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  • From: "JAMES CHRISTIAN READ" <JCR128 AT student.apu.ac.uk>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] bara vs' bero in Genesis 1:1
  • Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2006 02:48:45 +0100

The following excerpt is from http://www.geocities.com/stmetanat/genesis1.htm

It basically relates a theory of vowel pointing to
support the theory that the author of Genesis 1 ripped
off Marduk mythology.

Here is the reasoning presented:

BEGIN QUOTE
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” is only one of
possible translations. When the word ברא is vowel-pointed as בָּרָא (bārā),
it is a verb meaning “he created”. However, it is probable that the original
vowel-pointing was בְּרֹא (berō), which is a gerund meaning “creating”; in
which case the verse translates as “in the beginning of God’s creating the
heavens and the earth”. This provides a much clearer setting for what comes
after.

In the beginning of God’s creating the heavens and the earth, there was not a
state of total nothingness or nihilum: there was a primeval realm of water to
be resolved into the reality of sea and sky we see today. The word tehōm,
meaning “abyss”, is an allusion to an ancient, pre-Biblical Babylonian myth.
According to Babylonian mythology, the god Marduk fought the water-goddess
Tiamat (=tehōm), slew her and cut her into two: the sea and the sky.
END QUOTE

Convinced?


James C. Read
UK




















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