In a beginning, God had created the form Heaven and the form Earth. And when Earth was an astonishing-desert with darkness over a face of abyss, and the Spirit of God oscillating over the face of the waters: (My Translation)Does the the 'Ruwach' refer to an Object or to a Concept?
In the Christian tradition, the Hebrew ruwach is translated as Spirit (capital 'S' with a definite article 'the') in the Gen 1:2 context. And this is my translation. I note that the sacred author did not mark the word 'ruwach' with a definite article and this seems to imply that he did not quite understand what he saw. Regardless he described what he saw and this is traced as "a Spirit of God" or " a Divine Spirit."
I assume the sacred author experienced a prophecy stimulated by God. And then he described what he saw. He described objects and dynamic relations mediated by objects. Some of these objects were Divine and some of the phenomena were miraculous (or supernatural). He saw the form of the Earth as if from orbit. And later he traced a basic description of her facial features: astonishing-desert, abyss and the waters. He described Earth's surface and surroundings as dark. And he traced a contrast to the darkness described in the words 'a Spirit of God moving'. This Spirit of God was moving in direct relation to the Earth.
The first issue to resolve is whether or not this Spirit refers to an object or to a concept. Did the sacred author see an object, with a prophetically visible form that he could distinguish? My answer is an unequivocal yes. Why? Because the sacred author describes this Spirit of God performing an action: the Spirit was moving or was moved . . . in relation to Earth's surface. One can only apply motion to objects of existence. If the Spirit of God referred to a concept the sacred author would have traced nonsense since motion does not apply to concepts. Concepts (a relation of two or more objects worked out by the brain) do not move. Motion does not move. The sacred author did not irrationally convert a concept into an object. Some assume the sacred authors and the God who inspired them uttered and traced nonsense in these most crucial of contexts but I am not one of them.
The sacred author described an object using the Hebrew name 'ruwach'. This word basically refers to an object effused from a source object. Here object is defined as that which has form. Sometimes it is translated as breath which is air (object) moving out of the lungs (objects).
Now it is left for us to resolve what type of object this mysterious spirit may be. The sacred author qualifies the Spirit with the genitive noun form: God. This object has an intimate relation with God. By virtue of the genitive form this Spirit belongs to God or better yet originates in God. The Spirit is an object emitted from God who is in Heaven down to the Earth. The Spirit is the Mediator between the two objects God and Earth.
And this is why I think the author decided to label this object as Spirit. He saw that an object was emitted from God in Heaven to the Earth. Spirit in this context refers to an object streaming forth from God. Spirit resolves to an object that the sacred author saw in his vision. Little did the sacred author know that this effused object would be recognized by Christians as the Holy Spirit.
The Interpretation of Christians
For this context most Christians in history have interpreted this word to refer to the Third Divine Object who the First Divine Object and Second Divine Object eternally generate in a singular relation that defies reason and rationale. The Trinitarian relations are inconceivable and impossible to reason alone. The Third Divine Presence labelled 'Holy Spirit' eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. This singular Divine relation is applied to mediate miraculous Divine phenomena such as the light event of Genesis 1. From Heaven, the Father and the Son send forth the Spirit to the Earth similar to how the Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. The sacred author understood that this object was streaming forth from God in Heaven to the Earth without yet understanding that this object was a Personal Identity of the Trinity. Saint John Paul II explains this well.
Even though in the light of the texts of Isaiah the salvific work of the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord, includes the action of the Spirit which is carried out through himself, nevertheless in the Old Testament context there is no suggestion of a distinction of subjects, or of the Divine Persons as they subsist in the mystery of the Trinity, and as they are later revealed in the New Testament. Both in Isaiah and in the whole of the Old Testament the personality of the Holy Spirit is completely hidden: in the revelation of the one God, as also in the foretelling of the future Messiah. (Dominum et Vivificantem, n. 17)The sacred author did not realize that this Divine Object he saw was a Divine Personal Identity. But he understood that what he saw was from God and of God and modified the label as such: of God: ruwach ha'Elohim. And I assume that the sacred author saw the miraculous appearance of the Spirit for the purposes of relating events to all Mankind.
