The Fall of Man
3: 1-24

Bersheit Chapter Three opens with Adam and Eve living happily together with themselves and with their God, working faithfully in the Garden, and performing the responsibilities with which the Lord entrusted them. All they knew, both by experience and otherwise, was God’s perspective on life. After the six days of creation ADONAI, God, said that everything was very good. It was a perfect world. There was no pain, no disease, no suffering, no struggle for survival, no sin, and especially no death.

But, the storm clouds were about to roll in. All of this was about to change. Mankind was about to embark on an incredible journey. How our world has changed. In the physical domain, everything runs down and wears out. In the animal world, each animal struggles against other animals and against disease. In the spiritual domain, people find it easier to do wrong than do right, easier to think of self than others. All of us face the universal process of aging and death. The world is full of hatred, crime, war, pollution, selfishness, corruption, and evil of every kind. And if you have watched the news lately, things are getting worse, not better. Something has gone terribly wrong with God’s perfect world.

Thus, a Second Kingdom was born: The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. Notice how both Kingdoms have a direct comparison to each other:

The Kingdom of darkness vs. the Kingdom of light

The reign of sin and death vs. the reign of grace.

The ruler is Satan vs. the ruler is Yeshua.

The power of death vs. the power of life.

God’s wrath vs. God’s favor.

Slaves to sin vs. slaves to righteousness.

The existence of evil in a world created by a holy, loving God is the problem of the ages. If God is truly loving, holy and all powerful, why does He permit such a thing? Maybe even more to the point, how could evil ever have appeared at all?

There are no easy answers to these questions. The atheist solves the problem by denying the existence of God. The agnostic solves the problem by believing that these questions are beyond our reach. The dualist tries to solve the problem by proposing two eternal opposing forces in the universe, one good and one evil. But these answers are neither Scriptural nor do they satisfy the needs of the human heart. Elohim is all powerful and He is righteous. Only His Word, therefore, can help us to understand the source of evil in the world.

The only true answer to this problem is found here in the third chapter of Genesis. Rabbi Sha’ul, referring to this chapter said: Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death came to all mankind, because all sinned . . . for the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God (Romans 5:12; 8:20-22).

Before one man could bring sin into the world, he would need to be tempted. Would he obey Elohim, or go his own way? Any of us who have ever felt a sense of guilt for something we should not have done will understand the events of this chapter. It relates how sin entered the world and ruined the Paradise God had provided in the Garden of Eden.⁵³

Then the LORD God Made a Woman
from the Rib He had Taken Out of the Man
2: 18-25

Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man DIG: What is significant about God creating woman last? Male and female jointly express God’s image. What does that mean? What does it imply that the woman is a suitable helper for man? ADONAI Himself is often described as a Helper (Hosea 13:9; Psalm 115:9-11). What help does that give you in answering this question? How would you characterize the relationship between Adam and this woman? Between God and man? What makes this kind of relationship possible?

REFLECT: Is this kind of a relationship only theoretical? Or can it really work? What are the things that would get in the way of it working the way Elohim designed it? Even though men and women are equal in their relationship with each other, whom does ADONAI hold responsible when things go wrong (to see link click Bf –Your Desire Will Be For Your Husband, and He Will Rule Over You)?

God had a purpose in putting Adam in the Garden alone for a period of time. It was to show him that he had a need for companionship that the animals could not fulfill. Therefore, this section describes the creation of the first woman, Eve, and the institution of marriage. In addition, a minor theme in this section shows that man did not evolve from the animals, but is superior to them. Sorry PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

If there were any remaining questions as to whether the Bible teaches that man is simply an animal, related by common ancestry and evolution to all the other animals, the rest of this chapter will lay such an idea to rest. The first man and woman were unique and special creations of God, not to be compared with animals at all, but rather to be contrasted with them. The widespread belief that people evolved from apes is not only refuted by Scripture but also by all the facts of science. The missing links of Darwin’s day are still missing today. There have been many fossils of true human beings excavated by anthropologists and many fossils of true apes. To date, however, neither any living animals nor any fossil remains have ever been found to link animals with humans.⁴⁹ More details will be given on this in the discussion of the Flood.

ADONAI, God, created us to be social beings, and Adam needed someone of equal status for fellowship, friendship, and intimacy. These are the basic needs of every human being, planted there by God Himself. Therefore, it is not surprising that the LORD would say: It is not good for the man to be alone (2:18a). This is the first mention of something that was not good. At the end of the sixth day of creation, Elohim saw everything that He had made and it was very good (1:31). The Hebrew word good describes that which is appropriate within the purpose of God. So even though everything else in creation was good, Adam was alone and that was not good. Although both the animals and man came from the ground (2:7 and 2:19), the animals could never provide man with the kind of companionship he really needed. In 2:18b God said: I will make him a helper (ezer, pronounced azer with a long sounding a, as in razor). The word helper is not demeaning because the term is used of God Himself as Israel’s helper in times of trouble (Exodus 18:4; Deuteronomy 33:7, 22, 26; First Samuel 7:12; Psalm 20:2, 33:30, 70:5, 115:9-11, 124:8 and 146:5).

Moreover, she would be a helper suitable for him (kenegdo), and literally it means a helper in front of him. So a helper suitable for him means a helper like him, or an ezer fitted to him, or a helper corresponding to him. In other words, she completed him. Whatever Adam lacked she supplied, and whatever Eve lacked Adam supplied. Man was created in such a way that he needed the help of a partner – a female partner, an ezer.

Eve and all her daughters are ezers – strong warriors who stand beside their brothers in the battle for God’s kingdom. If the call to rule and subdue the whole earth means anything, ADONAI calls the ezer to join the man in every sphere of life. Whenever the battle rages for God’s Kingdom, whenever someone needs a friend, Elohim summons the ezer into action. Therefore, before the Fall they were equals in every sense of the word, physically, socially, and spiritually. But instead of proceeding to the creation of the woman, God had Adam name all the animals.

So before God would create this helper, He brought all the animals to Adam to see what he would name them. This had two purposes. First, Adam demonstrated his rule over them, that he was their master. When you rename someone, you have authority over them (Second Kings 23:34, 24:17). He named each of the animals of the field and the birds of the air.

Secondly, this pointed out to him that although he could rule over them, he could not fellowship with them. The animals had been created both male and female (6:10), and were commanded by God to be fruitful and increase in number (1:22 and 24). As the animals passed by, Adam gave each one a quick review and an appropriate Hebrew name. (We know that Hebrew was the original language because all the names – Adam, Eve, Cain, Able, Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth – have Hebrew meanings before the Tower of Babel. You only begin to see Gentile names after the Tower of Babel. In addition, there are word plays before the Tower of Babel that only make sense in Hebrew). He was a man of high intelligence and quick judgment. There were no second thoughts, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field (2:19b-20). However, as the animals passed before Adam, it only emphasized his loneliness. Each animal had its mate, but for Adam no suitable helper was found. There was none like him. It was clear that he had not evolved from them. Of all the creatures, he was painfully alone.

Because none of the animals provided a suitable helper for the man, God proceeded to make one for him. One like Him, and yet different, perfectly complementing him and completing Elohim’s work. This account of the creation and formation of Eve drives evolutionists crazy. Even if they can bring themselves to believe that Adam evolved from the animals, there doesn’t seem to be any way that Eve was a part of the evolution process (to hear more about this click – here). The only way to get around it is to deny Scripture, because it is very clear that all other men have been born of woman, but the first woman was made from man. For Adam was formed first, then Eve (First Timothy 2:13). For man did not come from woman, but woman from man (First Corinthians 11:8).⁵⁰

So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep (2:21a). The rabbis teach that this was done to teach the man that he should not constantly argue with his wife. If she does something displeasing, he should ignore it or sleep on it. They love to debate and argue about such nonsense.

And while he was sleeping, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh (2:21b). The word here really doesn’t mean ribs. The NIV is a thought for thought translation. The Hebrew word is tzeila, and actually refers to Adam’s side. In Exodus 25:12 and 14 and 37:3 and 5 this word refers to the side of the ark of the Covenant. So He took both bone and flesh from the side of Adam to create Eve. She came into existence out of the very life of the man. Life begets life. As many commentators have noted, the woman was not made from one of the bones in the man’s head in order for her to lord over him, nor was she made from one of the bones in his foot in order to enable him to trample and crush her. On the contrary, she was made from one of the bones in his side, so that they might share life together in mutual protection, concern, love, and care. As we shall see, it was sin that changed the original divine intention of this relationship (3:16).⁵¹ Then the Lord God made (banah) a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man (2:22). The Hebrew word banah means to build. God actually built a woman out of Adam’s side. Eve did not evolve, she was created with the appearance of age as was all creation. Eve was God’s gift to Adam, the helper made for him.

