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The LORD of Creation: Thoughts on Bereshit

The LORD of Creation

Further thoughts on Parashat Bereshit...

by John J. Parsons
www.hebrew4christians.com

The Torah begins with the declaration, "In the beginning Elohim (God) created" (בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלהִים), where the Hebrew word "Elohim" is written in the grammatical plural form (i.e., אֱלהִים, derived from the singular form אֵל, God), not because there is more than one Creator, of course, since indeed the verb bara (בָּרָא) used in this very declaration is grammatically singular, that is, "He created." Of course  the Torah clearly affirms that "God is one" (יְהוָה אֶחָד), though note that the word "one" (i.e., echad: אֶחָד) means something more than mere numerical identity (i.e., yachid: יָחִיד) but instead unity in plurality, a "transcendental" oneness that points to the unfathomable mystery of the Name YHVH and the unity of the Godhead (אֵין סוֹף). Therefore the plural name Elohim is sometimes called "pluralis intensitatis" which denotes in one Person all the powers and influences by which the universe was first created and now is governed and sustained...
 

כִּי כה אָמַר־יְהוָה בּוֹרֵא הַשָּׁמַיִם
הוּא הָאֱלהִים יצֵר הָאָרֶץ וְעשָׂהּ
הוּא כוֹנְנָהּ לא־תהוּ בְרָאָהּ לָשֶׁבֶת יְצָרָהּ
 אֲנִי יְהוָה וְאֵין עוֹד

kee· khoh · a·mar - Adonai · bo·rei · ha·sha·ma·yeem
hoo · ha·e·lo·heem · yoh·tzer · ha·a·retz · ve·oh·sah
hoo · khoh·ne·nah · loh - toh·hoo · ve·ra·ah · la·she·vet · ye·tza·rah
nee · Adonai · ve·ein · ohd
 

"For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is the God), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited):
'I AM the LORD, and there is no other'" (Isa. 45:18)


 


Both the Torah of Moses and the New Testament attest that Yeshua is Elohim (אֱלהִים) -- the Creator of the cosmos: בְּרֵאשִׁית הָיָה הַדָּבָר / "in the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1,14). The Divine Word and Voice cannot be separated from God any more than the Spirit of God can be separated. Yeshua is the Source of all life in the universe: כָּל־הַמַּעֲשִׂים נִהְיוּ עַל־יָדוֹ / "All things were made by Him (John 1:3). The "Word made flesh" is the "image of the invisible God" and the "radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint (χαρακτήρ, 'character') of his nature" (Col. 1:15). All of creation is being constantly upheld by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3): "All things were created by Him (i.e., Yeshua), and for Him" and in Him all things consist (συνεστηκεν, lit. "stick together") (Col. 1:16-17). As our Creator and Master of the Universe, Yeshua is both our King and our Judge, and therefore our lives center upon him...


Hebrew Lesson
Isaiah 43:1b Hebrew reading (click):


 


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