The First Creation Narrative

This is my first post in a two-part series on the two creation narratives. The first creation narrative is found in Genesis 1:1-2:3. Interestingly, the first creation narrative uses the name "Elohim" whenever referring to the creator. The second creation narrative is found in Genesis 2:4-25. This second narrative uses the name "Yahweh" to refer to the creator. This name is often translated to "Jehovah" in English. Both narratives have different focuses and points of emphasis so I think it is useful to look at them separately.

According to one theory, Wellhausen's Documentary Hypothesis, the first creation narrative was written by the Priestly Source (P). The Priestly Source is thought to be a priest or group of priests living in Babylonian captivity. As they kept the ancient records of Israel they paid particular attention to those matters of special interest to priests such as the extensive ritualistic instructions in Leviticus and genealogies in Numbers. But it is also believed that this first creation narrative has been attributed to the Priestly Source as well. Karen Armstrong, in her book A History of God, said: "the didactic tone and repetitions suggest that P's creation story was also designed for liturgical recital" (64). Indeed it's structure is quite elaborate and organized with symbolism deeply enmeshed in the writings, possibly for use in the the ancient temple.

On recurring symbol is the number seven. The number seven is highly symbolic in the Torah. Seven signifies divine completion. The most obvious use of the number seven is that there are seven days of creation. The first sentence of the Hebrew Bible contains seven words: "Bereshith bara elohim eth hashamayim va'eth ha'arets". The second sentence contains 14 words. The verses about the seventh day (Genesis 2:1-3) contain 35 words (7x5). The word "elohim" or "God" appears 35 time (7x5). The word "earth" appears 21 times (7x3). Both the phrases "and it was so" and "God saw that it was good" appear seven times.

The Framework Interpretation of Genesis posits an elaborate structure in the text developed to reinforce the commandment to honor the Sabbath. The narrative can be broken down into two triads. The first triad is of the first three days and the second triad is of the next three days. These two triads parallel each other. For example, on the first God says "light there by light" (verse 3) and on the fourth day says "let there be lights" (verse 14). On the second day, God separates the waters above from waters beneath and on the fifth day fills the waters above with birds and the waters beneath with swimming creatures. On the third day God brings forth dry land and vegetation and on the sixth day makes animals and mankind. These two triads can also be seen as part of three kingdoms. In the first three days God creates three creation kingdoms. In the next three days he creates the creature kings. On the seventh day the creator king takes his rest.

The cosmological view given in Genesis is consistent with the Middle-Eastern understanding of the time (shown above). Civilizations in the region understood the earth to be a flat disk suspended in waters, or "mayim". The sky was understood to be a metal bowl which separated the earth and the surrounding waters from the waters above, which formed the heavens, or "shamayim".

The creation account of Genesis is sometimes compared with the contemporary Babylonian creation story, Enuma Elish. Enuma Elish shares the idea of a primeval chaos with waters above and below. But the creation narrative of the Hebrew Bible is distinct in its portrayal of creation as an ordered and planned construction. While Enuma Elish, as well as many other creation stories, portray the universe as a result of divine conflict among competing gods, the creation by Elohim is seemingly effortless, brought forth by simple verbal command. The Genesis narrative places special emphasis on organization. The story uses the word "bhdel" meaning "to divide" when separating the light from the darkness, the waters above from the waters beneath, the day from the night. Every living thing is organized and made to bring forth after its kind.

Both the Genesis narrative and Enuma Elish share six days of creation followed by a day of rest. However, whereas in Enuma Elish the creation of mankind is something of an afterthought, mankind is Elohim's crowning creation. To mankind, or "adham", God gives his own image. Mankind is given dominion over all things, all the plants and animals. Of note here is that mankind, adham, is created male and female. It is clear here that the author was referring to "adham" as mankind and not the individual Adam. This first creation account mentions the creation of mankind, both men and women. This is noteworthy because the second creation account places more particular emphasis on the relationship between the men and women in the form of the individuals Adam and Eve.

It can be said that both creation narratives in Genesis have a message, a moral. In the last three verses (Genesis 2:1-3), God rests from his labors on the seventh day and sanctifies it. The verb "rest" is in Hebrew, "shaboth", which is now understood in English as the "Sabbath". God blesses, "bharekh", and sanctifies, "qaddesh", the seventh day because on that day he rested. The first creation narratives ends with the lesson that the Sabbath is a blessed and holy day on which we should rest from our labor and sanctify the Sabbath as did Elohim on the seventh day of creation.

References:

http://www.aarweb.org/syllabus/syllabi/g/gier/306/commoncosmos.htm

Armstrong, Karen. A History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. 1993.

Bereshith - The Creation

In the beginning of the year I am beginning again, again. I last read the Old Testament cover-to-cover on my mission. I was inspired to this by one of my missionary companions. He actually read the entire Old Testament while sitting on a toilet. Now that was not all in one sitting but I still found that quite impressive. However, I don’t think I will be doing that for this read-through. One reason I want to write about my readings as I go through is that I hope it helps me to learn more and to record the things I learn. I can also get into discussion with people online and have stimulating conversation. The problem now is that the first chapters of the Bible are the most difficult to get through. This is not because I find them boring but because I find them so interesting. There is so much in these verses and there is a lot of history in their interpretation. So I may not get very far in this first post. I want to start by looking at the first three words of the Hebrew Bible.

