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  • From: "JP vd Giessen (FOL)" <janpieter AT giessen.fol.nl>
  • To: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • Cc: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Yom in Biblical and Rabbinic Texts
  • Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 15:16:46 +0200

Hello all,

Peter wrote "viewed from a viewpoint on earth" but no human was on Earth the
first days. So can we translate "bereshit" (Gen 1:1) as "in a beginning", i.e.
God was the only One Who could observe His creation?

Jan Pieter van de Giessen

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 14:47:34 +0200, Yigal Levin wrote
> Hi Peter,
>
> This might be getting out of bounds for this list, but that was my
> point exactly. Understanding the word "day" in the Creation story in
> any literal sense does not work. Once you have to invent "clouds
> that hid the sun", you're already adding elements that are not in
> the text. This is good midrash, but certainly not a literal
> understanding of the text.
>
> Yigal
>
<snip>
>> One rather obvious suggestion is that the creation is viewed from a
>> viewpoint on earth. At first, perhaps, the earth was covered by clouds
>> (and geologists agree with this) so that the sun would not have been
>> visible, but there would still have been day and night. Only later, on the
>> third "day", the clouds cleared and the sun, moon and stars became
>> visible.
>





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