“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.”
Lets continue through this first five verses. We talked last time about how God creating the world is likened to God creating Himself a temple to dwell in. Here I want to try and get through the concepts of some of these Hebrew words.
"The earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep." Lets be honest here. This is a verse for every single one of us. We all know what it is talking about. Our lives have had meaninglessness and seemed to be void of any reality. Our lives have been shaped, but in a sense completely formless. We understand full well what it feels like to in all our conquering and all our successes to feel like it just isn’t enough.
The book of Genesis was written (so its assumed) by Moses. Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. So Moses is talking to a people who just came out of bondage. It is a message for those who were enslaved and are now set free. This is why there is emphasis on the “formless and void” and the “darkness upon the face of the deep.” The Hebrew term tohu vav vohu is used for “formless and void.” It means unfilled and unfinished. It is a perfect display to those who have been enslaved (or we who feel unfulfilled in life and disillusioned to the world saying just to crowd our lives with more and more stuff).
It is from this backdrop of darkness, formlessness, void, lack, unfulfillment, unachieved, etc that we read “The Spirit of God hovered over the waters.”
This is important. First, let me say this. Hebrew doesn’t care to describe things with what it looked like. When we find a description of what something looks like, it is usually a stress of the functionality, not of the description. Think of Noah’s Ark (which we’ll touch on later). The dimensions are given of the ark, and it sounds like a box. The point is that this thing was huge - to fit tons and tons of animals in it.
So when we read that the world was unfilled and unfinished, it is to bring a point. When it says darkness is on the face of the deep, it is to bring a point. The Spirit of God hovered over it…
The Hebrew word for Spirit in this case is ruach (roo-awk). The ruach elohim merachephet. Hebrew is poetic. We think in a Greek way when interpreting it. Ruach is interpreted as spirit, breath, or wind. But none of those words are really what ruach means. Hebrew doesn’t use abstract thoughts like “spirit.” The fuller idea of ruach is an ancient energy of God.
In Hebrew thought, ruach was this energy of God that is laced through the fabric of space-time. In Genesis 2, the word for “breath” that is used for man is nephesh. It is considered that the ruach imparted the divine image to man, and the result was the breath (nephesh) of life.
It is my opinion that ruach is the wisdom spoken of in Proverbs 8 that was with God in the beginning and laid the foundations of the world. Many people attribute that to Christ, but I think it was the ruach. Ruach is the Holy Spirit. Ruach comes from God - never from anything else.
I would suggest to you to read Proverbs 8 in that perspective.
Now, what is being stated here in the fact that the ruach hovered? This is piel participle conjugation of the verb rachaph. Rachaph means to relax. The piel conjugation is an intensifying conjugation. The participle is the use of a verb as an adjective (the running man). So lets get this straight… The ruach (or energy, life, presence) of God intensely relaxed over the waters? What does that mean?
Well, remember that this is a participle. It is saying, “the intensely relaxing presence of God over the waters.” Once again: huh?
This is found one other place in the Bible (but only one). It is once again attributed to God. It talks about God bringing His people into the Land “like an eagle stirring up her young.” So apparently, this stirring up is the same word as “moved.” Why is it translated stirring up in one sense and moved in another?
Part of it is that it makes the most sense. Part of it is that our translators (for the most part) are very Greek in their understanding. It has to mean something - it can’t mean a concept or state of being. What is being communicated is that the rest of God is what brought forth out of the darkness and chaos light and order. God was simply in a state of rest observing the heavens and earth, and from that restful presence of God the heavens and earth began to stir.
It is the presence of God that brought about all things. Another way it is put in the New Testament: Christ in you - the hope of glory (Col 1:27).
This is deep, deep stuff. This hits on the Sabbath, which hadn’t even been created yet. This hits on a characteristic and nature of God that we have not yet acknowledged nor rightfully understood. it is the rest of God’s presence that brings forth life. The chaos and darkness cannot continue when God’s presence is there. Maybe this is who we ought to interpret Isaiah 59:2.
Our sin doesn’t separate us from God in the sense that God cannot dwell where sin is. Our sin separates us from God in the sense that sin cannot dwell where God is. If we are in obvious sin, it is because we have chosen sin over God. If God were in our lives, sin cannot remain any longer. Darkness and chaos are banished at the presence of God (and even at the rest of God).
God doesn’t have to work and strive and bring forth - the earth already starts to stir in response to God.
So lets stop here. Next time I will talk about the darkness and light and how this is another way of stating what we just said. The imagery of God’s presence bringing forth order and light out of the chaos and darkness is then repeated with God creating light and separating it from the darkness. In Hebrew, this is a way of poetry (but the point is to bring fuller meaning and understanding to both the former and the latter).
No comments:
Post a Comment