Steven P. Wickstrom
all Scriptures quoted from the ESVThe narrative in Genesis 1 is like seeing the creation narrative through a wide-angle lens. It describes the whole creation process from beginning to end. We see God creating and then causing the creation to reproduce, which (in a manner of speaking) continues the creation process. There is no clear differentiation between God’s creative activity and the creations’ activity in the whole creation process. God started the cycle and enabled the creation to continue the cycle. God remains actively involved in his creation, while at the same time, the creation remains actively dependent upon the creator. Genesis 1 points out an interdependency of the entire creation to produce life and a dependency upon God to maintain that order. The creation account in Genesis 1 was almost the exact opposite of what the Egyptians had taught the Israelites.
Ancient Egypt had several creation stories, whereas Israel had only one. Egyptian mythology had a pantheon of gods who were involved, in one way or another, in the creation process. Different gods had different creation stories. For example, the sun god, Ra (Re), has his own creation story. A second creation story involves the gods Nun, Naunet, Heh, Hauhet, Ken, Kauket, Amun, and Amaunet. A third creation story involves the gods Ptah, Sekhmet, and Nefertem. It must have been confusing to the Israelites, who probably heard all those creation stories. They would have to choose which story to accept. It is no surprise that God provided Moses with a creation story that the Israelites could claim for themselves. In the Genesis account, God created everything that the Egyptians worshiped as “gods.”
Scholars, clergy, scientists, and everyday people have argued about how the world began for thousands of years. The Biblical creation account is no different. We look to history to answer “what” and “when.” We look to science to answer “how” and “why.” Unfortunately, we seldom look at the creation account in Genesis as theology. We want the Bible to answer the history and science questions and get frustrated when it doesn’t. The creation story teaches us who God is and how he created everything. We should not get caught up in the order of creation: it’s about the creation of order and its purposeful, intelligent design. God took nothing and transformed it into something. It is an ongoing message that is still relevant in our personal lives.
There is another fascinating point to notice about the creation account in chapter 1. According ancient Jewish tradition, each day of creation started with the phrase “and God said.”1 The first day of creation did not occur until Genesis 1:3-5. It calls attention to the fact that everything God created, he spoke into existence. While that may seem obvious, this is not always taught, especially when it comes to day 6. But we’ll get to that in the lesson that covers day six.
We see the creation story as God creating the universe, but the original audience did not. They had no concept of planet earth, the solar system, or the universe. For them, the creation story was only about what they could see. What they could see was the sky, the land, and the sea. The word “heavens” for them did not include planets, or galaxies. The “earth” was not a planet, but simply the land that they knew about.2 Jeff Benner adds to this by stating “in Biblical Hebrew the word “erets” (earth) means an area of land, such as a region.”3 They had a much narrower view of the creation than we do. It is important to keep this in mind as we study the creation accounts. Why? So that we do not add our presuppositions onto the Biblical text. We need to interpret the creation story from an ancient Hebrew perspective, and not from our own modern Western perspective.
- בָרָא – bara: to create.
- עָשָׂה - asah: to make, build.
- יָער - yatsar: to form, fashion.
You will find that some verses in Genesis chapter one use the word “created” (Strong’s H1254) while others use the word “made” (Strong’s H6213). Genesis Chapter Two uses the word “formed” (Strong’s H3335) to describe the creation of Adam. These three words are not interchangeable. There is a strong distinction between the three words that is crucial to understand. The word bara implies creating something out of nothing. The word asah implies building out of matter that already exists. Yatsar implies creating out of existing matter but shaping like a potter shapes clay. Each word has a specific nuance that dictates how it is used and translated.
As a final note, the book of Genesis is very important to the New Testament. There are at least 165 passages in Genesis either directly quoted or clearly referred to in the New Testament; many of these are quoted more than once, so there are at least 200 quotations or allusions to Genesis in the New Testament.
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning (בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית - beresit), God (אֱלהִים - Elohim) created (בָרָא - bara)
According to Jewish tradition, verse 1 occurred before the official first day of creation, which happened in verse 3. Time itself, does not officially start until day one, which happens in verse 3. This begs the question: When did verse one happen, and how long did it take before verse 3 happened? The answer: It could have eons, or it could have been seconds. We don’t know.
Next comes the perfect verb “bara” - בָרָא (Strong’s H1254), which translates as “created.” (In Hebrew, a perfect verb usually expresses a completed action in the past.) “Creating” is simply bringing something material into existence. That also brings with it the understanding that the created “thing” did not previously exist. Theologians use the Latin term “ex nihilo,” meaning “from nothing,” to emphasize this fact. The word bara emphasizes the initiation of the object especially appropriate to the concept of creation by the authoritative command of God.4
The importance of bara in Genesis 1:1 is that it claims that God created the heavens and the earth. Why is that important? It is crucial because many theologians teach that God did not create the heavens and the earth. They teach that the heavens and the earth already existed in primordial chaos.5 However, the Bible states that God's first creation was the heavens and the earth. Therefore, a type of primordial chaos could not have existed. The verse does not say how God created them, it simply states that he did. The verse indicates an absolute beginning of everything. Before this point, nothing else existed except God. Genesis 1:1 is an initial statement that refers to the beginning of (the first act of) creation and sets the framework for the following verses.
