Language Studies

Hebrew Thoughts

''Aleph / Alef - א (Strong's #504)
A, ox, strength, learning

This week's column is brought to you by the letter 'Aleph and the number 1 (with apologies to Sesame Street!).

Hebrew אלף 'aleph is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet and and originally this letter represented an ox head and was similarly portrayed in Phoenician and Ancient Greek as well as Ancient Hebrew.

The name for the first letter, אלף 'aleph is the same as the Hebrew word אלף 'eleph (Strong's #504) which signifies an ox (e.g., Psalm 8:8; Proverbs 14:4). This probably derives from two ideas, firstly from אל 'êl (Strong's #410) - which itself derives from איל 'ayil 'a ram, or door post, mighty man or tree, e.g., oak' (Strong's #352) and that this comes from the root verb אול 'ûl or איל 'îyl 'to twist or roll, be strong, preeminent' (Strong's #193) and as such is used of God, hence of the ox because of its strength.

Secondly, in derivation from אלף 'âleph (Strong's #502) which is a primary verbal root meaning to 'associate with', 'be familiar with', 'be accustomed to' and as such was used of friendship, taming, joining together - see also אלוּף 'âlûwph (Strong's #441) - hence as a numeral, '1000', and a 'family' (Strong's #505) and of learning by association, e.g., Proverbs 22:24-25:

"Make no friendship with an angry man,
And with a furious man do not go,
Lest you learn his ways
And set a snare for your soul"

Here the first two phrases of v.24 are written in parallelism, i.e., they have the same meaning and use different words to say the same thing twice. Hence, "angry man" = "furious man" and "make no friendship" = "do not go". This is a tool we will use later in translation because it helps us to equate two parts of a passage and know that they have similar meanings. The first phrase in v.25 imples that by going or making friends with someone, one can 'learn' (אלף 'âlêph). In our case we have to become 'accustomed to' and 'familiar with' the Hebrew text in order to learn from it.

In the Piel form (a hebrew verb form) it could be used of teaching (Job 15:5; 33:33; 35:11). In its sense of learning it is significant because of the picture of strength under control or submission, as a mighty ox is tamed under a yoke and is taught to walk and work in step with its master and any co-joined oxen. As the meaning of the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet the idea of submission and humility in order to learn is clearly appropriate.

As a numeral, א 'âleph stands for '1', which is interesting as the word for unity אחד ’echâdh (Strong's #259) and אחד ’âchadh (Strong's #258), from which it derives, begin with א 'âleph. Equally, it can stand for a 1000, usually with 2 horizontal dots above it.

א 'âleph itself is not the vowel 'a' but a virtually silent letter, similar to the soft breathing in N.T. Greek, the imperceptible 'h' before ’absolutely or 'h' in the French homme, hence its phonetic representation by ’ or a superscripted ' ^c ' facing left.

Over 10% of Biblical Hebrew words begin with א 'âleph - none begin with either 'A' or 'E'!

The following are some with which you may already be familiar without realising it:

• ’Abba or ’Ab meaning 'father', the former is actually Aramaic and the latter Hebrew, though both were used by Hebrew speakers in the first century.
• ’Abram or ’Abraham, the former meaning 'lofty father' and the latter 'father of a multitude'
• ’Adam which means 'man', 'mankind: male and female', 'red', 'ruddy', 'earthy'.
• ’Adonay which means 'lord' or 'master'
• ’Eben from the name ’eben-ezer meaning 'stone of help'
• ’El-i-ezer 'my God [is] help' Genesis 15:2
• ’Elohim 'god[s], mighty ones, judges'
• ’El-i-jah 'my God [is] Yah' remember Psalm 22:2 "my God, my God . . .", Eli Eli, people confused Jesus' calling for God with the name Elijah, "he is calling for Elijah"
• ’Abaddon, a word which has come across into English meaning 'destruction', Hades, hell or the Devil (see its use in the New Testament: Revelation 9:11).

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