So now all that is left is to speculate on why God emitted the Spirit . . . how the Spirit miraculously appeared to the sacred author in the vision . . . and why he may have appeared that way? What Divine concept was conveyed to us via the prophetic experience and tracing of the sacred author? You might be surprised at the simplicity of what I have come up with. But you should not be. A hint has always been traced in the third verse command: Let light happen. But before we delve into the above questions I would like to correct some associations in context to Genesis 1:2.
The Myth Mongers
From the appearance of Christ Jesus to the present Christians have understood that the Spirit described by the sacred author in this Gen 1:2 context refers to the Third Divine Person of the Holy Trinity. The Spirit proceeds (springs up) from the Father and the Son (Nicene Creed). And consistent with the One Divine Eternal Generation He is emitted to mediate Divine Acts. The Christian association is indisputable, and I could run a pretty long list of references but this will only waste internet space. With the Christian interpretation came the capitalization of the word 'Spirit' with a definite article "the" in reference to His Divine Majesty. The understanding of the Sacred Script has evolved with the coming of Christ Jesus. Jesus opened the Scriptures to his followers.
Suffice it to say that the modern myth mongers propose a 'mighty wind' or a 'divine wind' translation which challenges the traditional interpretation. In Faith, there is no rationale or justification for the translation and interpretation of 'a mighty wind'. The rational translations provide for Spirit of God as do the faith inspired translations.
The 'mighty wind' translation stems from the scholar's romance with the Ancient Near East myths. They were so convinced of a correlation between Genesis 1 and Enuma Elish or some other myth that they took it upon themselves to irrationally manipulate words. Wind is a dynamic concept relating physical objects namely air in two or more locations parallel to the Earth's surface. You cannot move wind. By conception and definition wind is moving air in relation to Earth or some object on Earth. Whoever first conceived of 'wind' in whatever language associated something moving parallel to the Earth's surface. They conceptualized to understand invisible air colliding with objects (like trees) parallel to the Earth's surface. Wind is by definition atoms moving parallel to the surface of the Earth. Wind is a superverb with the subject air, built into the verb to move or rush. Thus their translation and interpretation critically fails in contextual grammar. "mighty wind moving over a surface" is a superfluous contradiction. You cannot move concepts. You cannot move motion. To move wind is to irrationally convert a concept into an object.
Spirit of God refers to a Divine object that the sacred author saw moving over the Earth's surface and mediated the Divine phenomena. This object was clarified by Christ Jesus and His Church as the Third Divine Object of the Trinity. The Spirit of Christ was moving over the surface of the Earth in view of Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit is a Divine Object who performs actions. Concepts conceived of by Man such as wind do not perform actions. Objects, whether Divine, angelic, spiritual (as in the soul) or physical impart causal actions.
The myth scholars are addicted to syntactical grammar and myths, when they should assume Faith and apply contextual grammar. Sentences in linguistic grammars are context-sensitive and thus have two stages of grammatical verification: syntax and context. Once we verify that the syntax conforms to the syntactical rules of grammar, we ascribe meaning to the sentence using the analytical phase of contextual grammar. 'Mighty wind' or 'divine wind' moved over the surface of the Earth fails in the analytical phase of contextual grammar. And it fails in a Faith analysis.
And more, wind has no source object. From what source object does the wind come from? Do angels blow the wind out of their mouths? Wind is a conceptual embodiment or invocation of two or more locations of gaseous atoms parallel the internal structure of the Earth. Atoms of the outer layers move and interact with the atoms of structures built up from the crust. That is the action labelled wind. The myth mongers use of wind defies the fact that Spirit originates in God. There is no source of wind. It is a concept: a relation of two or more objects. Concepts have no source. They are conceptualized by Man via neurons banking memories of objects.
The mythic manipulation of Genesis 1 is ridiculous. It is a terrible experience to witness the 'mighty wind' or 'divine wind' translation and interpretations among scholars with assumed authority.
Answers to Questions
My Translation of Genesis 1:1-2
In a beginning, God had created the form of Heaven and the form of Earth, and when Earth existed as an astonishing-desert with darkness over a face of abyss, and the Spirit of God oscillating over the face of the waters.I am of the opinion that Genesis 1 is a Sacred Text based on a prophecy. I assume that this Sacred Script is based off of a vision God mediated to a holy ancient (perhaps Job, Moses, or Solomon in his height of holiness and wisdom). I raised some questions above such as
How did the Spirit appear to the sacred author in the miraculous vision?
Why did the Spirit appear the way He did?
What Divine concept was conveyed to us via the vision and tracing of the sacred author?
I will answer these questions in an interpretive theory and this will lead me into an interpretation of the Hebrew word merahepet.
Supernatural Event
Before I attempt to answer these questions I want to call to mind that in the Sacred Scripts an emission of the Spirit accompanies supernatural events. In context of Divine Revelation, supernatural refers to a concept that God performs that which is genuinely impossible, inconceivable, suprarational, extraordinary to the brain. A genuine miracle worked by God cannot be scientifically explained, or formally validated using petty logic. My God is a God of genuine miracles. God does that which is impossible in terms of Mother Nature.
When God sends the Spirit to an object such as Jesus, or Mary, or the young Church gathered together in the Upper Room, a supernatural phenomenon occurs. The Father does not send the Spirit on a whim, right? Nor does He send the Spirit to merely overlook or guide natural processes, right? Angels can administer providence. The sending forth of the Spirit is an extraordinary favor that usually induces a supernatural event, right? God is a God of miracles, right? We do not need P.H.D.'s or letters behind our names to figure this out . . . right?
Examples of the Spirit described as mediating a supernatural phenomenon in the Sacred Script should be obvious to any Christian. It is important that I at least given one example since this argument underlies my interpretation of Genesis 1. Lets take the Incarnation for an example:
From the Gospel of Matthew: After his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they lived together, she was found to have conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit.
From the Gospel of Luke: And in response, the Angel said to her: “The Holy Spirit will pass over you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And because of this also, the Holy One who will be born of you shall be called the Son of God.
Description from the visions of Blessed Anne: The ceiling of the room vanished, and over the house appeared a luminous cloud with a pathway of light leading up from it to the opened heaven. Far up in the source of this light, I beheld a vision of the Most Holy Trinity. It was like a triangle of glory, and I thought that I saw therein the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. As Mary uttered the words: "May it be done unto me according to thy word!" I saw an apparition [appearance] of the Holy Ghost. The countenance was human and the whole apparition surrounded by dazzling splendor, as if surrounded by wings. From the breast and hands, I saw issuing three streams of light. They penetrated the right side of the Blessed Virgin and united into one under her heart. . . She, entirely absorbed in self, saw in herself the Incarnate Son of God, a tiny, human form of light with all the members, even to the little fingers perfect. It was about midnight that I saw this mystery.There are also the examples of the Baptism of Jesus and Pentecost. There are also some examples of Old Testament prophets or kings induced to perform some extraordinary action via the Spirit.
It is no different in the event described in Genesis 1. The Spirit is sent to mediate a supernatural event that is unique in the history of the Universe. Anyone who attempts to interpret the events of Genesis 1 as natural physical processes has overlooked the formidable presence of the Spirit of God in this Text. When the Spirit is present, a unique supernatural event takes place. Do you really think that the sacred author just inserted a description of the Spirit of God as a little side note? I do not. I think He saw a significant apparition of the Spirit and prophetically witnessed a stupendous miracle unlike any other in history of the Universe.
Law of Causality Applied to Frame the Context
The Spirit was sent to Personally mediate (impart causal actions) to the target Earth. The causal actions are miraculous, done at the Divine Will. Earth's face changes as the Spirit imparts a miraculous stimulation. The output of the events is a transfigured Earth orbiting the Sun with living objects on its surface including Adam and Eve. At event-consummation, the seventh day, God retires from His miraculous work.