“Bereshith bara elohim...” are the first three words of the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible. The name of the Book of Genesis in Hebrew is also “Bereshith”. These three words are usually translated “In the beginning created God...” sometimes with the word order switched around. I’d like to talk a little about each word individually.

“Bereshith” is really a combination of two concepts. “Be” is a preposition meaning “in” or “with”. “Reshith” means “the first” in place, time, order, or rank. By the way, all my definitions here are from Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary. The first word in the Bible, “bereshith” is understood to mean the first in time, as to say the beginning of time. This in itself is an interesting topic that deserves it own post. What happened before this beginning? What was God doing before the creation? Saint Augustine reportedly said “He was preparing hell for people who ask questions too deep for them.” A viable possibility to be sure, but perhaps the risk isn’t so great to prevent pressing the issue a little. I will come back to “bereshith” because the next two words reflect back on it.

The next word “bara” is a verb, meaning in the absolute sense, “to create”. The same verb also means “to cut down (a wood)”, “select”, and “feed (as formative processes)”. Blake Ostler, in his book Exploring Mormon Thought: Of God and Gods, gave an exhaustive overview of this words which I refer to here. The other uses of the verb refer to cutting, dividing, and separating. The verb “bara” is often understood to be more of an organizing process as opposed to an instant materialization with a snap of the fingers. This is a view in opposition to creatio ex nihilo, or “creation out of nothing”. Again, this topic deserves its own post. But I would call attention to the interpretation of “bara” as an organization or bringing together.

The third word of the Bible, “elohim” literally means “gods”. The singular word for a god or deity is “eloah”. The plural “elohim” can be used to refer to multiple deities at a time or to refer to the supreme God. This word is often understood to simply be referring to the God in a superlative form in a form of deference. Yet later in the chapter elohim speaks in the first person plural. Verse 26 says “And said, elohim, let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” After both words, image and likeness, the nouns our followed by the possessive suffix “enu” which is the first person plural pronoun suffix meaning “our”. This seems to suggest that the elohim speaking is more than one deity. In fact, modern biblical scholarship often suggests that the prevailing understanding of divinity in Ancient Mesopotamia was not of one and only one god but a heavenly council of many deities over which one god, the most high God presided. But this is also a topic for another post.

Joseph Smith had an interesting interpretation of the Bible’s first word. Never shirking his role as an iconoclast, he claimed that the very first word of the Bible was not correct. The following quote is taken from a transcription of Joseph Smith’s Sermon in The Grove, given June 16, 1844, one week before his death.

Some say I do not interpret the Scripture the same as they do. They say it means the heathen's gods. Paul says there are Gods many and Lords many; and that makes a plurality of Gods, in spite of the whims of all men. Without a revelation, I am no going to give them the knowledge of the God of heaven. You know and I testify that Paul had no allusion to the heathen gods. I have it from God, and get over it if you can. I have a witness of the Holy Ghost, and a testimony that Paul had no allusion to the heathen gods in the text. I will show from the Hebrew Bible that I am correct, and the first word shows a plurality of Gods; and I want the apostates and learned men to come here and prove to the contrary, if they can. An unlearned boy must give you a little Hebrew. Berosheit baurau Eloheim ait aushamayeen vehau auraits, rendered by King James' translators, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." I want to analyze the word Berosheit. Rosh, the head; Sheit, a grammatical termination; the Baith was not originally put there when the inspired man wrote it, but it has been since added by an old Jew. Baurau signifies to bring forth;Eloheim is from the word Eloi, God, in the singular number; and by adding the word heim, it renders it Gods. It read first, "In the beginning the head of the Gods brought forth the Gods," or, as other have translated it, "The head of the Gods called the Gods together." I want to show a little learning as well as other fools.

I like this quote at least partially for Joseph Smith’s attitude. I think it’s kind of funny. But he brings up some interesting ideas. The spelling in the transliteration is different here so I’ll review the point of interest. Basically, he says that the preposition “be” does not belong in the text and that the first word in the Bible should be simply “reshith”. As noted earlier, “reshith” means “the first” in place, time, order, or rank. It is almost always understood to mean the first in time. But Joseph Smith understands it to mean the first in rank. In effect, the word “reshith” is identifying the God of gods. He is also correct that “reshith” shares the same root as “rosh” which means “the head” whether literally or figuratively. You might recognize this word when combined with another Hebrew word. The Hebrew word for year is “shanah”. So the New Year is the head of the year or “rosh hashanah”.

But Joseph Smith also understands the next word differently. Rather than referring to the creation of the universe itself, Joseph Smith sees the word “bara” referring to the calling forth or organization of divine beings, the elohim. Thus the third word is also understood differently. In Joseph Smith’s view the word “elohim” is not referring to the highest God himself at all but is referring to the other deity whom he is assembling to prepare for the creation.

Taken together, Joseph Smith taught that the first words of the Bible should be “reshith bara elohim.” His interpretation is essentially: “the head organized the gods”. Put another way: “the Head One of the Gods brought forth the gods.” This is basically the way the Book of Abraham lays out the Creation.

So there is a little review of my reading of the first three words of the Old Testament. Let’s see how far I get as I move on. I have touched on some topics that our too juicy to pass up. I definitely need to come back to the Council of the Gods. There are many references in the Bible itself, as well as ancient Ugaritic and Babylonian texts. But I’ll get to all that later.