Hashamayim

The Heavens

Teaching and Understanding the Paleo-Hebrew

Document 6 of 11

 

The first sentence of the Torah: Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve’et ha’aretz. In beginning created Elohim [Aleph-Tav] the heavens and [Aleph-Tav] the earth.

The Aleph-Tav stands before the heavens. The first and the last, present before the first thing named in the act of creation. And then hashamayim, the heavens. The word that names the first created realm. Five letters. Ha is the definite article, the. The root is shamayim, a word that itself carries layers. Four root letters. Four pictures in the Paleo-Hebrew.

We read the root. Shin. Mem. Yod. Mem. What the pictures show.

 

The Four Root Pictures

ש  Shin  —  Teeth — To Consume, Press, Destroy, Sharp

The first picture of shamayim is the teeth, the consuming, the sharp edge, the pressing through. The same Shin in the name Yeshua, the consuming, the pressing through to completion. Not destruction for its own sake but the sharp consuming that completes what it acts on. The heavens begin with the picture of what presses through and consumes.

 

מ  Mem  —  Water — Chaos, The Mighty, The Many, What is Below

The second picture is water, the chaos, the mighty, the many. The same Mem in Elohim, the many, the waters over which the strong teaching authority revealed his hand. Here in shamayim the waters appear in the second position. The heavens, the consuming over the waters. The sharp edge above the chaos.

 

י  Yod  —  Hand or Arm — Work, Make, Act

The third picture is the hand. The same Yod that is the first letter of YHWH. The same Yod in Elohim. The acting, creating, making presence. In the word for the heavens, the hand is present. The heavens are not an empty void above the earth. The heavens are where the hand is. The working, making, acting presence of YHWH. In the third picture of the word for the heavens.

 

מ  Mem  —  Water — Chaos, The Mighty, The Many

The fourth picture is water again. Mem returns. The heavens are framed by the consuming above and the waters below, Shin above, Mem below, Mem again. And the hand between them. The consuming, the hand, the waters. The heavens as the realm where the hand of YHWH holds between the consuming above and the chaos below. The hand present in the midst. Between.

 

The Hand Between the Waters

Shin. Mem. Yod. Mem. The consuming, the waters, the hand, the waters.

The heavens in the Paleo-Hebrew pictures are not primarily a place above the earth. They are a condition, the realm where the hand of YHWH holds between what is above and what is below. The consuming above. The chaos below. The hand between.

Genesis 1:6-7, and Elohim said let there be a rakia (an expanse, a firmament, a spreading out) in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters. And Elohim made the rakia and separated the waters that were under the rakia from the waters that were above the rakia. The waters above. The waters below. The expanse between. The heavens as the separation between the upper waters and the lower waters, exactly what the pictures of shamayim declare. The consuming, the waters, the hand, the waters. Something above the waters, the hand between, the waters below.

The hand of YHWH, the Yod, the first letter of the divine name, the picture of the acting creating reaching presence, is in the middle of the word for the heavens. Between the two Mems. Between the waters above and the waters below. The heavens are the realm of the hand. The place where YHWH’s hand holds the separation that makes creation possible.

The heavens in the Paleo-Hebrew pictures are the realm where the hand of YHWH holds between the waters above and the waters below. Not an empty sky above the earth. The active presence of the hand, the Yod of YHWH, holding the separation that gives creation its shape.

 

The Yod of YHWH in the Heavens

The hand appears in three consecutive words of the first sentence. The Yod is the fourth letter of Elohim, the strong teaching authority who reveals the hand. The Yod is the first letter of YHWH, the name declared as behold the hand, behold the nail. And now the Yod is the third letter of shamayim, the hand in the midst of the heavens, between the waters above and the waters below.

Three consecutive words. Three appearances of the hand. The creator’s name carries the hand. The covenant name declares the hand. The first thing created and named carries the hand in its midst. The Paleo-Hebrew is not distributing the same letter by accident. The picture of the hand, the acting, creating, reaching presence of YHWH, is being declared in the name of the creator, in the name of YHWH, and in the name of the first created realm. The hand is everywhere in the first sentence because the hand is the one through whom all things were made.

Yochanan 1:3, all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. The hand through whom all things were made is present in the word for the things that were made. Not hidden in the theology. Present in the pictures. In the third letter of the word for the heavens. The hand that made the heavens is in the name of the heavens.

The Yod, the hand of YHWH, appears in Elohim, in YHWH, and in shamayim. The creator’s name, the covenant name, and the first created realm all carry the same picture. The hand that made all things is in the name of all things it made.

 

The Ha

The Definite Article

A brief note on the Ha at the beginning. Ha is the definite article, the. Hashamayim means the heavens not a heavens or heaven generally. The specific, defined, particular heavens. The heavens YHWH created in the act of bara are these heavens, the ones now known by the name the pictures declare. The realm of the hand between the consuming and the waters.

The definite article places the heavens in the first sentence as a specific created reality, not a concept or a theological abstraction but a named realm with a Paleo-Hebrew declaration of what it is. The heavens. Where the hand holds between. Where the consuming and the chaos are separated by the active presence of the Yod of YHWH. The specific place the pictures are describing. Created. Named. In the first sentence.

 

Hashamayim, the heavens. The consuming above, the waters, the hand of YHWH, the waters below. The realm where the hand holds the separation that makes creation possible. The Yod of YHWH, in the heavens, in Elohim, in YHWH. The hand that made the heavens is in the name of the heavens.

 

 

ש  מ  י  מ

 

Shin — The consuming. Above.

Mem — The waters. The chaos. Below.

Yod — The hand of YHWH. Between.

Mem — The waters. The chaos. Below.

 

The heavens are where the hand holds.

The Yod of YHWH.

In the midst.

 

The Gospel Revolution  •  Mike Williams Ministries

William Ethan Massengill  •  Michael Lilborn Williams  •  Daniel Thomas Rouse

Published by Audrey Williams