Genesis Series: Key Hebrew Words in Gen 1:1

The Hebrew Aleph-Thao Article

There is an important and meaningful Hebrew preposition used in the first verse of the Bible. This preposition modifies the noun Heaven and the noun Earth with distinction. Sadly, it has rarely if ever been translated in all the versions of the Bible. Even the literal versions of the Bible as well as the Hebrew interlinear that I use omit this article. I just came across this article while studying my Hebrew grammar. I knew it prior to this but no one ever clearly explained to me the meaning.

Now that I know what it means, I am disappointed that few translators in history bother to convey it or add it to his notes. It matters not that this preposition has no equivalent in the other languages. Once the translator understands this Hebrew word concept, all he need do is create a new mode of uttering and tracing the concept using the idiom at his disposal. In short he must generate a new spoken word as well as traced word and note what it means. Or just leave the Aleph-Thao in and everyone should be taught what it means. Maybe it would be awkward but oh well. If God and the sacred author used this article to convey meaning, its 'presence' trumps eloquence. Perhaps if this preposition had always been translated it would be accustomed to seem eloquent.

How could this Hebrew prepositive article just be skipped over in one of the most prominent verses of the entire Bible? This word concept is crucial in this context.

The Hebrew preposition is an Aleph-Thao script. The preposition is composed of the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. What is its meaningful relation?

A basic understanding of this word is that it is used to introduce a semantically definite direct object. This alone is enough to destroy any understanding of the Heaven and the Earth in Gen 1:1 as referring to a conceptual figure. The Heaven and the Earth of Gen 1:1 considered alone or taken together does not refer to a concept or figure of speech.  The Heaven and the Earth of Gen 1:1 both respectively refer to an object.  We define object as that which has form. God created this thing. It is spatially separated, bound from its immediate surrounding. In the case of Heaven it is disconnected from matter. It exists even prior to the main event described in Gen 1:1, and the same goes for the astronomical object called Earth.

But now lets get into the concept of this singular Hebrew preposition. I take from The Hebrew Tongue Restored by the french man Olivet:

This is the designative preposition (Aleph-Tao), which I have mentioned as having no corresponding article. . .The movement which expresses this preposition with the nouns which it modifies, is that by which it puts them en rapport as governing or governed, as independent one of the other and participating in the same action. I name it designative, on account of the sign of signs, Thao, from which it is derived. It characterizes sympathy and reciprocity when it is taken substantively. Joined to a noun by a hyphen, it designates the substance proper and individual, the identity, the selfsameness, the seity, the thou-ness, if I may be permitted this word; that is to say, that which constitutes, that which implies something apart from me, a thing that is not me; in short, the presence of another substance. This important preposition, of which I cannot give the exact meaning, indicates the coincidence, the spontaneity of actions, the liaison, the ensemble and the dependence of things. (p. 116)

This incredible effort on his part is followed by an exact translation in English:

the-selfsameness-of-heaven and the-selfsameness-of-earth

The concept of this Hebrew preposition in context to God and the Heaven and the Earth can be taken in both above meanings. First, there is sympathy and reciprocity between God and the Heaven and the Earth. This is established by the light event described in Gen 1:3. God created the Heaven and the Earth to be together in a mutual exchange; a harmony.

Second, the Earth already consisted of a core, mantle and surface prior to the main event described in the third verse.  In other words the Earth had form and existed prior to the Spirit having been sent to it.  The Earth existed from core to surface, from inside to out prior to the main event. The Earth had form. It had all of its elements and molecules. The Earth was on its own prior to God electing it and performing His miraculous light event with Earth as target. Similar things can be said of the Heaven.  The Heaven where God lives had form and existed prior to the main light event.

What is fascinating about this writer, Fabre d'Olivet, is that in his subsequent section on Hebrew Tense, he, in spite of himself and custom, reveals the implications of this unique Hebrew preposition on the translation of Genesis 1:1-2:

One must first examine the intention of the writer, and the respective condition of things. Thus, to give an example, although, in the French and English word-forward translation, conforming to custom, I have rendered the verb bara, of the first verse of the Cosmogony of Moses, by he created, I have clearly felt that this verb signified there, he had created; as I have expressed it in the correct translation; for this antecedent nuance is irresistibly determined by the verb haitha it existed, in speaking of the earth an evident object of an anterior creation. (p. 191)

Olivet explains that the two Hebrew tenses convey temporal continuity: from extreme past to present and from present to extreme future. The context, or an inflection can restrict the action to some point on the conceptual timeline. So now assimilating these concepts I could translate Gen 1:1-2 something like this:

In a beginning, God had created the form Heaven and the form Earth.  And when the Earth existed as an astonishing-desert, etc.God said, "Let light happen." And light happened.

