Thoughts about Genesis (4)

Genesis 1:3-5
³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
⁴ And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
⁵ God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

You wouldn’t think there would be a lot of controversy about this verse, but there is. The debate revolves around the phrase, “and God said.” The reason is that this phrase starts each day of creation. Each day of creation ends with the words “and there was evening, and there was morning, the first, second, third, etc. day.”¹ For thousands of years, theologians have taught that the first day of creation happened in verse three. People who believe in a young earth (6000 years old) have realized their theory doesn’t work if the first day of creation happens in verse three.

For this reason, some theologians back up the first day of creation to verse 1. The Seventh-day Adventists were some of the first to back up the “first day” to include verses 1 and 2. This update of day 1 happened in the late 1800s when Ellen G. White, a co-founder of the SDA, had visions about what occurred during creation.² This pushing of the first day to include verses 1 and 2 has become pretty much accepted across denominational lines.

Genesis 1:3
And God (אלהים - Elohim) said (אמר - amar), “Let there be (יהי - yehi) light (אור - owr), and there was (ויהי - wayhi) light (אור - owr).

As we discussed in previous lessons, the word Elohim - אלהים (Strong’s #H430) is generally translated as “God.“ 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.³

Even though Elohim is not a name, it is treated by most theolgians as if it is a name. I cannot stop thousands of years of tradition, so I won't even try. As a “name ” Elohim emphasizes God’s creative power and might, including his attributes of justice and rulership.⁴ 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.⁵

The word Elohim by itself is simply the Hebrew common noun used to refer to the true God in an honorific way.⁶ 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).”⁷ It describes God’s creative power and might. It can also include his attributes of justice and rulership. The word Elohim in the Old Testament can refer to God, angels, or men in positions of rulership.

The word “said” (Strong’s #H559, pronounced aw-mar) means “to speak, say.” The word often refers to what a person is thinking or has thought. In this case, the heart of God is “speaking.” An example is Ecclesiastes 3:17, “I said (amar) in my heart.” In most cases, however, amar tends to reflect the act of speaking. It is essential to realize that there are two different words in Hebrew for “to speak.” The first word is amar, and the second word is debar. Debar has been recognized as a more direct, clear, and forceful speech, whereas amar is more like everyday conversation.8 The other thing to remember is that in Genesis 1, God’s word is creative. God created everything through his words and speech. This use of speech was not necessary, but it was his choice to demonstrate his creative power. He could have thought the universe into existence. He could have willed it to be so, and it would have happened. He could have snapped his fingers, and it would have happened. Instead, he used words that carried divine thoughts, patterns, plans, and designs. God created everything as he envisioned it. In no other religion was creation carried out by the words of the gods, which set Judaism apart from all those other religions.

The Hebrew word יהי - yehi (Strong’s #H1961) is typically translated as “let there be, to become or became, will be.” This word (in Hebrew) is a Qal imperfect in a jussive form, which means it is not command, but a desire or a wish.⁹ Our English translations imply that “let there be” is a command. That is not completely accurate. God is really saying; “My desire is for …” or “I wish for ….” In plain English, the best we can do is say: “Let there be.” While the phrase “Let there be.” is accurate, it fails to convey the desire of God’s heart. What he is speaking is the desire of his heart. This desire is God’s love in action. His love carries the weight of a command, so his words come to pass. In Genesis 1, yehi declares God’s intention to create something, in this case, light.¹⁰

The Hebrew word for light, אור - owr, (Strong’s #216) is fascinating. As a noun, owr can mean light, illumination, or understanding. As a verb, it often gets translated as fire. In Genesis 1:3, owr is used as a noun. Many people often wonder why God created light three days before he created the sun. One possibility is that since ancient religions usually worshiped the sun as the bringer of light, God’s role as creator of light is stressed and demonstrated to Israel that they must worship the God who created light, rather than the sun.¹¹

There is another possibility of what the phrase “let there be light” could mean. That possibility is that the phrase “let there be light” is a Hebrew idiom. An idiom is an expression in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (such as raining cats and dogs for “heavy downpour”) or in its grammatically atypical use of words (such as give way).¹² The phrase “let there be light” could a Hebrew idiom for “let there be understanding.”¹³ Romans 1:20 states, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” If indeed God said, “Let there be understanding,” then from that point forward, all creation would have some understanding that God exists and the creation and everything in it belongs to him. In this sense, owr does not mean illumination of light; it would mean illumination of understanding. “Let there be understanding, and there was understanding.” Darkness would, therefore, represent a lack of understanding. This perspective looks at “light” from a metaphorical or symbolic point of view. Still, it is worth looking at if for no other reason than it is another perspective that we seldom hear.