I suppose that the Earth was an old dark star moving in our galaxy close to the newer Sun, but not yet locked into a gravitational relation (inverse square regime, orbit). When the Spirit was sent to the Earth, Earth was located between stars or interstellar space as we say. I suppose that God moved Heaven near to the Earth and emitted the Spirit to the Earth, thus establishing a singular connection between God and the Earth. God locked Himself into a relationship with the Earth via the Spirit, and the Spirit mediated God's Desires in view of Christ Jesus. The Spirit effectively changes the face of the Earth in a course of miraculous events that are traced by the sacred author in the Genesis 1 narrative.
The sacred author was privy to God's conceptualization and choices. And he saw the miraculous 'change effects' of the Earth's face imparted by the Spirit in the duration of the light event. Genesis 1 is not a narrative of the Universe's creation ex nihilo. It is rather a narrative of the Earth's change or her transformation. I call it the light-event. This is a unique supernatural phenomenon. The Mediators of the light event are the Father, the Son, and the missive Spirit. The target object is the Earth. At the light event's consummation there is an output that is a transfigured Earth orbiting the Sun with a new atmosphere, and living objects on the surface including Adam and Eve. The Moon (another old dark star) is also brought into a locked gravitational system with the Earth.
Let me restate this again. I assume that the Earth was a naturally transformed star or rogue planet peacefully moving around the galactic core. Its time is inestimable. It could have existed for tens of billions of years prior to the light event described in Genesis 1:3. At some juncture of the past, after the fall of some angels, God moves Heaven close to the Earth, sends the Spirit to the Earth and changes her.
The missive Spirit of God imparted a supernatural causal action to the Earth's surface, effectively changing her face and guiding her into a locked orbit around the Sun all in accord with the Divine commands related in Genesis 1. There is nothing natural about my interpretation. God defies Mother Nature.
Before moving on let me summarize the context using Aristotle's Law of Causality:
Aristotle’s Law of Causality is stated as follows:
A Mediator or Mediators (object A) impart causal action to a Target (object B)
The Law of Causality was originally meant to be applied to physical objects but I will slightly modify for my context. In this context object A is God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. So we will label object A as A1, A2, A3. This context is unique since the Spirit (object A3) is emitted from the Father (object A1) and the Son (object A2) in Heaven to the Earth, thus establishing a supernatural connection so as to miraculously interact with the Earth. The Spirit (A3) mediates the chosen concepts of the Father and the Son (object A1 and object A2). Object B is the Earth, specifically her surface as it was sometime in the past, perhaps billions of years ago and prior to the appearance of life and moving between stars.
Its specific application in the context of the Light-Event (or Transfiguration of the Earth) could be stated as follows:
Mediators (object A1, A2, A3) impart causal action to a Target (object B). At event consummation, there is a resulting Output (object C)
Object C is the changed Earth. Her appearance is transfigured with the additions of a new atmosphere, defined landmasses, defined oceans, and living objects moving on their own on Earth's surface in spite of gravity. The event consummation is described by the sacred author in his seventh day.
The concepts pertaining to the Light-Event are:
Cause: The “act” of miraculously imparting action with the Earth (object B) as performed by God (object A1, A2, A3).
Effect: The “change” realized by the Earth (object B) during the duration of the “causal action” imparted by God (object A1, A2, A3). .
Light-Event: The phenomenon of transfiguration from initiation of transfiguration (Let light happen), to termination of transfiguration described as God blessing his work and ceasing from his work. An event is always consummated. The sacred author clearly understood this.
The actors participating in the Light-Event are:
Object A: The Mediator object (Father A1, Son A2, and Spirit A3) imparting “causal action”.
Object B: The Target object (the Earth) undergoing “change effect”.
Object C: The Output object (transfigured Earth) resulting from the consummated event.
