The Big Headline
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1
Dear Friends,
Last week we discussed the infinite power and nature of God as interpreted from the first half of the opening sentence to Genesis. Today, I want to tackle the second half starting with the Hebrew word for created, bara.
Again, translations don’t do justice to the underlying meaning of the verb bara. Bara is used 44 times in the Old Testament and it is only used in reference to God’s activity. You will never find the word bara used in conjunction with human activity. Why? Because bara means to create something from nothing, known theologically as creatio ex nihilo. God didn’t have a swirl of cosmic dust or any other material to work with. He didn’t even have time or space. Everything that exists, He created, which leads us to “the heavens and the earth.”
We must first consider verse one as a whole and in context. We are being told that an all-powerful God created everything out of nothing. Then, in the subsequent verses, we see a day-by-day account of the order in which He did it. Because of this and in keeping with ancient Hebrew literary form, I believe this first verse is meant to be read like a headline of a newspaper. It’s the big, eye-catching statement that leads you on to read more detail. Consequently, when we read “heavens and earth,” I’d suggest it is all inclusive of creation.
Additionally, there is the question of heavens. Why is it plural? Isn’t there just one heaven? Yes, but what we find in Genesis is the word heaven used in three different ways. As we read on it is used as the sky or atmosphere where the birds fly (Gen 1:9, 20), outer space where the sun, moon and stars are (Gen 1:14, 16), and as our common understanding of the place where God dwells (Gen 28:12). This understanding also explains Paul’s comment in 2 Corinthians 12 where he speaks of “the third heaven.”
So that is the first verse, the big headline enticing us to read onward. I hope that you continue to read onward with me and we get into the first day of creation next week.
In Christ,
David