The phrase “and there was” (ויהי - wayhi), literally means “and it happened”.¹⁴ Notice the similarity between יהי - yehi and ויהי - wayhi. The two are the same word, except “wayhi” has an extra letter. Wayhi has the prefix letter ו (waw), which acts like the word “and” when placed at the beginning of a word. Wayhi could be translated as “and it became.” In English, however, the phrases “and it was so/and it came to pass/and there was” are just as accurate and more elegant in structure. While it may seem obvious, wayhi shows the power of Elohim. In other religions, the gods are not all-powerful, but Elohim is. When Elohim speaks, what he says comes to pass or happens. The phrase “let there be” tells us what will happen. The concluding phrase “and there was” lets us know that God’s words performed the intended action.

Scientists recently discovered something exciting that I would like to share with you. Astronomers know that countless galaxies are composed of innumerable stars that shine light across the Universe. We also know that between these galaxies are clouds of hydrogen and helium that emit specific amounts of light. However, a study led by Juna Kollmeier of the Carnegie Institution For Science found that there is 400% more light in the Universe than can be explained by galaxies and quasars. The paper was published in 2014 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. “It’s as if you’re in a big, brightly-lit room, but you look around and see only a few 40-watt lightbulbs,” Kollmeier said in a press release. “Where is all that light coming from? It’s missing from our census.”¹⁵

What’s missing in their census is God. If they read the book of Genesis, they would know where all that light is coming from. It is the light that God created. God created light before he created the stars, so there is more light in the Universe than they can account for. Once again, science backs up, or supports, the Bible.

Genesis 1:4
And God (אלהים - Elohim) saw (ראה raah) that the light (אור - owr) was good (תוב - towb). And God (אלהים - Elohim) separated (בדל - badal) the light (אור - owr) from the (בין - bayin) darkness (חשׁך - chosek).

The Hebrew word ראה - raah (Strong’s #H7200) is translated in the ESV as “saw.” The word means to see, look at, or inspect. The word is often used in the Old Testament to describe seeing with the eyes.¹⁶ The “seeing” that occurs in the verse is deliberate. God did not accidentally notice that the light was good. He inspected his creation by looking it over and giving it his approval.

His creation of light was תוב - towb; good. The Hebrew word towb (Strong’s H2896) means good, beneficial, pleasant, or superior quality. Most of the definition comes into play when God declared the things he created as “good.” Genesis does not explain where the light came from or its source, if any. The inference is that light was everywhere; God illuminated the entire universe.

Verse 4 continues by talking about God dividing and separating the light from the darkness. The word בדל - badal (Strong’s 914) is typically translated as divided or separated. It implies that when God created light, it somehow mixed with darkness. I have no idea what this state of light combined with darkness would have looked like. Perhaps it looked gray, but we don’t know. The separation of light from darkness meant that each received its place and time to function according to God’s design. It would have been interesting to see what that looked like. The word badal implies that there is no longer a mixture of light and darkness. Where light and dark meet is a “boundary.” You could step from complete light into complete darkness. The implication is that the “division” between light and darkness does not have a mixture of semi-darkness or twilight. God divided it into complete opposites, making the light and dark areas obvious.

The Hebrew word בין - bayin (Strong’s #996) is typically translated as “from the.” The word means “between, among, in the midst, and literally means between two things.”¹⁷ God badal the light bayin darkness. The word bayin is a word picture of a demarcation, boundary, or barrier between light and darkness. Where one ends, the other starts. God separated the light from the darkness by setting a demarcation (boundary) between the two.

Genesis 1:5
God (אלהים - Elohim) called (קרא - qara) the light (אור - owr) day (יום - yom), and the darkness (חשׁך - chosek) he called (קרא - qara) night (ליל - layelah). And there was (ויהי - wayhi) evening (ערב - ereb) and there was (ויהי - wayhi) morning (בקר - boqer), the first (אחד - echad) day (יום - yom).

The Hebrew word קרא - qara (Strong’s #7121, pronounced kaw-raw) is typically translated as “called̶ or “proclaimed.” The meaning of the word is to give someone or something a name.¹⁸ In the Old Testament, the act of bestowing a name on someone or something is a demonstration of authority over that person or thing.¹⁹ By naming day and night, God is announcing his authority over them. It’s not the sun that controls daylight or darkness; God maintains complete control over his creation. At this point in creation, God is giving things names. While Adam was given the privilege of naming the animal kingdom, God retained the right to provide the initial creation names of his design.

The Hebrew word יום - yom (Strong’s #3117) is typically translated as “day.” The word “day” typically means “24 hours”. Jewish Rabbis traditionally defined a day as a timespan that commenced in the evening, continued through the morning, ending twenty-four hours after it started with the onset of the next nightfall.²⁰ Remember, the sun has not yet been created, so a “day” is not how long it took the earth to go around the sun. However, the original audience already knew what a “day” was. A “day” was a full rotation of the sun. In recording the first 3 “day” of creation as “days,” the original audience understood a “day” of creation to be the same type of “day” that they were familiar with. To put this another way, evening and morning were a way of announcing a twenty-four-hour period.

