Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Charles,

> > 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.



HH: The imperative of HYH begins with an H in both the masculine and 
feminine forms. The fact that the form in Gen 1:3, 6, and 14 begins with 
a Y tells us that it is based on the imperfect. It is a shortened 
imperfect and so a jussive. A jussive is a third person kind of 
imperative that implies an idea like "let," whereas an imperative is 
second person form. The verb is HYH, and its second major meaning, 
according to Brown, Drive, and Briggs, is "come into being." You don't 
have to use the word "exist." You could say "appear,""arise," "come into 
being," or even "come." You could say, "Let light be." The usage of the 
same verb form in verses 6 and 14 is demonstrating creation, just as it 
is here. The context is the world's creation. There was evidently no 
light in the created universe until God created it.



> 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.



HH: The text is informing us about the creation of the world. So we 
should not assume something exists until the text tells us God created it.



> 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.
>  



HH: Well, it evidently did not exist in the created universe until God 
created it.


Yours,
Harold Holmyard