Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Joshua Family Kfar Etzion" <joshm AT kfar-etzion.co.il>]

On friday Jan 22 Jim West wrote:
>My point is merely that perhaps, again, perhaps, the focus
>of v.1 is the "land" in the narrow sense of the land of Israel; and that
>from THERE the author expands his horizons to the whole of the universe.
In
>other words, God starts with the "land" and makes all the rest of creation
>around it.

The interpretation that v1 is a "headline" of the creation to be detailed in
vs 3 until Gen. 2:3 as proposed by moderns and commentators of the middle
ages alike seems to fit the use of "heaven and land" as a hendiadys
throughout the creation account.
The use if the two nouns in Gen 2:1 and in  Gen 2:4a, which seems to be a
summary, point to an understanding that "heavens and land" means the entire
creation where land=earth and not specifically Israel.

Myron Joshua