The Broken Vav

broken

The tabernacle of Moses had a linen sheet that hung around it and hooked on 100 poles. On these poles were hooks called the Vav which is also the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The silver hooks looked like this letter. I guess that you could say that it looked like an upside down J. You can see it in most bibles as a division divider just above Psalm 119:41.

This same hook letter was enlarged in Leviticus 11:42 because it marks the very center of the first five books, which, interestingly enough, is in the word which means “belly”.

Let’s dig a little deeper. Because the Vav was also the Hebrew number 6 it represents man:

Man was created on the sixth day.

Man works for six days.

The “beast” is identified as the number of a man – 666 (Revelation 13:18)

One of the 4,000 rules that a scribe had to live by in copying scripture, one of them stated that not only could the letters not touch by they had to be complete. There is only one exception which is found in Numbers 25:12 in the word “shalom.” “…Behold, I give you to him My covenant of peace;” The Vav is broken in half in the word “peace.”. Let’s keep this word in mind.

Numbers 25 is the story about Phineas and his zeal to get rid of evil in Israel by driving a spear through a man because of having sexual relations with a Moabite woman. With this, God stopped a plegue that He had sent.

Now, let’s look at the next verse, 13 – “…because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.”

Looking at the verse in it’s literal context we know from the previous verse that the one who was zealous for his God and made atonement was Phineas. If we look at it prophetically, who could we say that this verse is representing?

Let’s look at what we have?

• Vav represents man, the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
• In Numbers 25:12 it is broken.
• This broken Vav is in the word peace in the  phrase “covenant of peace.”
• The following verse says that God made an atonement for the children of Israel.

Now, let’s put it together. What man do you know that was broken as a covenant of peace and brought atonement.  Just another example of the evidence of Jesus in the Old Testament.

There is more to this letter that I will cover later. Feel free to leave your comments or insights.