Next comes the subject (God - Elohim) of the sentence. If we translated beresit bara Elohim word-by-word, it would read, “In the beginning of God created.” It begs the question: In the beginning of what? The word-for-word phrase does not translate well into English. While it may not make sense grammatically, it does make sense spiritually. God’s creation has a specific point in time where it begins, but it will continue for an eternity. Genesis does not start on a particular moment (or place) we can pinpoint on a timeline. The Bible tells us that it will continue outside of time where God himself resides. It is a never-ending story. In addition, it is not the creation of the heavens and the earth that is the subject of the sentence; instead, the subject is God. The entire focus of Genesis 1:1 is on God. What he did (created the heavens and the earth) is secondary.
The name Elohim - אֱלהִים (Strong’s #H430) is generally translated as “God.“ What’s in a name? Is a name important? A name conveyed the nature and essence of the thing (or person) named to the Israelites. For example, in Exodus 3:13-22, Moses asked God for his name. Moses was not asking, “What should we call you?” Instead, he was asking, “Who are you? What are you like; what have you done?” Elohim is a name that emphasizes God’s creative power and might, including his attributes of justice and rulership.6 The name Elohim (as used in Genesis 1:1) is a plural noun but is singular in concept. In Hebrew, the plural ending “im” indicates a plural ending, just as the letter “s” does in English. The plural in Elohim is understood as the plural of fullness; God is the God who really, and in the fullest sense of the word, is God.7
There is just one itsy bity problem. Elohim is not a name. Elohim is a common noun, not a proper noun. Clarifying the difference: common nouns are words for types of things, people, and places, such as “dog,” “professor,” and “city.” Common nouns are not capitalized. A common noun is a descriptor in that it describes what something is. Proper nouns are words for specific things, people, and places, such as “Max,” “Dr. Jenner,” and “London” by its name. They are always capitalized.8
The word Elohim by itself is simply the Hebrew common noun used to refer to the true God in an honorific way.9 To describe something in an honorific way is to convey esteem, respect, and honor when referring to a person, in this case, God. Elohim means “strength, might, and power(ful).”10 It describes God’s creative power and might. It can also include his attributes of justice and rulership. The word Elohim can refer to God, angels, or men in positions of rulership.
While Elohim has a plural ending, it is never translated as Gods (plural form) when referring to God himself. When Elohim refers to God himself, it is always translated in the singular as “God.” In the creation account, even though the structure of the word Elohim is plural, it is translated singular because the verb with which Elohim is used (“created”) is singular in Hebrew. The Israelites never saw God as a plural God (as in the Trinity) but only as a singular God. As Deuteronomy 6:4 proclaims, “Hear o Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Unfortunately, the English word “God” does not convey the power, might, majesty, or holiness of Elohim.
Genesis 1:1 opens the Hebraic view of cosmogony (the branch of science that deals with the origin of the universe, especially the solar system) stating that God created (bara) everything.11 This cosmogony means that there was a “time” when there was no heaven and earth. The word bara (created) precedes the material from which the heavens and earth were made. Therefore, verse one implies creatio ex-nihilo, a Latin phrase meaning “created out of nothing.”12 In other words, since the text does not state what God created the heavens and the earth from, it is implied that he created them out of nothing. What did not previously exist suddenly existed. God did it all by himself. Unlike the other creation stories the Israelites may have been familiar with, there were (and are) no other gods. The creation was not an unplanned event or a cosmic accident. Beresit bara Elohim informs us that the powerful, mighty, majestic, and holy God planned the creation event.
The Heavens and the Earth
… אֵת (not translated) the heavens (שָׁמַיִם - shamayim) and אֵת (not translated) the earth (אֶרֶץ - erets) Genesis 1:1b
There is a little two-letter word that often gets overlooked. The word is אֵת (Strong’s H853), which is sometimes translated as “the” or “and,” if it is translated at all. The word אֵת, however, does not translate into English. It is, therefore, largely ignored. The letters אֵת are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Aleph (א) is the first letter, and tav (ת) is the last. If you look up אֵת in any lexicon or grammar textbook, they will define this “word” as a direct object pointer.13 What is a direct object pointer? It identifies and precedes the direct object. In Genesis 1:1, the direct objects are “heaven” and “earth.” These are the “objects” that are being affected by the verb “created.” The creation process is the “action“ in the verse. The subject is who is creating it (Elohim). The object is what is being created (heaven and earth). In grammar, we expect a direct object indicator in one form or another to show what is receiving the action. The creation process of heaven and earth is the action. Grammatically speaking, אֵת is used as a direct object pointer over 1000 times in the Old Testament.