At the dawning of creation, when the ADONAI, God, had a big job to do, the team He put together was a man and a woman. This was His first string of all-stars to fulfill His bold mandate. As a result, the history of men and women working together is longer than men working with men or women working with women. This has repercussions far beyond marriage that cover every relationship between men and women in the congregations of God, the workplace and in the world in general. The clear message from the Scriptures is that ADONAI intended men and women to work together.

Then the man said: This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh (2:23a). This verse is poetic and is Adam’s immediate response and the first recorded words of man. The phrase: bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh is a statement of commitment in Second Samuel 5:1, where the ten tribes pledged loyalty to King David. So this is a statement of commitment from Adam to Eve. He realizes that she is his complement. How perfect their original relationship was. Then Adam named her: she shall be called woman for she was taken out of man (2:23b). Here is one of the word plays that only makes sense in Hebrew. The Hebrew word for woman is isha, and the Hebrew word for man is ish. The word play is this: the isha comes from the ish. This only makes sense in Hebrew, once again showing it was the first language. Therefore, the woman was made from man, for man, she was given to man, and then named by man (art by Sarah Beth Baca: see more information on Links and Resources).

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother (2:24a). It is important that the first human institution recognized by Elohim was that of marriage. The leaving of the man is a mental and emotional departure where he and his wife find their emotional fulfillment in themselves and not their parents. This seems to be more and more of a problem today. It has to do with releasing adult children; mothers releasing their sons to another woman, and fathers releasing their daughters to another man. When the parent demands that the child continue to put him or her first, even after marriage, they make it extremely difficult to leave emotionally. This does not mean that we cease to have a relationship with our parents, but without placing the attention on our own mate, the spouse always seems to feel like second best, which leads to problems in the marriage. Parents need to learn how to release, and children need to understand that they need to leave their fathers and their mothers emotionally. To do this gracefully is one of the great challenges in our society today.

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife. There is a definite order here . . . leaving, then being united. Not the other way around. The Hebrew word for be united means to stick like glue. This word is often used to signify the maintaining of a covenant and is used that way several times in the book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 4:4, 10:20, 11:22, 13:4, 30:20). This is now the new loyalty; they must stick like glue to each other. Their destiny is now tied to each other and not with their parents. It is plain that God’s intention from the very beginning was a permanent, life-long monogamous relationship for the man and his wife (First Corinthians 6:12-20). Because of the entrance of sin into the world after the Fall, Elohim has not always rigidly enforced this ideal. He has even seemed to sanction (or at least allow) polygamy at times, as in the case of Abraham, Jacob, and David, and to bless the work of some who practiced it. Similarly, the Torah allowed divorce, and in some cases, the LORD even commanded it (Ezra 10:11).⁵² But that was not His perfect will for us. Yeshua based His own teaching on marriage on this passage (Matthew 19:3-9; Mark 10:2-12), and He chose this relationship to show the picture and pattern of the relation of Christ to His Church (Ephesians 5:22-33).

And they will become one flesh (2:24b). Today, young people seem to think that they are the Columbus that discovered sex (see my commentary on Exodus Dq – You Shall Not Commit Adultery). But if you get this order of leaving and then being united mixed up, your life will be much more difficult. God’s perfect plan is that one man would be united to one woman, and [then] they would become one flesh forever.

The man and his wife were both naked (arumim), and they felt no shame (2:25). This is the Dispensation of Innocence or Freedom (see Ap – The Dispensations of God). They were naked before God, and they were naked before each other, and they felt no shame because they had done nothing wrong. This would change shortly.

You Must Not Eat from the Tree
of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
2: 15-17

You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil DIG: What is the Covenant with Adam? How was man to take care of the Garden of Eden? What was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Why was he forbidden to eat it? What was the test? Did Adam have the ability to choose right from wrong? Or did Elohim make him sin? Why is this distinction so important? What were the consequences of his decision?

REFLECT: Could ADONAI have decided not to give Adam the ability to choose? What would be the implications of that? Can you make someone love you? Even if you could make someone love you, would it be a satisfying experience? How much does it hurt when you love someone and are rejected? How much do you think it hurts God?

This is the second part of the Covenant with Adam. The first part was seen in 1: 28-30. The first four provisions were listed there, and the next three are listed here, making a total of seven provisions. The fifth provision is given in 2:15. Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

There are several Hebrew words in this verse that we need to take a closer look at. The Hebrew word for put is the root word for resting. This is the same root that also makes up the name Noah, which means rest. For Adam, being in the Garden was being in a place of rest. But Adam was not only to rest in the Garden, he was put there to work it (abad), which normally means to serve. In other words, Adam was there, not to be served, but to be a servant of Elohim. It is interesting that even in a perfect world, work was necessary for man’s own good. Work enters the picture before sin does, and if man had never sinned he would still be working.⁴⁶ And lastly, he was placed in the Garden to take care of it (smr), in the sense of obedience, and to guard it. The same Hebrew word is used in 3:29 where the cherubim were placed to guard the way to the tree of life.

The sixth provision is in 2:16-17a. And the ADONAI, God, commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the Garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” The word command is mentioned here for the first time. God’s first command to man concerned life and death, good and evil. As with subsequent commandments, there were positive blessings and negative prohibitions. All earthly goods and pleasures were at man’s disposal, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was forbidden.⁴⁷ Its purpose was to test their obedience to the will of God. Adam was not to assume that because he was given authority over the earth that he was independent of God and exempt from His authority. The question was whether man, like Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12-15) would reject God’s right to rule and declare himself independent of God. Adam was living in the Garden in a sinless state, a state of probation. But he hadn’t been tested yet. Although he was created in a perfect state, he had the ability to make an imperfect choice. In other words, he had free will.

Mankind must choose to love and obey God on his own. Man was created with the ability of contrary choice, or having the ability to choose contrary to his nature. Before the Fall, man had the ability to choose to sin; after the Fall, man has the ability to choose not to sin if saved. Elohim, however, does not have the ability to sin. He does not have the ability to choose contrary to His holy nature.

Had Adam passed the test, his holiness would have been confirmed, he would have been unable to sin, and would have lived eternally. This is similar to the resurrection. At the resurrection, all believers will have their holiness confirmed. They will no longer have the capacity to sin and will live for all eternity. The angels have already made this choice. They had been created with the ability to sin. They also had the ability of contrary choice. The Bible teaches that one-third of the angels sinned (see the commentary on Revelation Ds – The Woman and the Dragon), and these angels are now confirmed in their unholiness. But two-thirds of the angels passed the test; their holiness has been confirmed because they are in the presence of God in heaven.

The seventh provision was spiritual death in 2:17b. For when you eat of the forbidden fruit you will surely die. Spiritual death could come on the same day as disobedience. So it seems that Adam and Eve were the first people not to read the Apple terms and conditions! We know that the LORD God was talking about spiritual death because Adam lived over 900 years. So he did not die physically that day, but he did die spiritually. Spiritual death means separation from Elohim. The Hebrew here is a special construction called mot tamut. It uses the same Hebrew root twice together, making it emphatic. That is why it says: You will surely die. Literally it means, in dying you will die. This is original sin, and on the day Adam took the fruit and ate it, he died spiritually. And not only that, the moment he disobeyed, the principle of death and decay would take hold and it would begin to operate in his body. Consequently, all those who are descendants of Adam and Eve (in other words, the entire world) are born spiritually dead (Romans 5:12).

Judaism does not believe in original sin. They have to explain this verse in some other way. So the rabbis teach that on the day Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he became mortal. In addition, they teach that it was necessary to use simple words like: You will surely die, because prior to his eating of the tree of knowledge man was as unsophisticated as a child who knows nothing, and he could not have comprehended a more elaborate warning.⁴⁸ These are the great lengths that Judaism goes to deny the doctrine of original sin.

