Lamed
by Karl D. Coke, Ph.D.
T
he lamed (font not available) is the Hebrew letter which means "ox goad." According to Gesenius’ Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, "Lamed (font not available), the twelfth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, as a numeral signifying thirty. It’s name (font not available) has the same meaning as(font not available)an ox goad . . ."According to H. M. Wolf in the book, The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. Two, "Goad
(font not available), from (font not available), "to learn," Piel, "to teach," (font not available). A sharp stick used for prodding cattle, particularly during plowing. It could have had an iron tip and also could be utilized for cleaning plows, probably with a blade on the other end."We read in Judges 3:31 (NIV): "After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an ox goad. He too saved Israel.’ This use of a farm implement for war was due to the Philistine monopoly on anything made of iron during the period of the Judges.
Rabbi Michael L. Munk in his book, The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet, says, "The name
(font not available), lamed, is related to (font not available)[lamad], which refers both to teaching and to learning. Man has the duty to teach God’s will and law, but he cannot do so unless he first learns and acquires knowledge. That the tallest letter in the Aleph-Beis is the one that implies(font not available), learning and teaching, implies that this quality is man’s highest endowment. Man’s intellectual capacity is God’s august gift, with which he can develop human consciousness of the Divine and transmit spirituality. . . . The root (font not available), learn, does not appear in the Torah until the Book of Deuteronomy. More than the first four books, Deuteronomy was a teaching vehicle, in which the Torah was repeated, taught, and explained to the people. Before his death, our teacher Moses was eager to explain and repeat the entire Torah, explaining it fully and clearly. . . ."But Torah study per se is insufficient if it is not translated into action. Thus the cattle goad that spurs the animal into movement is called
(font not available) [lit., teacher of the cattle] (Judges 3:31). Similarly, learning Torah must spur one to action and the fulfillment of the mitzvos–as the Mishnah teaches: Study is not the ultimate goal, rather the deeds [derived from that study] (Avos 1:17)."In perhaps the greatest biblical lesson on sermon preparation, Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 12:9-12, uses the ox goad as an illustration. Solomon suggests that good teaching results from 1) listening; 2) studying; 3) ordering your thoughts; and 4) seeking the Lord for editing. He promises that if a Teacher follows this progression, his sermons will act like "goads."
In Acts 26:14 (NIV), the Apostle Paul said the Lord stopped him on his way to Damascus and asked him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads." Obviously, in this passage, the Lord rebukes Paul for not submitting to His divine leading. His choice to illustrate the pain caused by disobedience is the ox goad.
The Word of God is to be hidden in the heart that one might stop sinning against Him. The heart is in the middle of the body. Similarly, the Lamed is the middle letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is positioned as if to say that learning is central to knowing and doing God’s Word.
After learning God’s Word, one needs to be motivated into acting out God’s Word. Could this be the ministry of God’s Holy Spirit? It seems that the Holy Spirit acts like the "ox goad" to prick man’s heart into action.
In the Hebrew alphabet, the Lamed is preceded by the Caph and followed by the Mem. Written in that order,
(font not available), but read in the proper order (right to left), they read as the Hebrew word MaLiK, "King." It is fitting that this tallest Hebrew letter is the middle letter in "King." Jesus is "King of kings!" Let this King, the Holy One of Israel provoke you into "doing" His will!
