Day One
Today Day
One begins at sundown Saturday
& ends at sundown Sunday.
Genesis 1:1-2
When elohiym began changing
things that existed to make the Heavens and the Earth the Earth did not exists,
darkness was over the surface of deep waters and the presence of elohiym hovered
over the surface of the waters.
← ← ← Hebrew
is read from right to left. ← ← ←
The
Hebrew word above is transliterated into English “elohiym” (pronounced EL-OH-HEEM).
Download our free Hebrew-English Transliterator by
clicking here.
In
English translations of Jewish and Christian Scriptures elohiym has been translated God,
god, gods, goddess, goddesses, angels, rulers, and judges.1 But,
a study of the choices translators make often reveals the influences of their
religious beliefs on the decisions of which English words to choose as translations
of Hebrew and Greek words. Our goal is to let the context in which words appear
reveal their meanings – contextual
definitions.
In
this context, elohiym is an unnamed entity that will create the
Heavens and the Earth. This makes elohiym
a supernatural entity, but we know nothing else about It before the moment It
begins creating. We call elohiym an “It” because the English pronouns
“he” or “she” do not accurately reflect what we will learn about elohiym.
The
Hebrew word translated "create"
means "to create by changing the
shape or form of things that exists." It does not mean “to create out of nothing.” This is the
first thing we learn about elohiym --
It changes things that exist to create
new things.
In
the context of the first two verses we discover that four things existed before
elohiym began creating:
1. elohiym
2. darkness
3. deep
waters
4. a
space above the surface of the deep waters
Genesis 1:3
And elohiym said: “/OR exist!” And /OR existed.
The basic meanings of “/OR” are “brightness” from
a body (sun, lightning, fire) that is
translated “light;” “live” (metaphorically “life”).2 Since the sun, lightning and fire do not exists, the body from which this brightness originated is elohiym. Below is our translation.
And elohiym said: “Brightness
of life exists!”
And “brightness of
life” existed.
This gives us a new insight on the meaning of
“darkness.” It is a state without “the brightness of life” – a dark lifeless state.
Genesis 1:4a
And elohiym saw the “brightness of life,
that it was TOV.
After the creation of “the brightness of life” elohiym
observed it and measured it by a standard – and
it measured TOV.
TOV is traditionally translated “good,” but “good” is one
of those English words with a wide range of meanings -- morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; well-behaved; fertile.3
I was
visiting with an Israeli professor who taught Hebrew at a university and asked
her about the meaning of TOV. She provided a number of valuable insights:
“TOV is something that is seen; it is
something that is visible and concrete, not intangible abstractions. TOV
is “beautiful and pleasant to elohiym’s eyes.”
This reveals something new about elohiym – elohiym examines the results of Its actions and measures what it sees
with the TOV Standard.
Genesis 1:4b
And elohiym distinguished between the brightness of life and
between the darkness.
Now
we learn that elohiym makes
distinctions between things that exist. This is the foundational principle of knowledge. By making distinctions elohiym introduces knowledge into the creation account.
It
is important to recognize that the creation of “the brightness of life” did not end “darkness.” They both will continue to exist as parts of the
creation.
It was not elohiym’s intention
that there should be perpetual life and no lifelessness at all, but that life and
lifelessness should operate consecutively for given periods and in an
unchanging order.4
Genesis 1:5
And elohiym named the brightness of life “Day,” and darkness
It named “Night.”
And it was evening and it was morning, Day One.
According
to the conception current in the ancient East, the name of a thing was to be
identified with its essential nature and existence; hence to name a thing meant
to bring it into being.[3]
“Day” and “night” are the first memes
in story. The brightness of life and darkness exist in the objective reality of
the story without names. “Naming”
bestows meanings upon the things that exists and reveals the functions for
which they were created to fulfill:
1. Night is to
function as evening.
2. Day is to function
as morning.
3. Each cycle of
Night and Day in a sequence of seven cycles that will later be named “Week,” has the same name as the morning – Day One, Day Two, Day Three, etc.
This
introduces time into the creation and begins a perpetual cycle of lifelessness
and the brightness of life. Sunset and sunrise are perpetual reminders of the events
that took place on the First Day of Creation.
Review
First,
let’s review what the context of the First Day revealed about elohiym.
1. It exists in the space above the surface
of the deep waters.
2. It exists with darkness and deep waters.
3. It creates by changing things that exist.
4. It speaks.
5. It changed
darkness by creating “the brightness of life.”
6. It makes distinctions
between things that exist by observing them.
7. It measures the
result of Its actions by a standard -- the
TOV Standard.
7. It names things
and bestows functions upon things that it observes.
Second, let’s review what we discovered about
the contextual meaning of TOV:
1. “The brightness of life” is TOV
2. “Functioning according to the purpose elohiym
created it” is TOV.
Thank you for reading this blog.
______________________________________________
Did you find this blog informative and useful?
If you did, please let
us know by
“Liking” the TOV
Center’s Lives 1st Facebook Page
& please share and discuss it with others too.
We invite you to visit our website and bookmark.
______________________
1
A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old
Testament by
William L. Holladay; William E. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Grand Rapids,
Michigan; © 1971 E. J. Brill, Leiden, Netherlands; page 16b.
2
A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old
Testament; p. 16b.
4
A Commentary on the Book of
Genesis: Part One From Adam to Noah by Umberto Cassuto; p. 26.
5
A Commentary on the Book of
Genesis: Part One From Adam to Noah by Umberto Cassuto; p. 26.
Comments
Post a Comment