Hidden Messages
Don’t you love discovering hidden messages? I’ve seen paintings where there are faces hidden in the landscape, or a Bible verse is written in the sky or on the tide. It’s such fun to discover them, especially when you’ve looked many times and had never seen them before.
God loves for us to seek out truth in His Word.
Proverbs 2:3–5 NIV
…indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
I recently discovered a hidden message in the book of Jonah that really blessed me. You can only discover it if you dive deep into the Hebrew words.
It’s found in Jonah 1:17, 2:1, and 2:10:
1:17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 2:10 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God… 10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
The word for fish is dag—a male fish—twice in 1:17 and again in 2:10, and dagah—a female fish—in 2:1. Dag is spelled dalet gimel in Hebrew letters, while dagah is spelled dalet gimel hey.
Hebrew letters are often called the Living Letters and are unlike any other alphabet in the world. They are said to have been created by God, and He used them as building blocks to create the world. Each letter has a meaning and a name of its own and is also a number and a frequency.
Knowing that, you can discover hidden messages inside Hebrew words. Dalet means door or entrance, and gimel is the camel and represents provision. Hey is the letter that represents the breath and, therefore, can represent the Holy Spirit.
Back to dag and dagah. Here is one possible interpretation. (There are several.)
Interpreting the meaning of each letter, dag is saying that the fish was an entrance into provision, which it certainly was for Jonah in his time of need. Look what happens when you add hey, the Holy Spirit, in chapter 2, verse 1. When he started to pray, the Holy Spirit was present with him inside the fish. After his prayer is done, the hey is no longer present in the word for fish, and he is vomited onto dry land (Jonah 2:10). The hey’s job was done.
I think that’s remarkable! This little word gem is God’s reminder to us that in our most extreme circumstances, when we are down, devastated, or feeling destroyed, God provides a door to provision. He WILL provide a way. And when we cry out to Him, He is immediately present with us, helping us pray and find our way back to His plan for us--just like he did for Jonah. In the upheaval and uncertainty of our current political and economic situation, what a comfort this brings.
