Biblical Hebrew Forum

[John Ronning <ronning AT ilink.nis.za>]

Irene Riegner wrote:

> Genesis 1 does not express an ex nihilo creation.  Creatio ex nihilo
> is a much later interpretation of Genesis 1.  In Gen 1, the material
> of the cosmos was there but unformed or more correctly
> undifferentiated.  It was dark and watery and the earth was "bohu" and
> "tohu," whatever they mean.

I agree that Genesis 1 does not explictly teach ex nihilo (even if Gen
1:1 is an independent clause, or "title" of the account).  On the other
hand, it does not express a creation from eternally pre-existent matter.

> Elohim "creates" through a process of separation---through separating
> the waters and drawing boundaries, which is implied in separation.  In
> Gen 1.6,7, the key word is "bdl" to separate.  "Land" is not created
> but emerges after the waters are gathered to one place (Gen 1.9, 10).
> In other words the land already existed.

I think you mention a rather key point w.r.t Israel's theology.  Three
days, 
three separations.  The same verb (hiphil of bdl) is used to
describe Israel being separated from the nations (Lev 20:24; 1 Kings
8:53), consistent with the idea of Israel as God's new creation (not
that hibdil by itself necessarily involves the idea of creation).  Thus
we find the first three days of creation re-enacted at the Red Sea.
Day 1 - darkness exists, light is created and separated from darkness
Exod 14:20 light shines in the darkness (at least this much is clear
from the Hebrew, which is often regarded as corrupt at this point - if
the Targums are correct, light shines on the Israelites, while the
Egyptians are left in darkness.

Day 2 - "the waters" existed; the sky (raqia`, called shamayim) is
formed to separate the waters above (the new thing) and below.
Exod 14:20 "it (the pillar of cloud, or "he," the angel of God), came
between (beyn) the camp of Egypt and between (ubeyn) the camp of
Israel.  Thus "Heaven" separates the two camps - similar use of beyn . .
. ubeyn as in Gen 1:4, 6-7.

Day 3 - "the waters below" already existed.  Dry land (the new thing) is
brought out from the waters.
Exodus 14 - the Red Sea is dried up, Israel walks through on dry ground,
the Egyptians drown in the sea.

You also have the strong east [pun with "primeval"?] wind [ruax] over
the waters in the darkness, reminiscent of Gen 1:2.

Additional notes - in this re-enactment, note that Israel is delivered
at dawn on the third day (Ps 46:5/6 "God will help her when morning
dawns").  Also note that the first two days of the "P" creation account
are
re-enacted in the "J" source.

Question - what is the point of Israel being God's new creation?  Hibdil
is also associated with holiness (Lev 10:10, et al), and days 4-6 of the
creation speak to how Israel is to be separate (holy) as described in
the law of Moses.
Day 4 - creation of the lights for signs and seasons >> Israel's
calendar of feasts and Sabbaths

Day 5 - birds and sea creatures divided between clean and unclean (Lev
20:25, et al)

Day 6 - land animals created (ditto Lev 20:25), and mankind created in
God's image (reflected when Israel keeps God's moral laws).

Question - if Israel was God's new creation, why did most of them die in
the wilderness?  Because morally, they were like the Egyptians who died
in the Red Sea (ten plagues on Egypt, Israel tested God ten times,
etc.).  So all the creation symbolism used to distinguish Israel from
Egypt simply points to a creation that needs to happen to individuals -
you don't get it by being circumcised or by being descended from
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Back to Genesis - we see this new creation in Abel.  In Genesis 1, in 
addition to the use of the verb hidbil with the preposition beyn to
describe 
the separations (days 1 and 2), we also see the use of a certain
(uncommon) 
syntax, "chiasm of indirect object" for the separations in days 1 and 3.

Day 1
1:5 wayyiqra' Elohim la'or yom   and-called God to-the light "day"
    welaxoshek qara' laylah      and to-the-darkness he-called  "night"

Day 3
1:10 
wayyiqra' Elohim layyabbashah 'erets and-called God to-the dry land
"earth"
ulemiqweh hammayim qara'  yammim     and-to-the-gathering of waters
he-called "seas"

Then in the third of three chiasms distinguishing Cain and Abel, we see
again chiasm of indirect object, with God as subject:

Gen 4:4b-5a
wayyisha` Yhwh 'el Hebel we'el minxatho And-looked Yhwh to Abel and-to
his gift
we'el Qayin we'el minxatho lo' sha`ah   And-to Cain and-to his gift, he
did not look

Another parallel with the creation account
Gen 1:4 God saw the light, that it was good (he did not "see" the
darkness)
Gen 4:4b Yhwh looked upon Abel and his gift (he did not look upon Cain
or his gift)

I.e. Abel is God's new creation (the righteous person), necessitated by
the fall into sin described in chapter 3.  Note here again we profit
from seeing Genesis 1-4 as a coherent account, rather than two
contradictory accounts annexed to each other.

The "separation" of Cain and Abel is also spoken about beforehand in Gen
3:15 which, while using a different verb than hibdil, is like the hibdil
verses from Genesis 1 in that God is the subject, and an active verb is
used with the preposition beyn to indicate a (here future) separation

3:15 
'eybah 'ashith beneka ubeyn ha'ishshah  enmity I will put between you
and the woman
ubeyn zar`eka uben zar`ah               and between your offspring and
her offspring

A related question - what is the benefit of experiencing God's new
creation, if the result is that you are killed because of it, whereas
your murderer has his life protected by God's intervention (i.e. the
rest of the story in Genesis 4)?  The answer has to do with an earlier
thread on this forum, the OT view of life after death.  Genesis 4
precludes us from understanding either God's blessing or his curse as
completely fulfilled in "this life."

All this to say enuma elish and ex-nihilo are probably not tops on 
the list of things to consider in connection with Genesis 1.  Genesis
1 speaks against the viewpoint of all other cosmologies, not just EE.

Cordially,

John Ronning