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.
Last time we looked at the second verse: the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
This time I would like to look at verse 3. Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
Once again, we need to look at the Hebrew words to understand a little bit of what is going on. The Hebrew word for light is or. Or is found here first in relation to the light of God, and elsewhere it seems to always have this connotation with it. In the Psalms, David prays, "Let the light of your face shine forth." Once again, the word is or. In 1 Samuel 14:29, "But Jonathan said, My father has troubled the land. Look now, how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey."
What is interesting with this way the word or is used is that it is translated as "brightened." Jonathan's eyes were "brightened," or he was "enlightened" because he ate some honey. The Hebrew for honey seems to also have a strange conspicuousness to it. When the word honey comes up in your Bible, mark it. It is always in relation to the word of God (the Torah). In Hebrew thought, the Torah was not simply the Law; it was the Law, the whole of Scripture, the teachings of the rabbis, the Land, the people Israel, God in the midst of all of it, and they are all interconnected that you cannot tear apart one from the other. The Hebrews are not complete without the Land, and the Land is not complete without the Law, and the Law is not complete without God, and it all goes back together from there.
So when we read "Let there be light..." what is really happening here is that this light emanates from God Himself. It is almost as though God is saying, "Let me, who is Light, be an intimate part of this cosmos."
Now, remember that in verse two we saw that the ruach was this energy or presence of God that stirs the creation to light and order. Now we have this light which is also a character of God that brings light and order. In Hebrew thought, light and darkness go hand in hand with order and chaos. When it says that darkness was upon the face of the deep, it means the waters and the earth were in a chaotic state. These concepts are wrapped up together in a way that we cannot ask, "Is it darkness or chaos?" It means both - yes.
So lets continue... In verse 2 God is making the point that He is bringing order and light into the darkness and chaos. In verse 3 God is making the point that He is bringing order and light into the darkness and chaos. And in verse 4, God separates the light from the darkness.
I like to think that the light that shines in verses 3-4 is not literal, but (though it isn't limited to) spiritual. This is a spiritual light that shines forth into the spiritual darkness and chaos. It is something that brings the concept forth that God is cleaning house - if you will. That which was in chaos and unfilled and unfinished is being made ordered and being formed and brought into completion.
We have in verse 4 that God "saw the light; that it was good." That Hebrew word is tov. Tov is translated here as good, but seems to indicate more of a functionality. God saw the light that it functioned and performed that which it was sent forth to do. God then separates the light from the darkness.
I'll try to remember to touch on this when we reach day four, but in case I don't remember to look into it with more detail, I'll put a glimpse here. I see this as a judgment. God separates the light from the dark, thus judging the darkness and containing it. God limits the darkness, and in doing so He causes the creation to find an equilibrium. It finds balance. Since darkness is contained, God can continue to create and bring forth more order and peace and harmony and balance.
"God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So evening and morning were the first day."
Here we have the third time in the first 5 verses of the Bible that God repeats the concept of being brought out of darkness and into light. We first have the ruach stirring up the creation, we then have the light puncturing the darkness and bringing order, and we now have "evening and morning..."
Why evening before morning? In Hebrew thought, the evening comes first. We, in our Greco-Roman mindsets, look at it as morning, then night, then morning, then night. The Hebrews look at it as evening, then morning, evening, then morning. They come out of darkness and into light. It is an exodus message right in the first 5 verses. And every day it is mentioned, "evening and morning was the second day..." Each time - evening and morning, evening and morning, evening and morning...
God is writing an exodus message of Him coming into this creation and dwelling here with it. That was the point of Sinai as well. God was marrying His people, and thus creating a priesthood to reflect God's image to the world, and the praise of the world back up to God.
When Hebrew mentions something 3 times in a row like this, it is very important. Hebrew poetry will repeat itself, and each time it repeats it brings a fuller understanding to what was last said. Here we have 3 repetitions, and in the Hebrew mindset there is nothing more attention grabbing and sacred.
God wants us to get the point: He is freeing us. He is liberating us from darkness. He has intentionally come into this world and dwelt with us. He has intentionally come into the muck and the mire with us. Can you understand what is being said?
You don't have to live like you are living. If God is for us, then who can be against us? You don't have to live like this. You don't have to go out and buy and buy and buy to fill the void in your heart. You don't have to work and work and work until you are so drained that you crash (its called a midlife crisis). You don't have to cut yourself anymore (whether literally or metaphorically). You don't have to live like this.
You don't have to live like this.
Get it.
You do not have to live like this...
No comments:
Post a Comment