God named the period of darkness “night.” The Hebrew word ליל - layelah (Strong’s #H3915) is translated as night. “Night” means precisely what we consider it to be: the opposite of day. Verse five introduces us to two new concepts: evening and morning. The Hebrew word ערב - ereb (Strong’s #H6153) is translated as evening, and בקר - boqer (Strong’s #H1242) is translated as morning. Evening and morning serve as transitions from darkness to light. There would no longer be a “jolt” from sudden darkness to sudden light but a smooth transition from one to the other. Evening, which begins at sunset, is the transition from light/day to darkness/night. Morning, which starts at sunrise, transitions from darkness/night to light/day. The combination of an evening and a morning amounts to a full day.

God stated in verse five that the evening and morning comprised the first day. The Hebrew word אחד - echad (Strong’s #259) can be translated as first or one. In verse five, echad is being used as a cardinal number (i.e., one , two, three, etc.).²¹ Since echad is expressing a cardinal number, a better translation would be “one day” rather than “first day.” Verse five expresses the equation that evening + morning = one day. This equation is needed because it differentiates between daylight and evening + morning = yom. The purpose is not to set up what happened on the first day but to define a day. It also sets up the context for the rest of the “days” of creation. The days will fit into the solar pattern that the Israelites were familiar with. The difference is that God set up the pattern and caused the sun and moon to fit into that pattern. God was establishing his sovereignty over his creation.

References
[1] Yosef Bitton, “GENESIS 1:1. Understanding the First Verse,” Halakha of the Day, accessed July 23, 2024, https://halakhaoftheday.org/2023/10/12/understanding-the-first-verse/.
[2] Frank M. Hasel, “Ellen G. White and Creation,” Perspective Digest 14, no. 4 (2009): 1–12, 3.
[3] “The Name of God,” The Name of God (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, n.d.), accessed June 25, 2021, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-name-of-god.
[4] Colin Brown, “Elohim” in the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. Willem A. VanGemeren (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1997), 2:67.
[5] Traffis, Catherine. “What Are Proper Nouns? Definition and Examples.” Grammarly, June 22, 2023. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/proper-nouns/.
[6] Mark D. Futato and Robert L. Maclellan, Ask A scholar: What does Yhwh Elohim mean?, September 21, 2010, https://www.nas.org/blogs/article/ask_a_scholar_what_does_yhwh_elohim_mean.
[7] Don Stewart, What does the Hebrew term elohim mean?, accessed July 18, 2024, https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_1303.cfm.
[8] Chaim Bentorah, “Hebrew Word Study – Speak To Say Debar La'amar,” www.chaimbentorah.com, last modified August 2, 2020, accessed August 16, 2021, https://www.chaimbentorah.com/2020/08/hebrew-word-study-speak-to-say-debar-laamar/.
[9] Chaim Bentorah, “Hebrew Word Study – Let There Be Light,” Chaim Bentorah Biblical Hebrew Studies, accessed July 23, 2024, https://www.chaimbentorah.com/2020/12/hebrew-word-study-let-there-be-light/.
[10] Michael A Grisanti, “היה” in the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. Willem A. VanGemeren (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1997), 2:1023.
[11] Herbert Wolf, “אור” in the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke (Chicago IL: Moody Publishers, 1980), 25.
[12] Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “idiom,” accessed July 23, 2024, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/idiom.
[13] Chaim Bentorah, “Hebrew Word Study – Let There Be Light,” www.chaimbentorah.com, last modified December 14, 2020, accessed August 16, 2021, https://www.chaimbentorah.com/2020/12/hebrew-word-study-let-there-be-light/.
[14] Robert B. Chisholm, From Exegesis To Exposition: A Practical Guide to Using Biblical Hebrew (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 120.
[15] https://www.colorado.edu/today/2014/07/09/cu-boulder-instrument-onboard-hubble-reveals-universe-missing-light
[16] Robert D. Culver, “ראה” in the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke (Chicago IL: Moody Publishers, 1980), 823.
[17] Warren Baker and Eugene E. Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003), 130.
[18] Abarim Publications, “קרה: Abarim Publications Theological Dictionary (Old Testament Hebrew),” Abarim Publications (Abarim Publications, n.d.), accessed August 18, 2021, https://www.abarim-publications.com/Dictionary/q/q-r-he.html.
[19] Louis Jonker, “קרא” in the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. Willem A. VanGemeren (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1997), 3:972.
[20] Isaac S.D. Sassoon, “Does a Day Begin in the Evening?,” TheTorah.Com, accessed July 24, 2024, https://www.thetorah.com/article/does-a-day-begin-in-the-evening.
[21] Andrew E. Steinmann, “אחד As An Ordinal Number And The Meaning Of Genesis 1:5,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 45, no. 4 (December 2002): 577-584, 583.

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