Bereishit (at-the-beginning)

Not the beginning of time or creation itself, but the beginning of God's creating of the heavens and the earth. Starting with the creation of light and its subsequent separation from the darkness. Unlike commonly suggested by biblical theologians, I suppose who are worried to much with the realm of theory, the account of God's creating is not about ex nihilo (creation from nothingness) but God's bringing order out of chaos.

Let us begin with a fresh perspective. Genesis 1:1-2:4 renders an account “of God's creating the heavens [plural] and the earth” from a very interesting perspective, that of God Himself! Genesis 2:4b reiterates the creation account, but this time from the perspective of His creation - “At the time of YHWH (The Name, HaShem, Bismillah; a personal name from which creation can share a personal relationship with its Creator), God's making of earth and heaven...”. Notice the voice and perspective has shifted from God, who does not invoke His personal name when giving an account, to creation, who not only invokes their Creator's personal name but addresses the story of creation from their perspective – that of “God's making earth [first] and heaven (singular)...”

This perspective, of the first account, must be understood to be the perspective of the God's Spirit within Jesus as well; for Jesus had the Spirit of God (Ruah haKodesh, Ruhullah) within him. This demands a serious attention – What does God wish to share with us from His own perspective of creating the heavens and the earth?

The two creation accounts are commonly criticized by pseudo-scholastics for their clear differences, but this is a distinction of perspective and more importantly a distinction with a purpose, as all comprehensible stories deliver an intended message.

We are told: “At the beginning of God's creating the heavens (plural, God knows more than His creation) and the earth, when the earth (already existing) was wild and waste (tohu va-vohu – void, emptiness), darkness (already existing) over the face of Ocean (already existing; different word here from when it is later separated and gathered to become the seas – give attention to “the face of”), rushing-Spirit of God hovering [the word here suggests that of an eagle protecting its young (Deut. 32:11)] over the face of the waters...” - Gen. 1:1-2

Next comes the announcement of God's word – “God said: Let there be...! And there was...”. God's word is the vehicle through which He creates. “God saw the light: that it was good.” He looked upon His creating as a craftsman being pleased with His work. Notice here, that good is referred to – not created – and it is in reference to God's creating work – not with what already existed prior to the account.

“There was setting [erev], there was dawning [boker]: one day.” Dr. Benjamin Klar writes, "Early man viewed sunrise [boker] as 'leaving' and sunset [erev] as 'coming'. Even though normally we'd think it should be the opposite, they had the view that the sun slept in a 'tent' every night. It would leave the tent in the coming, and enter it in the evening." God entered [the state before He started creating], God left [this state]: one [calculable order] day.

God creates the light and looks upon it as good, then separates the darkness from the light and names them "Day" and "Night". God has addressed the “darkness over the face of Ocean.” Next, God addresses the face of the waters - “Let there be a dome [raki'a, literally “a beaten sheet of metal”] amid the waters, and let it separate waters from waters!” God literally beats apart the waters with His words, as a smith would beat a sheet of metal. “God made the dome and separated the waters... below the dome from... above the dome... God called the dome: Heaven! [singular, literally “the sky,” what creation addresses from their perspective in Gen. 2:4b]” Something very important to notice is God beating apart the face of Ocean, the face of the waters [the primeval waters, a common ancient Near Eastern mythology – symbolic of Chaos itself]. Second day.

We find in the account of creating, an attention to God bringing order out of the chaos. The next day sees two different acts of God speaking – God orders the gathering of the waters for the appearance of dry land, both of which He names. God has thus brought the face of the Ocean, the face of the waters, under His command (order). But God doesn't stop here, with the emergence of the dry land He brings forth growth (out of what was once chaos), “plants that seed forth seeds, fruit trees that yield fruit, after their kind, (and) in which is their seed...”. Third day – four acts of God's word.

Notice God does not just subdue the chaos, but brings forth growth from it. I like to call this part of the story – Act I.

God's attention returns to the beaten expanse – the dome. In it He creates lights (lamps) in the dome for the installment of day and night as signs for set-times, days and years, and light upon the earth. God placed the two great lights in the dome to rule the day and the night, “to separate the light from the darkness.” We witness God create the same separation of the light and the darkness, the same order, in the dome as in His presence. Fourth day.

God continues to address the beaten expanse – the dome – but this time directly to the groupings He created on the second day, the heaven and the waters! From the waters He brings forth life and the great sea-serpents [the rebellious primeval monster of Ps. 74:13 and much later those which arise in Daniel and Rev. to afflict the righteous of God] – these monsters were created by God and declared good. This is a peculiarity we must think very heavily upon. Within the heaven God creates all flying creatures. Here begins the first of three blessings in this creation account. “God blessed them, saying: 'Peru u-revu u-mil'u – Bear fruit and be many and fill...'.” Fifth day.

God's attention turns to the dry land – the earth – and we again witness two different acts of God speaking. God brings forth all wildlife life from the earth. But God doesn't stop here, with the triumph of life out of chaos God crowns His creation with humanity – and gives all of creation a glimpse of His image. “God said: Let Us make mankind, in Our image, according to Our likeness!” “So God created humankind in His image, in the image of God did He create it, male and female He created them.” Quickly, pulling from a injunction in the next creation account, Gen. 2:24 (after the humans naming of Woman and Man) - “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.” This embodies our first glimpse of the image of God. A One-ness [hence the Shema] which implies a Unity. Our image, Our likeness to He create it, male and female He created them. A hint of why the disciple John says, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” God is Love – and love insinuates a unity. The second blessing with an addition, “Bear fruit and be many and fill... and subdue it!”

God order's the diet for all upon the earth - “all green plants for eating.” Upon looking at all His creating, God sees “it was exceedingly good!” “The sixth day.” – notice the two qualifiers “exceedingly” and “the” are deviations from the previous expressions in the account and underscore the sixth day as the crowning achievement and summary of creation. I like to refer to this as Act II - the end of creating, highlighting life out of order.

The last day contains only a blessing, the last of the three: “God gave the seventh day His blessing, and He hallowed it, for on it He ceased from all His work, that by creating, God had made. These are the begettings of the heavens and the earth: their being created.” I call this Act III - there was the three day unit of order and growth out of chaos, then the three day unit of life and God's image out of order, and now the giving of the three blessings.

God finalizes His act of creating with the installment of a numerically ordered week, a set-time, He bestows His blessing upon. God, indeed, is creating order out of chaos.

Our next account will be from the perspective of creation: “At the time of YHWH, God's making of earth and heaven...”