In The BeginningIn The Beginning Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. To begin with, there are several assumptions that we need to have in order to accept the veracity of the Bible. First, that there is indeed a God. Secondly, that the authors of the Bible wrote faithfully to the Will of God. Finally, that Jesus was the Son of God and that His life is accurately portrayed in the Bible. Although it is not my intention to tackle these assumptions in these reflections, I must address them to some extent so that we all feel comfortable in moving forward. That begs the question; is there a God? Naturally anything that I put forward can be rationally argued against. But that is rather simplistic. The existence of the universe, in all of its forms, had to come from somewhere. As author/philosopher Tom Henderson writes, “There are only two options, it was created by an all-powerful Creator OR it is the product of chance.” We can talk about science: 1. The earth is the perfect size for gravity to hold just the right mixture of gases to sustain life 2. The earth is just the right distance from the sun to maintain just the right temperature spread to sustain life. 3. The moon is just the right size and distance away to create the exact amount of gravitational pull to create ocean tides so that they don’t stagnate. 4. The life giving properties and amazing attribute of water. a. Can boil and freeze – which are both exceedingly important b. A universal solvent – can flow through anything to give life sustaining properties 5. Chemically neutral 6. Has a unique surface tension allowing it to flow against gravity, which is essential for plant and trees. 7. If you believe in the Big Bang Theory, we then need to ask, where the chemicals came from to create the matter that the explosion of energy and light ignite. How did the explosion happen? It seems to me that this takes a much greater leap of faith to accept. 8. The universe operates on natural laws that never change and is very orderly. How can such orderliness, rules, and exact necessities of life come from such randomness? 9. Each cell in our body screams creation. Each cell has a specific purpose and structure complete with a DNA code consisting of three billion letter combinations of the chemicals scientists have abbreviated as A, T, G, and C. As journalist Marilyn Adamson writes, “You cannot find instruction, precise information like this, without someone intentionally constructing it.” Darwin wrote, “There is grandeur in this view of life with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed laws of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.” And Einstein opined, “My religion comes from a humble admiration of the illimitable superior Spirit who reveals Himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.” Dr. Nelson Glueck, a modern authority on Israeli archeology wrote,” "No archeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries." How do we know that the writers and subsequent renderings of the Bible are an accurate forming of the message or Word of God? To start with the writers of the books of the Bible all said they were writing down the infallible exact Word of God. This is found 3000 times in the Bible itself. Furthermore, many of the writers recorded prophecies all of which were fulfilled save one; the return of Jesus, which is yet to come. Not one archeological discovery has ever refuted anything written in the Bible. In this vein, the Bible is the most scrutinized book ever. As such, any manuscripts uncovered and other writings about the history or time found, throughout the centuries have upheld the accuracy and veracity of the Bible. There are also over 5300 manuscripts or parts of manuscripts we can examine today. Authors Dr. Henry Morris and Martin E. Clark summed it up best when they wrote: “Another striking evidence of divine inspiration is found in the fact that many of the principles of modern science were recorded as facts of nature in the Bible long before scientist confirmed them experimentally. A sampling of these would include: A. Roundness of the earth (Isaiah 40:22) B. Almost infinite extent of the sidereal universe (Isaiah 55:9) C. Law of conservation of mass and energy (II Peter 3:7) D. Hydrologic cycle (Ecclesiastes 1:7) E. Vast number of stars (Jeremiah 33:22) F. Law of increasing entropy (Psalm 102:25-27)
G. Paramount importance of blood in life processes (Leviticus 17:11)
H. Atmospheric circulation (Ecclesiastes 1:6) I. Gravitational field (Job 26:7) J. and many others.” But God gives the most compelling reason in Deuteronomy 18:20-22, that His Word should be accurately conveyed. "But the prophet who shall speak a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. And you may say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him." Finally let’s look at the question of, “Is Jesus the Son of God?” Now there are two things that we must look at here. First, did God have physical relations with a female on earth, much like the Roman and Greek gods of mythology? Emphatically, the answer is NO! But it does have the connotation that Jesus is under the divine obedience to the call of God and we find reference to Jesus as the “Son of God” 47 times in the King James New Testament. In John 5:18-24 we find Jesus as being the heavenly, eternal Son who is equal to God the Father. In Matthew 11:27 Jesus fully reveal God the Father and in Hebrews 1:1-3 we read that Jesus is the exact representation of the Father. As David Guzik wrote, “We can’t say we believe in Jesus if we don’t believe in the Book of Genesis.” In John 5:46-47 Jesus stated “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” Jesus Himself said in John 17:5 “And now Father, glorify me in Your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” To take this a step further can we say that Jesus is God? The answer is plain and simple, YES. Let’s look at some of the facts: 1. He accepted worship from His disciples and from the people. 