God Planted a Garden in the East, in Eden;
and There He Put the Man He Had Formed
2: 8-14

God planted a garden in the East, in Eden; and there He put the man He had formed DIG: Why does God provide this first man with a paradise on earth? Where was it located? Why two trees: the tree of life (Revelation 2:7, 22:2 and 14), and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:9, 17, 3:6)? What does the name Eden mean? How many rivers flowed into Eden? What were their names? What do we know about them today?

REFLECT: Where are you experiencing a “piece of paradise” in your life right now? When Elohim asks you not to eat from a certain tree in your life, do you obey any better than Adam and Eve? Why or why not? What have you learned from those experiences? How can you help others with the same temptation?

The Bible moves very rapidly from the creation of the universe to the Garden of Eden. All of creation had been placed under man’s authority, and it was very good (1:31). But a particular region was prepared as a special place where Adam was to make his home. This region is called Eden and it was in the east in the area of Mesopotamia. The way the Hebrew reads it means planted on the eastern part of Eden (2:8a). So Eden was a large region. God planted fruit trees of every kind in the Garden. The planting was done directly by the LORD God, just as He had formed Adam. The picture is that Adam was created west of Eden and then placed east of it. And there He put the man He had formed (2:8b). This was to be his home during the Dispensation of Innocence. Adam’s first knowledge of Elohim was of One who loved him and provided for him.

The root word for Eden is watering (Psalm 36:9). It is also called the Garden of the LORD (Isaiah 51:3), the Garden of God (Ezeki’el 28:13; 31:9), and the paradise of God (Revelation 2:7). Eden means a place that is well watered. Later the Bible says that Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well-watered, like the Garden of ADONAI (13:10). Verse 2:8 is a summary of this section, and then 2:9 through 14 goes back and fills in the details.

Like most things that are beautiful, the Garden of Eden had the potential for good and for evil. And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food (2:9a). All kinds of wonderful trees bearing mouth-watering fruit grew in the Garden, but He added two trees not found elsewhere, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The tree of life was planted in the middle of the Garden to promote and preserve life (2:9b). It was obviously desirable in every way and was the source of life itself. If man ate from this tree he would be preserved for all eternity (Proverbs 3:18, 11:30, 13:12, 15:4). For example, in the book of Revelation the Lord says to believers in the church at Ephesus: To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God (Revelation 2:7). Later in the same book, it is mentioned again; its leaves and fruit are being given to the righteous: The tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they might have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the City (Revelation 22:2, 14). But another tree was planted close to the tree of life in the middle of the Garden, apparently close to each other to provide for testing in the future.

The second tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:9b). Now, for the first time, we have the possibility of evil. Its very name is sinister, producing either good or evil to anyone who eats of its fruit. The Hebrew word for knowledge means knowledge from experience. So the fruit of this tree provided the person with knowledge from experience, of good and evil, in the sense of having the power to decide for oneself. But merely knowing good and evil did not give the power to choose the good and reject the evil! Therefore, Elohim predicts that ultimately there will be only one result for the one who eats of this fruit: death (2:17; 3:3). This was the tree of death. When we take the steering wheel of our own life, we shut God out of the picture. This is moral mutiny. All Adam and Eve needed to do was to obey ADONAI’s word (2:17). Once we reject God’s Word and what is best for us, we are left to our own devices. When we take and eat, we suddenly find ourselves on the outside looking in with the LORD. The rabbis teach that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a vine because no other fruit causes so much misery and distress. So the two most important trees in the Garden were the tree of life, which brought life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which brought death.

The luscious green Garden in Eden would need a great deal of water, probably more than the water canopy could provide (to see link click Ak – So God Made the Expanse Between the Waters), therefore, in 2:10 through 14, rivers are discussed. From the land of Eden there was a single river entering the Garden. This river must have been very large because it separated into four headwaters or rivers, each having its own name (2:10). Two of the rivers we know today and two we do not.

The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah. We do not know where this river is today, but the rabbis teach that this was the Nile. Havilah is in central Arabia, east of Isra’el (25:18). It is known for its very pure gold. The aromatic resin and onyx mentioned here emphasizes the wealth of the land in terms of water and precious stones (2:11).

The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush (2:13). This river is unknown to us. The land of Cush is often associated with Ethiopia, but not always. In this instance, Ethiopia is in Africa, but the Garden of Eden is described as being in Mesopotamia. So this is probably the land of the Cassits, or sometimes spelled Kassits. They were known as the Cosseans and they were located east of Mesopotamia or east of the Tigris.

The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur in what is today northern Iraq (2:14a). We know of this river today.

And the fourth river is the Euphrates (2:14b), which is in ancient Babylonia or modern southern Iraq. We also know this river today. Therefore, we have two rivers that are known and two that are unknown. If the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers marked the northern and southern borders of the Garden, the other two may have marked the western and eastern borders. But this is just a guess because the two unknown rivers were completely obliterated by the Flood, while two were left intact to this very day. But we do know the approximate location of the Garden of Eden. It was between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in ancient Mesopotamia, in what is today modern Iraq.

God Formed Man from the Dust of the Ground,
and Breathed into His Nostrils the Breath of Life
2: 5-7

God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life DIG: Can Satan create life out of nothing? Can mankind create life out of a test tube? Who holds the universe together? No one but God, who is infinitely superior in strength and power, knows all things, and sustains the universe. That’s mighty! El Shaddai, God Almighty, reveals Himself by special deeds of power. How does He reveal Himself in a special way in these verses? How is mankind different from the animals?

REFLECT: In your relationship with God, is He more like a distant relative, divine lover, or perfect stranger? How might you draw closer to Him? How would your life be different if you fully appreciated that your very life and breath was a gift from Elohim? Would your time be spent differently? Would you spend your money differently? How would your relationships change?

This section is the detail of the sixth day of creation and is one long sentence in Hebrew. It is divided into three circumstantial clauses beginning with the Hebrew word when and the conclusion.

When no shrub (siah) of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant (heseb) of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth (2:5a). From the special perspective of this chapter, this beginning verse agrees with 1:1-2 that in the beginning, the earth was formless and void. The wild growth (siah) had not appeared, let alone the edible crops (heseb).⁴³

When there was no man to work the ground (2:5b). Why was there no plant life in the beginning? Because there was no man to work the ground. All was not ready.

When streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground (2:6). Elohim separated the seas, which at one time covered the whole surface of the earth, from the land on the third day. The narrative skips the work of the fourth and fifth days. And finally, by the sixth day, the stage was set for the creation of man and woman. There will be no rain until the Flood.

The conclusion: ADONAI formed (yatzar) the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (2:7). This verse, with profound simplicity, matches and completes 1:27. So God created man in His own image, formed from the dust of the ground; in the image of Elohim He created him, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; male and female He created them, and the man became a living being (1:27 and 2:7).

The word formed (yatzar) means to mold or shape by design. The word created, (bara) out of nothing, is not used here because ADONAI, God is forming man out of something that He has already created, namely the ground. So formed here means out of something, but it was still something only God could do. Elsewhere in the Bible the word formed is used of a potter shaping his clay (First Samuel 17:28; Isaiah 29:16; Jeremiah 18:1-17), a goldsmith who makes idols (Isaiah 44:9; Habakkuk 2:18), the shaping of the Messiah’s body in the womb (Isaiah 49:5), and the things formed by Elohim (Psalm 33:15, 94:9, 119:73).

It is interesting that the word formed has a defect in the Hebrew text. It is spelled with a double yad here, but is spelled correctly in 2:19. This is something that the Rabbis loved to pick up on and comment about. Some said it represents the two inclinations of man, good and evil. Some said it represents the material and spiritual aspects of man, while others said it represents a double forming, once for this world and once for the resurrection. They loved to debate things like this.

ADONAI, Elohim formed the man (adam) from the dust of the ground (adamah). The Hebrew text displays a beautiful pun in this verse. In English it would be something like: God formed the earthlings out of the earth. The pun reminds us that our origins are earthly. As Rabbi Sha’ul puts it: The first man was of the dust of the earth, he was an earthy man (First Corinthians 15:47-48). In fact, the Bible compares us to the earthy substance of clay many times (Job 4:19, 19:8-9, 33:6; Isaiah 41:25, 45:9; Jeremiah 18:4-6; Romans 9:21; Second Corinthians 4:7). The emphasis here is the humble origin of man formed out of the ground. The rabbis teach that the dust was collected from all parts of the world. As a result, some dust was collected from the future site of the altar, where God said: Make an altar of the earth for Me (Exodus 20:24). Because the Hebrew word for ground (adamah) in Genesis 2:7 and earth (adamah) in Exodus 20:24 are the same in the Hebrew text, they say it symbolizes that the altar would make atonement for man’s sins.

