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Thoughts on the Aleph-Tav

1/26/2016

18 Comments

 
I see, rather regularly, people associating the Aleph-Tav (את) with Messiah Yeshua. If you are already familiar with what I am talking about, you may want to skip the next paragraph. If you're not familiar, here is a brief explanation.

In the Hebrew Aleph-Bet (alphabet), the first letter is Aleph (א) and the last is Tav (ת). This letter combination is pronounced et, as in "et cetera." People take the statement from Revelation where Yeshua says He is the "Alpha and the Omega" and they say, "Well Yeshua didn't speak Greek, so what He actually said was 'I am the Aleph and the Tav' since those are the Hebrew/Aramaic letters." They then take note of the number of places the et symbol (word) is used, and state that this symbol is actually a placeholder, or some sort of "hidden code" for Yeshua. Their favorite verse is Genesis 1:1, where we read (in English), "In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth." However, they say, in Hebrew, the untranslated et actually appears between the words ha'shamayim (heavens) and ha'arets (earth). Thus, since this symbol is a stand-in for Yeshua, we see how Yeshua "connects" heaven and earth. Fascinating, right? Yet there are some issues.
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I will say that I cannot deny the original words may very well have been "I am the Aleph and the Tav." I wasn't there, and I didn't hear them. However, whatever alphabet He chose, it doesn't matter, He was simply using it as a parallel idiom to what else He said: "I am the First and the Last." So does the et symbol really stand in for Yeshua? Look it up in any lexicon or grammar textbook, and they will tell you this "word" is a direct object pointer. That is, it identifies and precedes the direct object. It also serves as a preposition meaning "with" and as a feminine pronoun. So in our Gen. 1 example, the direct objects are "heaven" and "earth" because those are the "objects" that are being affected by the "verb" (created). Thus the "action" is something being created, the subject is who is creating (Elohim), and the object is what is being created (heaven and earth). So of course we expect a direct object indicator in one form or another, to show what is receiving the action. Opponents of this explanation, and supporters of the "Yeshua is the Aleph-Tav" point of view, however, say that there are many times when the word et is NOT used to indicate an object at all. And this is true. But that is because it has multiple uses.

In some cases, it can stand in for the Hebrew preposition עם (eem) which means "with." It is also used to express the second person feminine singular ("you" if "you" are one single female). This word, which appears more than 10,000 times in the Tanakh, is used a number of ways.

Now, you may read this and still be convinced that not only did Yeshua say "Aleph and Tav" but He also truly IS the et, no matter what I say, and it IS a hidden sign for Him. Well if that's true, is it true EVERY TIME the symbol appears? Most people that believe the theory say yes. So let's look at a few times where, if the et truly does mean "Messiah" that it would cause some major problems…

Genesis 9:22 – "Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside." (NASB). In Hebrew, the words for "Canaan" and "nakedness" are כנען and ערות respectively. Right between these two words in Hebrew is the Aleph-Tav, et. So if this means "Messiah" then our verse here would read, "…Canaan saw Messiah the nakedness of his father…" Seems a bit absurd (and blasphemous) to me. Next example.

Exodus 8:26 – "But Moses said, "It is not right to do so, for we will sacrifice to YHWH our Elohim what is an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what is an abomination to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not then stone us?" In this sentence, the words for "sacrifice" and "abomination" are נזבח and תועבת respectively. In between these words is the Aleph-Tav. So if the et stands for "Messiah" then this verse would read as, "…If we sacrifice Messiah an abomination to the Egyptians…" Again, absurd. Next.

Leviticus 26:40 – "If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me;" (NASB). Here the word for "iniquity" is repeated (once applied to the Israelites, once applied to their ancestors), and the word is עון. Between the two uses of it we have the Aleph-Tav. Thus it could be written as, "If they confess their iniquity Messiah and the iniquity of their forefathers…"

But wait, there's more…

Exodus 32:19 – "It came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses' anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain." (NASB). Here we the word "saw" (as in, "he saw") and the word "calf" which are וירא and העגל, respectively. In between these two words is the Aleph-Tav. So it would read as, "…as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw Messiah the calf…" This also appears the same way in the next verse, which says that Moses, "took et the calf that they had made…" so if the et means "Messiah" then Moses took Messiah the golden calf, and burned him, and ground him into dust.

