- Jan 21, 2003
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I believe the bible is a document that focuses on a history of the earth as well as the human history that has comprised the last 6,000 years.
However I believe that the evidence points to a much older earth. It is possible to see this if one would use the original Hebrew by reading only the first few verses of Genesis. Because of the imprecision and differences in languages between our english and the Hebrew, such translations can lose much of their meaning and allow for some slight misinterpreation. I believe that because of this confusion, the truth of our earth's past has been distorted.
"In the beginning" is alot more complex when reading it in the Hebrew. The Hebrew word translated beginning in english is the compound word bere****h. The noun re****h does mean beginning but the modifier that is used which is "be" points to something alittle different. First of all whenever Hebrew writters wanted to convey an actual beginning of things they most often used the word techillah. Moses didn't use this word for a very good reason, because he didn't want us to think this was the actual beginning of all things but the beginning of a certain point in history. The modifier "be" is to convey that this was a beginning from something previous.
What this tells me is that "In the beginning" in Genesis 1 can be seen to mean not in the beginning of all time and things, but the start of our current history, human history. In other words the Earth was molded and reformed at a specific time.
In the first verses of the bible, the idea of creation is conveyed by the Hebrew verb bara. bara means to create, cut down, or dispatch. The meaning is to give the feel of working with wood. Bara also shows God didn't create the world from nothing but that he crafted an object into a finished form. The ease that is conveyed in the process of this creation is lost in the translation but in the Hebrew it was quite clear.
Hebrews 11:3 tells, Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
This explains that the worlds were framed not from nothing but rather of invisible things. In other words, reformed from some past materials. The Hebrew word translated "made" is asah. This word asah is in use for appointing or designating things. In other parts of the bible the word asah was used for appointing judges or designating cities for refuge. The judges and cities were not made or created but were appointed for a new task.
In other words I can see were it can be said that God wasn't creating the heavens and the earth but rather giving them a new task, a new reason for existence.
The Hebrews passage gives a hint at what was here before this re-creation. In Genesis 1 it says "was without form, and void" but can also be translated from the Hebrew to read "had become without form, and void". Suggesting that some event had taken place to cause the old creation to become wasted and destroyed.
Many scholars suggest that there was a grand pause in the first verse. So that the first half points to a perfect work of creation and the second half saying later it had become corrupt. So that the opening passage could read in english like this "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.....but eventually the earth was without form, and void".
The Hebrew word translated as "without form" is tohuw. This same word is used elsewhere in the bible and is used for several meanings including formlessness, emptiness, and confusion. It also is associated with wasteland and solitary wilderness. The the choice of this word tohuw hints that wasteland comes from idolatry, pride, and sin which is reinforced with the "void" phrase.
The Hebrew word "bohuw" is imployed throughout the bible in connextion with the desolation of a city or nation, it hints at a judgement from God. Bohuw is the Hebrew word for void.
I believe that the "without form, and void" is not just physical desolation but spiritual as well.
However I believe that the evidence points to a much older earth. It is possible to see this if one would use the original Hebrew by reading only the first few verses of Genesis. Because of the imprecision and differences in languages between our english and the Hebrew, such translations can lose much of their meaning and allow for some slight misinterpreation. I believe that because of this confusion, the truth of our earth's past has been distorted.
"In the beginning" is alot more complex when reading it in the Hebrew. The Hebrew word translated beginning in english is the compound word bere****h. The noun re****h does mean beginning but the modifier that is used which is "be" points to something alittle different. First of all whenever Hebrew writters wanted to convey an actual beginning of things they most often used the word techillah. Moses didn't use this word for a very good reason, because he didn't want us to think this was the actual beginning of all things but the beginning of a certain point in history. The modifier "be" is to convey that this was a beginning from something previous.
What this tells me is that "In the beginning" in Genesis 1 can be seen to mean not in the beginning of all time and things, but the start of our current history, human history. In other words the Earth was molded and reformed at a specific time.
In the first verses of the bible, the idea of creation is conveyed by the Hebrew verb bara. bara means to create, cut down, or dispatch. The meaning is to give the feel of working with wood. Bara also shows God didn't create the world from nothing but that he crafted an object into a finished form. The ease that is conveyed in the process of this creation is lost in the translation but in the Hebrew it was quite clear.
Hebrews 11:3 tells, Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
This explains that the worlds were framed not from nothing but rather of invisible things. In other words, reformed from some past materials. The Hebrew word translated "made" is asah. This word asah is in use for appointing or designating things. In other parts of the bible the word asah was used for appointing judges or designating cities for refuge. The judges and cities were not made or created but were appointed for a new task.
In other words I can see were it can be said that God wasn't creating the heavens and the earth but rather giving them a new task, a new reason for existence.
The Hebrews passage gives a hint at what was here before this re-creation. In Genesis 1 it says "was without form, and void" but can also be translated from the Hebrew to read "had become without form, and void". Suggesting that some event had taken place to cause the old creation to become wasted and destroyed.
Many scholars suggest that there was a grand pause in the first verse. So that the first half points to a perfect work of creation and the second half saying later it had become corrupt. So that the opening passage could read in english like this "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.....but eventually the earth was without form, and void".
The Hebrew word translated as "without form" is tohuw. This same word is used elsewhere in the bible and is used for several meanings including formlessness, emptiness, and confusion. It also is associated with wasteland and solitary wilderness. The the choice of this word tohuw hints that wasteland comes from idolatry, pride, and sin which is reinforced with the "void" phrase.
The Hebrew word "bohuw" is imployed throughout the bible in connextion with the desolation of a city or nation, it hints at a judgement from God. Bohuw is the Hebrew word for void.
I believe that the "without form, and void" is not just physical desolation but spiritual as well.
