Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Doug,

> > > HH, I have a question here, when was water created?  Also, Isa 45:18,
> > > God says He did not creat the earth formless and void, "a waste 
> > place"?
> >
> >
> > HH: You raise a good question. Why, in an account of creation, would God
> > start with many things already created? Why wouldn't the story just show
> > us how He created all things? I believe the Genesis 1 account does that
> > by saying that in the beginning He created the heavens and the earth.
> > Water was one of the things created in His creation of the basic heavens
> > and earth.
>
> I thought 'Bara' as used in Genesis 1 means 'created from nothing'? 
>  And I understood that light existed in vs 1, and water.  Am I wrong 
> in this understanding. 


HH: I think so. Why would we understand that light existed in verse 1 
when God creates light in verse 3? There is a temporal progression 
throughout the chapter. It is natural to assume that it begins "in the 
beginning" and proceeds from there. Throughout Genesis 1 words like "Let 
there be" imply the creation of something. So I assume that in verse 3 
they imply the creation of light, something that previously did not 
exist. You mention Isa 45:18, which talks about God not creating the 
earth "formless and void." I guess you are wondering how that fits with 
Gen 1:2, which says that the earth was formless and void. But Gen 1:2 is 
not the end of the creation process. All of Genesis 1 is describing 
God's work of creation. God could start by creating some basic materials 
and continue working from there. The ultimate result was a world for man 
to inhabit as Isaiah said, full and well-formed, but we should not 
expect that on day 1 of creation week.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard

>  
>
> Doug.
> Rev. Doug Pickrel, Litt.D.
> Tejas Valley
> San Antonio, Texas