Bible LanguagesLetter Categories
The letters of the alphabet form 4 categories:
1. Nature
- Star (Light)
- Water
- Seed
- Sprout
2. Person
3. Shelter
4. Tool
These categories are easy to envision. You can imagine a scene on a typical farm where you have night and day, water, seeds, plants, people, a house with its various parts and tools to work the land. In fact, it's a scene from the beginning of Genesis.
1 Genesis 2:8-9
8And Yahvah God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9And out of the ground Yahvah God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; also the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And a few verses later...
1 Genesis 2:15
15And Yahvah God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and to keep it.
These elements are also common to most people through most of world history. Everyone knows what stars are, the need for water, seeds, plants (food). Everyone has a need for shelter. Most people through history have had to work a garden or field to provide food and have first hand experience with the related tools. It's interesting that the literal objects pictured in the alphabet are so basic to the human experience.
Of course these objects are really concept spaces with other more sophisticated applications than farming. Stories throughout the Bible use these letters to draw meaning that's amazing and informs us about how life works in every domain. It's just a matter of learning the concept spaces of the letters and beginning to think in these terms.