Genesis 34:3 – "He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her." (NASB). Here the words "loved" and "girl" are ויאהב and הנער respectively. In between these two is the et, so if it means "Messiah" we would read, "and he loved Messiah the girl…"

Deuteronomy 22:24 – "Then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor's wife. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you." (NASB). Here the words for "you shall bring them" and "both" are והוצאתם and שניהם, respectively. Between these two is the Aleph-Tav. So it would read, "then you shall bring them Messiah both out to the gate of that city and stone them to death…"

Note there are many more examples of how not only absurd it would be to place Messiah Yeshua where the et is, but also blasphemous.

Now all that is not to say that Yeshua isn't saying that He is the Aleph-Tav, just that I do not believe He is saying that every place the Aleph-Tav is written, that's where He is "hidden." I think it is more along the lines of Aleph-Tav being first and last, and encompassing the whole "word" since it contains every letter. The same goes for Alpha and Omega, and A and Z, and so on. The Aleph-Tav is also the word that occurs more frequently than any other in the entire Tanakh. There are hardly any verses without it, and many contain multiple.

Though as I said, we must understand that if it is true and "Messiah Yeshua" can directly replace the et in cases where it appears, then it must be able to do so every time. Not only times when it is convenient to come up with a "cool new theology."

I also realize there is a very popular Bible out there today that's sole purpose is to identify every time the et occurs. An interesting purpose, but not one very valuable for study. I will reserve my comments on this Bible for a future article in the How We Got Our Scriptures series, when I will be addressing many different English translations.

Please recognize I am not attacking anyone, or bashing them. There is an honest attempt to see Yeshua in the Aleph-Tav, and I honor that. However, Truth is always more important than opinion. Yeshua is all over the Tanakh as it is, we do not need to invent ways to place Him there. As with many of my writings, I do not believe anyone will be completely convinced if they have believed this for a while, but please, test the information presented here for yourself. Nothing I have pointed out requires anything beyond a simple Interlinear, which you can find at biblehub.com. My purpose for writing this is to encourage people to seek TRUTH, not simply what sounds good. Always be wary of these "new" teachings and doctrines. One must wonder why it has been "previously unknown" to all generations of the past, and why we have no historical record of it being believed by anyone in antiquity, Jew or Christian.

Be Berean. Shalom.

18 Comments
william sanford
5/4/2018 10:43:32 am

I have a very simple question, "if the aleph tav is simply a direct object pointer, why isn't it in every verse throughout the old testament that has a transitive verb with direct objects"? I emailed the rabbis in Israel that have the web site, "ASK THE RABBI", and asked them what they thought of the aleph tav and they gave me quotes from the writings of the most famous Jewish rabbis down through history, like Akiva, and R.S. Hirsch who believed and taught the aleph tav was a mark of the hand of the Almighty with profound spiritual significance. There are over 200 chapters in the old testament with no aleph tav's and hundreds of more chapters with only one or two aleph tav's and few people know this. All this evidence supports the aleph tav as being something extraordinary.

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J. A. Brown link
5/4/2018 10:58:53 am

William,

I understand you make your bread and butter off selling the Aleph-Tav bible. So it comes as no surprise that you defend this belief so vehemently, as your sales depend on it. But you neglected to address practically any of the points in the article itself.

Firstly, no one said it's meaningless. No one said it doesn't serve special purposes. Rather, what I and many scholars and grammarians are stating, is that it serves multiple DIFFERENT functions, as the language itself shows. You focus on the claim of it being EXCLUSIVELY an indicator of the direct object, but I see no one making that claim. You are eisegetically reading into it, what you desire it to mean.

Regarding the Rabbis, how often do you believe or consult them? How many times have you read through the Talmud, or even just the Mishnah, or the Mishneh Torah, or Rashi's commentary? Should they be our source of doctrine and tradition? I know you'd disagree with that. But you use them when convenient to your point, which is not being intellectually honest.

