Archives for Mosaical Metrology and Mosaistics, AMMM Vol. I, No.
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Archives for Mosaical Metrology and Mosaistics, AMMM Vol. I, No.
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recognition, in others their phonetic values were readjusted to meet the needs of foreign languages, some retained the original letter names, and others dropped them altogether.5) Thus, the alphabetical order of letters, characteristic of every alphabet in the strict sense, turns out to be its most resistant aspect.6) § 4. The alphabetical order of the Latin ABC, which dropped the letters Zayin, Tet, Samekh, and Tzadi, but added G, V, X, Y, and Z, has 18 out of 22 letters in common with the sequence of letters in the ancient Hebrew alphabet.7) The –––––––––––––– 5) The cuneiform alphabet was used in Ugarit during its last two centuries, which are contemporary with the first two centuries of the Israelite monarchy (ca. 1030–830 B. C. E.), as proved by Immanuel Velikovsky, From Exodus to King Akhnaton, (1952) chapters 3 and 5; confirmed by Ed Metzler, Mosaical Metrology (N. 1) p. 24. Ugarit did not adopt the alphabet before Old Hebrew had lost the “th”-sound toward the end of the ancient Israelite republic, see below Note  34.6) Neither the so-called Egyptian “alphabet” of one-con- sonant hieroglyphs nor the so-called Ethiopian “alphabet”, in spite of its Sinaitic origin, are alphabets in the strict sense, because Alef and Bet were never placed at the top of their sequence of letters, cf. Ed Metzler, Ten Commandments (N. 3) p. 29. 7) The letter G was formed out of C, and inserted where Zayin was dropped, while V, X, Y, and Z were added at the end of the ancient Hebrew alphabet, and thus are irrelevant for the alphabetical order, cf. TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) p. 23. [7]
Greek alphabet dropped the letters Waw, Tzadi, and Kof, but added Ypsilon, Phi, Chi, Psi, and Omega, so that it shares 19 out of 22 letters with the ancient Hebrew alphabet.8) All of its 22 letters occur in the same order in the Ugaritic alphabet, which has eight additional letters. Since the chances of hitting the same alphabetical order of 22 letters at random are one in billions of thousands of billions, all of the alphabets must be descendants of one original alphabet.9) Yet, it seemed as if we would never know the genius who invented it. –––––––––––––– 8) The obsolete letters Waw (F) and Kof (Q) were retained as Greek numerals at their appropriate places in the alphabetical order, so that the Greek alphabet originally even had 21 letters in common with the ancient Hebrew alphabet. Since Tzadi was dropped, the numerical value of Hebrew Kof (100) is only 90 in Greek. Another obsolete letter-name retained as a numeral (900), although not at its former place in the alphabetical order, is Sampi “shut up!”, see below Note 27.9) The Sefer Yetzirah (chapter 4, no. 16) gives the number of permutations for seven letters (= 5040) adding, “continue from here on to calculate what the mouth cannot say, and the ear cannot hear .” The uniqueness of the one and only alphabetical order is illustrated by the number of possibilities of arranging its 22 letters in different orders, which is not infinite, but calculable: 22! = 1· 2· 3· 4· 5· 6· 7· 8· 9· 10·11·12·13·14·15·16·17·18·19·20·21·22 = 1 124 000 727 777 607 680 000, i. e. billions of thousands of billions, see TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) p. 53. [8]
§ 5. Three typical similarities of letters have been known for a long time.10) The phonetic and graphic similarity of M and N, which I shall call the Mem-Nun type of similarity, is obvious to every child. A comparable similarity is the He-Chet type, and the Tet-Taw type. In all three cases phonetic similarities correspond to graphic similarities, and phonetic differences to graphic differences.11) But while Mem and Nun form the seventh consecutive pair of letters in the ancient Hebrew alphabet, He and Chet are separated by two intervening letters, as Tet and Taw are –––––––––––––– 10) Cf. Joseph Halévy, Mélanges d’épigraphie et d’archéologie sémitiques, (1874) pp. 168 and 179, who observed already that Mem appears to be just a modification of Nun, as Chet of He, and Tet of Taw. 11) The phonetic similarity of the nasal sounds M and N is parallelled by the graphic similarity of the ancient Hebrew letters Mem and Nun, that changed little in the Roman alphabet. The phonetic difference of the bilabial M, pronounced with closed lips, from the dental N, pronounced with the teeth showing, corresponds to their graphic difference, since the more nasal M has one more stroke. Similarly, the letter He looks like a mirror-imaged E, and Chet, which stands for a more closed “h”-sound, is obtained by closing it. The ancient Hebrew letter Taw is x-shaped, whereas the letter Tet, which represents an emphatic or velarized “t”-sound with a more closed mouth position, is derived from Taw by en- closing it with a circle, see below p. 30, and TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) pp. 65, 77, and 85, cf. also pp. 59, 61, and 71. [9]
