TAV
Tav is the twenty-second and final letter of the Hebrew alphabet and carries the standard numerical value four hundred.
THE TWENTY-SECOND LETTER
POSITION — 22
STANDARD VALUE — 400
ORDINAL VALUE — 22
MODERN SOUND — /t/
FINAL FORM — NONE
SIGN • MARK
The ancient Semitic letter-name is historically connected with a word for a mark or sign. Biblical Hebrew תו can denote a mark or identifying sign in context.
TAV = 400
Four hundred is Tav’s objective value in standard gematria. Any symbolism of completion or totality belongs to interpretation rather than the arithmetic itself.
SCRIPTURE & LANGUAGE
תמים
תשובה
תו
Tav appears throughout major Hebrew vocabulary. As with every letter, the meaning of a word belongs to the whole lexical form and context rather than being carried automatically by its first letter.
THE END OF THE SEQUENCE
Because Tav closes the traditional twenty-two-letter alphabet, later Jewish interpretation often develops it through themes of sign, seal, truth, completion, covenant, and the finishing of a sequence. These are interpretive associations built upon Tav’s position and textual reception.
ALEPH TO TAV
With Tav, the IPG Compendium’s Hebrew Letter Studies now span the complete twenty-two-letter alphabet.