מ ‎ Spoke 13 1 Chronicles, Habakkuk, Philemon

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters (mayim) cover the sea.

Habakkuk 2:14 (Spoke 13, Cycle 2)

The name of the Thirteenth Letter, מים ‎ (Mem) is derived from mayim, meaning water^{Note 1}. This is the word used in the quote from Habakkuk above. An ancient witness of its meaning is found in the Sepher Yetzirah which states that God created the Letter Mayim and made it "King over Water." This integrates with Scripure in a number of ways (see A Fountain of Living Waters).

The letter Mem has two numbers associated with it, 40 and 600. The Number 40 is its standard value based on its position in the alphabet. The Number 600 is the alternate value associated with its final (or sofit) form, as discussed in the Gematria Reference.

Both of these numbers make their Scriptural debut together in the context of the greatest hydrologic event in the history of the planet, the Flood of Noah. Beginning in Genesis 7.4 we read:

For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty (מ ‎) days and forty (מ ‎) nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. And Noah was six hundred (ם ‎) years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.

This bears repeating: both numerical values associated with the letter Memm first appear in Scripture together and in conjunction with the great Flood of Water, over which this letter rules as king. It is little suprise then to find numerous Mayim KeyWords related to water, most notably the word Flood (מבול ‎, m'bul) itself. We have a strong confluence of seemingly disparate concepts and symbols.

The word mayim is closely related to ים ‎ (Yam, Sea). It is in fact a pun on the Hebrew phrase MiYaM, which means "from the sea^{Note 2}." It is formed by prefixing the word Yam with the letter Mem, which is how the Hebrew preposition "of", "from", or "out of" is formed (see Mem Prefix). This pun embodies the obvious fact that the entire hydrologic system of the planet is based on the sea, from which we get all our water. To see it appear in the opening verse of Revelation 13 is nothing less than astounding.

The meaning of the Thirteenth Letter also manifests clearly in the little book of Habakkuk - (Book 35: Cycle 2 of Spoke 13) - as seen here in these representative verses:

• vs. 1.14: as the fishes of the sea
• vs. 2.14: For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
• vs. 3.8: Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea?
• vs. 3.9:Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers
• vs. 3.10: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.
• vs. 3.15: Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.

Finally, both Water and Habakkuk are deeply integrated with Cell 35 the Inner Wheel of Isaiah as discussed in Streams in the Desert.

Truly, there is no end the the wonders of our God! Praise His holy name!

Notes:

1) When I began developing this website, I called Mem "Mayim", following the ancient tradition of the Bahir (A. Kaplan, Pub. Samuel Weiser, pg. 31) which answers the question "What is Mem?" by saying "Do not read Mem, but Mayim." I now (December 2006) will be updating the site to follow the convention of calling the 13th letter Mem. This should avoid confusion.

2) For examples of miyam see Isaiah 24.14, Isaiah 63.11, Zechariah 9.10.