Remember “Cause” and “effect” are verbs. They resolve to concepts conceived by Aristotle or some other Greek. Concepts do not refer to objects. A concept invokes or embodies two or more objects (that which has form). There is no such thing as ‘a’ cause or ‘an’ event; ‘a’ cause or ‘an’ event does not exist. Only objects, like God and the Earth exist. Cause is a concept that refers to what object A (God) does to object B (Earth). Effect is a concept that refers to the “change” realized by object B (Earth) during the duration of the “causal action” imparted by object A (God). An event is a specific phenomenon from the initiation of the phenomenon to the consummation of the phenomenon. A phenomenon is a dynamic relation of objects mediated by objects.
Light Event:
1) At light-event initiation, the Mediator (A3, or the Spirit) moves toward the Target object (the Earth) and imparts a miraculous interaction with the Earth in accord with A1 and A2's command.
2) At this stage, the Spirit has imparted “causal action” to the Target object.
3) Simultaneously with 2, “change effect” is realized by the Target object while supernaturally interacting with the Mediator, specifically A3.
4) At light-event termination, the phenomenon is formally termed: Consummated Event
The Spirit Appeared to the Sacred Prophet as a Ray extending from the Heaven to the Earth
The Spirit of God changed the Earth. He is the intervening object between God and the Earth. The Father and the Son also impart supernatural causal action to the Earth, since God always acts as One, but they do this by way of the Spirit which they emitted. The sacred prophet must have seen something in his vision, otherwise how could he have described a Spirit of God moving over the Earth's surface waters? So my question is just how did the Spirit appear to the sacred author in the dynamic of the prophecy?
The sending forth of the Spirit is rooted in God's decision: Let light happen. The Divine word concept 'Let light happen' has a superficial meaning as well as a deeper meaning. The superficial meaning is that God literally lit up the surface of the Earth in the work of this event. God literally stimulated the entire surface of the cold dark Earth and in this her atoms tapped into the subatomic objects which mediate light at higher frequencies. If there was an observer in orbit he would register the change of colors.
The deeper meaning is that God locks Himself into a dynamic relationship with the Earth so as to induce Her transfiguration. Light is a phenomenon. A phenomenon is a dynamic relation of objects mediated by a connected object(s). In the case of light phenomena, atoms stimulate atoms via subatomic objects which interconnect all hydrogen atoms (or protons and neutrons of the Universe) in addition to serving so as to impart form to them all. This invisible physical mediator connecting all atoms has a form like a double twined thread and has unique properties. But the important point to take from this assumption is that all that atoms of the Universe are connected by this fundamental subatomic object, these invisible rays.
In Genesis 1 the Spirit is the 'oscillating mediator'. The sacred prophet saw the Spirit appear as if an oscillating ray extending from God in Heaven down to the Earth. Now this might sound ridiculous but it is consistent with the command "Let light happen" as well as the prophetic experiences given to other Saints. In Blessed Anne's description of the light-event Blessed Anne said she saw a beam of light:
While these changes were going on upon the dark globe, I saw, as it were, a streaming forth of light out of that highest of all the spheres, the Godsphere, that sphere in which God dwelt. (Mysteries of the Old Testament)In other words she saw a beam of light extend from Heaven to the Earth with the caveat, 'as it were'. The stream of light was not a physical phenomenon rather representative of a Divine phenomenon, namely the Spirit sent from God and imparting causal action to the Earth.
Theopholus of Antioch, a second century Church Father interprets the Spirit as 'holding the place of light' between Heaven and the waters of Earth's surface:
For the Spirit being one, and holding the place of light, was between the water and the Heaven, (Theophilus ad Autolycus, Genesis Commentary)It is as if the Holy Spirit is a Ray of Light in the vision. This is significant, because the set of objects that mediate light between, or to and from all the atoms of the Universe, literally connects them all, and more all atoms assume their form from these invisible subatomic objects. So, the Spirit of God appearing as a Ray of Light in the vision shows that God is making a singular connection with the Earth. No other astronomical object gets this sort of treatment.
The sacred author/prophet saw this beam of light so as to relay the mediation of the Spirit to us in words. The Spirit appeared as an extending ray of light from God in Heaven to the Earth. The symbolism is clear. The Spirit is a Mediator who connects the Earth to God in Heaven and stimulates the Earth. God mediates a supernatural work to the Earth's surface via the Spirit similar to an active-fusing star working the surface of a dark inactive star (a planet) via their EM radiation. God conceived of his miracle based on His previous works of the Universe namely the creation of atoms with their fundamental subatomic objects, and the formation of stars and their interrelations with other stars in a system.
