By Gwen Frangs / Cambridge, UK / September 2020
The first word in Genesis 1:1 in the original Hebrew is בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית (b’reishit). According to the English Bible translators בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית should be translated as ‘In the beginning’. However, according to ancient Hebrew grammar the word must be translated as ‘In the beginning of’. The word ‘of’ must be there for it to be a correct translation because there is a vowel called “sh’va” under the letter bet in the word b’reishit. A correct translation of the word occurs in Jeremiah 26:1: “B’reishit mamlechut Yehoyakim,“ “In the beginning of the kingdom of Jehoiakim.” Jewish scholars have been struggling for centuries to try and understand why it says, ‘In the beginning of…’ instead of just ‘In the beginning’. The English Bible translators decided to ignore the ‘of’ and to translate the word ‘In the beginning.’
However, I do not believe that the writer got it wrong or that any of the scribes who copied the text over the years got it wrong either. Firstly, the first letter בְּ of b’reishit is a preposition and can mean ‘in’, ‘when’, ‘with’ or ‘by’. Ancient Jewish scholars would translate it as ‘with’. A Jewish work from antiquity called Genesis Rabbah (1:1) says the following regarding b’reishit:
‘Thus God consulted the Torah and created the world when the Torah declares, ‘with רֵאשִׁית (rē’šîṯ) God created…’
In the Genesis Rabbah, they thought that the rest of the word ‘רֵאשִׁית’ (rē’šîṯ) might be code for ‘wisdom’ and that Genesis 1:1 was saying that with ‘wisdom’ created God the heavens and the earth.
If one looks at what the ancient Jewish scholars were doing by using ‘with’ and considers the ancient Hebrew grammatical rules pertaining to the ‘of’ having to be present, the word b’reishit means, ‘With the beginning of’. The phrase the beginning of is a noun in the same way that rē’šîṯ is a noun. Therefore, the entire verse of Genesis 1:1 reads ‘With the beginning of God created the heavens and the earth.’ This may seem to make no sense at all until you start thinking about what the beginning of means. I believe that the Bible and science are in agreement in Genesis 1:1 because the beginning of refers to the Big Bang. The verse could be translated as, ‘With the Big Bang God created the heavens and the earth…’
According to the Big Bang theory the Big Bang was how matter was created and then this matter expanded outwards and became the universe (the heavens) and the earth. Therefore, according to the theory, the Big Bang was the instrument, or means of creating the heavens and the earth. It is very possible that God may have shown the writer a vision of the Big Bang and that the writer saw that it was the beginning of everything made from matter. The ancient writer of Genesis 1 did not know how to describe the Big Bang and, so, called it the beginning of using the phrase as a noun in the same way that in Jeremiah 26:1 the phrase is used as a noun, ”In the beginning of the kingdom of Jehoiakim.” There are no capital letters in ancient Hebrew, but, if there had been, I believe that the writer would have used them to make it clear that the Beginning Of was an event. In light of the understanding regarding the Big Bang being the beginning of, the first two verses of Genesis read: ‘With the Beginning Of created God the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and void and the Spirit of God moved over the face of the deep.’
However, there is far more to the Big Bang than meets the eye. In the same way that only the top of an iceberg is visible above the surface of the ocean but that the greater mass of the iceberg is hidden beneath the surface, the Bible makes it clear that those things that are seen have been created by the unseen:
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Hebrews 11:3 KJV
In Revelations 3:14 Jesus Christ, the incarnate Holy Spirit, is called ‘…the Beginning of the creation of God’:
And to the messenger of the church in Laodicea write these things says the Amen, the Witness faithful and True, the Beginning of the creation of God.
Hebrews 1:2-3 says:
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word…
Hebrews 1:2-3 NIV
Colossians 1:15-17 says:
He is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn over all creation. Because in Him were created all things in the heavens and upon the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things through Him and into Him have been created. And He is before all things and all things in Him hold together.
Colossians 1:15-17 Interlinear
John 1:1-5 says:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1-5 NIV
Therefore, the Big Bang can be seen to be a manifestation of God, acting through Christ from within the Heavenly realm, to create the material universe. Science is focussing on the material aspect of the Big Bang while religion focuses on the spiritual aspect of the Big Bang, however a time will come when the two shall meet and recognize that they have been examining different sides of exactly the same thing.
The two articles I used when writing this were:
It is well worth taking a look at them.
Topics in Biblical Studies Homepage
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- Michael S. Heiser – A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? Discusses the ramifications that result from Michael Heiser replacing the Holy Spirit with the divine council in Genesis 1.
- The Two Types of Biblical Inspiration: Explains the two different types of inspiration used by God during the writing of the Biblical texts and the implication of these types for the veracity of these texts.
- Finding Jesus in the Old Testament: Discusses how the pre-existent Jesus appears throughout the Old Testament.
- Heaven is for Real – Proof that Colton Burpo Visited Heaven: There is no doubt that Colton Burpo visited Heaven because a tiny detail provides indisputable evidence that he saw God the Holy Spirit.
- Angels – The Existence of Evil Angels: Discusses the existence of fallen angels and what they are doing in the world.
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