The Hebrew text literally reads: In the beginning of God created אֵת the heavens and את the earth. The word אֵת does not translate to a word but instead paints a picture. It is a picture of the alphabet. Early Rabbinical commentators claim that God created the alphabet (words) so that he could create the universe and everything in it. In their view, the verse would read: “In the beginning God created the alphabet, the heavens and the earth.”14 The letters of the alphabet create words. God spoke the creation into being using words. God created the heavens and the earth with his word. The gospel of John states in chapter 1, verse 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Perhaps I am stretching the theology a bit, bit seems like an interesting connection between Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1. The heavens and the earth were created with words by “The Word.” We could also say that אֵת is the beginning and the end and that God is firmly in control of both.15
The Hebrew word שָׁמַיִם - smym, pronounced shamayim (Strong’s #H8064), is typically translated as “heavens.” Shamayim is a plural word and is always used in the plural (heavens rather than heaven). Shamayim has three meanings:
- The heavens refer to where God lives.
- The heavens refer to the starry expanse.
- The local heavens, or the sky.
In our modern understanding, this word has the same 3 meanings. The first meaning refers to the dwelling place of God (as in Deut. 26.15; 1 Kings 8.30; 22.19; 2 Kings 19.15; Isaiah 40.22; 63.15; 66.1). The second and third meanings refer to the sky and (or) the stars (as in Gen. 1.26, 2.19, 6.7, 7.3, etc.). Other passages combine the second and third meanings, such as 1 Kings 8.23-54; Psalms 33.6, 13; 102.19, 25; 115.15-16; 136.6, 26; Nehemiah 9.6, 13). It is quite probable that the verse (Genesis 1:1) intends us to understand that all three meanings (sky, stars, and God’s dwelling place) are implied.
Genesis 1.1 describes God first creating His dwelling place within the created realm. This order of creation means that God provides His context for His creative activity and that the created order is always present to God.16 As God's holy dwelling, shamayim is a place where people intuitively desire to go (Genesis 3:16, Haggai 2:7, Philippians 3:20).17 Shamayim is where God lives (Deuteronomy 26:15, Isaiah 66:1) and where His angels have their headquarters (Genesis 1:14-18, Matthew 22:30), and where rain and dew come from (Genesis 27:28, Judges 5:4), and destructive fire (2 Kings 1:10).18
In Rabbinical literature, “shamayim” became the regular expression for the name of God, which was, from motives of reverence, avoided as far as possible; hence the words “mora” or “yir’at shamayim” = “fear of heaven,” “shem shamayim” = “the name of heaven,” and “malkut shamayim” = “kingdom of heaven.” This last expression is used often in Matthew’s gospel. Acknowledging Israel’s God as the only King and Ruler was a profession of faith. The other three gospels do not use the phrase “kingdom of heaven” but instead use the phrase “kingdom of God.”
The Hebrew word אֶרֶץ - erets (Strong’s H776) is typically translated as “earth.” Erets, however, is usually used in the context of a “land,” a “country,” or a “region.” In the Old Testament, erets almost always means land or region. It is unlikely that the ancient Israelites even had a concept of “planet Earth.” The ancient Israelites had no concept of living on a planet that was part of a solar system. The word erets does not refer to the entire planet, but only the “land” part; it does not include the “land” that is underneath the seas.19 Although several passages reveal this point, the most telling is Genesis 1:10, “God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good” (NASB). The seas and oceans are not part of the erets. Instead, erets is associated with that which is “dry.” Thus, in no case can erets mean planetary earth.20
In our modern-day language, we translate erets as “planet earth” regarding Genesis 1:1. This is not necessarily wrong because God did create the planet at that time. However, we must remember that the ancient Israelites did not have the concept of the universe or the planet like we do. The idea of distant stars and planets did not exist. The stars, planets, and constellations were lights in the night sky that moved in God-ordained patterns. Our “understanding” is, therefore, vastly different from theirs. We must remember that God gave the creation account for the ancient Israelites’ understanding of their world. We can get into trouble when we “force” it to fit into our modern interpretation of the world and the universe.
It’s noteworthy that verse one is in the past tense, while verse two is in the present tense. This shift in tenses prompts us to consider if there's a gap between the two verses. While there's a possibility of a gap, the text doesn't explicitly teach it. The earth could be ancient, or it may not be. The change from past tense (verse 1) to present tense (verse 2) is intriguing. Still, it's crucial to exercise caution when interpreting this shift. The difference in tenses between verses one and two doesn't necessarily advocate for an 'old earth' or a 'young earth.'
I want to avoid getting into a discussion of old earth vs new earth theology. It bothers me when people from both camps take scripture out of context to “prove” their point. And yes, they both do that. My point is that it doesn’t matter. Arguments about the universe’s age tend to shift the focus off of God. God does not tell us the universe’s age because it is unimportant to the creation story. Only God is essential, and he is what/who we must focus on.
Paraphrasing Genesis 1:1, we get, “In the beginning, God created the sky and the land.” (This is my own paraphrase and not intended to represent any version of the Bible.)