Often, when you think of a Psalm, quite often the first one which comes to mind is Psalm 23:

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:

Yet, for the believer, isn’t it better to contemplate the prophecy of Tehilliym (Psalm) 22:

ELIY, ELIY, why have you forsaken me? [Mattithyahu 27:46; Marqus 15:34] Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? 2 O ELOHAI, I cry in the daytime, but you hear not; and in the night season and am not silent. 3 But you are holy, O you that inhabit the praises of Yashar’el. 4 Our fathers trusted in you: they trusted, and you did deliver them. 5 They cried unto you, and were delivered: they trusted in you, and were not confounded. 6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. 7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8 He trusted on EL-YAHUAH that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. [Mattithyahu 27:43 “He trusted in ELOHIYM; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of ELOHIYM.”] 9 But you are he that took me out of the womb: you did make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. 10 I was cast upon you from the womb: you are my EL from my mother's belly.

11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. 12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan [and who were the mercenary troops employed by Rome at this time?] have beset me round. 13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my belly. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and you have brought me into the dust of death. 16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. 18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. [Mattithyahu 27:35 “And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled את eth which was spoken by the prophet”] 19 But be not far from me, O YAHUAH: O my strength, haste you to help me. 20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. 21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for you have heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

So, it is that David would forecast the crucifixion of his heir, the son of the seed of Yashar’el, the Son of A’dam (ben A’dam) and the Son of Elohiym (ben Elohiym).

Yet there is another verse found in this wonderful passage that calls to mind the primary work here at Cepher Publishing Group.  It is found as follows:

Tehilliym (Psalms) 22:22
I will declare your name unto my brethren: in the midst of the assembly will I praise you.

Why is it that we find this passage in Psalm 22 at verse 22?  Does this tell us anything?  Did such a thing have any meaning to David, the author of Psalm 119, and its 22 segregations built over the 22 letters of the aleph-beyt? Of course, it does, as it structures itself on the 22 letters of the Ivriyt aleph-beyt (alphabet).

There are 22 letters of the Ivriyt aleph-beyt (excluding of course the repetitive sofit letters). There are those who believe that these reflect the very building blocks of life:

For instance, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) contains the biological instructions of the unique building block of each species on earth. DNA holds the information needed to develop, survive and reproduce; and to carry out these functions. DNA sequences are converted into messages that can be used to produce the proteins that do the majority of the work in our bodies. The information in the DNA is initially read and then transcribed into a messenger molecule, which translates it into the language of the amino acids, so that the body can understand it. It is this specific language that dictates how the amino acids should produce a particular protein, and nearly all proteins in nature are built with twenty amino acids. Two letters – the aleph-tav – are excluded from this mix as they represent the outer boundary of the effort.

Consider that the word protein is derived from the Greek word protos, which originates from the Hebrew word avar. Avar is the root of the word Ivriyt (Hebrew). There is a twenty-two-letter language that speaks across the DNA to replicate the life within us.

Bere’shiyth bara ELOHIYM et ha’shamayim v’eth ha’arets.

Consider that the number 22 is also the building block of the house of Yashar’el:

Yovheliym (Jubilees) 2:22-25
And thus he created therein a sign in accordance with which they should guard the Shabbath with us on the seventh day, to eat and to drink, and to bless him who has created all things as he has blessed and sanctified unto himself a peculiar people above all peoples, and that they should guard the Shabbath together with us. 23 And he caused his commands to ascend as a sweet savour acceptable before him all the days. 24 There were two and twenty heads of mankind from A’dam to Ya`aqov, and two and twenty kinds of work were made until the seventh day; this is blessed and holy; and the former also is blessed and holy; and this one serves with that one for sanctification and blessing. 25 And to this Ya`aqov and his seed it was granted that they should always be the blessed and qodeshiym of the first testimony and Torah, even as he had sanctified and blessed the Shabbath on the seventh day.

The use of an arrangement of 22 appears again seven times in the Megillah Qiynah (Roll of Lamentations), where each of the chapters end with verse 22, except for chapter 3 which has sixty-six verses, or 3 times 22. So, we see in this arrangement a grouping of three within seven groups of 22. This is a significant grouping of aleph-beyt (7), showing the sevenfold doctrine of his whole creation as discussed in Chanoch (Enoch) 93:12, and yet it also demonstrates the two famous verses found in First John (Yahuchanon Ri’shon):

Yahuchanon Ri’shon (1 John) 5:5-10
Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that YAHUSHA is the Son of ELOHIYM? 6 This is he who came by water and blood, even YAHUSHA HA’MASHIACH; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the RUACH who bears witness, because the RUACH is truth. 7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the RUACH HA’QODESH: and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the RUACH, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. 9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of YAH is greater: for this is the witness of YAH which he has testified of his Son. 10 He that believes on the Son of ELOHIYM has the witness in himself: he that believes not ELOHIYM has made him a liar; because he believes not the record that ELOHIYM gave of his Son.