2. He claimed to forgive sins which was the right only reserved for God in the Jewish faith. 3. He performed many miracles including raising people from the dead. 4. He died and came back three days later, a phenomenon which was seen by thousands of people. 5. Finally, He said he was God. Just before we dive in we should look at the author and the style he employed. It is generally accepted that Moses wrote Genesis or was the compiler. He is setting the stage if you will, providing a historical account of the beginning of creation. I must quickly insert here that all Jews and indeed Jesus trusted these to be a true account of history. Many say that it is similar to, indeed almost copied other accounts of the beginning of time. According to Gary Lashmutt there are some very distinct and unique aspects of the Christian account: 1. Monotheism distinct from nature vs. polytheism or animistic nature deities 2. Straightforward narrative to inform vs. myth-ritual to enact in order to stabilize nature 3. God is eternally pre-existent vs. theogony (gods are born, undergo metamorphosis) 4. Creation out of nothing vs. from pre-existing materials 5. Creation by word vs. through sexual intercourse, battle, struggle, etc. 6. Humans created last vs. first (not the case in “Enuma Elish”) Finally as Gary writes that it harmonizes with origins science, but it is not a scientific textbook. In fact there is no point in which it contradicts with science. Basically it is a summary using observational language which is very selective. So let’s start! As found in the Yada Yahweh we read: Yahuweh begins His open letter to man with a seven word sermon. "Bare’shiyth ‘elohiym bara’ ‘eth hasamayim wa‘eth ha‘erets." The fact that there are seven words in God’s opening statement of purpose isn’t a coincidence. Every important aspect of Yahweh’s Word, including His plan of salvation, is based upon the formula: one (representing God) in addition to six (representing mankind) equals seven (equates to a perfect result and relationship). Here, the one special word among the seven is: "’elohiym — God Almighty."
Reshiyth (in the beginning) elohiym (God) bara (created) eth (and) shamayim (the heaven) eth (and) erets (the earth) Reshiyth:
In the Bible “Reshiyth” was use 53 times as “beginning” its Strong number is H7225. It truly means, the first, but it could also mean first fruits. Creation had a beginning, when that beginning happened we have no clue. This is an important distinction because with any story, particularly when it is supposed to be the history of the Jewish people, historians want to point to a specific time. And the word in the Jewish language that is used for a specific time is techillah. Before the act of creation there was no time. It is important to note that the original Hebrew compound word used in this phrase is ba-rehith. The noun resihith always needs a modifier for its actual meaning. It can mean beginning but it also has been used as “previously”. We need to differentiate from the beginning of time and the beginning of God. God has no beginning or end but the world does. The word does not have a definite article prefix which then corrects most English translation from the traditional “in the beginning” to “A beginning.” What we then can see is that “a beginning” refers to not the beginning of all time and things but the start of humanity the world with or universe as we know it. Thus we get the compound word ba-reshiyth or simply reshiyth. But why is it important to include the “ba” first? Ba is from beth, the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It means “in” and is also “allows or sets up - cause and effect.” The cause is God and the effect is mankind, His “firstfruits;” this ties in Re’shith also meaning “head of the family.” It also denotes “sum and total” which the Bible is all about – our history and meaning. An interesting side note is that the reason that Bible starts with “bet” the second letter of the Jewish alphabet rather than the “alef”, which is the first letter, is because the “alef was reserved for the beginning of God’s laws, the ten commandments. Creation is second to the giving of the Torah. Elohiym
The word “Elohiym” or `elohim is a word that designates a "classification" of beings or entities. Often you will find it in the classical manner as ha-elohim, which should be translated as “the elohim.” Eloyhim is the plural of “el” meaning “migty one, deity, or god.” By using the plural form Father, Son, and Spirit co-exist eternally and that they are all set apart from the same source. God is the supreme leader and the creator of the Elohim. Jesus is the son of God, which made him the Supreme Elohim. This is an important distinction because technically the proper name of God is “YHWH” meaning the almighty. This is used only when we give personal attributes to God. The term “Yhwh “is concrete, special, personal, and the God of love. Whereas the appellative “Elohim” is abstract, general, impersonal, and superhuman. Elohim is the divine name which also denotes the universal ruler of the world. This comes from the Elohist tradition that referred to God as Elohim, which was derived from the name of the Canaanite God El. John Gill also points out an interesting fact and that although some derive the meaning of “elohim” as signifying power, with creation being an act of almighty power; we can also derive the meaning from the Arabic language which is the root of the word and that it signifies worship. In an act of worship, God created all things. Bara
