Draw a chet

Draw a chet []

Discussion

When you draw the vav of the chet say, "understood" or "saw".

The chet is drawn like a he ה but the vav on the left returns all the way to the top. This represents that the commandment was understood. The meaning of chet is 'dismay', because when you really understand God's command, you are dismayed. [v 1] [q 1] [a 1] [q 2] [a 2] [1] Dismay is terror. When people met the Holy God they fell on their faces. [2] [3] [4] [5]

  1. It is not being suggested that the Gospel of Thomas is scripture, only that the author was familiar with prophetic riddle.
  2. ± Ge 17:3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
  3. ± Nu 22:31 Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.
  4. ± Jos 5:14 And he said, Nay; but [as] captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?
  5. ± Mt 17:6 And when the disciples heard [it], they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.

Discussion

Questions

  1. Why does understanding the commandment cause dismay?
  2. The Gospel of Thomas (2) says, ... The one who seeks should not cease seeking until he finds. And when he finds, he will be dismayed... Could the chet be the source of Thomas's riddle?

Vocabulary

  1. chet ח or חת - dismay, m. understood, seeing

Answers

  1. The holiness of the law confronts your sin.
  2. It is a good exercise to read the Gospel of Thomas in the genre of prophetic riddle or sensus plenior, since he shares many of the same riddles which are mistakenly interpreted to be literal and so are mis-identified as Gnostic