The correct relation between the Heaven and the Earth is that God connects Heaven and Earth by the effusion of the Spirit and establishes a unique relation between the two objects in the light event. In Gen 1:1 the Heaven and the Earth are not a figurative concept referring to the universe. They are not a merism. This is a sloppy misconception. Rather, they are two distinct objects brought together by God in the light event. God lives in Heaven. It is implied that God is miraculously acting upon the Earth from Heaven. God, from Heaven manifests Himself by inducing a miraculous change of this astronomical object called Earth via the Spirit. God from Heaven lights up the Earth. God stimulated the face of the Earth like the Sun stimulates your face. God miraculously transfigured the face of the Earth which had already existed for countless years.

I have not mentioned this on the blog yet but nowhere in the third verse does it convey that God created or made light. The sacred author simply writes: And light happened. He does not write: And God made light, or And God created light. People read this into the text because they do not understand what light refers to. Light refers to a concept, that is a dynamic relation between objects (atoms) via an invisible mediator. The physical mediator of light phenomenon had already existed countless years prior to the main event described in the story of Genesis One. Natural, physical light happened as soon as the network of atoms existed. Light is just atoms impinging upon the fundamental objects or mediators which interconnect and even constitute all atoms [at various frequencies].  Torsion signals physically affect the receiving atoms, inducing motion. This atomic action and reaction is a model of the light event described in Genesis One, only the sending atom, so to speak is God and the receiving atom is the Earth and the Mediator between the two is the Holy Spirit. The light of Genesis 1:3 is a miraculous phenomenon consummated by God through the missive Spirit.

The Earth existed billions of years prior to the main event. It was a clearly bound from its immediate surrounding (had form).  Maybe Earth was among a first generation of astronomical objects formed from within the network of atoms of our galaxy. The Aleph-Tao article conveys the truth that the Earth had already been created, "in a beginning". I think Earth is a star which at the time of the main event was a cinder of what was once a star. It was a dark star. A black dwarf. A rogue planet.  But regardless of what I think about its history the Earth is clearly marked in the Text as a pre-existing astronomical object with surface features.  And when it was this, then God miraculously worked the surface which was like a desert and had a froze over water and chemical supply. When God initiated the light-event the surface broke out: it jumped, making the atmosphere. 

The underlying meaning of the Divine word concept; light; is that God initiated a singular manifestation, a dynamic relation with the Earth via the Spirit which culminated in the miraculous creation and motion of Adam and Eve. The light-event is the symphony of God orchestrated from Heaven to the Earth. It is one of God's greatest works where He shows forth such great purpose and prowess.

Genesis One is not a statement of creation ex nihilo. God created the Earth as a definite astronomical object long before God initiated the transfiguration of its face in the awesome light event. Matter, the network of atoms, already existed when God created the Earth. God had created the Earth from the network of atoms prior to the main event. Earth's core, its stable base, was gradually forged by stellar nucleosynthesis prior to the main event. Subsequent to fusion the Earth shed its outer layers, formed crystals, molecules and settled into a dark desert-like water-world not unlike more than a few observed planets and moons. This all prior to the main-event.

After the Earth had naturally transitioned as an astronomical object for billions of years, when it was a dark star: God initiated a singular relationship with it by sending forth the Spirit and transfiguring its face in the light event. No other astronomical object has ever or will ever receive the Divine miraculous relation. Earth is elect. This is why we will never find living entities on any other planet.

The Hebrew Verb Bara

The Hebrew verb bara takes on the meaning 'to make something from nothing' and 'to make something from something' in Gen 1:1. The Heaven is made from nothing. The Earth is made from pre-existing matter. All these circular debates over the years as the the meaning of the Hebrew 'bara' in context to Gen 1:1 are nullified just by understanding that the Heaven and the Earth are two definite objects. They had form prior to the main event of the narrative. God and the sacred author made this clear via the Aleph-Thao article, they placed in front of the noun Heaven and the noun Earth. God decisively chose his concept of the Heaven and the Earth into existence long before the main event of Genesis One. The main event sealed the Earth with God's love and election. It established a harmony between the Heaven and the Earth. And in the end the plan is realized fully when God not only lives in the Heaven but he also lives on the Earth. God does not live on Mars or any other astronomical object. God lives on Earth.

Our millions of artificial concepts have adulterated this Sacred Text. It is so simple yet so profound. The manner in which God did his awesome work and the manner in which He conveyed His work is astonishingly lucid, direct, straightforward, clear-cut. It was effortlessly beautiful and wondrous.