Study #3: BET

The word BET is spelt Bet, Yod, Tav and is pronounced as BAYIT ( like the English “Bait” )

In Hebrew it it is written from right to left: בית

Let us decipher its pictorial meaning as such:

Bet = house, defined space ( from its root word which means “receptacle” ).

Yod = God’s hand.

Tav = God’s covenant sign.

A translation could read: “The House ( family ) that God blesses and protects is one which observes His Covenant”.

A house is not just a defined space like a building but a dwelling place ( home ) which bears the connotation of an ” inward state of mind” e.g. security, warmth, familial love, koinonia fellowship of the saints in the New Testament.

But a deeper meaning is a family that has God as its head and one that manifests His presence in their midst – through prayer, praise and worship, study of the Word and sharing in love.

An apt picture is from Passover – where the head of an Israelite family in the land of Goshen ( Egypt ) with a sprig of hyssop leaves applies the Blood of the sacrificial Lamb upon the lintel and dooposts of his house thereby ensuring that the Angel of Death will bypass ( pass over ) his house and spare his firstborn son in God’s mercy.

Father God, BET has so much to teach us pictorially. Let us claim the blessing of Psalm 91 upon our household of faith that no evil shall befall our dwelling.