What is most interesting in your response, is that you entirely neglected to address the glaring issues with your teaching, which I pointed out in the article in green. Namely, if we place "Messiah" into every instance where we find את, we end up with serious theological and exegetical concerns. It lacks consistency, and it is far too ambiguous; same as with Pictographic Hebrew: it relies far too much on man's own interpretive prowess and imagination.

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william
5/4/2018 11:25:24 am

You have very harshly misjudged me and know very little about me or my research on the A/T. I was simply sharing a testimony that happened to me nearly 8 years ago that rather encouraged me in my discovery process to continue my work. I also wanted to add some food-for-thought, that most people do not realize when reading your article. I do not believe in placing the name Yeshua in the places the A/T appears, for I believe from my research the character symbol to be a covenant mark and consequently incorporates the Yah-head. Over the last 10 years of studying the A/T I have put together 17 short videos on my findings. When I set out on this quest, it was to honestly study where the A/T was placed and look for patterns and to do that I needed to have a study bible that would reveal the A/T in English verses, in the same place it appeared in Hebrew text. Consequently, I had to re-write every verse to accomplish this and it took me 4 years to do the entire Tanakh. But in that time, I learned much about where it was placed and where it was not placed. I have never studied Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism and I am not into bible codes, but the Ruach lead me to some profound re-discoveries. I have always been after the whole truth of this matter. Please watch this short video on the Spiritual Significance of the Aleph Tav, the findings are very profound, if you care to watch a short video to learn about just some of my findings. Thank you for your time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG-E0nH9qms

Aaron Horvat
5/27/2021 02:09:51 am

Closely related to this Alef Tav discussion is the Alpha Omega discussion. It is standard in Christian parlance to refer to Jesus as Alpha and Omega, and no one seems to deny it (JW’s are a little uncomfortable with it) but perhaps before we shy away from Jesus being Alef Tav we should note that the word Omega is not in Greek originals. It is included as letter only, not like English translations that supply the name of the letter symbol. Please offer correction if available, but with resources available no original Greek text has the word Omega spelled out anywhere in Bible (unlike word alpha). May we learn to trust divine inspiration in text, and wonder at an awesome God revealed in Yeshua.

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William
5/4/2018 11:35:08 am

I just caught something after I posted the above comment. I made the statement, "Consequently, I had to re-write every verse to accomplish this and it took me 4 years to do the entire Tanakh." I should have said, "Consequently, I had to re-write every verse 'the A/T appeared in' to accomplish this and it took me 4 years to do the entire Tanakh." If I may explain, this is because of the way Hebrew is written. If I wanted the A/T to be between the same two English words as it appears in the Hebrew text. I felt this would be the only way to properly be able to study the A/T. All other bibles, like the Cepher, for example, only get the A/T next to one of the words in English, where it appears in the Hebrew text. Hopefully thiose who understand Hebrew will understand what I am talking about.

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HF Watts
5/6/2018 02:43:51 pm

I have been studying these aleph tav words; and I find it highly interesting that in over 10,000 uses, it is described as a direct object pointer. This concoction has been passed down through millennia and does grave disservice to anyone studying the Word.
Firstly, many words are made from these two letters and are in the Torah translated as pronouns, etc., with no methodology to their etymology. Sadly, this is highly misleading.
Secondly, how does one expect to believe that these words were ignored soooo many times in the readings of the Tanakh in the synagogues through the years??! Does anyone expect a student to buy into a direct object pointer??! LOL
I am studying what these words can mean, as I know they do not mean "Messiah," as is pointed out in green above. I also know they are meaningful in context, seemingly in this covenant relationship with God. Rabbi Nahum, Akiva and Hirsch all through the course of history show that something more than a mere grammatical corrective is in order.
We should not be so nonchalant as to dismiss all of William Sanford's work, as I see a "donate" button here. lol Also the Word is getting out that more meaning is involved. I found it wild that this article is over 2 years old, but when I found it yesterday, it was commented on by Mr. Sanford and you about the same time. WOW! God is at work...

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HF Watts
5/6/2018 02:45:55 pm

Correction...day before yesterday, as I found it Friday night, 05.04.18...
God is Good...

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William Sanford link
12/21/2018 03:20:39 pm

I DEEPLY appreciate peoples comments and interest in wanting to understand the Aleph/Tav as it is used in the Biblical Text of the Tanakh. When I first started this quest, back in Feb 2009, I had no vision of putting together a study bible to sell but my quest was to put the Torah together and reveal the A/T in every verse it was used and place the A/T between the same two English words, where it appeared between the same two Hebrew words and to do this, every verse had to be re-written. This is why it took me a year and a half to do just the Torah. No one putting together English bibles that reveal the A/T re-writes the verses, consequently, the A/T is only next to one of the words in the English translation, where it appears also in Hebrew text. To me, this makes it very difficult to truly study the divine symbol appropriately. There are some comments I would like to address, one in particular is that, "There are hardly any verses without it, and many contain multiple." Actually if you compare how many total verses there are in the Tanakh (23,145), and how many that have the A/T (5700), the difference is that approximately only 4% of the verses contain the A/T. There are actually hundreds of whole chapters in the Tanakh that contain no A/T's and hundreds more chapters that contain only one or two A/T's. So, you can appreciate how there are thousands of verses that contain a transitive verb followed by a direct object(s) that have no A/T's in the verse. These facts alone disprove that the A/T was strictly a direct object pointer in Biblical Hebrew. Another misunderstanding concerning the A/T is that you can place the Messiah's name where the divine symbol is or even the Almighty's name, this is just NOT possible anywhere the divine covenant symbol is used. The A/T is a divine covenant symbol and is used to express emphasis in regard to the SUBJECT MATTER being discussed in the verse relative to covenant issues. I like to say that the divine covenant symbol incorporates the Yah-head, i.e. messiah, because the Yah-head established the nature of 'covenant' originally. I personally feel that the A/T was the strongest symbol for SPIRITUALITY in the Biblical Hebrew language. Represented between those two letters is the entire AlephBet, which is the most sacred language ever spoken or written. A true gift from Yahuah to mankind. I realize that in todays Hebrew language the A/T has been reduced to only a DOP with no spiritual significance whatsoever. But to claim that the divine symbol was only a DOP in Biblical Hebrew with no spiritual significance whatsoever is certainly blasphemous, because it is a lie! If you have not already, please watch my latest video on the A/T titled, The Spiritual Significance of the Aleph/Tav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG-E0nH9qms Feel free to contact me directly at my personal email, WHSanford@aol.com.

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Judy Spiegel
8/7/2021 11:13:49 am

BRAVO!!! Ruach led me to Aleph Tav with no reference or knowledge of your work. YHVH is revealing Himself at deeper levels in these Biblical days! Thank you for your work and a fascinating discussion

Dean W
12/21/2018 12:01:29 am

The patterns Stanford shows relating to concentrated aleph-tav placements in Covenant-related passages seems much too consistent to be coincidental. Thanks for all the work you have done. I believe you are/will be greatly blessed for your efforts.

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Dean W
12/21/2018 12:08:19 am

Sorry, William, that should be Sanford, not Stanford. Good thing Aleph Tav is so merciful to such fallible kids as we can be...

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Dean W
12/21/2018 12:19:57 am

Sorry, William, that should have been Sanford, not Stanford. Good thing that Aleph Tav is so merciful to such fallible kids as we can be...

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Todd Herrington link
4/20/2019 11:31:11 am

I'm new to this idea of the Aleph-Tav being more than just a DOP and I certainly appreciate the focus on discovering the TRUTH, and not just looking for a way to shoe-horn another way that the Messiah is incorporated into the Tanakh than already is evident through the many clear references that anyone can see on their own. My question for the OP of this discussion is the following: is the Aleph-Tav typically used in Hebrew every time an action word (i.e. a verb) is used? In other words, is it ALWAYS the case (to make proper grammar) that the Aleph-Tav would precede the object of a verb? Or are there cases where this would not necessarily be done?