Genesis 2:7 also teaches us that man’s nature is both physical and spiritual. God not only formed the man from the dust of the earth; He also breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Elihu, the young upstart in the book of Job said this: The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of Shaddai, God Almighty, gives me life (Job 33:4). Since it is God’s breath and Spirit that gives us life, if He were to withdraw His life-giving power from us all mankind would perish together and man would return to the dust (Job 34:15). Abraham said that apart from God we are nothing but dust and ashes (18:27). But the LORD took the lifeless body of the man and breathed His own breath into his lungs, which distinguishes the man from all the other creatures. We are much more than a God-shaped piece of earth. We have within us the gift of life, which is a gift from ADONAI Himself. The act of breathing life into Adam has the face-to-face intimacy of a kiss and portrays the personal intimacy of the relationship between God and us. We were created with a capacity for serving and fellowshipping with our Maker.⁴⁴

It was only when both of the actions were completed that man became a living being (nephesh), literally a living soul. Adam needed to be energized. His breathing needed to be activated, his heart needed to start pumping, and so on. But life can only come from life. And because there was only Elohim in the beginning, it must ultimately come from Him. This living soul is also shared by animals (1:24), and refers to the consciousness of the mind and emotions. So man’s uniqueness does not rely on the breath of life itself because the same is said of the animals. Man’s uniqueness lies in the fact that he was made in the image of God (1:27) and the animals were not. Sorry PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). The point here is that man became a living soul when ADONAI gave man the breath of life. This was not a long, drawn-out evolutionary process because Adam was not a living soul before this. So, it is written: The first man Adam became a living being (First Corinthians 15:45). Not only did Adam receive his soul directly from God rather than evolving from the animal kingdom, but Adam was also the first man. There were no others before him.

No doubt about it, Elihu was right. Although the breath of God can produce ice (Job 37:10) or set a fire pit ablaze (Isaiah 30:33), it also gives us life. To ADONAI and to Him alone, we owe our very life and breath. In Him and to Him alone we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:25 and 28).⁴⁵ If we really believe this, the implications for our lives are huge. How would this change your outlook on life? How would this change your prayer life?

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
2: 5-25

The great principle of revelation occurs for the first time in this chapter, but it will be found again and again in the Word of God. It is one of the fingerprints of inspiration. It is the law of recurrence. In other words, the Spirit of God, in giving the Word of God, has a practice of stating briefly a series of great facts and truths; then He will come back and describe it in greater detail. And here He is going to go into greater detail about the sixth day of creation, especially about the creation of Adam and Eve. It does not contradict the account in Chapter One, but is complementary to it. The same principle is seen in the book of Deuteronomy, which is the interpretation of the Torah after forty years of experience in the wilderness. It is not just a repetition of the Torah, but rather an interpretation of it. Likewise, we are given not only one gospel, but four. Again and again, this law of recurrence is seen throughout the Word of God.⁴²

As we read the Bible, it is easy to see that real life is depicted in the people and stories that are presented. Nothing is sanitized or sugarcoated. The pages are full of both joy and pain, truthfulness and lying, faith and unbelief. And sin, always sin. Unyielding, relentless sin. Therein are the Bible’s contents, but for one chapter, in which we get a quick snapshot of what life was like before sin stained the world. There are not a lot of details here, and we don’t know how long this dispensation of innocence lasted. However, I am sure for what seemed like one brief moment, there was once a perfect spot called the Garden of Eden.

This is the Account of the Heavens and the Earth
When They Were Created
2: 4

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created DIG: How does this account of creation compare to the first one (1:1 to2:3)? What differences do you see? What similarities? Why two accounts?

This is the written account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens (NKJ). The word for day (yom) is used without a number attached to it. Thus, it can be used for a period of time, in this case all seven days of the creation week. However, with a number, it would mean a twenty-four hour day (to read more about this click – here).

Here we have the first use of the compound name ADONAI, God instead of merely God in the first chapter. In Chapters 2 and 3 the name Lord God occurs 19 times, except in the story of the temptation where only the name Elohim appears. Adonai, God appears only one more time (Exodus 9:30) in the entire Torah. In fact, it appears only 20 more times in the entire TaNaKh, mostly in the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Whenever God wanted to make a special revelation of Himself, He used the tetragrammaton YHVH, which actually means the name. Today, Jews around the world use either Ha’Shem, a more formal name like father used by the ultra-orthodox, or the more intimate name ADONAI, something like daddy. It comes from the Hebrew verb havah, meaning to be or being. Throughout this commentary I have chosen to use ADONAI. This word is almost exactly like the Hebrew verb, chavah, meaning to live or life. The word Elohim may be said to express the general idea of greatness and creative power.⁴¹

Therefore, in these next several chapters the compound name ADONAI, God is especially appropriate. For He will make a special revelation of Himself and show His creative power as He fashions the garden of Eden, creates Adam and Eve, deals with the issue of sin and death in the world, and foreshadows an acceptable covering for that sin.

The Written Account of the Heavens and the Earth
2:4 to 4:26

As I mentioned in the introduction, Moses edited and compiled eleven family documents. The major structural word for Genesis is toldot, which means the written account of, or this is what became of these men and their descendants. The noun is often translated generations, histories or descendants. After the section on the creation of the world from 1:1 to 2:3, we have the second toldot, the written account of the heavens and the earth. So, what this second family document tells us, is what became of the heavens and the earth that God created. And what became of the heavens and the earth was that they were cursed through disobedience. Therefore, sin began to spread rapidly within the human race with devastating results.

When you read these chapters, you may notice some big differences compared to the first chapter. Gone is the tight symmetry and recurring formulas. Gone, too, is the prose style with its almost poetic quality. Instead, we find a narrative style that is down to earth, almost folksy. Mankind becomes the focus of the story, where in the first chapter he was the climax. In this section the name of Elohim, changes with few exceptions. When man falls and experiences his greatest need, God draws closer to him as the LORD of redemption. He would promise a Kinsman Redeemer (3:15b), and as a result, man would not get what he deserved; he would get mercy.

You will also notice that the universal, panoramic view of the first chapter is replaced by the description of a specific garden. Instead of detailing the creation of the universe and everything in it, this chapter tells us of the loving construction of the garden of Eden, including rivers and trees. The grand universal scene of the first chapter is replaced with a smaller stage, where an important drama is about to be played out.

The tempo also slows down. The first chapter took us through the first six days of creation very rapidly. Now the pace slows dramatically in Chapter 2, and even more in Chapter 3 as the author relates the intimate details of the conversation between Eve and the serpent. It is obvious that the details of their conversation, and the events that are about to follow, are of great interest to the author. In fact, we may conclude that God is more concerned that we learn from the tragic human choices made in the garden of Eden than He is that we understand the details of how He created the universe. How we respond to the crisis of temptation is of utmost importance to Him.⁴⁰

By the Seventh Day God Had Finished His Work
2: 1-3

By the seventh day God had finished His work DIG: When did God rest? What are we supposed to learn from that? What does Sabbath rest mean? What is the point of blessing the Sabbath? How do we know this is a book we can trust?

REFLECT: Do I fail to take time off for rest, spiritual rejuvenation, and worship? Is my day of worship just like any other day of the week?

By the seventh day creation was complete, and thus, was a day of rest. This passage is a summary of that completed work and, therefore, is different in structure than the previous six days of creation; God finished His work in 1:1 to 2a, He rested from His work in 1:2b, and the LORD blessed the day in 1:3. There are three divisions in this section because the number 3 and the number 7 are very prominent. In the Hebrew there are 35 words (5X7) within these three verses. Each one contains 7 words. Of the 35 words, the exact middle expression is: the seventh day. The three middle phrases (2a, 2b, 3a) have 7 words each and the words seventh and work are within each phrase. If you are thinking, so what’s the big deal? I suggest that you go ahead and try it. Pick a topic, limit yourself to 35 words, 3 sentences of seven words each, etc. Then see if any of it makes any sense. The amazing thing is that Elohim has put his mathematical fingerprints on every verse, every chapter and every one of the 66 books of the Bible. This is a book you can trust and believe in.