separated by twelve intervening letters. Maybe these remote letters were close to each other originally in a two-dimensional pattern, which was destroyed, later on, by the one-dimensional alphabetical order?12) the Alphabetical Order on a Didactic Table § 6. After its invention the original alphabet had to be taught in order to survive. The teacher, then as now, faced the same practical problem of –––––––––––––– 12) Wondering why the letters Tet and Taw, in spite of their obvious similarity, are numbers 9 and 22 in the alphabetical order, and likewise why He and Chet are numbers 5 and 8, is the decisive question answered below in the diagram on page 14. A comparable
problem is the three-dimensionalstructure of the Ten Commandments, which was destroyed by the one-dimensional copy of the biblical text, cf. Ed Metzler, Ten Commandments (N. 3) Notes 23 and52. Since there
areseventy more chemical elements than alphabetical letters, the two-dimensional structure of the alphabetical order was less easily perceptible than the periodic system of chemical elements, because there could not possibly be any periodicity of this kind in the alphabet due to the much smaller number of letters. [10]
how to arrange its twenty-two letters on a two- dimensional writing area, such as a sheet of paper, a blackboard or a slate tablet.13) Recognizing the same practical problem almost three and a half thousand years later may also lead to the same solution. The best solution is a tablet of 6 by 4 with two empty spaces, for an area of 11 by 2 is too oblong, while a square of 5 letter-units has three empty spaces.14) Like a string of pearls the one-dimensional alphabetical order must be laid out or coiled up in a two-dimensional pattern in such a way as to bring out the similarities of remote letters by their nearness on the tablet. –––––––––––––– 13) Such an ancient Etruscan school-tablet, dated around 700 B. C. E. was found in Marsiliana, Italy. All 22 letters of the ancient Hebrew alphabet are inscribed in alphabetical order in one line on its frame plus four additional letters at the end. The shapes of most letters are still very close to their Hebrew original, and may rightly be called “Punic” (Latin for “Phoenician”), as Herodotus writes with respect to the most ancient Greek letters, see above Note 4. In this context we should remember the story told by Virgil (cf. Aeneid I, 5–7) about a man named Aeneas (Hebrew Aenosh “man”), coming over from the Hebrew-speaking Tyrian colony of Carthage to found a city on Capitol Hill, that was to be called “Roma” (Hebrew Romah “proud elevation”). 14) The Tablets of the Law of the Torah of Moses
fromthe Sinai (below p. 26) turned out to have the same proportions (6 : 4 = 3 : 2 = 1.5 : 1) as my didactic table (cf. Note 19
infra).[11]
§ 7. The ancient Hebrew alphabet consists of the following twenty-two letters: 1. Alef, 2. Bet, 3. Gimel, 4. Dalet, 5. He, 6. Waw, 7. Zayin, 8. Chet, 9. Tet, 10. Yod, 11. Kaf, 12. Lamed, 13. Mem, 14. Nun, 15. Samekh, 16. Ayin, 17. Peh, 18. Tzadi, 19. Kof, 20. Resh, 21. Shin, and 22. Taw.15) The first step towards a two- dimensional arrangement of the alphabetical order is dictated by the prime numbers of 22, which are two times eleven. Hence the 22 letters may at first be arranged in an oblong column of 11 pairs of letters, which must be consecutive in keeping with the alphabetical order of letters: –––––––––––––– 15) This alphabetical order of the ancient Hebrew alphabet is known from the acrostic compositions in the Bible, in particular the Proverbs of King Solomon 31, 10–31, and the Lamentations of Jeremiah 1, 1–22, in which successive verses begin with the letters of the alphabet, furthermore from Psalms 111 and 112 with con- secutive pairs of letters to a verse, as well as Psalm 119 with units of eight verses , each beginning with the same letter. The complete alphabetical order occurs on the Marsiliana tablet, and on finds from Ugarit, which are not earlier than the Israelite monarchy, see above Note 5. The letters
