Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Charles Rempel" <CharlesR AT mygalaxyexpress.com>]

Hi Liz,

Just some observations to see what kind of response I get blasted with:-)
I've observed several conversations about what the text of Genesis 1 says
without commenting,

> The point is that whether or not you say that darkness is uncreated,
Isaiah
> quotes YHWH as saying that he, YHWH, creates darkness.  ???? ????


> This is what I mean by denying the plain meaning of the biblical text to
get
> it to conform to some preconceived notion of what God is like, or what the
> world is like.

> An all good god can't make darkness or evil, no matter what the biblical
text says,
> so let's just make it say something different from what it actually says.

Why is it that an all good God cannot create darkness, or "evil"? The text
says that He did create darkness and "evil". Does that make him a bad God?
Or is it that we all have preconceived notions about what a good God can, or
cannot do. I would conclude that the text does say that He did create
darkness and "evil", but it says nothing about the goodness, or badness, of
God.

> I actually think that Isaiah here is expounding upon, or even disagreeing
> with Gen. 1. Gen. 1 says that God's first creative act is to create light,
> the darkness is already there, uncreated, like the ocean and the
> earth even, all uncreated. Only light is created.

And isn't this a preconceived notion about what the text says? Isaiah says
God created darkness. Genesis 1:3 does not say "God created light", but
rather "Be light". That would be like walking into a dark room and turning
on a light switch. Light isn't created, but it becomes light.

If God is light and in Him is no darkness, would it not be just as easy to
think that light always existed and darkness was created as the text says.
Isaiah 60:19-20 indicates that YHWH is an "everlasting" light. Compare the
text of Psalm 36:9.

Charles D. Rempel