The Hebrew Merahepet
Merahepet (transliterated) is the Hebrew action word assigned to the Spirit of God. The form of the word is a Pi'el singular participle of the verb root rahap. I assume rahap refers to a concept meaning to move back and forth or to and from. All verbs are a manner of motion. Like the Hebrew tohu wabohu this word is extremely rare (used only one other time in the Bible) and could be used as another argument that this Text is based off of a prophecy. The sacred author clearly wrote about extraordinary events and circumstances that could be described using rare words. How did he conceive of these events? God mediated a prophetic experience in the sacred author's brain.
Some have the Pi'el participle translated as 'hovering'. This translation is derived from usage of the verb 'rahap' in the Book of Deuteronomy 32:11 where the LORD is figuratively described as an eagle that moves over its young. A variation of this concept is 'fluttering'. The problem with this translation is that the Spirit of God is not figuratively described as a bird in the Genesis 1 context. It doesn't seem consistent with the Text that the sacred author visualized the Spirit of God hovering or fluttering over an entire planet in an eagle like apparition. So an analogous translation of the Pi'el rahap should be discarded for this context.
Other choose a more conservative translation such as 'the Spirit of God moved over', etc., etc. or 'the Spirit of God was brought over' etc., etc. Latin tradition). These translations are generic. All verbs are a manner of motion. The root of merahepet could have been conceptualized from understanding a mother bird in relation to its young, or it could have been conceptualized by understanding another natural phenomena. Or perhaps the sacred author of Genesis 1 conceived of the concept signaled in the trace of the new verb merahepet via his prophetic experience! He saw an object appear to move back and forth on Earth's surface. In this context merahepet refers to a prophetic conceptualization of the movement of the Holy Spirit. The sacred author experienced a prophetic dream and conceived of his own concepts signaled by new words such as tohu wabohu and merahepet.
Merahepet could simply refer to a bi-directional motion such as the move alternatively back and forth. Perhaps the author of Deuteronomy adopted this verb from Genesis 1 so as to describe the motion of an eagle. The Hebrew interlinear CHES 2.0 version has merahepet translated as 'vibrating'.
I have the merahepet translated as 'oscillating' since I suppose the sacred author envisioned a ray of light emanating from God in Heaven to the Earth. This beam could have appeared to be oscillating between God in Heaven and the Earth. And of course I have already explained that this oscillating ray refers to an apparition of the Spirit and his causal action.
Another interesting note is that the verb is in a Hebrew Pi'el form. This form is interesting, as if it were tailor made for Trinitarian relations. Here is an excerpt taken from Jones:
. . .[Pi'el] indicates bringing about a state. Hebrew uses the Piel when the subject is putting the object into the state or condition corresponding to the meaning of the verb root. The object thus takes part in the action as a passive, secondary subject. Being a state, the action tends to be habitual or ongoing. ***In terms of the linguistic form of the Hebrew Pi'el, the Father and the Son are the subjects, and the Spirit is the object. The Father and the Son are putting the Spirit into the continuous state of 'oscillating' over the Earth's surface. This is representative of the Spirit's causal action: a supernatural relation that stimulates Earth, changes her and puts out new forms, e.g. living objects. And the Spirit as a passive secondary subject takes part in the action. So in other words the Spirit moved toward the Earth on His own. The Spirit participates in His motion since the Three Persons act as One. The Spirit is a Mediator, A3 (as in above). He actively imparts causal action and this work is One with the Father and the Son who it is assumed in the narrative to have sent the Spirit and communicate 'commands' to the extended Spirit. The Hebrew Piel is custom-made by Divine Providence to communicate to the Holy Spirit’s Mission.
*** Jones, Scott Walker (2003) Hebrew for Biblical Interpretation, Society of Biblical Literature, p. 133
No comments:
Post a Comment