Elohim's Aleph-Bet (Letters) - The Lamed

Shalom, friends. my name is Chadwick Harvey, and you have reached Faithful Performance. Thank you for joining us tonight as we continue our journey through Elohim's Aleph-Bet by discovering the letter Lamed — the twelfth letter of the Aleph-Bet. Like all the letters we have explored, the Lamed is a very powerful letter. Its formation, its position in the alphabet, and its numerical value all give us great insight into the scriptures. Our hope is that you will take the symbolism and understanding of the Lamed with you as you read through the Holy Bible and begin to see this letter working throughout its pages.

We are also in the midst of the counting of the Omer, the divine appointment currently before us. We are on day twenty-seven at sunset wherever you may be, and we will count that as well. If you are not familiar with the Lamed, it is found on the second row of the Aleph-Bet, the fourth letter from the right. It is the tallest letter on the row — and in fact the tallest of all the Hebrew letters — and that placement carries significant meaning, as we will explore. Please excuse the dates on the scroll graphics, as those were prepared in 2023, though we are of course in 2026 now.

As we always do, we begin with a scripture that corresponds to the letter we are studying. There is no better passage to open with for the Lamed than Psalm 23. A Psalm of David: "The Lord is my shepherd — I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

We are all very familiar with this psalm, and most of us recite it often in our prayers and petitions. But this is what the Lamed is about — it is the shepherd, it is the staff. It speaks of guidance, of going to the people, of instructing them. We will return to Psalm 23 as we go deeper, because the Lamed is paramount within it. Once we understand the basic meaning of each Hebrew letter — its order, its numerical value, its pictographic form — we begin to see these things everywhere: in Psalm 23, in John 10, throughout all of scripture. The words of the Bible are formed from Hebrew letters and the Hebrew language, so understanding these letters adds an in-depth layer of insight that we simply cannot have otherwise.

The Lamed is the twelfth letter of Elohim's Aleph-Bet, and its numerical value is thirty. The number twelve is a perfect number that represents the perfection of governmental order. Keep this in mind as we move forward — the number twelve is connected to rule and to the perfection of governmental order throughout the Holy Bible. A wonderful resource for studying the significance of numbers in scripture is a book called *Numbers in Scripture*; the author's name escapes me at the moment, but it is an excellent work that illuminates the numbers woven throughout the Bible, much as understanding the Hebrew letters does.

Twelve is the product of three times four. Three signifies divine perfection, and four signifies creative works. Twelve therefore denotes divine organization. Think of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles and disciples. Consider also the celestial bodies: the sun rules the day, and the moon and stars govern the night by their passage through the twelve constellations, completing the great circle of the heavens at three hundred sixty degrees and thus governing the entire year. It is important to note that there is a difference between biblical astronomy and human astrology. Biblical astronomy is about our Creator and the ordinances He has designed. Astrology, by contrast, is centered on mankind. As long as we keep our focus on the Creator and His ordinances rather than ourselves, we will not fall into biblical error.

We see the significance of twelve throughout scripture: twelve patriarchs, twelve sons and tribes of Israel, twelve judges, and twelve apostles and disciples. The New Jerusalem will have twelve foundations, twelve gates, twelve pearls, and twelve angels. Its measurement will be twelve thousand furlongs square, and its wall will be one hundred forty-four cubits thick — which is twelve times twelve. The Lamed, as the twelfth letter of God's Aleph-Bet, carries all of this weight.

Now let us consider the numerical value of the Lamed, which is thirty. Thirty represents the perfection of divine order, being three times ten. Two distinguished examples of the number thirty are Joseph and David, both of whom are prototypes of Yeshua, and both of whom began their rule at the age of thirty. Amazingly, Yeshua also began His ministry at the age of thirty. This is why we speak of Messiah Ben Joseph and Messiah Ben David. Joseph was the suffering servant who saved the world through his trials — a prototype of Yeshua, who came to save the world. David is the prototype of the conquering king, pointing to Yeshua's return and the events of His second coming. Tying these things together gives us a clearer picture of the prototypes and also equips us to witness to our Jewish friends, showing them that the Jewish Messiah is Yeshua.

The number thirty is also the numeric value for Judah. Consider what this means: Yeshua is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, David was from Judah, and the Lamed — whose numerical value is thirty — also represents learning, which we will explore further. The Apostle John testifies in Revelation 5:5 that Yeshua is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and the patriarch Jacob gave a corresponding blessing in Genesis 49:8-12.

Learning is a means to an end, but not the end itself. The end is our love for Elohim and Yeshua with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. As Messiah testified: "You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life, but it is they that bear witness of Me." In other words, learning the Torah, the Hebrew alphabet, the prophets, the psalms, and all the rest is ultimately meant to reveal the love, grace, mercy, and redemption of Yeshua — the one and only true Teacher and Rabbi.

Regarding its position in the Aleph-Bet, the Lamed is located as the twelfth letter for a reason. Remember that Hebrew is read from right to left. The letter to the right of the Lamed is the Koph, which we studied last week, and the letter to its left is the Mem, which we will study next week. The Lamed stands between these two important letters. As noted, the Lamed is the tallest of the Hebrew letters and the only one that extends above the baseline — and this, too, carries profound meaning that we will continue to unfold.