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  • From: James Read <J.Read-2 AT sms.ed.ac.uk>
  • To: steve AT voiceInWilderness.info, Steve Miller <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>
  • Cc: 'B-Hebrew' <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>, 'George Athas' <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Question about Gen 1:1-2
  • Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:23:01 +0100

Hi,

Rolf would probably explain this better but as he has explained on many occasion each word has a semantic domain. The problem with translation is that there is very rarely a 1:1 complete mapping between the semantic domain of a source word and the semantic domain of a target word. When there is a sufficiently great overlap in the semantic domain of a source word with a target word this becomes its default translation but by no means the only translation.

Of course, there are many passages where we see hyh best understood as 'was' and many passages where best understood as 'become' and many passages where both would fit the context quite nicely. This is because, in English, there is quite a divide between the two concepts but not the case in Hebrew.

A modern day example of this phenomenon which people may be able to relate to are the English verbs 'make' and 'do' which we consider to have quite separate semantic domains such that the phrases 'to do dinner' and 'to make dinner' have quite different meanings. However, in most languages 'do' and 'make' are generally translated by one corresponding verb occupying the semantic domains of both 'do' and 'make' such that it is not uncommon for learners of English to come out with phrases of the type 'The carpenter was did a table' or 'I have to make an exam tomorrow' on contexts where the other verb is clearly the sense they intended.

In this way Genesis 1:1-2 is a context which could be understood either way. Elohim make the land and the skies and the land came to be ... or the land was ...

Translators of the Greek OT and the Latin vulgate both seem to prefer a 'was' translation:

? ?? ?? ?? ??????? ??? ?????????????? (?? = was)
terra autem erat inanis et vacua (erat = was)

In any case, it really doesn't make that much of a difference. The intention of the text is quite plain. It presents a simple series of events which show how the land changed and became filled with life. There is clearly no other agenda.

A discussion of the meaning of THW and BHW could be interesting but whatever they mean the agenda of the Genesis1:1,2 is quite clearly to show that when Elohim created the skies and the land the land was or came to be THW and BHW. Nothing more. And nothing less.

James Christian


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