Many of you are familiar with the opening lines of the Bible, specifically, the first book of the Bible, Genesis.
Genesis 1:1 (NIV) “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
That’s the English translation which has embedded itself in our minds – and every English translation begins with the four words, “In the beginning God …”. But the Hebrew conveys something richer and deeper. One of the perennial challenges for translators is ensuring accurate meaning from one language to the next. That’s quite a challenge because some words in some languages have no direct equivalent. Most scholars do their best.
The opening word of Genesis 1, in the Hebrew is, “bereshit [בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית] translated “in the beginning”. But “bereshit” is not a simple word, hence the translation challenge. The word is followed by the word “bara”, meaning “to create, to bring into being, to shape potential into form”. One of the roots of “bereshit” is “rosh”, meaning head, summit, the primary organising principle, wisdom. The prefix “be” [בְּ] indicates location, agency or instrumentality – i.e. through, within, by means of etc. I know, that’s a lot of information, but stay with me!
So an accurate translation would be “through wisdom, creation begins” or “within the primary organising intelligence, existence takes form”. The point being here that Genesis does not open with time as we know it. It opens with consciousness; with wisdom being the agency through which reality exists. The problem with “in the beginning”, instead of “through wisdom”, is that the whole theological framework for what follows is changed.
The traditional English translation begins with time. But the Hebrew text opens with a stunning statement about the nature of consciousness and its relationship to physical reality. One causes the other to exist, or creates it. This consciousness is not bound by science or physics, it commands all things. The consciousness is not dependent on anything, at all.
As one colleague of mine puts it, “Through the primary organising wisdom of existence, the process of creation begins. Not in a moment in time. But through an intelligence that precedes time and makes time itself possible.”
The question then becomes “Who is this organising intelligence”? Well, that’s the next word in the Hebrew text – “elohim” [אֱלֹהִ֑ים], that is, God. “Elohim” is plural, too. And this means that a plurality of divine beings participated in the creation described in Genesis 1. The ancient Israelite framework was not strict monotheism as some might think, although this is never clearly articulated in Judaism. But when Jesus claimed to be one with Elohim, well that caused great controversy! I digress, however.
So what is the Hebrew actually saying? A council of divine beings – the three persons of the trinity - initiated the process of creation. The God of Genesis 1 is not a solitary monarch. He is the first mentioned among a plurality of divine intelligences who are coequal. I hope this is not too much information – there is a point coming!
These three opening words in the Hebrew of Genesis 1, open our minds to so much more than what might otherwise appear as ancient historical record. Out of the intention and wisdom of God, all matter and physics and chemistry – everything required - was shaped and formed, and brought into being. There was nothing random about it. Science cannot think in such terms, and because it cannot do so it demands proof whereas the ancient scriptures simply make the statement that God in His infinite wisdom brought into existence all things – and then imbued it with life. His life and the “DNA” of His consciousness, which is what “made in the image of God”, means.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
This is the truth, of course. No one can fully understand the mind of God. It was with great and careful intention that the wisdom of God caused creation to form. It was in the same careful way He created us. And this is what caused the psalmist to marvel.
Psalms 139:13-17 (NIV)
“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!”
This is stunning. This great God who is so, so enormous and intelligent, and wise beyond understanding, is the One who watched you and I being formed in the womb. He was there supervising and commanded our conception, development and life in His great wisdom. In fact, before we took our first breath, He had written each page of our life story and its purpose. Our great and powerful God thought me into existence. He thought you into existence, too. But as wise and as intelligent and as powerful as God is, greater than all these attributes, is His great love for us.
John 3:16 (NIV)
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Meditate on these things, and never look at Genesis 1:1 the same again.
Ps Milton
[Sources: Hebrew lectures at Celebrate Messiah; Nabu article, in Earth Mastery, “Genesis”. Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia]