Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Hi Harold,

> >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.

> HH: The phrase implies the creation of light. The form is not an
> imperative but a jussive. So it is something like: "Let light exist."
> The same wording in used in Gen 1:6 about the creation of the sky, and
> in 1:14 for the creation of the great lights in the sky, the sun, moon,
> and stars.

Please be kind and tell me the technical difference between the imperative
and jussive which mandates the word "exist" as a creative act. A quick
search on the jussive form of HYH quickly indicates that this is not
mandated by the text, but rather an interpretation predicated on
preconceived ideas. If, as the texts do say, God created darkness and evil,
one could equally infer that both light and good previously existed. But the
text does not address either issue. You said "if there was no light",
infering that there was not. But if God is Light and He always existed and
He is immutable, then light, likewise, always existed.

Charles