First, God finished His work. Thus, the heavens and the earth were completed (kalah) in all their vast array (2:1). By the seventh day God had finished (kalah) the work He had been doing. Four times it is emphasized that Elohim had finished His work, and three times it is emphasized that this included all His work.³⁷ There were no loose ends to tie up. There were no problems to fix. The verb completed or finished (kalah) means to bring to completion. The point here is that the universe is no longer in a process of being created. What this section allows for is not more time for additional creation, but time for procreation. The Hebrew has two words for work. One emphasizes labor that is raw and unskilled. But the second, and the one used here, means work that is performed by a craftsman or an artisan. Thus, the Master Craftsman completed His work in such a manner that everything was perfect and unblemished.

God did not rest until He had finished the work He had been doing. In a similar way, Jesus did His Father’s work faithfully and urged others to do the same while there was still time (John 9:4). And even as He was being crucified for your sins and mine, only when He was absolutely certain that His work of redemption, of paying the price for our sins, was completed did He say these words in the hearing of all who were at the foot of His cross: Paid in full (John 19:30).³⁸ Then, once again, the Son of God rested on the Sabbath Day, in Joseph’s tomb, until the dawning of the first day of the new week.

Secondly, God rested from His work. So, on the seventh day he rested from all His work (2:2). The verb rested (shabath) simply means a cessation of work. Do not think that ADONAI was tired or weary. Isaiah 40:28 says: ADONAI is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary. He didn’t need to rest up. Indeed, He who watches over Isra’el will neither slumber nor sleep (Psalm 121:4). There is nothing in this passage commanding the observance of this day. The Covenant of Adam did not instruct him to keep the seventh day as a day of rest either. The point of this verse is that God ceased from His creative activity. Nevertheless, the seventh day did establish a permanent pattern for the rhythm of all human life. Elohim created us in His image, and He programmed us so that we function best when we follow the pattern of work and rest that parallels the creation week. The ideal ratio is to work six days and rest on the seventh. People and animals quickly show signs of fatigue when they miss that one day of rest per week.

As God rested from all His work, so also believers can share in the rest that Yeshua provides, for anyone who enters Elohim’s rest also rests from their own work, just as the LORD did from His (Hebrews 4:4). Biblical teaching concerning the Sabbath day ultimately comes from this passage. It is very apparent that the term Sabbath day is absent from this paragraph. The Hebrew word underlying the verb rested is the verbal form of the Hebrew noun shabbat, or the English noun Sabbath. The proper name Sabbath will not be used until the Exodus because only then is the command to keep the Sabbath day actually given (see my commentary on Exodus, to see link click Dn – Remember the Sabbath by Keeping It Holy). After reminding the Israelites that Elohim set the pattern for working six days and resting on the seventh, He made the connection between the seventh day and the Sabbath clear by slightly paraphrasing Genesis 2:3. God the Holy Spirit inspired Moses to write: Therefore, ADONAI blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Exodus 20:11). This account of creation, seen through the eyes of the new nation of Isra’el in Moses’ day, would have had great significance. Out of the formlessness and emptiness of Egypt, God brought out His people, teaching them the truth, commissioning them to be His representatives, and promising them rest. This should also encourage us today.

Thirdly, God blessed the day. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done (2:3). The rabbis teach that the Sabbath parallels the world to come, a time of complete goodness and peace for those who are worthy of it. The verb blessed (barak) means to be set apart. In other words, He set it apart as a memorial. The seventh day is a reminder that ADONAI is Elohim, our Creator. It is a memorial to a completed creation.

To reject the six days of creation is to rob the blessing from the seventh day. It also robs God of His glory. If everything evolved from nothing, or if creation was spread over billions of years, then there was no seventh day. The glory of ADONAI’s original creative work is diminished by any theory that stretches creation out over long ages of time, because the evolutionary process would mean that God spent ages tinkering with creation before He got it right. In other words, evolution at any stage of the creative process overturns the biblical assertion that everything Elohim created was very good. Instead, it suggests that He created things in an unfinished state and then brought them to completion through natural processes. That is not what the Bible teaches.

You simply will not find evolution anywhere in Genesis. It just isn’t there (to read more about his click – here). The whole biblical account, from the first day through the seventh day, underscores the truth of an immediate, direct creation, fully accomplished and completed to perfection in just one week. Any other interpretation simply doesn’t do justice to the plain language of Scripture.³⁹

So, in the first six days of creation, Elohim was preparing a home for the man He would make in His image. Now in the next chapter, God is getting ready to place this man into the Garden that He has prepared for him.

The Dispensations of God

This material comes from Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries, San Antonio, Texas

One of the most important things in understanding the Bible is rightly dividing the word of truth (Second Timothy 2:15 NJK). There are a number of ways we can divide the Bible to understand the different parts of the whole. One of the ways is by the dispensations contained in God’s Word. To understand what a dispensation is, we need to take a look at two Greek words. The first word is oikumenei from which we get our English word ecumenical. It means to manage, to regulate, to administer, or to plan. The second word is aion and it means age. It emphasizes the time element of the dispensation. So the term dispensation refers to a specific way by which God administers His program, His will, His rule and His authority. Each dispensation is an age, because each dispensation covers a period of time. Dispensations are periods of time in which God governs in a different way than He did previously.

There are seven dispensations described in the Bible: (1) the Dispensation of Innocence or Freedom (Genesis 1:28 to 3:5); (2) the Dispensation of Conscience or Self-Determination (Genesis 3:6 to 8:14), (3) the Dispensation of Civil Government (Genesis 8:15 to 11:32), (4) the Dispensation of Promise or Patriarchal Rule (Genesis 12:1 to Exodus 18:27), (5) the Dispensation of Torah (Exodus 19:1 to Acts 1:26), (6) the Dispensation of Grace (Acts 2:1 to Revelation 19:21), and (7) the Dispensation of the messianic or millennial Kingdom (Isaiah 4:2-6, 11:1 to 12:6, 54:11-17, 60:1-22).

There are six specific elements involved in each dispensation. First, each dispensation has a key person to whom special revelation is given. Secondly, each dispensation provides a responsibility to man and woman because each dispensation begins with new revelation that requires a human response. Thirdly, there is a specific test. Fourthly, following the test comes a specific failure. Fifthly, there is a judgment that brings the dispensation to an end. Sixthly, each dispensation has something that characterizes divine grace.

The Dispensation of Innocence or Freedom
1:28 to 3:5

The first dispensation has two names: the Dispensation of Innocence or the Dispensation of Freedom. The two names are used to emphasize different aspect of this dispensation. The first name emphasizes the fact that Adam and Eve were innocent of any sin or sin-nature at this time. They were created holy, but their holiness had not yet been confirmed because they had not been tested as to whether they would stay true to the Word of God. The second name emphasizes their freedom from sin (they were not slaves to sin).

At the beginning of each dispensation there is one key person through whom God reveals the new features of that particular dispensation. For the first dispensation, the key person was Adam. Elohim revealed His will, divine economy, and divine administration through Adam.

Each dispensation also had a specific responsibility. During the Dispensation of Innocence or Freedom, man’s responsibility was to work the garden of Eden, to take care of it, and guard it.

Not only does each dispensation come with a responsibility, but each also comes with a test. The specific test here concerned the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was a test of obedience. They were commanded not to eat from that specific tree. They had complete control over the Garden and the right to eat of every other tree in the Garden, including the tree of life. So, the test was very minimal.

There will also be a failure during this dispensation. If they had passed the test, they would have become immortal. But, unfortunately, they failed the test. They ate of the very tree that God had forbidden them to eat from. As a result, their sin permeated every part of their being, physical and spiritual. And their sin nature would be passed down to their children and the human race (Romans 5:12 and 19).

After the failure there is the judgment. In this case, the judgment was to be driven from the Garden and the curse upon the earth. Being driven from the Garden meant they were expelled to a place where they would no longer be able to eat from the tree of life. Instead of having an easy working relationship with the earth so that his labor was easy and light, Adam would now have to work the earth by the sweat of his brow in order to be able to eat. Work was no longer easy, it was toilsome. In addition, the curse meant that the earth would no longer be his friend, but his enemy. As Adam would try to produce food to eat from the earth, he would continually be at war with thorns and thistles.

