In the Biblical Beginning
Here we are folks, back to our very first parasha in the very first book of the Bible, Genesis. This parasha is called Beresheeth, it begins in Genesis 1:1-6:8. Right away in verse one, we see something interesting. In Hebrew the first verse reads; Beresheeth bara Elohim Aleph-Tav ha shamayim v-et ha-aretz. The Hebrew word 'et' here is spelled with the Aleph Tav, which are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. These same letters are also used to describe YHVH'S Son in the Renewed Covenant, Yeshua, who created the heavens and earth. (Read Col.1:16 and Pro.30:4) In the second sentence there arises much controversy and out of that controversy comes the "gap theory". The second verse says; And the earth was without form and void. So the gap people believe here was a pre existing earth that had been destroyed and had to be redone after Lucifer fell from Heaven and messed it all up. Many believe this simply because of the words without form and void. Well words are tricky. They change meanings down the time line. Example; gay use to mean cheerful at one time, what comes to mind now when you hear that word? Without form simply means what it sounds like, without form. Water is without form, it's long if you put it in a long container and short and square if you put it in an ice tray, but its still water. The word void simply means not done yet. Sometimes you cannot read a modern day translation of a Biblical word and come up with the original meaning.
The gap people use the word 'replenish' to prove there must have been something here before because it says to REplenish. But if you look at the word replenish in a 1611 dictionary, it defines that word as simply "to fill." In 1650 a man named Bacon changed the primary meaning of the word. It was changed down through time until in 1989 in Webster's dictionary where the prime meaning of the word became to fill again. But that was not the original meaning! The gap theory came from Thomas Chalmers back in 1814. Then shortly after in 1859 came Darwin's book on evolution. If we look at Exodus 20:11, we see this statement; For in six days YHVH made the heavens and earth, the sea, and ALL that is in them. So that means anything that was created both in the heavens and the earth was created in those six days. Also in Genesis 2:1 it says; So the heavens and the earth were finished and ALL THEIR HOSTS. There is no mention of any prior creations done before that and you can only go by what the Bible DOES SAY, not what it doesn't say and make a theory out of trying to read something into it that isn't there. If there was any life created before the original creation and that life passed away (including dinosaurs), then you have a problem with death entering the picture before Adam and Eve fell. The Bible clearly teaches that man brought death into the world through Adam and Eve. (Romans 5:12) In 1Cor.15:45 it says, the FIRST MAN ADAM was made a living soul. It doesn't say the second man or third man or hundredth man, but THE FIRST MAN. If there were any prior races, Adam wouldn't have been the first man.
Genesis 3:20 says Eve was THE MOTHER of all living. Some may say, where did Abel get a wife from? The Bible says that Adam had Seth at the age of 130. How many babies, grandchildren, and great grand children can a woman have in a hundred and thirty years? It's very possible to have one every year. Also, remember that women back then didn't wait until they were up in years and had their careers on track before marrying and having kids:. Women married very young! When we are criticized in the south for getting married at such young ages, I say we are only upholding Biblical traditions:. But it's obvious that Abel married one of his relatives, there wasn't a choice then. We are not given time lines for every child Adam and Eve must have had. Most of the time in the Bible, the females are not listed in the genealogies anyway. If YHVH instructed them to fill the earth, then it only stands to reason that Adam and Eve had to produce a lot of kids to do that! We see in verse four there was a separation of light and darkness. We know the sun and moon were not yet placed in the heavens, so this must be speaking of a spiritual light and darkness.
The Hebrew word for light here is Or and the word for darkness in this verse is Koshek. Koshek is not the same as Lilah, which is a darkness that describes the outside after the sun goes down. But they are related. Have you noticed most crimes are committed at night? People are generally more afraid at night, why? Spiritual darkness and physical darkness are related. People of light do not like darkness in any form! Let's take a look at the word firmament. Apparently at the beginning of time there was water above, around and over the whole earth. When YHVH created the firmament, he separated those waters. In Psalms 148:4, it speaks of the waters above the heavens. In Josephus book one, chapter one, it says YHVH placed a 'crystalline layer around the earth'. It is believed by some, this was his way of describing a layer of ice around the earth. This is called the canopy theory. It is believed the ice was held in place by a super cold magnetic field. At the time of Noah's flood, this layer of ice broke open along with the waters underneath the earth. But getting back to the word firmament, it simply means the sky. In Genesis 1:20 you see the fowl flying in the firmament. Where do birds fly, in the sky? I believe the first heaven is where the birds fly around at. The second heaven is where the sun, moon and stars are at and the third heaven is where YHVH dwells. This is the place where Paul speaks of going into in 2nd Cor.12:2. Notice that right after YHVH creates the plants and the seeds in the earth, he creates the sun and moon and stars. If the planet was millions of years old, it would be a long time for those plants to go without sunlight, because there's no mention of Him creating the sun before this time period.