Of course, these are controversial, especially verse 7. Yet it is found in the Stephanus Textus Receptus (but deleted in the Westcott & Hort):

Textus Receptus:

¶ ουτος εστιν ο ελθων δι υδατος και αιματος ιησους ο χριστος ουκ εν τω υδατι μονον αλλ εν τω υδατι και τω αιματι και το πνευμα εστιν το μαρτυρουν οτι το πνευμα εστιν η αληθεια

outos estin o elthon di ydatos kai aimatos Iesous o Christos ouk en to ydati monon all en to ydati kai to aimati kai to pneuma estin to martyroun oti to pneuma estin i alitheia

Let’s return to the aleph-beyt.

Tsephanyahu (Zephaniah) 3:9
For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of YAHUAH, to serve him with one consent.

כִּי־אָז אֶהְפֹּךְ אֶל־עַמִּים שָׂפָה בְרוּרָה לִקְרֹא כֻלָּם בְּשֵׁם יְהוָֹה לְעָבְדוֹ שְׁכֶם אֶחָד׃

Kee oz hapak al amiym saphah barar l’qara koliym b’shem YAHUAH l’abad’u shekem echad.

This passage contains all twenty-two letters of the aleph-beyt.

But is there a pure language now, that has been given, that all nations understand?  There is. It is the language of music.

Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 32:3-6
Speak, you that are the elder, for it becomes you, but with sound judgment; and hinder not music. 4 Pour not out words where there is a musician, and show not forth wisdom out of time. 5 A concert of music in a banquet of wine is as a signet of carbuncle set in gold. 6 As a signet of an emerald set in a work of gold, so is the melody of music with pleasant wine.

Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 40:20-21
Wine and music rejoice the heart: but the love of wisdom is above them both. 21 The pipe and the psaltery make sweet melody: but a pleasant tongue is above them both.

Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) 2:8-9
I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I got me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. 9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Yerushalayim: also my wisdom remained with me.

Divrei Hayamiym Ri’shon (1 Chronicles) 15:16-22
And Daviyd spoke to the chief of the Leviyiym to appoint את eth-their brethren to be the singers with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy. 17 So the Leviyiym appointed את eth Heyman the son of Yo’el; and of his brethren, Acaph the son of Berekyahu; and of the sons of Merariy their brethren, Eythan the son of Qushayahu; 18 And with them their brethren of the second degree, Zakaryahu, Ben, and Ya`aziy’el, and Shemiyramoth, and Yechiy’el, and Unniy, Eliy’av, and Benayahu, and Ma`aseyahu, and Mattithyahu, and Eliyphelehu, and Miqneyahu, and Oved Edom, and Ye`iy’el, the porters. 19 So the singers, Heyman, Acaph, and Eythan, were appointed to sound with cymbals of brass; 20 And Zakaryahu, and Aziy’el, and Shemiyramoth, and Yechiy’el, and Unniy, and Eliy’av, and Ma`aseyahu, and Benayahu, with psalteries on Alamoth; 21 And Mattithyahu, and Eliyphelehu, and Miqneyahu, and Oved Edom, and Ye`iy’el, and Azazyahu, with harps on the Shemiyniyth to excel. 22 And Kenanyahu, chief of the Leviyiym, was for song: he instructed about the song, because he was skillful.

Divrei Hayamiym Sheniy (2 Chronicles) 5:11-14
And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course: 12 Also the Leviyiym which were the singers, all of them of Acaph, of Heyman, of Yeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:) 13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking YAHUAH; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised YAHUAH, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endures forever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of YAHUAH; 14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of YAHUAH had filled את eth-the house of ELOHIYM.

One last note – if you will – on musical instruments:

The harp in Ivriyt (Hebrew) is called the כִּנּוֹר kinnôr, which is why the lake in northern Israel is called Kinnoroth – because it is in the shape of a harp.  We call it the sea of Galilee. 

We see that the kinnor is described as a harp of ten strings [Tehilliym (Psalms) 33:2; 92:3; 144:9]

In Greek, however, the word for harp is kithara (Strong’s G2788).

Chizayon (Revelation) 5:8
And when he had taken the cepher, the four living creatures and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having everyone of them kithara, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of the qodeshiym. 

Chizayon (Revelation) 14:2
And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of kitharists playing with their kithara: 

Chizayon (Revelation) 15:2
And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the kithara of YAHUAH,

Let us complete our discussion with the remainder of Tehilliym (Psalm) 22:

Tehilliym (Psalms) 22:23-31
Ye that fear YAHUAH, praise him; all ye the seed of Ya`aqov, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Yashar’el. 24 For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. 25 My praise shall be of you in the great assembly: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. 26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise YAHUAH that seek him: your heart shall live forever. 27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto EL-YAHUAH: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before you. 28 For the Kingdom is YAHUAH’S: and he is the Governor among the nations. 29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. 30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to ADONAI for a generation. 31 They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he has done this.