In every dispensation there is also the display of God’s grace. In this case, ADONAI promised a Redeemer. In 3:15 He promised that a Messiah would someday come and do two things. First, He would defeat the Adversary, the deceiver, who brought about the fall of man, the curse, and the expulsion from the Garden through his temptation. And secondly, He would conquer physical death, which was the result of the Fall, by the resurrection.

Let Us Make Man in Our Image, In Our Likeness
1: 24-31

Let us make man in our image, in our likeness DIG: What happened on the sixth day of creation? How does the sixth day fill the third day? What two actions are taken on this day? What are the three categories of living creatures? Why is the plural pronoun, us, significant in 1:26a? What is mankind’s relationship with regard to the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground (1:26c)? What are the implications of God creating us in His own image, male and female (1:27)? What was God’s Covenant with Adam? How is the LORD’s evaluation and His expression of divine satisfaction different on the sixth day than all the others?

REFLECT: What does it mean to you to be created in God’s image? Does knowing this help you feel better about yourself? Why or why not? How should this affect your relationship with Elohim? With other people? How does Genesis 1 equip you to contradict worldly beliefs in our culture? Using ideas from Genesis 1, how would you counter the Gnostic who believes that only the soul matters, because the human body and material things are decadent or non-spiritual? How would you counter the atheist who believes that we are the product of a random accident? How would you counter the one who reads the daily horoscope, believing that the position of the sun, moon, and stars ordain our personality and fate?

As we have said before, there is symmetry to this first chapter of Genesis. The first three days are days of forming, and the last three days are days of filling. Therefore, the sixth day fills the third day of creation in the same ways days four and five fill days one and two respectively. On the first day God created light; on the fourth day He created the sun, moon, and stars. On the second day He separated the sea from the sky; on the fifth day He filled the sea with fish and the sky with birds. And now on the sixth day He fills the land that He created on the third day with living creatures. There were two actions on the third day and there are two actions on the sixth day, which is the climax of Elohim’s creative activity for it included mankind. And although man was the last creature mentioned in the creation account, he did not evolve; he was created.

And God said marks the beginning of the sixth day.

Let the land produce living creatures, or souls (nephesh) according to their kinds (1:24a). All of these living creatures were created from the land, meaning that their bodies were composed of the same elements as the earth. Now ADONAI had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field (including dinosaurs) and all the birds of the air (2:19). When they died, they would return to the earth. This is true of mankind as well because Adam was formed from the dust of the ground (2:7). And when we die, to dust our bodies will return as well.

The fulfillment: And it was so (1:24b), because the LORD spoke it into existence.

The first action: God made three categories of living creatures. As with the stars, sea creatures and birds, the variety of what ADONAI created was amazing. He created: (1) the wild animals according to their kinds, (2) the livestock according to their kinds, and (3) all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (1:25a). Once again, the Bible is unmistakably clear that these living creatures did not evolve from any lower life-forms, but were all created at the same time. God made each category according to their kinds. This phrase appears a total of ten times in this first chapter in Genesis and repeatedly underscores the limitations the LORD places on the variation of each species. The genetic code built into each life form maintains the characteristics of that specie. It rules out spontaneous generation, and it rules out macroevolution. Here both Scripture and science agree against the theory of evolution (to read more about this click – here).³⁴

The evaluation: And God saw that it was good (1:25b) because He had made it.

Then Elohim said,

The second action: Let us make (naaseh) man (1:26a). The word man (adam) is a general term meaning mankind. There is a change from let there be, to let us make. This change points to the fact that something very important is going to take place. The plural pronoun, us, is significant because it points to a plurality in the Godhead. It does not prove the Trinity, but it clearly opens the door to plurality within the Godhead, aside from the word Elohim. Jews do not believe in the Trinity and have had a very difficult time explaining what this verse means.

Because of this difficulty, it is not surprising that Jewish theology has two popular interpretations of this passage. First, some rabbis teach that it refers to God and angels. They believe that this teaches us Elohim’s humility because mankind was made in the likeness of angels. In this first theory, He first consulted them, even though this might be misunderstood to mean that He made mankind with their assistance. So, they teach that Scripture thereby informs us that the greater should always consult and receive the permission of the lesser. Secondly, other rabbis teach that the plural denotes the LORD and the earth, because Adam’s body would come from the earth and his spirit (soul) from God. 

But it cannot refer to angels because there are no angels in the context, nor can it refer to the earth because God alone did the work of creation. The expression: Let us make is not a consultation, because if Elohim had consulted with anyone but the Godhead, it would have said so in First Kings 22:19-23.

On the sixth day of creation, we are unexpectedly drawn behind the scenes into the secret council of Elohim, where we overhear a conversation among the Father, Son, and the Ruach ha-Kodesh as they draw up plans to create the man and the woman: Let us make man in our image, in our likeness (1:26b). You can almost feel the excitement. This is one of several passages that indicate that we are made in the image of God (Second Corinthians 4:4; Philippians 2:6; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). The root word for in our image (betzalmeinu) is tzelem, which refers to an original image or carving. In modern Hebrew, the word “photo-copy” is derived from tzelem, so we can say that man is God’s photocopy! The same word is used in Exodus 20:4 to speak of carved idols. The word image should be understood primarily in a spiritual sense here, including such qualities as knowledge (Colossians 3:10), righteousness, and holiness (Ephesians 4:24). The root word for in our likeness (kidmuteinu) is dmut and refers to a model or a copy. Because we are made in the likeness of God, each of us is worthy of honor and respect. Just as a coin is stamped with a king’s likeness that represents his authority, so we are all stamped with the likeness of God. We who are believers are to be conformed to the likeness of the Messiah (Romans 8:29), and someday we will be like Him (First John 3:2).

All of us have been fashioned by God. The next time you are ready to find fault with yourself or others, remember that everything Elohim made is pleasing to Him, including you.

This relationship that God will have with man is totally unique and personal, unlike any other. It is a relationship unlike that of the light, the water, the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, and not even with the other living creatures He made. Yes, God spoke all these into existence, but there is never a suggestion of any personal relationship between God and those entities. But with mankind it is different. The psalmist would ask: What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor (Psalm 8:4-5).

Up to this point, everything that had happened merely set the stage for what would happen at the end of the sixth day. Mankind was and is the centerpiece of God’s creation. We know this because everything else will perish except for man (Mark 13:24-25; Revelation 13:24-25; Second Peter 3:10). Elohim created us to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever. And when everything else is gone, that is exactly what we will be doing. In other words, creation is like a play being played in a theater. The main character is man. Even God’s own Son becomes a man. The plot revolves around God’s grace, mercy, and compassion being poured out on those whom He has created in His own image and likeness. But after the last act, the theater is burned to the ground and nothing is left but our relationship with Elohim. In fact, because this final act of creation is so important, all of Chapter 2 is devoted to expanding upon it. More Scripture is committed to the creation of mankind than to any other aspect of creation.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) won’t be very happy about this, but the Bible declares: And let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground (1:26c). The rabbis teach that when man is worthy, he rules over the animal kingdom; but when he is not worthy, he descends below his level and the animals rule over him.

The fulfillment: So Adonai ‘Oseynu, the LORD our Maker, created (bara) man in His own image, in the image of God He created (bara) him; male and female He created (bara) them (Matthew 19:4; Mark 10:6). God created Adam and Eve to bear His image – to be like Him. This is the starting point for any definition of what it means to be a man or a woman. His image bearer. As believers, this is the only way to discover who we really are and discover our purpose in Christ (Ephesians 1:1-9). And it is accessible to all of us.

This may be one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible (1:27). This is the third time we find the word bara, which means to create out of nothing. It is notable that three times it is stated that God created (bara) man in His own image. Christ was the image of God (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:15; Second Corinthians 4:4). In other words, God created man to have His DNA, in just the same way that a father passes on his DNA on to his children.  The result was that the first human being was created in the image of God, being perfectly righteous. Before the fall (to see link click Ay – The Fall of Man) man’s spiritual condition was one of complete righteousness, holiness, and immortality. In short, he was a living son of his Father in heaven.