YHVH originally gave man every green herb for food. There were no t-bone steaks in the Garden of Eden:. So originally we were all vegetarians! The scriptures imply that YHVH is going to restore all things as they were at the beginning. That means enjoy your steaks now folks, you won't have them in the end:. In chapter 2 you see where YHVH took the man Adam he had formed and put him in the Garden of Eden. Adam was created in Eden, but Eden itself was not the 'Garden of Eden'. The Garden was in Eden. If I put ice cubes in a glass after I've created them, that doesn't make them any less of the same ice cube than I started with, I just put them in a different location is all. I created and formed them in a tray and then put them in a glass. The same goes with Adam. He was created in Eden and then YHVH put him in the Garden to tend and guard it. Wait a minute, guard it from whom, there was only Adam and Eve at this point? I personally believe Adam was to guard it from Satan. I believe Satan was created in the first day. Do I have a chapter and verse to prove that, no? I'm giving you my opinion now. But we know he walked in Eden, so he had to be created before Eden was created in order to do that. Notice that when YHVH created man, He said let US make man in OUR image. Now I've read Hebrew commentaries that want to say this was referring to YHVH speaking to the angels. I know this is a way for them to get around admitting that Yeshua existed way back then. Making this verse look like YHVH is consulting with angels who are simply another one of His creations doesn't make good sense to me. Besides, we aren't made in the image of angels. Angels look differently, speak differently, move differently, and so forth for us to be in their image.
Why would YHVH want to mix their image with ours? Doesn't YHVH teach not to mix different seeds? Now moving on to the sin of all sins, we read about the two trees in the Garden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Do I believe it was a real apple as we know apples today that Eve ate from, no. But it does say the tree was good for food and was pleasant to the eyes, you have to take what is there. Whatever Eve partook of was good for food to eat. The Bible refers to it as food. I know some believe Eve had sexual relations with Satan, but I don't believe Satan would be referred to as being good for food. It also says she gave this food to Adam and he ate of it too, did he have sex with Satan too under this theory? I'm afraid until someone can prove to me differently, I'll continue to believe what Eve partook of was literally something eatable. We know after this sin took place, the couple bore two sons. Evidently these two sons (Cain and Abel) knew about offerings to be given to YHVH because they each brought one. We know that Abel brought one of the first of his flock (the first blood offering to YHVH) and that Cain brought something he had grown that was believed to be of inferior quality. We know that YHVH was not pleased with Cain's offering. As a result, Cain got angry. Have you noticed when people are in the wrong, they get angry with someone to cover up their own failures? So Cain killed his brother Abel. Some Hebrew commentaries say all Cain's descendants perished in the flood. But now enters Seth.
Adam still lived another 800 years after he was born. I don't believe that Seth would have been the last child for Adam to conceive. No birth control pills for Eve:. But we run into another problem now. There are some fallen angels seeing some of the women running around on earth are looking really fine. Let me ask you a question. If angels were sexless as some might refer to it, why would they even have a desire for these women? If they are as some claim, there would never be any sexual desire of 'any kind' present in their make up. Yet we read where they desired to and did mate with women and had offspring. Those offspring were called Nephilim, they were giants. They were also referred to as the mighty men who were of old. The earth then became so full of evil that YHVH said it grieved Him that he made man. Some say this contradicts the principle that YHVH knows the future. After all, didn't he know that we would end up at that stage in time? But it's not exactly like that. If you are an artist and paint a beautiful picture, you know one day you will sell that picture, even though you might prefer that you didn't have too. It's like you planting a sapling and nursing it and saving it from the cold until it can survive on its own, yet one day you know you will have to chop down that same tree and burn it up for firewood. You get a baby calf and raise it up to maturity, knowing one day you will have to kill it and eat it and you're sad that's what has to happen. You always knew what the end result would be, but it still saddened you. This is something like the situation YHVH was in just before the flood. He knew this would happen, but He still never took delight in destroying all living beings except for eight people. Eight people, we know who those eight people were. This brings us to the close of this parasha. To write a short article on the first five chapters of Genesis and cover anything in detail is impossible. There are books written on just the first chapter alone. But hopefully you learned "something" in this parasha article. If not, try reading my next one.
