For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. [Matthew 5:18-19 (KJV)]
What is a jot or a tittle? Found in the King James version, the words “jot” and “tittle” date from the 15th and 16th centuries. “Jot” comes from jota, an alternate spelling of the Greek iota (the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet) and, at the time, meant something very small. “Tittle” was a translation of keraia, a Greek word meaning “a little horn” that referred to an accent mark over a vowel. While those English words were good translations of the New Testament’s Greek, Jesus wasn’t speaking Greek when He gave the Sermon on the Mount. He was speaking Hebrew or Aramaic and the words He used weren’t iota and keraia. He would have used yod, which was the smallest Hebrew letter, and kots, meaning thorn, which was the little curve or flourish at the yod’s top distinguishing it from other letters. The tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, yod sounds like a “y” and looks a bit like an apostrophe.
21st century Gentiles might miss the deep impact of Jesus’ words but his 1st century Jewish listeners didn’t. When emphasizing the importance of even the most miniscule thing in life, a poplar Hebrew expression of Jesus’ day was, ”not a yod or a thorn (kots) of a yod.” As the first letter in God’s name (YHVH/Yahweh) and Israel (Yisrael), the yod had special significance to the people of Judah. Suspended in mid-air (like an apostrophe), the rabbis considered it to be the first dot with which a scribe started any other letter and its last dot when he finished. Being the smallest of the letters, the yod was considered the humblest. The oral tradition held that, because of its humility, the yod’s kots was added so to point to God.
According to Jewish tradition, when Solomon tried to remove the yod from the Torah, God told him a thousand Solomons would come and go before a single yod would be taken from Scripture. The rabbis held that should anyone take the yod from Scripture, their guilt would be so great that the world would be destroyed. There are about 66,420 yods in the Hebrew Bible but its little flourish was considered so important that, if even one kots was missing from a yod in a Torah scroll, the entire scroll was considered invalid and destroyed. The yod and kots meant a great deal more to Jesus’ listeners than do a jot and tittle or iota and dot mean to us.
By speaking of the significance of every yod and kots in the Law, it’s clear that Jesus had no doubt as to the divine inspiration of Scripture—down to what seem insignificant details like a kots on a yod. Nothing written in Scripture is unimportant because every letter came from God. Although the Pharisees frequently accused Jesus of disregarding the law, He said that not one letter of the law was insignificant. Not even the smallest flourish on the smallest letter would disappear until the Law was fulfilled!
Although usually translated as “verily” or “truly,” Jesus began His sentence with amén, a term of intense affirmation. While an amén at the end of a sentence confirmed the preceding words and invoked their fulfillment, an amén at the beginning of a sentence meant, “Pay attention! Something of utmost importance follows.” His amén affirmed both the truth of His words and His authority to say them.
Jesus’ words remain as valid today as they were 2,000 years ago. When we’re tempted to pick and choose only the verses we like in Scripture, let’s remember the importance of every jot and tittle in God’s word! Divinely inspired—not even the smallest letter in the smallest word is without significance.
And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. [Luke 16:17 (KJV)]
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During Lent, I journeyed toward Jesus’ death and resurrection with a Lenten devotional. For each of the season’s forty days, there was a Scripture reading from John, a short devotional, an inspiring quote, interesting facts about Lent’s history, and a unique fast for the day. Each day’s reading also provided journaling space for the reader. For the fortieth day’s journal entry, readers were asked to write a brief letter of thanks to Jesus for all He endured to lead them into eternal life.
Every morning, I receive an email from a Christian site to which I subscribe. Having no interest in Temu, make-up, or a “game-changer” pen for seniors, I ignore the ads as nothing more than “click bait.” Today’s ad from a jewelry company, however, caught my eye with its words, “Just in: Angel Numbers.” Having missed all the articles about them in Allure, Reader’s Digest, USA Today, Cosmopolitan, Women’s Day, Instyle, and Vogue, I didn’t know what an “angel number” was, so I Googled it. Apparently, when you see repeated digits (such as 11:11 on your clock, $9.99 on a price tag, 30303 on a license plate, or a date like 2/22/22), the universe is sending you a message! Rather than a coincidence, these repetitive numbers are a “sign from your guardian angel” (or a dead loved one). Supposedly, the “language of angels,” such numbers are meant to point you in a certain direction or confirm the direction in which you’re going! Of course, a host of psychics, spiritual mediums, and numerologists are more than willing to tell you the meaning of your “angel numbers.” And, as I discovered from the ad, once you find your number, you can purchase it in jewelry!
God gifted Solomon with great wisdom and people from every nation journeyed to Solomon’s court to hear his wisdom. Although 1 Kings 3 tells us that Solomon wisely determined the identity of the real mother in a dispute between two women who claimed to have given birth to the same infant [3:16-28], one wise answer hardly seems newsworthy enough to make him famous beyond Israel’s borders. Even the king’s prolific writings and vast knowledge of botany and zoology don’t fully explain his renown. In a world without mass media, what caused his reputation to travel some 1,400 miles to Sheba (modern Yemen)? Sheba’s queen was so interested in meeting the king that she and her entourage made a journey which, including her stay in Judah and the return trip, took two to three years. What about Solomon caused her to travel so far to assess the king’s wisdom and wealth for herself?
A century of dike-building, agricultural development, and population growth has destroyed much of Florida’s wetlands and threatened the survival of dozens of animals like Florida panthers, Snail Kites, and Wood Storks. The White Ibis, however, is an exception. Having adapted to the new urban landscape, large groups of ibis happily graze the lawns of subdivisions, parks, and golf courses. They’ve found it easier to poke at the soil for a predictable buffet of grubs, earthworms, and insects than to forage in the remaining wetlands for aquatic prey like small fish, frogs, and crayfish. Once wary of humans, these urbanized ibis pay little or no attention to people as they follow one another across our lawns.
The Israelites had been away from Israel for less than two months when they arrived at Rephidim. With no water to drink, the people complained, questioned whether the Lord was with them, criticized Moses, and then threatened him. Fearing for his life, Moses asked God what to do. Instructing him to strike a rock with his staff, God promised that water would come gushing out and, as promised, it did. The miracle was memorialized by the name given to this location, Massah (meaning testing) and Meribah (meaning quarreling.) Unfortunately, that was not the last time the Israelites tested the Lord and quarreled with Moses.
