What is the significance of the words (Aleph, Beth, Gimel etc) listed in Psalm 119?
Psalms 119:1 - 176
ESV - 1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! 2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart.
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Asked December 14 2013
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Cathy McDonnell
Supporter
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Doreen Lovell
Supporter
Psalm 119 is known as the longest chapter of the Bible, this psalm is one of the acrostics. Unlike the other acrostics, which contain only one verse for each of the 22 Hebrew letters (alphabet), Psalm 119 includes eight verses for each letter, making a total of 176 verses.There are 22 stanzas, each containing eight verses beginning with the same Hebrew letter. Psalm 119 is an expression of praise and celebration for the Word of God. Each stanza calls us to see strong reasons for highly valuing God's Words and to have strong response to the truths contained in the scriptures. As mentioned above there are 22 Hebrew letters are alphabets. ALEF is the 1st letter which represents God the Father. It is sometimes written as ALEPH and does not always take the vowel (ALUPH) meaning MASTER.It is also the 1st letter of the Hebrew word EMET meaning TRUTH. BEIT the 2nd letter in the Hebrew alphabet means HOUSE and is referred to as "jots and titles"---see Jesus use in Matt. 5:18. GIMEL is the 3rd of the alphabet and means "benefactor" and comes from the word "GENUL" which means giving of reward and punishment, implying man's freewill of choice. GIMEL is said to show a rich man running after a poor man to give charity. Each alphabett or Hebrew letter therefore refers to specific area of man's connection to God.
Nick Rombough
Supporter
Psalm 119 is an acrostic. Each set of 8 verses begins with the same letter. Each of the Hebrew words at the beginning of the 8-set verses is a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So if you were reading in Hebrew, each line of Psalm 119:1-8, for example would begin with the letter "Aleph".
Jack Gutknecht
Supporter
Good question, Cathy! Psalm 119 is a poem expressed in a creative literary form known as an acrostic poem that is fun and easy for the Jews to remember. It is structured alphabetically with a stanza for each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet (“Aleph” is like our “A,” “Beth is like “B”, etc. The psalmist may have wanted to demonstrate that God’s Word is so great that it takes every letter of the alphabet to talk about it. Or maybe it was his way of covering his subject, as we would say, “from A to Z.”
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