After the fall, however, the spiritual DNA was drastically altered, and Adam, a child of God died and became a child of Satan (see the commentary on Romans Bm – The Consequences of Adam). There are only two families in this world. Either you are either saved and in the family of God, or lost and in the family of Satan. Before the Fall, he was posse non peccare; this means he was able not to sin. He was also posse peccare, which means he was able to sin. But after the fall, man was non posse non peccare, meaning he was not able not to sin. But, for now, it is enough to know that man was originally created righteous. Romans 5:19 clearly implies this as it teaches that when man is united with the Second Adam through faith in Messiah, he becomes righteous. That is, his return back to the original spiritual condition – DNA – of Adam.

The blessing: God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (1:28a). ADONAI, put an exclamation point beside His choice of male and female. He blessed them before presenting them with their global assignment. They were a blessed alliance. God was forging a powerful union to face the challenges they faced together. Nowhere does God’s image shine brighter than when men and women serve Him together.

The Covenant of Adam is seen in 1:28-30. It comes in two parts, the first part is here and the second part is in 2:15-17. The Covenant is made between the LORD and Adam, and Adam stands as the representative of the entire human race. This will be especially important when we get to the fall of man in Chapter 3. Moses mentions four specific provisions of this Covenant. First, man is to populate the earth. Children constitute one of God’s greatest gifts to us (Psalm 127:3-5). Secondly, mankind has authority over the earth and was to subdue it.

The third provision was authority to rule over the animal kingdom. God said that mankind would rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground (1:28b). This has to do with stewardship rather than exploiting the earth or polluting it. The most complex of all the living creatures that God had made was then commanded to rule over all the rest. The first exercise of this authority will be seen in the next chapter when Adam names the animals.

The fourth provision is the human diet. What Elohim creates He preserves. What He brings into being He provides for. Mankind is to have as food the seed and fruit plants. Animals and birds are to have the leaves.³⁵  Then God said: I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food (1:29). Both man and the animals were vegetarians because physical death could not come until after the Fall of man. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food (1:30). This begins the dispensation of innocence (to see link click Ap – The Dispensations of God).

The evaluation and an expression of Divine satisfaction: God saw all that He had made, and it was very good (1:31). Everything that is very good has the LORD at its source: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights (James 1:7). All the days were good, but the word very is added to emphasize the uniqueness of the sixth day. The adverb very is added to denote that the perfection of the total creation exceeded that of its separate parts. An analogy might be found in an artist who, having completed his masterpiece, steps backs a little and surveys his handiwork with delight, for both in detail and in its entirety it has emerged perfect from His hand. In God’s judgment everything in the universe was very good. There was no struggle for existence, no disease, no pollution, no earthquakes, no floods, no disorder, no sin, and most importantly, no death. That would come later after the Fall.

The numbering of each day: And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day. There are three unique aspects of this day. First, Elohim said it was very good, in comparison to the previous days that were good. Secondly, for the first time the definite article is added so it is not a day, but the sixth day. Apparently each of the previous days was merely one of the days in the series of days of creation, whereas this was the last day in the sequence, the day appointed for the completion of the task. And thirdly, this day is treated in greater detail than the other days.

The rabbis teach that the definite article is added here to teach that the whole of creation was dependent upon the sixth day, that is, the sixth of Sivan (which is the name of a Jewish month), when Isra’el accepted the Torah. For had Isra’el rejected it, the universe would have been hurled back into its original state of being formless and empty (1:1).

When God the Holy Spirit inspired the human author Moses to write about these first six days of creation, He didn’t give us a lot of details. As a result, our faith is tested and we find ourselves right back to the all-important truth in Hebrews 11:3: By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. The origin of the universe has been a long standing problem for philosophers and scientists. If they cannot figure it out logically with the human mind, they don’t want any part of it. The very attempt to explain the universe, or our own being and nature, apart from Elohim is a fool’s errand. But the believer insists that all truth is the LORD’s truth revealed in His Word. Faith comprehends that which the natural mind of mankind, no matter how brilliant, cannot grasp. God’s greatest truths are discovered by simple faith.³⁶

Let the Water Teem with Living Creatures
and Let Birds Fly Above the Earth
1: 20-23

Let the water teem with living creatures and let birds fly above the earth DIG: What happened on the fifth day of creation? How long did it take to create the birds? What does the phrase, according to their kinds, mean? Where else is the phrase, be fruitful and increase in number, seen?

REFLECT: What myths do you see perpetrated on society today? By whom? For what purpose? How much do you think God cares for you? Look at His creation of the birds of the sky, do you think Elohim cares about them? Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows (Matthew 10:29-31). How should this affect the way you live your life? How can you help others?

And God said marks the beginning of a fifth day. By this time the creation of the earth and the heavens were complete; however, the earth was still empty of inhabitants (1:1). But God formed it to be inhabited (Isaiah 45:18). On the second day God formed the sky and the sea, and here He fills the sky with birds and the sea with living creatures. Once again, Elohim speaks these into existence all on the same day and all at the same moment. He creates something out of nothing.

Let the water teem with living creatures. During the fifth and sixth day the term living creatures will be used seven times. There is a deliberate word play in the Hebrew language; it literally reads: Let the waters swarm with swarming things. And let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky (1:20).

The action: In verse 1:21a, we read: So God created (bara) the great creatures of the sea (tanninim). With so many fish, the reference toone specific kind of creature seems significant. Why are the tannin singled out? Perhaps the answer is found in the fact that ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian mythology was filled with fantastic tales of sea monsters. These were supposed to be gods, and the ancient pagans feared these sea-creature deities, as if they were evil itself. Such myths were common at the time Moses wrote Genesis. So here the Bible simply states that Elohim created even the largest, most monstrous creatures of the deep. They are not gods to be feared; they are created beings like every other form of life that the LORD created (Psalm 74:13-14; Isaiah 27:1, 51:9).³² The rabbis teach that these sea monsters refer to Leviathan and his mate who lived in the deepest part of the ocean and supported the earth on his back. His mouth was always open, swallowing and eating fish. Every seventy years he lifted up his tail, causing great earthquakes. But he could not be allowed to live with his mate because they would have many children and destroy the world. So God killed and salted the female and set her aside for the great feast of the righteous in the world to come.

And every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind (1:21b). The word living (nephesh) appears here for the first time and literally means that which breathes. The scope and complexity of the living creatures that God created is probably only exceeded by the stars. The creation of the birds is varied beyond comprehension and instantaneous. The term winged bird means anything that flies, including insects (Deuteronomy 14:19-20).

Once again we see the phrase: according to their kinds. This allows for variations within species, but does not allow any change from one species to another.This is the inescapable message of this passage. It is used every time procreation is mentioned in the book of Genesis. It emphasizes the very fact that evolution cannot face: when living creatures reproduce, they can only reproduce their own kind. Monkeys do not reproduce humans. And yet scientist after scientist claims that we evolved from lower life forms and that this happened by chance so that we are the result of a cosmic accident. Random noise could never produce classical music. Random letters floating in an ocean of alphabet soup could never spell out the novel Moby Dick. When we hear the music, we know there was a composer. When we read a great novel, we know there was an author. Yet they reject the evidence of an intelligent Creator. Why? Because belief in evolution is a spiritual, not a rational, choice they have made. They are blindly devoted to chance because they do not want to be morally accountable to a personal and holy Creator.³³

The evaluation: And God saw it was good (1:21c). It is a reflection of His nature.

The blessing: Elohim blessed them and said: Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth (1:22). The rabbis teach that they needed a special blessing because many of them are caught and destroyed. Although not the object of ADONAI’s love, as mankind would be, animals are nevertheless cared for by Him. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without His notice and care (Matthew 10:29), and He provides food continually for them (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Dt – Do Not Worry About Your Life,What Your Will Eat or Drink, or What You Will Wear). It is noteworthy, that God completed His creation of the fish and the fowl before He gave the order to be fruitful and increase in number. And if Genesis 1 were simply symbolic language describing how life evolved on the earth, this verse would be unnecessary.

God showed His gracious loving care to the animals by blessing them and making it possible for them to be fruitful and increase in number. They would soon spread out into the entire world. He would give a similar command to the animals after emerging from the ark after the Flood (8:17). It is interesting that a similar command was given to mankind both at creation (1:28) and also after the Flood (9:1 and 7). Fertility of life comes from the blessing of the LORD.