This is the first action word of the Bible; it also provides us with significant meaning. There are three words for create in the Old Testament bara, asah, and yasar. But only bara is associated with God creating anything. Bara is the act of creating something out of nothing “ex nihilio.” There was no pre-existent matter out of which to fashion anything. And this is something at only God can do. But it is even more than that, it stresses that what was formed was new and perfect. Thomas E. McComiskey says: "The root bara has the basic meaning ‘to create’. It differs from yasar ‘to fashion’ in that the latter primarily emphasizes the shaping of an object while bara emphasizes the initiation of the object." There is also another view of the word bara that comes from Jeff Benner of the Ancient Hebrew Organization. He writes: Some believe that the word "bara" does not mean, "create" (Hebrew actually has no word that meaning "create" in the sense of something out of nothing) but "to fatten". If we take the literal definition of "bara" in Genesis 1.1 we have - In the beginning God fattened the heavens and the earth. What does this fattening of the heavens and earth mean? This verse is not showing the creation of the heaven and earth, but rather the fattening or filling up of it. Therefore, Genesis 1.1 is a condensed version of the whole creation story. This version can be collaborated when we look at the root of Bara. In Arabic it is the preparation of movement toward a form; in the Samaritan, it means move toward density, and in the ancient Chaldaic language it means to move toward compactness. In summary, God chose to put the heavens and earth into a form that man could live in. Finally, Stephen Quale suggests that the Hebrew version of bara also means to cut down or dispatch. Seeing that Jesus was a carpenter, a creator of things made of wood, this would have some relevance. But then, this would also mean that it wasn’t made from nothing, but rather something. It was crafted. It also gives rise to the thought of bringing back to a former state. And this can be brought forward to the story of Jesus where God chose to save mankind. As one bible scholar wrote; “The Creator chose to save mankind by transforming and dispatching part of Himself to be born among men, to live perfectly, producing miracles, and performing the task of allowing Himself to be cut down so as to renew our souls, bringing us back into fellowship.” Eth
There is no parallel word in English which make it an interesting choice and sometimes a little difficult to decipher. Many people would look at the word “eth” and conclude that since it means “and” that they could leave it there and everyone would understand and accept it for what it is. In English the word “and” between two verses or words occurs after one thing happening and then another. It is understood that the same thing happened to the second as did the first. In Hebrew poetry and the Bible is in fact poetry, the word “and” is used to link two statements as one. It can also be defined as “accordingly”, which would give us the meaning of “accompanying and in association.” This brings us into the understanding that God was in “close proximity to” His creation and that creation was to initiate His being in “association, relationship, and accompaniment” with His Creation. “Eth” is derived from “owth”, meaning “sign or signal to be observed and remembered.” One further little nugget of interest is that if you vocalize “eth” differently you get “ath” which means “miraculous sign.” It is not my intention to obfuscate or create more than there actually is, but these small things seem to be more than happenstance and it would seem that God’s first seven words would be perfect and as such, be rich with meaning. Shamayim
According to the Reshiyth organization; amongst others, “shamayim” means “heaven” or “the sky”. “Shamayim”, “Ha’Shamayim” or “samayim” as it also known, is based on the Hebrew root meaning “lofty and elevated”. With that in mind it can describe either “Heaven, the abode of God” and “the physical heavens, the realm of stars”, or in other words “the spiritual realm.” When any Hebrew ends in im it denotes plurality. According to the Biblical Heritage Organization the construction of the word (P2-L1-W5 or HAShAMAYIM) denotes “two” of something. In Hebraic thought it is defined most commonly as the lower heavens and the higher heavens; thus giving us both God’s home and the home of the stars and galaxies. Another interesting fact is that “mayim: is the Hebrew word for fire and that “shin” (the 21st letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet) is associated with fire. So we now find that the heavens are linked to both fire and water. Finally, the fifth letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet is Ha – which is the term for breath (wind/spirit). So in Ha’Shamayim, we have breath, fire, and water - the key components of life! And Erets