The gap people use the word 'replenish' to prove there must have been something here before because it says to REplenish. But if you look at the word replenish in a 1611 dictionary, it defines that word as simply "to fill." In 1650 a man named Bacon changed the primary meaning of the word. It was changed down through time until in 1989 in Webster's dictionary where the prime meaning of the word became to fill again. But that was not the original meaning! The gap theory came from Thomas Chalmers back in 1814. Then shortly after in 1859 came Darwin's book on evolution. If we look at Exodus 20:11, we see this statement; For in six days YHVH made the heavens and earth, the sea, and ALL that is in them. So that means anything that was created both in the heavens and the earth was created in those six days. Also in Genesis 2:1 it says; So the heavens and the earth were finished and ALL THEIR HOSTS. There is no mention of any prior creations done before that and you can only go by what the Bible DOES SAY, not what it doesn't say and make a theory out of trying to read something into it that isn't there. If there was any life created before the original creation and that life passed away (including dinosaurs), then you have a problem with death entering the picture before Adam and Eve fell. The Bible clearly teaches that man brought death into the world through Adam and Eve. (Romans 5:12) In 1Cor.15:45 it says, the FIRST MAN ADAM was made a living soul. It doesn't say the second man or third man or hundredth man, but THE FIRST MAN. If there were any prior races, Adam wouldn't have been the first man.
Genesis 3:20 says Eve was THE MOTHER of all living. Some may say, where did Abel get a wife from? The Bible says that Adam had Seth at the age of 130. How many babies, grandchildren, and great grand children can a woman have in a hundred and thirty years? It's very possible to have one every year. Also, remember that women back then didn't wait until they were up in years and had their careers on track before marrying and having kids:. Women married very young! When we are criticized in the south for getting married at such young ages, I say we are only upholding Biblical traditions:. But it's obvious that Abel married one of his relatives, there wasn't a choice then. We are not given time lines for every child Adam and Eve must have had. Most of the time in the Bible, the females are not listed in the genealogies anyway. If YHVH instructed them to fill the earth, then it only stands to reason that Adam and Eve had to produce a lot of kids to do that! We see in verse four there was a separation of light and darkness. We know the sun and moon were not yet placed in the heavens, so this must be speaking of a spiritual light and darkness.
The Hebrew word for light here is Or and the word for darkness in this verse is Koshek. Koshek is not the same as Lilah, which is a darkness that describes the outside after the sun goes down. But they are related. Have you noticed most crimes are committed at night? People are generally more afraid at night, why? Spiritual darkness and physical darkness are related. People of light do not like darkness in any form! Let's take a look at the word firmament. Apparently at the beginning of time there was water above, around and over the whole earth. When YHVH created the firmament, he separated those waters. In Psalms 148:4, it speaks of the waters above the heavens. In Josephus book one, chapter one, it says YHVH placed a 'crystalline layer around the earth'. It is believed by some, this was his way of describing a layer of ice around the earth. This is called the canopy theory. It is believed the ice was held in place by a super cold magnetic field. At the time of Noah's flood, this layer of ice broke open along with the waters underneath the earth. But getting back to the word firmament, it simply means the sky. In Genesis 1:20 you see the fowl flying in the firmament. Where do birds fly, in the sky? I believe the first heaven is where the birds fly around at. The second heaven is where the sun, moon and stars are at and the third heaven is where YHVH dwells. This is the place where Paul speaks of going into in 2nd Cor.12:2. Notice that right after YHVH creates the plants and the seeds in the earth, he creates the sun and moon and stars. If the planet was millions of years old, it would be a long time for those plants to go without sunlight, because there's no mention of Him creating the sun before this time period.