of the ancient Hebrew alphabethave been known from many inscriptions, since the Mesha stone was found in 1868. The original shapes of some letters may be restored from proto-Sinaitic inscriptions, e. g. by raising the horns of the bull (Alef), the hands of the human being (He), by opening the roof of the house (Bet), and placing a dot in the eye (Ayin). [12]
1./2. Alef-Bet, 3./4. Gimel-Dalet, 5./6. He-Waw, 7./8. Zayin-Chet, 9./10. Tet-Yod, 11./12. Kaf- Lamed, 13./14. Mem-Nun, 15./16. Samekh-Ayin, 17./18. Peh-Tzadi, 19./20. Kof-Resh, and finally 21./22. Shin-Taw.16) § 8. Splitting the oblong column of consecu- tive letter-pairs into one column of six pairs, and another of five pairs yields a better distribution on the writing area by placing them next to each other. If the letters Mem and Nun are at the top of the second column, the letters Tet and Taw happen to stand on the same horizontal line –––––––––––––– 16) The overriding principle in all future considerations is the inviolability of the one-dimensional alphabetical order, which must be preserved by all means in any two-dimensional arrangement. The same goes for the above eleven consecutive letter-pairs, which must not be separated, when dividing them into two columns. Thus, the second half of the alphabet begins with Mem (cf. Note 17 infra), although
numerically it wouldbegin with Lamed, which has to stay with its mate Kaf at the bottom of the first column, see TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) p. 67. This leaves open the writing direction from right to left or from left to right or both alternately (boustrophedon). The consecutive pairs of letters supplement and explain each other in a variety of ways, that helped to decipher hitherto unknown meanings of letter-names, especially Zayin-Chet “circumcision of the male sexual organ” (Ibid. pp. 84–87), Tet-Yod “potter’s clay on disk with working hand” (Ibid. pp. 76–81), and Kaf-Lamed “male and female sexual organ” (Ibid. pp. 52–59 and 108). [13]
forming a four-letter group or quaternity.17) The sixteen letters above the Tet-Yod-Shin-Taw qua- ternity are arranged in four square blocks of four letters each with the second line of every block in the opposite writing direction (bou- strophedon).18) It brings out the He-Chet type of similarity by placing these letters above each other in the same four-letter group. The two empty spaces at the end are filled by Alef-Bet to read: Kol Alef-Bet – all of the alphabet.19) –––––––––––––– 17) See the didactic plate of the Hebrew alphabet, which is a recurring theme in recent works of art by Yitzhak Greenfield: On it the second half of the alphabet begins with Mem. Likewise, the second line of a cuneiform alphabet-tablet found in Ugarit already began with the letter Mem. 18) On account of the oldest Greek and proto-Sinaitic inscriptions a boustrophedon pattern could be expected, and was subsequently confirmed (cf. Note 24 infra). 19) The above three typical similarities of the letters 13./14. Mem-Nun, 5./8. He-Chet, and 9./22. Tet-Taw [violet, blue] are sufficient to determine the two-dimensional structure of the
[14]
the Didactic System of the Alphabetical Order § 9. When I first published my reconstruction of the original alphabet in 1983, some illiterate ignoramus may have thought it to be nothing but my imagination running wild.20) Similarly, it must have seemed like magic to an unscientific mind, when Mendeleyeff predicted the chemical ele- ments that were to be discovered in the years after he had found their periodic system in 1869.21) However, if you have an almost com- plete set of teeth, it is no miracle to imagine –––––––––––––– 20) This is the assessment of an internationally renowned professor of Bible and Semitic languages at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, quoted in the TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) p. 11 calling it “the obscene fantasy of a ghetto Jew”, and denying “the Jews and their Israelite forefathers the honor of having given to the world the principle of phonetic script, and the first alphabet.” In the meantime, however, it has been recognized as a scientific work of genius (Ibid. p. 10)21) When Mendeleyeff discovered his periodic system of chemical elements, he did not know their atomic structure, which is the reason for it. As the periodic system was the basis of atomic theory, my didactic table of the alphabet was the key to the structure of the Ten Commandments (cf. p. 25 infra).[15]
