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

Shalom, friends. my name is Chadwick Harvey, and you have reached Faithful Performance. Thank you so much for joining us tonight as we continue our study on Elohim's Aleph-Bet by discovering the letter Yod. It is a very powerful letter — the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. If you are not familiar with its position, it is in the second row on the far right-hand side, since Hebrew reads right to left. It looks something like an apostrophe within its group. We have gone through the first nine letters, which are all very powerful in their own right, and this tenth letter opens up a new level of understanding as we move forward.

We hope everyone has been enjoying Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and that you are now enjoying the counting of the Omer. We will get into that after the teaching on the Hebrew letter, and we will count together with the blessing as well. But tonight, we continue with the study of the Yod, which carries a very powerful understanding. You will come to know that it appears at the beginning of many important names — Yeshua, Yehoshua, Yaakov, and others. It gives us the wisdom of the Hebrew letters so that we can engage with the original language, which in many cases is necessary in order to obtain the purest understanding of the Holy Bible. The words are made up of Hebrew letters, so if we have a good grasp of what the letters mean, we can better understand what the Hebrew language ultimately communicates in the holy scriptures.

We always begin with a scripture that ties into the message of the Hebrew letter, and the one we are about to read could not be more fitting. It comes from the Exodus account, which is the very season we have just been walking through. In Exodus 3:13–15, Moses wrote: "Then Moses spoke to God. 'Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, "The God of your fathers has sent me to you," and they say to me, "What is his name?" — what shall I say to them?' And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" Some translations also render this as "I will be who I will be." God continued: "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.'"

Once we study the letter Yod, we will return to this scripture and see precisely what God was speaking of. The first letter of the sacred name — Yod Heh Vav Heh — is a Yod. So it is critical to hold Exodus 3 in mind, and the declaration "I AM WHO I AM," as we explore what the Yod is communicating. He says plainly: "This is my name forever" and "my memorial to all generations."

Yod is the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and its numerical value is 10. As with all the letters, each carries both a positional order and a numerical value. The Yod's order is ten and its numerical value is also ten. Beginning with the next letter, the Kaph, the pattern shifts — the numerical values no longer increase by ones but by tens: 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and so on. And later in the alphabet, they increase by hundreds. The first ten letters are valued one through ten. The Yod marks the turning point. This is very significant in how God has structured and numbered these letters for our understanding.

Ten is one of the most perfect numbers. It signifies the perfection of divine order, commencing an altogether new series of numbers. Completeness of order — which marks the entire round of anything — is the ever-present signification of the number 10. Nothing is wanting; the number and the order are perfect; the cycle is complete. A few examples of this powerful number: the Lord's Prayer has ten clauses; the Ten Commandments; Abraham's faith was tested through ten trials; the ten plagues of Egypt; the ten virgins; and the ten kings of the Antichrist kingdom. The number ten is also the full manifestation of the oneness of God — the oneness of Elohim.

Yod is the most frequently occurring letter in the holy scriptures. It is the letter that means "a little that holds a lot." Looking at the form of the letter, it is small — like an apostrophe — the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Yet it carries an enormous punch, because every Hebrew letter is formed from a Yod. It is a very powerful letter. Just as with all things in the Kingdom, the smallest things are often the greatest. So much so that it is the first letter of God's sacred name, Yod Heh Vav Heh — highlighting how magnificent and supreme this letter truly is.

In ancient times, Moses would have written the letter differently than we write it today in its modern form. In Noah's time and Moses' time, it was written to resemble an outstretched arm. That image should remind every one of us of the account in Exodus, where God carried Israel out on eagle's wings with an outstretched arm. He is speaking of the Yod. If we understand the Hebrew letters, we will have these deeper layers of understanding when we read Exodus and encounter the phrase "I carried you out of Egypt on eagle's wings with an outstretched arm." He is pointing to the Yod — the outstretched arm — the very pictograph the Jewish people of Moses' generation would have immediately recognized.

The pictograph of the Yod looks like an outstretched arm or a closed hand, which suggests a crown given to the one who is humbled in prayer — a bent shape in submission. The Yod's pictograph also symbolizes power and possession, such as Elohim's outstretched right arm leading Israel out of Egypt. This is confirmed in Exodus 6:6 and summarized again in Deuteronomy.

We are still very much in the story of Exodus right now because of the counting of the Omer. They left Egypt under that outstretched arm, crossed the Red Sea, and now we are on this journey toward Shavuot. Tonight, at sundown on the Hebrew calendar, is day number ten of the Omer count by the Messianic reckoning — not the rabbinical count, which falls on a different day. On day fifty, which falls on a Sunday, we arrive at Shavuot as commanded in Leviticus 23. So the outstretched arm is the season we are in right now.

The personal application of this is important, because that is why we study these letters — for purification and refinement, for deeper layers of understanding with the Most High. He is drawing each of us, with purification and refinement, toward Mount Sinai, toward Shavuot, toward Jerusalem — the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, and also the giving of the laws and ways of God. Just as he brought his people out of Egypt on eagle's wings with that outstretched arm — fire by night and cloud by day — he is bringing us on that same journey. We have approximately forty days remaining until Shavuot. If this is day ten, there are forty more days ahead on this ascent, this aliyah, this Jacob's ladder to the fiftieth day.

The anointing in this season is very high — for deliverance and for intimacy. These seven times seven weeks leading up to Shavuot are precious days to be part of the outstretched arm, to enter into the eagle's wings of the Most High in the prayer closet. Cut off the distractions of the world, purify through the counting of the Omer, and receive the revelation he wants to give you — because he desires to communicate with you.