I Am's number four

Whereas Descartes said “I think, therefore I am” – Yahweh said “I am that I am.”  No qualifications.  He simply is, was, and shall be.



Tetragrammaton

In the universe of this “I Am” Lord, the number four is said to have great significance.  Yahweh’s own name is signified by the Tetragrammaton (from the Greek:  meaning a word that has four letters) Y H W H (from the four Hebrew letters:  Yodh, He, Waw, He).  In Latin, these four letters become I H V H – in Dutch, German, and French they become J H W H – and in English, they often become J H V H (as in Jehovah).  In the Hebrew Bible, this Tetragrammaton first appears in Genesis 2:4, and then repeats more than 6,000 times throughout the text.

There are numerous other groupings of four throughout the Hebrew Bible.  Genesis 2:10 tells about the river of Eden dividing into four branches.  Ezekiel 1:10 describes four cherubim with four faces each (that of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle).  Daniel 7:2-3 speaks of the four winds of heaven and the four great beasts from the sea.

The significance of four continues in the New Testament.  There are four Gospels:  Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Revelation 6:1-8 tells of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (riding on white, red, black and pale horses).  The four cherubim are said to reappear throughout Revelation 5.

Other religions also uphold the number four.  Islam has four archangels:  Jibrail (Gabriel) who revealed the Qur’an to Muhammad; Mikail (Michael) who doles out rewards to good people; Israfil (Raphael) who signals the coming of Judgment Day; and Izra’il (Azrael) who is the angel of death.  Buddhism has the Four

Noble Truths (regarding the nature of - and liberation from - suffering).  Hinduism has the Purusarthas (four aims of life).

Resources

http://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/meaning-of-numbers-in-bible/4.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_(number)

http://www.themeaningofislam.org/beliefs/angels/archangels.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton

Copyright December 13, 2010 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved