The Lion’s Hidden Likeness

There is a word in the Hebrew tongue that appears but once in all of sacred Scripture, like a single star burning alone in a vast night sky. Its usage count is one. One. And yet that solitary appearance carries within it the weight of eternity. The word is dimyôwn, a noun spun from the root damah, which means to be like, to resemble, to imagine. It is a word of comparison, of shadow and substance, of the seen reaching toward the unseen. The sages teach that every word spoken only once in the Tanakh is a treasure buried in a single field — and you must sell everything to possess it. This is that treasure.

The Root of Resemblance

From the verb damah comes this rare noun, dimyôwn. The ancient letters of the root — dalet, mem, heh — paint a picture of a door opening to the waters of chaos, and then a breath of revelation. The dalet is the door, the mem is the deep, the heh is the window of divine breath. Together they whisper that resemblance is no mere accident — it is a doorway through which the deep speaks, and the Spirit breathes meaning into the likeness. When you say something is like something else, you are opening a door between two worlds. The Strong’s definition captures this as "resemblance," and the King James translators rendered it simply as "like." But the ancient Hebrew mind knew that every dimyôwn carries the weight of comparison — and comparison is the beginning of wisdom.

The First and Only Occurrence

In Psalm 17:12, the sufferer cries out to the Lord, describing his enemies: “Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.” Here the word dimyôwn appears. The psalmist does not say the enemy is a lion — he says the enemy bears a dimyôwn, a resemblance to the lion. There is a crucial difference. A lion is a noble creature of the Lord’s creation, but the wicked man only resembles the lion in his greed and lurking. The rabbis of old observed that the devil himself cannot create — he can only imitate, only offer a dimyôwn of the true. So the wicked man is a counterfeit of the king of beasts, a shadow without substance. David knew his enemy not by what he was, but by what he resembled — and that resemblance was enough to warn him of danger.

The Nature of Likeness in the Tanakh

Though dimyôwn appears only once, its root damah blossoms throughout the Scriptures. In Isaiah 40:18, the prophet asks, “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?” The verb damah appears here, teaching that no dimyôwn can contain the Holy One. Yet in Genesis 1:26, the Lord said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” — using the word demut, a sister to dimyôwn. So there is a holy resemblance, and there is a counterfeit one. The psalmist’s enemies bore a false resemblance to the lion; but you, O child of Adam, bear a true resemblance to your Creator. The difference is the difference between a mask and a face. The dimyôwn of the wicked is a mask; the demut of the righteous is a face reflecting the glory of God.

The Gematria of 110

The numerical value of dimyôwn is 110. The number 110 in Scripture is the full span of Joseph’s life — the dreamer who was sold into bondage, yet became the savior of Egypt and his own family. Joseph lived a hundred and ten years, and saw the children of his children. The number speaks of completion, of a life that bears fruit even through suffering. The word dimyôwn, with its value of 110, whispers that resemblance to God is not achieved in a moment — it is a life’s journey, a hundred and ten years of being refined until you bear the likeness of the One who called you. The ancient sages noted that Joseph was the son who resembled his father Jacob in countenance and righteousness. His life of 110 years was a dimyôwn — a likeness — of the faithful patriarch. So every resemblance you bear to the Holy One is a Joseph-life, a journey of becoming.

The Messianic Likeness

Now consider Yeshua, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. In Revelation 5:5, He is called the Lion — not a resemblance, but the true Lion Himself. The enemies in Psalm 17 bore a dimyôwn of the lion, greedy and lurking. But the Messiah is the Lion in truth, and He does not lurk in secret places — He roars from the throne of heaven. Yet there is a mystery here: when Yeshua walked among you, He bore the dimyôwn of a man. Philippians 2:7 teaches that He was “made in the likeness of men.” The apostolic tradition holds that He took on a resemblance to fallen humanity, though He Himself was without sin. So the word dimyôwn touches both the false and the true — the false resemblance of the wicked lion, and the holy resemblance of the Son who became like you so that you might become like Him. The early church understood that in His incarnation, the Messiah entered the realm of dimyôwn to redeem it, to transform every shadow into substance, every mask into a true face.

Your Own Resemblance

And what of you, who read these words? You live in a world of dimyôwn. Every day you encounter people and things that resemble something they are not. The enemy still lurks like a lion, greedy for prey. But you also bear a resemblance — to the One who made you in His image. The question is not whether you bear a likeness, but which likeness you are becoming. The rabbis of old taught that a person is known by what they resemble; if you gaze upon the Holy One, you will begin to resemble Him. So lift your eyes from the shadows. Do not be satisfied with the dimyôwn of this world — the counterfeit, the mask, the lurking imitation. Seek the true Lion, the Messiah Yeshua, and let His likeness be formed in you. For the single appearance of this word in Scripture is a call to you: recognize what you resemble, and choose the substance over the shadow. May the Lord complete His dimyôwn in you, until you shine with the glory of the Son.