In place of the Aleph and Thaw, the Alpha and Omega were substituted. The manner of expressing God's eternity by means of the first and last letters of the alphabet seems to have passed from from the synagogue into the Church. (Jewish Encyclopedia.) In Christian usage ![]() "This legend shows", says Hanina "that the seal of God is truth". It was the spirit of idolatry leaving the earth". Immediately a scroll fell from heaven with the word Truth written thereon, and thereupon a fiery lion came out of the sanctuary. 64a., the following is related: "The men of the great synagogue prayed to God to remove from the earth the Evil Spirit, as the cause of all trouble. Emeth, as the Jewish divines truly say, is the signaculum Dei essentia (see Buxtori's Lexicon). Thus Emeth is a sacred word expressing that in God truth dwells absolutely and in all plenitude. There will be no one after Him to whom He could bequeath it. The Thaw, or last letter, in like manner signifies that God is the last of all things. There was no one before Him of whom He could have received the fullness of truth. The Aleph or the first letter of Emeth(truth) denotes that God is the first of all things. This led the Jewish sages to find in this word a mystical meaning. This letter of the alphabet and ends with the last. Thus the term Emeth (truth) begins with the first letter of the alphabet and ends with the last. The Aleph and the Thaw are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet as the Alpha and Omega are of the Greek. It is composed of three letters: Aleph=Alpha, Mem=My, and Thaw=Theta. Of the two perfections truth and goodness, the former ranks higher. In the psalter they are praised and invoked by the poet with holy and loving fondness, e.g. Truth is the final object of the intellect, and goodness is that of the will. ![]() They are the immediate outcome of His Divine operations. They are foremost among God's moral attributes. God's being is fullness of goodness and truth Plenitudo veri et boni in the Latin translation. When God passed before the face of Moses on Sinai the great Law-giver of Israel called out: "Jehova, Jehova and merciful God, of long-suffering, and full of goodness and truth". Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more all for only $19.99. Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download.
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