4 | Genesis 1:1
The Beginning
In the be gin ning God cre at ed the heav ens
1 and the earth. 2 Now the earth was form less and emp ty, dark ness was over the sur face of the deep, and the Spir it of God was hov er ing over the wa ters.
3
And God said,“ Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he sep a rat ed the light from the dark ness.
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God called the light“ day,” and the dark ness he called“ night.” And there was eve ning, and there was morn ing— the first day.
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And God said,“ Let there be a vault be tween the wa ters to sep a rate wa ter from wa ter.”
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So God made the vault and sep a rat ed the wa ter un der the vault from the wa ter above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault“ sky.” And there was eve ning, and there was morning— the sec ond day.
1:1— 2:3 The Bible’ s opening narrative introduces the Bible’ s main character— God. The creation account emphasizes God’ s power as he brings all things into existence through divine decree. God’ s creative activity occurs over six days in Ge 1:3 – 31. The account ends with the description of God’ s rest on the seventh day in 2:1 – 3. The six-day structure reflects the overall pattern the writer gives to God’ s work. Creation is organized into three categories: the heavens, the sea and sky, and the earth. God’ s creative activity forms and then fills each of these categories. The focus of the creation account demonstrates how God brought order and structure to the universe. Throughout the Bible, God’ s power over creation shows his sovereignty( see Ps 104:1 – 35 and note; Isa 40:12 and note).
1:1 In the beginning Genesis opens with the Hebrew phrase bere’ shith, typically translated as“ in the beginning.” There are two possible interpretations of this phrase: a specific, absolute beginning of all time; or a nonspecific, general beginning of God’ s work of creation. God The Hebrew word used here for“ God,” elohim, is plural. While elohim may be used to describe multiple deities, OT authors usually use the term to refer to the singular God of Israel( more than 2,000 instances), such as here. See the infographic“ The Days of Creation” on p. 6. created The Hebrew word used here is bara. Compare Isa 40:26; note on Ge 1:27. the heavens and the earth This phrase refers to the entirety of creation. The OT often uses opposing word pairs to refer to a totality.
Genesis 1:1
BARA The Hebrew word for“ create”( bara) is used in the OT to refer to divine activity only— Yahweh alone serves as its grammatical subject— implying the writer wanted to emphasize that people cannot create in the way that Yahweh creates and that no other god can claim to be the creator. The verb bara also conveys the idea of ordering or determining function, suggesting God’ s creative activity consists of bringing proper order and function to the cosmos.
1:2 formless and empty The Hebrew terms used here, tohu and bohu, describe material substance lacking boundary, order and definition. This same word pairing occurs in Jer 4:23, indicating that the meaning of tohu and bohu is not nonexistence but a nonfunctional, barren state. The Hebrew structure implies that this material existed in a formless and empty state when God began his creative work. This does not mean that God didn’ t create this material prior to the time period recorded by the Biblical text. Hence, Isa 45:18, which declares that God did not create the earth empty( bohu), does not contradict Ge 1:2, where God orders and fills an initially empty( bohu) creation. darkness Throughout the Bible darkness represents evil or calamity. Here, darkness refers to the unformed and unfilled conditions of the material of v. 1. the deep The Hebrew word used here, tehom, refers to the primordial or primeval sea— the cosmic waters of chaos. Tehom is similar to the Babylonian words tamtu and Tiamat. Tiamat refers to a chaos deity, and the slaying of a chaos monster is described elsewhere in the OT in the context of creation( Ps 74:12 – 17). However, a closer parallel can be found in the Ugaritic thm, the term for the primeval abyss. Since thm is not personified, tehom in Ge 1:2 should likewise not be considered a personified god. In both instances, the description credits the God of Israel with subduing the chaotic primordial conditions to bring about an ordered, habitable creation. Although chaos is not eliminated in the OT account, God’ s action yields order and restraint. The chaos is part of what God deems“ very good” in v. 31. It is nevertheless a perpetual danger that will only be finally removed at the end of the age when there is no longer any sea( Rev 21:1). Spirit of God Since the Hebrew word used here, ruach, can mean“ spirit” or“ wind,” this phrase can be translated“ Spirit of God” or“ wind from God”( or even“ mighty wind”). However, the pairing of ruach with God( elohim in Hebrew) usually refers to God’ s Spirit. 1:3 And God said The ordering of creation begins with the spoken word. Only one other ancient Near Eastern creation account, the Egyptian Memphite Theology, includes an example of creation by speech. Let there be light God creates light before the creation of the sun( Ge 1:14 – 18). This reflects an understanding of the world, common in the ancient Near East, that held that the sun does not serve as the source of light. See the infographic“ Ancient Hebrew Conception of the Universe” on p. 5. 1:4 good God calls his handiwork good seven times in ch. 1( vv. 4,10,12,18,21,25,31). The Hebrew word used here, tov, has a broad range of meaning but generally describes what is desirable, beautiful or right. In essence, God affirms creation as right and in right relationship with him immediately after he creates it. The material world is good as created by God. 1:5 evening, and there was morning— the first day The expression“ evening, and there was morning” specifies the length of a“ day”( yom in Hebrew). While the author may have meant a 24-hour day, less specific interpretations are possible. The Hebrew word yom can refer to a 24-hour cycle, the daylight hours or an unspecified future“ someday.” The meaning of the word, though, does not settle the debate over whether the passage references a literal six-day creation or symbolic days. In addition, the sun( which marks the change from evening to morning) is not created until the fourth day. Nonliteral interpretations of this phrase fall into two main groups: those that privilege the literary qualities of ch. 1, and those that seek to accommodate scientific conclusions about the