value of TET is nine.

The pictogram or symbol behind the shape of the letter TET is an opened container.

Because the numeric value of TET is nine, and it is after nine months that a woman gives birth, many Jewish rabbis see the image as pointing to the birth of something new ... to the conclusion of an age, and the start of another.

We see the picture of the veil in the Temple being torn in two, from top to bottom, so that the way into the Holy of Holies is now open for all who trust in Jesus. He made the way open into the presence of God.

The fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet was DALET. That was the “door”. Jesus said that He is the door (see John 10:9). There is the idea here of entering the outer court of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, or the outer court of the Temple when it was built in Jerusalem. And at that entrance was the brazen altar of sacrifice, pointing to the sacrifice of Jesus.

The eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet was CHET. That was the “doorway”. Jesus said that He is the only “way” to God (see John 14:6). There is the idea here of entering the Holy Place of the Tabernacle, or the Temple ... the room with the lampstand of God’s light. No more natural light ... God’s light.

Now, with the letter TET, we have the image of entering the Holy of Holies ... the sanctuary of God, where only the High Priests of Israel had been able to enter ... and that only once a year, with the blood of a sacrificed animal, and always in fear of whether the sacrifice would be acceptable. Now, Jesus, our great High Priest, has entered ... once for all time, through the blood of His sinlessly perfect sacrifice – the sacrifice of Himself. And it has been accepted. This was proven by His resurrection from the dead.

Through Jesus, we have peace with God. And we have peace in God. We have found our rest in Him.

The first TET in the Bible is in the Hebrew word “tov”, meaning “good”. In the beginning of creation, God created light (Genesis 1:3). This was not light generated by the sun and stars. That came four days later. This was not natural light. This was the light of God.

In Genesis chapter 1 the fourth verse says, “God saw that the light was good ...”. In Hebrew, “Va'yar Elohim et ha'or ki tov”. “Tov” means “good”. It was this light of God that is declared “good”. And it says something, that the first occurrence of TET in the Bible is the first letter of the Hebrew word for "good" ... tov.

“Va'yar Elohim et ha'or ki tov”. The phrase has a numeric value of 963 which is divisible by 9 (the numeric value of TET).

The first occurrence of TET in the Bible is in a statement about light, and we think of Jesus, the "light of the world" (John 8:12).

I believe that Psalm 118 verse 8 is the middle verse of the Bible, based on a word count in the original languages. The verse says, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.” In Hebrew, “Tov lachasot b'Adonai mi'btoach b'adam”.

The first word in the middle verse in the Bible, in Hebrew, is “tov”, spelled TET VAV BET. Which means that the first letter in the middle verse in the Bible, in Hebrew, is TET. And the verse points us firmly to the LORD ... to Jesus.

Jesus is our “great High Priest”(Hebrews 4:14), who has entered the Holy of Holies by His blood (Hebrews 9:12), and has made it possible for us – by faith in Him – to enter boldly before the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).

I believe that we can see God's hand of design in the Hebrew of the Old Testament and in the Greek of the New Testament.

The New Testament has an important prayer of Jesus in the gospel of John chapter 17. Theologians call it “Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer”, just before He went to Gethsemane and the cross.

John 17 starts off, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son ...” In Greek, “Pater, alilithen i ora, doxason sou ton vion ...” And the passage ends, at the end of the chapter, with Jesus’ words, “I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

In the original Greek text there are exactly 486 Greek words in this prayer. And 486 is divisible by 9 and again by 9 (9 x 9 x 6).

The Holy Spirit is placing His "seal" on the text, and drawing attention to Jesus.