Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Bryant J. Williams III" <bjwvmw AT com-pair.net>]

Dear James,

The use of "BARAH" has God as the subject in every instance in the Tanakh; cf.
TWOT, Volume 1, page 127 by Thomas E. McComiskey. In fact, the first paragraph
reads, "The root bara' has the basic meaning "to create." It differs from 
yasar
"to fashion" in that the latter primarily emphasizes the shaping of an object
while bara' emphasizes the initiation of the object.

There is a discussion by McComiskey about the use of the Piel to mean, "to
choose, cut down, dispatch." He goes on to say that the bara' is "used in the
Qal only of God's activity and is thus a purely theological term. This
distinctive use of the word is especially appropriate to the concept o 
creation
by divine fiat."

I would also add that three different Hebrew words are used in Isaiah 45:18,
"bara'," "yasar," and "asah - to make." Each giving its distinctive meaning
within the Hebrew synonymous parallelism. I would refer to the article on
"yasar" in TWOT, Volume 1, page 396 by Thomas E. McComiskey. For "asah" TWOT,
Volume 2, pp. 701-702 by Thomas E. McComiskey. In each instance of the words
referred to Dr. McComiskey also refers to TDOT, THAT or TDNT.

En Xristwi,

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "JAMES CHRISTIAN READ" <JCR128 AT student.apu.ac.uk>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, July 03, 2006 08:39 AM
Subject: [b-hebrew] Barah and circular reasoning


> Spot the problem with following pattern of logic:
>
> Barah means moulded and not created because they are used
> in the context of elohim moulding preexistent heaven and
> earth rather than creating nonexistent heaven and earth
> which we know because barah means moulded and not created which we know
because the heaven and earth already existed
> before elohim set to work on them in Genesis 1 which we
> know because barah means moulded and not created which we
> know because...[ad infinitum]
>
> James C Read
> UK
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