what the missing ones looked like. By filling the gaps in his periodic table of chemical elements Mendeleyeff was able to predict the discovery of missing elements, and by the same method I was able to restore distorted letters in the original alphabet from the systematics of my didactic table of alphabetical letters.22) § 10. Upon closer examination my two- dimensional table of the alphabetical order, which was deduced merely from the three typical simi- larities of the letters Mem-Nun, He-Chet, and Tet-Taw, proved to be a well-planned curriculum for a one-week course in alphabetic writing.23) –––––––––––––– 22) Fortunately only the letter Samekh is so distorted as to be considered missing (cf. Note 27 infra). Some letters were restored from proto-Sinaitic script, see above Note 15.23) This explains the title and character of my book TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1), for he who claims to have discovered a didactic system should be able to present it in the form of a schoolbook. The well-known Hebrew word t’-Orah (whence the Greek loan-word theoria “theory”) means “teaching” (Aramaic ’Oraita’) like m’-Orah “female teacher”, and indicates the Israelite origin of the alphabet in the Torah of Moses from the Sinai (see below p. 24). Hence the
alphabetmay be called “the oldest, and most successful illustrated school- book of the world” (subtitle), because the alphabetical order is a didactic system, as already suspected by H. Bauer-P. Leander, Historical Grammar of the Hebrew Language, (German 1922) p. 68. [16]
The four-letter blocks turned out to be graphic- didactic units designed for one schoolday of four lessons each.24) Every lesson consisted of one letter, that could be developped by the teacher from a preceding one.25) The sequence of schooldays must have followed the same boustrophedon pattern as the letters within the square quaternities: Alef-Bet-Gimel-Dalet on Sun- day, He-Waw-Zayin-Chet on Monday, Tet-Yod- Shin-Taw on Tuesday, Peh-Tzadi-Kof-Resh on Wednesday, Mem-Nun-Samekh-Ayin on Thursday, and Kaf-Lamed-Alef-Bet on Friday.26) –––––––––––––– 24) See TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) pp. 52–99.The letters Tet-Yod-Shin-Taw are the turning-quaternity in the boustrophedon arrangement of four-letter blocks. 25) As a rule of didactic psychology, the easiest letter is always left for the last lesson, when the student may begetting a little tired already, cf. TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) p. 69, and Note28 infra.26) In addition to this graphic-didactic sequence of letters, there are two other ways to read my two-dimensional table of the original alphabet: the alphanumerical sequence (see below Note 47), and the pictographic-symbolical sequence from bottom to top, cf. TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) pp. 40–51, inwhich Kaf-Lamed-Alef-Bet symbolizes sexual intercourse (Be‘ilah), Tet-Yod-Shin-Taw pregnancy or formation of the body by the potter (Yetzirah), Peh-Tzadi-Kof-Resh birth (Ledah), He-Waw- Zayin-Chet circumcision (Berit Milah), Mem-Nun-Samekh-Ayin learning (ta-Lmud), and Alef-Bet-Gimel-Dalet teaching (t’-Orah). [17]
§ 11. The most distorted letter to be restored by filling a gap in the didactic system of the alphabetical order is Samekh.27) Unlike the last lessons of the other schooldays, that are obtained by slightly changing a previous letter, the Ayin following Samekh at the end of the fifth school- day cannot be derived from it nor from Mem and Nun in ancient Hebrew script.28) This de- viation from a rule of didactic psychology is removed by assuming that Samekh looked like the lips (Sefatayim) of a mouth in front view originally, for it may be turned into an eye (Ayin) simply by adding a dot in the middle.29) This also –––––––––––––– 27) The hissing sound of its voiceless “s” may be taken as a command of silence, which was graphically represented in ancient Hebrew script by a vertical finger on the three
horizontallines of the lips Samekh Yad-kha al Pi-kha “hold your mouth!” or Sam-pi “shut up!”, cf. TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) p. 27, and above Note 8. 28) Thus, on the first schoolday Dalet is derived from Gimel by closing it at the bottom, on the second Chet from He likewise by closing it, on the third Tet from Taw by surrounding it with a circle, on the fourth Resh from Kof by moving its vertical line sideways, and on the sixth schoolday only two easy letters remain (cf. Note 25 supra). 29) After the lips were redesigned to read Samekh “shut up!”, the distinguishing dot in the eye was no longer needed, and omitted, see TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) p. 61.[18]