The meaning for “rets” is the dry land or earth. It is easy for us to limit our thinking to that which we can see and touch meaning that throughout history people thought that “erets” meant only our earth, but in fact, it means all matter in general. Our earth was in fact not made till the third day. Finally, we can easily sum it up by saying that “erets” represents the lowest natural form of creation; while “hashamayim” represents the highest natural form of created things. The last and seventh word of God’s first sentence “erets” is extremely important in that when we dig deeper into its meaning the whole concept of “dirt” is lodged in a tiny, minute particle of matter. This matter is the basis of all creation; the solar system, the earth, and man. It is also the definitive dividing line between “erets” the material world (which includes the creation of man) and “samayim” the spiritual world. Grant R. Jeffrey writes in his book “The Signature of God” the following: Ivan Panin carefully examined the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:1 and discovered an incredible phenomenon of multiples of 7 that could not be explained by chance. Genesis 1:1 was composed of seven Hebrew words containing a total of 28 letters. Throughout the Bible the number seven appears repeatedly as a symbol of divine perfection - the 7 days of creation, God rested on the 7th day, the 7 churches, the 7 seals, the 7 trumpets, etc. In total, Panin discovered 30 separate codes involving the number 7 in this first verse of the Bible. A Partial Listing of the Phenomenal Features of Sevens Found in Genesis 1 1 The number of Hebrew words = 7 2 The number of letters equals 28 (7x4 = 28) 3 The first 3 Hebrew words translated "In the beginning God created" have14 letters (7x2 = 14) 4 The last four Hebrew words "the heavens and the earth" have 14 letters (7x2 = 14) 5 The fourth and fifth words have 7 letters 6 The sixth and seventh words have 7 letters 7 The three key words: God, heaven and earth have 14 letters (7x2 = 14) 8 The number of letters in the four remaining words is also 14 (7x2 = 14) 9 The shortest word in the verse is the middle word with 7 letters 10 The Hebrew numeric value of the first, middle and last letters is 133 (7x19 = 133) 11 The Hebrew numeric value of first and last letters of all seven words is 1393 (7x199 = 1393) When professors on the mathematics faculty at Harvard University were presented with this biblical phenomenon they naturally attempted to disprove its significance as a proof of divine authorship. However, after valiant efforts these professors were unable to duplicate this incredible mathematical phenomenon. The Harvard scientists used the English language and artificially assigned numeric values to the English alphabet. They had a potential vocabulary of over 400,000 available English words to choose from to construct a sentence about any topic they chose. Compare this to the limitations of word choices in the biblical Hebrew language which has only forty-five hundred available word choices that the writers of the Old Testament could use. Despite their advanced mathematical abilities and access to computers the mathematicians were unable to come close to incorporating 30 mathematical multiples of 7 as found in the Hebrew words of Genesis 1:1. In other words we have God’s perfection in the form of His love for us In summary: Bare’shiyth
Elohiym, our father, the head of our family, was there in the beginning. Not only was He there in the beginning, but His first-fruits caused or was the beginning. Elohiym
Elohiym is a divine name referring to a classification of beings or entities who are the universal rulers of the universe. Although we refer to God as He, we are actually talking about the “Royal He” meaning God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They co-exist eternally. Bara
They, through an act of worship, out of nothing, created or fattened (filled up) Eth At the same time, Hasamayim
The physical heavens and the spiritual world with air, fire, and water (the building blocks of life) wa‘eth ha‘erets
and the material world. Bibliography Adamson, Marilyn. "Is There a God?" Every Student.com. http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html (accessed August 1, 2010). Allowitz, Michele. Study - 1 Gen1.1-8.8 B'reshiyh. October 3, 2008. http://www.beit-lechem.com/2008/index.php?view=article&catid=35%3Agenesis-&id=126%3Astudy-1&option=com_content&Itemid=55 (accessed May 31, 2010). Benner, Jeff A. The Poetry of Genesis Chapter One. 2007. http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/23_genesis_1.html. —. "The Poetry of Genesis Chapter One." Anciet Hebrew Research Ceter. 2007. http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/23_genesis_1.html (accessed May 31, 2010). Bennet, Mark. "Shamayim1." Seven Thunders Ministry. 2006. http://www.seventhundersministry.com/teachings/shamayim1.htm (accessed June 3, 2009). Benno Jacob, Emil G. Hirsch. The Book of Gensis. 2008. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=137&letter=G&search=genesis#0 (accessed June 19, 2010). Biblical Heritage Center. Elohim. 1999-2010. http://www.biblicalheritage.org/Linguistic/HL/1-A/-elohiym.htm (accessed May 2010). Blue Letter Bible. "Dictionary and Word Search for "In the beginning" in the NIV." Blue Letter Bible. July 25, 1996-2010. < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm? (accessed 2010). Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry. "Jesus cannot be God's son." CARM. 1995-2010. http://www.carm.org/religious-movements/islam/jesus-cannot-be-gods-son (accessed August 15, 2010). Coller, Flip van. "How can water exist before Creation?" Water in the Desert. June 14, 2007. http://water-desert.wetpaint.com/page/How+can+water+exist+before+Creation%3F (accessed June 19, 2009). Come Reason Ministries. "How Do I know the Bible is REALLY from God?" Come Reason Ministries. 2010. http://www.comereason.org/cmp_rlgn/cmp005.asp (accessed August 8, 2010). DeLashmutt, Gary. "Genesis 1:1-2:4 The Beginning of Our World." Xenos Org. 1998. http://www.xenos.org/teachings/ot/genesis/gary/gen1-1.htm (accessed June 4, 2009). Dr. Henry Morris, Martin E. Clark. The Bible Has the Answer. Greenforest: Master Books, 2001. Ernest O'Neill. "Is There A God?" Is There A God? http://isthereagod.net/ (accessed August 1, 2010).
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