Introduction to Picto-Graphics

The earliest forms of Hebrew writing were pictograms. Pictograms were pictures of the commonly understood things of life that conveyed an understanding, rather than a set letter.

As an example, the Hebrew letter "a", the aleph of the aleph-beit, was represented by the head of an ox, that looked like this: The ox represented strength, and with it went all the associations that contributed to a three dimensional functional understanding of the idea that was being conveyed through it's usage. The ox represented strength, and through strength came wealth, position, standing, authority, and sufficiency. Through these relationships, the ox head 'aleph' came to be associated with the 'head' of the household, the father, and with the Almighty, the Aleph's of all Aleph's. [Do you perhaps now see the associations that were being conveyed when Jesus said, Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me . . .?"]

Likewise, with the letter 'b', the beit which looks like this: The letter b, or beit/beyt was represented by the floor plan of a nomadic tent. The tent itself had an inner wall wherein a division was made for privacy of the inner sanctum of the family. Usually the father sat in the doorway of the tent, and that which would have been visible through the doorway of this tent would be open to others. It would parallel our own living rooms. Therefore the letter 'b' represented the home, the family, and conveyed all the associated ideas that pertained to it, such as hospitality, comfort and security, stability, responsibility, etc.

These two letters put together, , the Aleph-Beit, mean 'ab', which in the Hebrew means 'father', and through the associated ideas that are related to the letters that make up the word 'ab', we come to also know that which portrayed the essential characteristics and nature of a father: strength, authority, provision, and protection and responsibility for the home, which would have included a wife/mother, and a family.

Our Roman letters, (a, b, c, etc.) are flat and one dimensional. They do not convey any thing of themselves, and it is only when they are put together to make a word that any meaning or significance is conveyed. Furthermore, that meaning will only be understood according to what that particular word means to you, unlike the Hebrew pictograms, where the meaning of the word was conveyed by the letters used to form it. In this we begin to see how deep and rich the understanding of the Hebrew mind was when speaking of 'the father', as opposed to our very individual and subjective interpretation of the word 'father'.

This has only been a very short and cursory examination in the glory of the early Hebrew scripts, something which I have not even begun to fully explore as yet. However, even as brief as it may be, I hope that it has brought to the forefront of your understanding how different, and how significant the difference is between the Hebrew language that is the foundation of the scriptures, and our subjective interpretation of it unto English.

Having said all of this, I have also used this example by way of introduction to this section of the website. They are my picto-graphics. These picto-graphics came about through a very powerful and wonderful encounter with the Lord. Shortly thereafter, I began to 'see' certain verses of scripture according to a graphical representation using icons that represented the Word, the Cross and the Spirit ~ Father, Son and Holy Ghost. This was six years before I ever heard of pictograms. How glorious is the hand and working of God!

As my grasp of what these scriptures were really representing came to be more firmly rooted in my heart and spirit, underlying concepts and understandings of the things that were being spoken of through the Scriptures began to take shape in the form of a graphical representation that grew beyond the basic icons that I had been using.

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, conveying as they do, a level and degree of associated understandings, relationships and connections that would take a lifetime to explain or express in words themselves which may not find a similar response in you. And so it is with these picto-graphics.

Some are simply verses of scripture given a new depth of insight and understanding. Some of them are entire understandings of key issues and concepts contained within the Scriptures that may open your eyes to see things differently. Many were the times that these picto-graphics created a paradigm shift in me, that shifted my thinking off of it's wrongful foundation and anchored it more truly and securely on that which was right in the sight of God. In truth, it was the picto-graphics that did the most to shift my understanding out of mainstream 'Churchianity' and helped me overcome the lies that were being perpetrated as 'faith' and 'life' and truth'.

I offer these picto-graphics to you as they presently are, in the hopes that you too might come to see the Word of God in a 'new light' and begin to take hold yourself of some of the hidden treasures contained in the Word of God, awaiting your discovery.

May you be blessed and enlightened, and enriched unto all faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ through them. Amen.