explains why the letter Peh “mouth” is shown in profile, which would not make sense unless it had to be distinguished from the mouth shape of the letter Samekh in the original alphabet.30) Meanings of Letters in the Original Alphabet § 12. A phonetic script reflects the phono- logical system of the language at the time and place of its invention.31) The Bible tells us that –––––––––––––– 30) Cf. TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) p. 63.A graphic distinction between Peh “mouth” and Sefatayim “lips” was also needed in ancient south Semitic script, which is a non-alphabetic descendant of proto-Sinaitic. Its Peh has the same shape as the ancient Egyptian hieroglyph “r – mouth”, while the lines of its lips are overlapping at the corners of the mouth. An analogous distinction in the original alphabet is the house in cross-section (Bet) as against its front view (Dalet). 31) Like a phonograph, a phonetic script records the sound of a language. The original alphabet reflects the phonemes of Old Hebrew spoken at the time of the Exodus from Egypt in 1441 B. C. E. This date, which marks the beginning of the ancient Israelite republic and its era, is as highly reliable as counting the Greek Olympiads or the years after the foundation of Rome, cf. Ed Metzler, Ten Commandments (N. 3) pp. 6 and 7. [19]
the two stone Tablets of the Law with the Ten Commandments on them were hewn and written by Moses in the Sinai in 1441 B. C. E. This is confirmed by the proto-Sinaitic inscriptions in Old Hebrew found in the Sinai since 1905, and generally dated around the middle of the second millennium before the common era.32) Three centuries after Moses a sound change occurred, in which Hebrew lost the “th”-sound setting it apart from other Semitic languages. Hence the original alphabet had to have a special letter for “th” that I spotted as Tzadi.33) Thus, languages –––––––––––––– 32) The complete decipherment of the proto-Sinaitic in- scription on the pedestal of a sphinx, now in the British Museum (no. 41 748), was presented, for the first time, in the TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) pp. 9–12 and 32–39, proving that it is Old Hebrew, as already claimed by Grimme, see above text accompanying Note 3 (loc. cit. at 405). Hebrew is the language of Canaan (Isaiah 19, 18), for which Phoenicia is a synonym, derived from Egyptian Punt or Hebrew Put (Genesis 10, 6), see Velikovsky (N. 5) chapter 3, and above Note 4. 33) Cf. TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) p. 73,and Ed Metzler, Ten Commandments (N. 3) pp. 27, 28, and 31.If this sound change, by which the tribes of Israel could be distinguished (Judges 12, 6), was in full swing some 300 years after the Exodus from Egypt (Judges 11, 26), it may have taken approximately another century until all of Israel had lost the ability to pronounce “th” correctly, so that the letter Tzadi stood for an “s”-sound at the beginning of the Israelite monarchy. [20]
adopting the alphabet from Israel after this sound change had to invent a new letter for “th”, if they needed it.34) § 13. The acrophonic letter-names of the original alphabet are Hebrew model words chosen as examples for their initial sounds.35) The letter Shin “tooth” must have been renamed in the ancient Hebrew alphabet, because its shape in the proto-Sinaitic inscriptions is so round that it does not resemble a tooth at all, but two female breasts (Shadayim) that happen to have the same initial sound in Hebrew.36) This assumption also ex- plains the name of the letter Tzadi “sidewise”, –––––––––––––– 34) Both Ugarit and Greece needed letters for their “th”- sounds. But Greek dropped Tzadi (see above Note 8), since it did not need another letter for an “s”-sound besides Samekh and Shin, whereas Ugarit adapted Tzadi to its cuneiform script as an “s”-sound within the Peh-Tzadi-Kof-Resh sequence of the alphabet, cf. Cyrus Herzl Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook (Rome 1965) pp. 52 and 53. While the Ugaritic alphabet invented new letters for its voiced and voiceless “th”-sounds, the Greek alphabet changed the emphatic Tet into its aspirate Theta, although in Hebrew, later on, Taw sometimes – Tet never – changed into a “th”-sound. 35) The alphabetical letters are highly abstract pictures of these model objects with the letter-names telling what they are supposed to be. 36) See TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) pp. 82
and 83.[21]
