Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lee R. Martin" <lmartin AT vol.com>]

Dear Ken,

You are correct.  I would describe Gen. 1:1-3 as follows:

Verse 1 functions as a heading and sets the scene: The creative acts of God.
Verse 2 describes the state of the earth when it is first created.
                   1- it is an uninhabited wilderness
                         (this is the meaning of the hendiadys: ToHu VaVoHu)
                    2- darkness was covering the deep
                    3- the Spirit of Yahweh is hovering over the waters
(participle)
                  There is no indication how long this state continued.
Verse 3 begins the narrative of  subsequent creative actions that culminates
in the making of humanity in the image of God.

Yes,  ToHu can mean chaos or vanity, but it basically connotes emptiness,
thus uninhabitedness.

It seems to me that Gen. 1 presents God's creative work in steps or stages,
a progression that reaches a climax.  This climax tells the reader that
humanity was created with significance, not by accident or chance.

I would suggest you read journal articles by Bruce Waltke on Gen. 1.  I do
not remember the specific bibliographic data.  Niccacci also addresses the
nature of v. 1 as setting, noting that BeReShiT is in construct.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Litwak <kdlitwak AT concentric.net>
To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Date: Sunday, January 03, 1999 11:33 PM
Subject: Gen 1:1-2


>Since Lloyd pointed this direction, I'd like to move to Genesis
>and know what syntactical support there is for understanding this
>specific text to say that God made the heavens and earth out of
>pre-existing chaos.  I have never noticed that reading it in Hebrew,
>Greek or English.  Its alleged parallel to other ANE texts should not
>influence our reading because this alleged parallel is the point at
>issue.*  This is not like the various creation tales I'm accustomed to
>elsewhere, with the earth being made from part of a god, or from the
>ejaculation of a god.  Gen 1:1 simply states that God created the
>heavens and the earth.  Is there something grammatically that makes 1:2
>antecedent in time to 1:1 and does the language of 1:2 really mean
>"chaos"?  I haven't checked every single work on my shelves but I've
>never seen anything that demonstrates such a position from the grammar.
>
>Ken Litwak
>University of Bristol
>Bristol, England
>
>*This is a footnote because it is not germane to Hebrew as such.  If we
>are to believe that Genesis is simply dependent upon other AN stories,
>should be believe, by analogy, that R.K. Harrison argued for Mosaic
>authorship of the Pentateuch in direct dependence upon O. Eissfeldt.  It
>is inconceivable to me that Genesis 1-2, which diametrically opposes the
>perspective of any other ANE creation account I've read, could simply be
>dependent upon it.   Arguing that there is direct dependence while
>recognizing conflicting perspectives would seem to create more problems
>than it solves.
>
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