YHVH originally gave man every green herb for food. There were no t-bone steaks in the Garden of Eden:. So originally we were all vegetarians! The scriptures imply that YHVH is going to restore all things as they were at the beginning. That means enjoy your steaks now folks, you won't have them in the end:. In chapter 2 you see where YHVH took the man Adam he had formed and put him in the Garden of Eden. Adam was created in Eden, but Eden itself was not the 'Garden of Eden'. The Garden was in Eden. If I put ice cubes in a glass after I've created them, that doesn't make them any less of the same ice cube than I started with, I just put them in a different location is all. I created and formed them in a tray and then put them in a glass. The same goes with Adam. He was created in Eden and then YHVH put him in the Garden to tend and guard it. Wait a minute, guard it from whom, there was only Adam and Eve at this point? I personally believe Adam was to guard it from Satan. I believe Satan was created in the first day. Do I have a chapter and verse to prove that, no? I'm giving you my opinion now. But we know he walked in Eden, so he had to be created before Eden was created in order to do that. Notice that when YHVH created man, He said let US make man in OUR image. Now I've read Hebrew commentaries that want to say this was referring to YHVH speaking to the angels. I know this is a way for them to get around admitting that Yeshua existed way back then. Making this verse look like YHVH is consulting with angels who are simply another one of His creations doesn't make good sense to me. Besides, we aren't made in the image of angels. Angels look differently, speak differently, move differently, and so forth for us to be in their image.
Why would YHVH want to mix their image with ours? Doesn't YHVH teach not to mix different seeds? Now moving on to the sin of all sins, we read about the two trees in the Garden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Do I believe it was a real apple as we know apples today that Eve ate from, no. But it does say the tree was good for food and was pleasant to the eyes, you have to take what is there. Whatever Eve partook of was good for food to eat. The Bible refers to it as food. I know some believe Eve had sexual relations with Satan, but I don't believe Satan would be referred to as being good for food. It also says she gave this food to Adam and he ate of it too, did he have sex with Satan too under this theory? I'm afraid until someone can prove to me differently, I'll continue to believe what Eve partook of was literally something eatable. We know after this sin took place, the couple bore two sons. Evidently these two sons (Cain and Abel) knew about offerings to be given to YHVH because they each brought one. We know that Abel brought one of the first of his flock (the first blood offering to YHVH) and that Cain brought something he had grown that was believed to be of inferior quality. We know that YHVH was not pleased with Cain's offering. As a result, Cain got angry. Have you noticed when people are in the wrong, they get angry with someone to cover up their own failures? So Cain killed his brother Abel. Some Hebrew commentaries say all Cain's descendants perished in the flood. But now enters Seth.
Adam still lived another 800 years after he was born. I don't believe that Seth would have been the last child for Adam to conceive. No birth control pills for Eve:. But we run into another problem now. There are some fallen angels seeing some of the women running around on earth are looking really fine. Let me ask you a question. If angels were sexless as some might refer to it, why would they even have a desire for these women? If they are as some claim, there would never be any sexual desire of 'any kind' present in their make up. Yet we read where they desired to and did mate with women and had offspring. Those offspring were called Nephilim, they were giants. They were also referred to as the mighty men who were of old. The earth then became so full of evil that YHVH said it grieved Him that he made man. Some say this contradicts the principle that YHVH knows the future. After all, didn't he know that we would end up at that stage in time? But it's not exactly like that. If you are an artist and paint a beautiful picture, you know one day you will sell that picture, even though you might prefer that you didn't have too. It's like you planting a sapling and nursing it and saving it from the cold until it can survive on its own, yet one day you know you will have to chop down that same tree and burn it up for firewood. You get a baby calf and raise it up to maturity, knowing one day you will have to kill it and eat it and you're sad that's what has to happen. You always knew what the end result would be, but it still saddened you. This is something like the situation YHVH was in just before the flood. He knew this would happen, but He still never took delight in destroying all living beings except for eight people. Eight people, we know who those eight people were. This brings us to the close of this parasha. To write a short article on the first five chapters of Genesis and cover anything in detail is impossible. There are books written on just the first chapter alone. But hopefully you learned "something" in this parasha article. If not, try reading my next one.