for it consists of a vertical line next to the breasts marking the side (Tzad) of the body.37) Another letter that was renamed is Nun, originally a snake (Nachash) represented by a sinus curve. The new name honors bin-Nun, which is the patronymic of Joshua, the successor and second in command after Moses, whose initial Mem is followed by the letter Nun.38) § 14. The choice of Hebrew model words depends on psychological associations current in ancient Israelite culture.39) Thus, circumcision of the foreskin would be out of the question as –––––––––––––– 37) The model word Tzadi “lateral” is an adjective formed out of Tzad “side”, referring to the noun in the ninth consecutive letter-pair 17./18. Peh-Tzadi, and explaining that it is a mouth seen in profile, cf. TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) pp. 72–75. Since consecutive letter-pairs supplement and explain each other (see above Note 16), the original letter-name for Shin helped to decipher the last letter in the ancient Hebrew alphabet 21./22. Shadayim-Taw “breasts and nipple” (Ibid. pp. 78–83). It alsohelped to turn the arm of the hand (Yod) so as to fit the shoulder next to the breast, moving it into a working position at the potter’s disk of the letter Tet.38) Cf. TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) pp. 64 and 65. 39) A model word current among tent-dwellers, and frequently mentioned in the book of Exodus is the sixth letter in the ancient Hebrew alphabet Waw “hook”, consisting of a tent-pole (‘Amud from ‘Amad “to stand”) and a quarter-circle, see TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) pp. 88 and 89.[22]
a model word for an ancient Philistine as well as a modern Christian, because it is foreign to their cultures, while it would immediately pop into a Jewish mind, to whom it is familiar then as now.40) According to Genesis 17, 12 the covenant of circumcision (Berit Milah) has to be performed on the eighth day after the birth of a son. Con- sequently, the meaning of the eighth letter in the alphabetical order (Chet) refers to circumcision as in Chatan Damim “a bloody bridegroom” (Exodus 4, 25 and 26).41) The other letter in the fourth consecutive pair (Zayin) depicts a male sexual organ circumcised at its top.42) –––––––––––––– 40) Circumcision, for a Jew, is a happy family occasion. This cultural difference may be the reason for the mental block of Christian scholars shunning the real meaning of the letter Zayin “male sexual organ” (cf. Zanav “tail” and Zonah “whore”), and preferring its second meaning “weapon”. 41) Other related roots are Chatakh “to cut”, and Chatam “to seal” the covenant (Berit) upon the flesh (Bassar). The place of the letter Chet in the alphabetical order proves that it was numerical or alphanumerical from the outset, cf. TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) p. 120, and Note 8 supra. 42) See TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) pp. 84–87.The letter Zayin is the left half of Chet, as Waw of He, and as F is an E without its bottom. In the original alphabet the letter Chet had to be turned into the same position as proto-Sinaitic He, from which it is a modification (cf. Notes 10 and 15 supra). [23]
in the Torah of Moses from the Sinai § 15. If Mem and Nun were placed at the top of the second column of consecutive letter- pairs, because they are the initials of the two top men, who founded the ancient Israelite republic, the reason for placing Alef and Bet at the top of the alphabetical order should be that they are the initials of the first two lines of the first republican constitution to be hewn and written on the two stone Tablets of the Law in the original alphabet after its invention by Moses.43) This assumption proved correct, for –––––––––––––– 43) Cf. TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) pp. 105–107.My approach to the palaeography of the original alphabet was from comparative history of law, to which it is an auxiliary science, if the two Tablets of the Law of the Torah of Moses from the Sinai were the first legal document in alphabetical script, invented for the practice of law under the Judges of Israel: The Rule of Law begins with the Letter of the Law! – The Hebrew word ’Alef does not only mean the bull, who leads a herd of animals, but also the leader (’Aluf) of a people (Exodus 15, 15). Since the people of Israel are called the house (Bet) of Jacob (Exodus 19, 3), the letters Alef-Bet-Mem-Nun express the leadership of Moses and Joshua. [24]
