The Significance of 22

As early as the 1st & 2nd centuries B.C. the Jews noted that 22 was significant in not just being the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet but also the number of generations from Adam to Jacob (israel), the number of works of creation, and the number of books in the Jewish canon of the Bible. (Sources: Josephus; thebook of Jubilees 2.23; cf. Kabbalah)

Picture Letters

The first Hebrew letter, 'Aleph, originally represented an ox head and was similarly portrayed in Phoenician and Ancient Greek as well as Ancient Hebrew.

The name for the first letter, 'âleph is the same as the Hebrew word  'eleph which signifies an ox. This probably derives from two ideas, firstly from  'êl which means 'strong' or 'mighty' and as such is used of God, hence of the ox because of its strength. Secondly, in derivation from  'âlaph which is a primary verbal root meaning to 'associate with', 'be familiar with', 'be accustomed to' and as such was used of friendship, taming, joining together (hence as a numeral, '1000', and a 'family') and of learning by association.