To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org, l_barre AT yahoo.com
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] B in Gen 1:1 (was Hebrew considerations)
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2009 10:41:27 -0300
Lloyd,
You wrote:
'Also, in Genesis 1, the first preposition, b, should be translated as
temporal rather than locative as is so commonly done. Thus, I would
interpret, "as a beginning, elohim created . . , not "in the beginning . .
."'
This is a miniscule point, but I think you have it the wrong way around: "in
the beginning" *is* a temporal translation of B, not a locative one, whereas
your translation doesn't render B either temporally or locatively.
Perhaps your confusion is with the word "in", whose most "basic" meaning
(shall we say) is a locative one. But in line with the human propensity to
interpret temporal experience by analogy with spatial experience, it also
has a very common and normal temporal sense ("during the time of"). So "in
the kitchen" uses the locative sense of "in", whereas "in the 16th century"
uses the temporal sense.
In the context of Gen 1:1, the preposition "in" in the phrase "in the
beginning" establishes a temporal relationship between "the beginning" and
"God created...".
But your translation does not render B temporally at all. The temporal bit
in your translation is the substantive "beginning" itself - R)$T - but the
prepositional relationship "as" is not temporal translation of B at all; it
means something like "by way of".
Stephen Shead
Centro de Estudios Pastorales
Santiago, Chile