it was the key to my discovering the three- dimensional structure of the Ten Commandments by telling me the number of letters per line on the original inscription.44) It was written in alternating directions as suggested by the bou- strophedon pattern of my alphabetical table.45) § 16. The proportions of my didactic table of alphabetical letters, arranged on a rectangular area of six by four, turned out to be identical with the proportions of the Tablets of the Law of the Torah of Moses from the Sinai, which were –––––––––––––– 44) See Ed Metzler, Ten Commandments (N. 3) p. 14.The principle of reciprocity of consecutive letter-pairs had to apply also to the two top letters in the alphabetical order (Ibid. Note 10), after observing it in the rest of the
alphabet (cf. Notes11, 16, 28, 37, and 42 supra). Since the text of the Ten Command- ments begins with the letter Alef, it was not a far-fetched idea to look for the first Bet, which is number 33, and the first letter in the second line. The commander-in-chief of the troops (’Elohey Tzeva’ot), comparable to the Roman “praetor” (Ibid. Note 44),inscribed (Chakak) the Tablets of the Law with 10 lines (Devarim or Sefirot) of 32 letters each (Ketivot, correct for Netivot), cf. Sefer Yetzirah, chapter 1, no. 1. The Hebrew word ’El (short for ’Ayil) does not only mean the ram, who leads a herd of sheep, but also the leader of human beings (Exodus 15, 15), who walks in front of them (cf. Latin “prae-itor”). 45) The turning-quaternity (above Note 24) corresponds to the turning-letters on the Tablets of the Law, cf. TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) p. 101. The alternating writing
directionsare exercised within the square four-letter blocks (above Note 18). [25]
one cubit by one and a half, fitting exactly into the width of the Ark of the Covenant.46) The original alphabet may have been painted on the wood of this box imposing its measurements on the arrangement of letters. If it was painted on its bottom, the free space of half a cubit between the tablets would have been sufficient to see one column of consecutive letter-pairs at a time.47) By moving the tablet
sideways,the second column would become visible, and the two oblong four-letter blocks could be seen, when turning the tablet by ninety degrees.48) –––––––––––––– 46) Cf. Ed Metzler, Ten Commandments (N. 3) p. 18. If my didactic table of alphabetical letters were written on the Tablets of the Law, one schoolday would require one sixth of a tablet, which is one Omer (Ibid. p. 22). Hence counting the Omer from Easter to Pentecost means counting the days, because a schoolday equals one Omer according to the geometry of the Torah of Moses (Ibid. Note 42). 47) Reading one column after the other yields the alpha- numerical sequence of letters, cf. TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) pp. 31 and 120. The empty space of half a cubit between the tablets, which are 0.1 cubit thick and 1.5 cubits long, is three Omers, and one Omer is 2.22 liters, if one cubit measures 44.6 cm, see Ed Metzler, Mosaical Metrology (N. 1) Notes 9 and 23.48) During transportation the empty spaces were filled with the broken tablets: An Omer full of 10 Manah stones of 100 Beka of 6.0 grams each was wrapped in a little fleece (Tzintzenet), and laid in front of the first tablet (YaHUH), cf. Exodus 16, 33. [26]
§ 17. A revolution such as the Exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt in 1441 B. C. E., which brought to an end the Middle Kingdom and the pyramid age, was indispensable for the introduction of the original alphabet.49) It was not enough to realize that a set of some 20 odd phonetic symbols would do to write a language, as many Egyptian scholars of the time may have concluded from their system of one-consonant hieroglyphs, but it took a tremendous effort to throw over board the Egyptian culture and its hieroglyphic script.50) The exploited pyramid- –––––––––––––– 49) In this century the Turkish revolution resulted in the substitution of the Roman for the Arabic alphabet. The correct dating of the Exodus at the end of the Middle Kingdom, which is several centuries off the generally accepted Egyptian chronology, is the great merit of Immanuel Velikovsky (N. 5) chapters 1 and 2. It is confirmed by the biblical description of the building materials used in the construction of the last pyramids in Fayoum (Pithom) as well as by the geography of the Exodus route, which does not lead to the Red Sea unless the point of departure was far enough south of the Nile delta, cf. Ed Metzler, Mosaical Metrology (N. 1) Note 14, and Idem,Ten Commandments (N. 3) Note 36.50) Without this effort, hieroglyphs continued being written until the Egyptians (Copts) adopted Christianity and the Greek alphabet, followed a few centuries later by Islam and the Arabic alphabet. Other examples for conservative spelling are English, and Japanese combining Chinese characters with a phonetic syllabary. [27]