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William (Bill) H. Sanford link
4/20/2019 02:00:16 pm

Hi Todd, TY for your Q. I thought of this Q years ago when I started noticing hundreds of times the A/T appearing before other words in verses that were not the direct objects in the verse. How many times this happens, I couldn't say exactly, but it is probably in the thousands and I touch on this subject in the video, "Is the Aleph Tav a Direct Object Pointer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXYftg_H3pM". If you are going to watch it, please make sure to watch it all, it's only 22 minutes long. What is more intriguing are the thousands of verses that have all the attributes for an A/T and don't have one! Please feel free to contact me directly at my email WHSanford@aol.com. I appreciate your inquiry, for I too, am only after the whole truth and nothing but the truth and you would have to watch all 17 of my short videos on the A/T covenant symbol if you wanted to understand more about it's spiritual significance...something those who have criticized the significance of the A/T as being anything more than a DOP in this post have been unwilling to do! Please also watch my last video on the A/T titled, "The Spiritual Significance of the Aleph/Tav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG-E0nH9qms". Shalom

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alcris link
4/25/2019 02:21:16 am

from the Philippines: seeing the green sentences/ phrases, i notice something logical, meaning it drives the meaning itself. though it looks funny when translated the AT to "Messiah" inserted to the subject. but for me, just for me. it has a sense of truth.

when reading some comments, i do believed as stated "who believed and taught the aleph tav was a mark of the hand of the Almighty with profound spiritual significance".

it determines something unique and the concepts of truth, its a significant figure of Messiah.

i notice here quoted: ""then you shall bring them Messiah both out to the gate of that city and stone them to death…"

"If they confess their iniquity Messiah and the iniquity of their forefathers…"

"…Canaan saw Messiah the nakedness of his father…"

"…as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw Messiah the calf…"

and some others......

for me, the more you grasp, the more truth found in it....
And this are logically true....


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Y Vinoth Raj
8/26/2020 09:02:03 pm

shalom very useful messages thank you bro

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Erin Kersey
9/4/2020 04:10:06 pm

A profoundly felt, "thank you" to the brother who authored this. My very good gift of a husband presented me with the MATIS Tanakh for our anniversary and my birthday collectively and I have been feverishly studying the significance (or lack thereof) of the Aleph-Tav. I suspect it will be some time before I am "done" but I feel better about my direction after having read the above article and the responses to it. Shalom

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Mark (Technophile)
4/30/2022 01:19:50 pm

This is an interesting discussion, and maybe I can contribute in a small way. For context, I lean toward the conclusion that, without diminishing its legitimate grammatical purpose, the aleph-tav (hence AT), can also act as a remez - a hint of something deeper in SOME passages.

I also have an abiding interest in Biblical numbers both in their symbolism and through gematria, and the discoveries in this area in the past few decades have been nothing short of astounding. But as I warn those wanting to delve into that area, there are many pitfalls. Among them is the temptation to turn the Word of God into a mechanical document or a means of divination.

This is where I think the original argument breaks down. Requiring AT to have symbolic meaning everywhere or not have a symbolic meaning anywhere, is a false dichotomy. It would be like requiring "door" to represent Jesus in every mention of that word in the Bible or ignore the symbolism when Jesus uses it.

This would apply equally to the use of AT in the Bible. I think Bill Sanford has been honest in his approach to this re-discovery and extension of this line of study. As with Biblical gematria (or even ELS, which I'm far more cautious toward), context is important. But when we find hundreds of mathematical relationships that correlate symbolically, geometrically, and mathematically between, for instance, the creation verses Gen. 1:1 and John 1:1, this cannot be ignored.

As I always advise in these matters, these seem to be indicators of God authenticating His Word in key places - His encoded signature, if you will. What we are not allowed to do is turn this into a secret interpretation that contradicts the clear text, nor turn it into a form of Gnosticism, nor allegorize the text by these means to mean something contrary to what the text clearly says.

But, properly used and applied, these various discoveries (in line with last-days prophecy in Daniel) are authenticating the divine Author of the Word of God in ways that can be a powerful witness for the authenticity and ultimate authorship of the Bible in this age of apostasy.

Blessings,

Mark (Technophile)

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