builders of the people of Israel, who were fed up with sacrificing their lives to the death cult of the pharaohs, must have been only too willing to replace the clumsy script of this hated culture by a more efficient way of writing.51) § 18. The alphabet is one of the greatest cultural achievements of mankind, but its origin seemed to be a mystery forever. A long time after the decipherment of cuneiform and hieroglyphic writing, the meaning of many letters in our very own script remained an unsolved problem.52) –––––––––––––– 51) Learning how to read and write a complicated script, such as Egyptian hieroglyphs or Chinese characters, takes many years of study, which is an aristocratic luxury and a costly waste of time. The simplicity of alphabetical writing, on the other hand, which can be taught in a one-week course of four lessons a day, makes literacy and learning available to everybody. Instead of an aristocracy of priests, the revolution of the Torah “teaching” of Moses aimed at democracy by educating a “kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19, 6), wishing “that all the people were prophets” (Numbers 11, 29). 52) The alphabet is a didactic system more geometrico arranged by the geometrical mind of a pyramid-builder. The mason’s way of thinking represented the letter Bet “house” in cross-section by omitting the vertical line to the left of the square, that stood for a house in proto-Sinaitic script and in Egyptian hieroglyphs. A law-abiding court-officer under the Judges of Israel had to add the prescribed railing on top of the flat roof (Deuteronomy 22, 8), which later became the second floor of B, cf. TORAH OF THE ALPHABET (N. 1) pp. 16 and 92–97.[28]
Anti-Jewish prejudice prevented the most likely candidate for the invention of alphabetic writing from being taken seriously into consideration.53) By focusing my attention on the systematic aspects of the alphabetical order along with its phonetic, graphic, and semantic aspects of letter-names, I succeeded in restoring the original alphabet, as taught (Torah) by Moses in the Sinai. In every detail the alphabet bears the highly individual fingerprint of the genius of the people of Israel who conceived it.54) –––––––––––––– 53) One of the earliest detractors is Tacitus, Annals, XI, 14, twisting the account of Herodotus (N. 4) to the effect that the Phoenicians palmed off the alphabet as their own invention, while they allegedly received it from Egypt. Hieroglyphic script, however, is incontestably non-alphabetic. An equally ridiculous detraction, based on Aryan chauvinism, claims that the decisive step was the introduction of vowel-sounds in the Greek and Roman alphabets by changing ’Alef into A, He’ into E, Yod into I, ‘Ayin into O, and Waw into Y or U. Due to the relativity of what is phonetically significant, these apparent improvements in non- Semitic languages are disadvantages in Hebrew, for which the original alphabet was conceived. 54) Besides circumcision of the foreskin (cf. Note 40 supra),another distinctively Israelite sign is the day of rest (Shabat) after six days of work (Exodus 31, 17). The curriculum of the alphabet ends (Kol Alef-Bet) after six schooldays (above Note 19), as heaven and earth were finished (Genesis 2, 1–3). – The style of writing depends largely on the materials and tools, rather circular on sand, more angular on stone, and cuneiform on wet clay. [29]
Solomonic Hebrew Alphabet  [30] |
Original Mosaical Alphabet  [31] – at USA-$ 20.– per issue – Discovering the System of Mosaical Metrology AMMM
VOL. 1, NO. 1 = ISBN 3-924448-03-5 * Discovering the Three-Dimensional Structure of the Ten Commandments AMMM
VOL. 1, NO. 2 = ISBN 3-924448-04-3 * Discovering the Two-Dimensional Structure of the Alphabetical Order AMMM
VOL. 1, NO. 3 = ISBN 3-924448-05-1 * Discovering the Mosaical Roots of Kabbalah AMMM
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VOL. 2, NO. 1 = ISBN 3-924448-09-4 * The Impact of Israel on Western Philosophy AMMM
VOL. 2, NO. 2 = ISBN 3-924448-10-8 * The Mosaical Roots of European Musical Theory AMMM
VOL. 2, NO. 3 = ISBN 3-924448-11-6 * On Mosaical Matrixes and the Metzler Formula AMMM
VOL. 2, NO. 4 = ISBN 3-924448-12-4 * inscription on the Tablets of the Law, and to prove the priority and centrality of Hebrew script in the world history of writing.” Bibliographical Quarterly of the Jewish Nationaland University Library in Jerusalem, Israel, VOL. 60, NO. 1–2 (1986) pp. 287–88, *3045–47. * ISBN 3-924448-05-1 |
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by Dr.
Ewald (Ed) Metzler-Moziani.