The numbering of each day: And there was evening, and there was morning – a fifth day (1:23). One more day of creation was left before Elohim would rest. The sixth day would be the most remarkable of all.

Let There Be Lights in the Sky
to Separate Day from Night
1: 14-19

Let there be lights in the sky and separate day from night DIG: What happened on the fourth day of creation? What did the fourth day have to do with the first day? How did the sun and the moon and the stars come into being? What are the so-called “ten commandments of creation?” What has pop-culture done to the sun, the moon and the stars today? Why was there no need for anything to evolve?

REFLECT: How are you feeling about the Word of God meaning what it says? How does that affect your approach to the Bible? To life? How do you feel about the moral principles that Elohim has given us? Do you think just because the LORD has sent down moral principles, that He wants us to follow them perfectly? Why? Why not? What does He want us to do?

Science has always struggled to explain how all the stars and planets in the universe came into being. How does something evolve out of nothing? A fourth day gives us the answer. God made them all (to see link click Lw – The Witness of the Stars). He spoke them into existence. And when we realize this, it is perplexing and amazing that ADONAI has always had the human race at the center of the universe. David realized this when he wrote: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him (Psalm 8:3-4)?

As we arrive at a fourth day we enter the second phase of the Creation week (to read more about his click – here). The purpose of the fourth day is to fill the work of the first day. Therefore, the light and the darkness of the first day are filled by the sun and the moon on the fourth day.

And God said (1:14a). There is no evolutionary process here; He creates instantly by His Word alone. He is Elohim, the God of Creation. When He speaks He creates something out of nothing. In the words of the psalmist: By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; He puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere Him. For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood still (Psalm 33:6-9).

On the first day God had said: Let there be light (or). But on the fourth day He said: Let there be lights or light givers (ma-or) (14a). The Sh’khinah glory came first (see the commentary on Isaiah Ju – The Glory of the LORD Rises Upon You), and then the generator of light, the sun, and the reflector of light, the moon, came later. They are both light givers. This follows a logical order and the biblical order. The word light is used seven times on the fourth day.

God said: Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night (verse 14b). Ten times in this chapter we will find the phrase: Let there be. Some have called these “the ten commandments of creation.”²⁹ And let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years (verse 14c). The sun determines our days. The moon determines our months. And the stars, sun, and moon all determine our seasons and years. Everything on earth is perfectly in sync to a twenty-four hour day and this reflects the design of a Master Designer who set things in their proper place and set them in motion.³⁰ And let them be light in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth (1:15a). From this day on, sunlight became the main source of light and energy on the earth.

The fulfillment: And, as always happens when the LORD commands, it was so (1:15b).

The action: God made two great lights, the greater light, or the sun, to govern the day and the lesser light, the moon, to govern the night (1:16a). The rabbis teach that they were originally created the same size but the moon was reduced because it demanded greater power than the sun. Psalm 136:9 also says that Elohim made two great lights and set the sun to govern the day and the stars help the moon govern the night. The phrases the greater light and the lesser light are very similar in other Semitic languages and are the names of deities. The people of most Mediterranean religions worshiped the sun, the moon, and the stars. Cults developed to worship each of these. This is a rejection of that concept. The Bible says that these luminaries are not eternal; they are not gods, they were created and should not be worshiped. And by the way: He also made the stars (1:16b). The rabbis teach that the stars were created as satellites to the moon, to appease it for being diminished in size. The stars are mentioned here almost as an afterthought, most likely because of the emphasis on the sun and the moon. When we get to 3:15, we will see that the stars were set in place to give an account of the Gospel in pictorial fashion, but were distorted at the Tower of Babel (11:1-9).

There are three reasons why God set them in the expanse of the sky: first, to give light on the earth; secondly, to govern the day and the night (1:17a-18a), and thirdly, to separate light from darkness (1:18a). ADONAI still does that today. There are those today who ask, “How can I tell what is moral or immoral?” God has drawn that line in the sand of time. Elohim says what is moral because He puts down moral principles and gives us a conscience. Just as God separates the light from the darkness, He separates moral people from the immoral ones by their own choices. He did it in the beginning and He still does it today. He doesn’t want us to be perfect because He knows that is impossible, but He does want us to believe in the One who is perfect. Yeshua said: Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within them (Yochanan 7:38)!

The evaluation: And God saw that it was good (1:18b). Everything was exactly as He planned it. There was no need for anything to evolve because it was already good.

The numbering of each day: And there was evening, and there was morning – a fourth day (1:19). The rhythm of evening and morning continued as it had from the beginning, but now it was governed, as it has been ever since, by the setting and rising of the sun. Creation week was now passed the halfway point. And God’s glory and splendor were already being revealed in all that He had made. As the psalmist wrote: O LORD, our LORD, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens (Psalm 8:1).³¹

God Called the Dry Ground Land,
and the Gathered Waters He Called Seas
1: 9-13

God called the dry ground land, and the gathered waters He called seas DIG: What happened on the third day of creation? Why does God stop naming on this day? How do we know Elohim did not use evolution to create the world? What does the “appearance of age” mean? Can one specie become another? What does this say about the theory of evolution? Who did God create this perfect environment for?

REFLECT: In the Bible when God names someone or something, they become His possession. For example, He renamed Abram, Abraham (Genesis 17:5); He renamed Sari, Sarah (Genesis 17:15); He renamed Jacob, Israel (Genesis 32:28); and in the New Covenant, He renamed Simon, Peter (John 1:42). If you are a believer in Yeshua ha-Meshiach, how does it make you feel to know that you are also given a new name by Him (Revelation 2:17)?

And God said signals the beginning of a third day where the earth is still uninhabitable, shoreless, and covered with water. But now there is a third separation by ADONAI. The light had been divided from the darkness on day one, there was a vertical separation of water that remained on the earth from the water above the expanse on day two, and now a horizontal division of land and seas on the third day.

Here again, Elohim spoke matter into existence. There are no restrictions on what God does; the laws of nature simply do not apply to Him. And our understanding of science should never put God in a box. No explanation of how the world began is rational without an all-wise, all-powerful Creator. Adding billions of dinosaur years to the process doesn’t solve the problem; it merely pushes it further back in time (to read more about his click – here). In the final analysis, only a miracle can account for the creation of the universe. We simply need to take ADONAI at His Word.

The first action: Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear (1:9a). Tremendous chemical reactions started with these words. The vast array of minerals and rocks settled so that the heavier materials would sink while the lighter materials would rise. The net result was that the earth was formed – its crust, its mantle, and its core. Surfaces of solid earth appeared above the waters and an intricate network of channels and reservoirs opened up in the crust to receive the waters retreating off the rising continents. A complex network of channels connected all the waters.The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the TaNaKh) uses the word sunagogen here. It is the same word from which we get the word synagogue, meaning a gathering place. So the waters surrounding the earth were gathered into one place. This might describe the formation of one massive continent because most geologists today believe that today’s continents come from a single mass. But the seas and the earth are not the same today as they were then because the earth has changed so drastically since the Flood (6:1 to 8:14).²⁵ Thus, dry ground emerged for the first time out of the water.

The fulfillment: And it was so (1:9b). The Word was there when God gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep His command, and when He marked out the foundations of the earth (Proverbs 8:29). Other scriptures in the TaNaKh describe this event as well (Job 26:10-12, 38:8-11; Psalm 74:13 and Jeremiah 5:22). During the creation of the second and third day water is mentioned seven times.

The naming: Finally when these foundations of the earth (see my commentary on Isaiah, to see link click Ik –  Listen to Me, O Jacob, Isra’el Whom I Have Called, the Sovereign LORD Has Sent Me with His Spirit) had been perfectly laid: God called the dry ground land or earth (eretz). This is the same name used in 1:1 and 2, and shows that the formless matter that Elohim had originally created is the same matter used here. All of this was accomplished during the first part of the third day of creation. Now the earth, the sea and the sky are ready for life. And the gathered waters He called seas (1:10a). This is the last time in the creation story that ADONAI names anything. God continues to create, but He does not name. That responsibility will be given to man once he appears on the scene (2:19, 20, 23; 3:20; 4:17, 25-26; 5:3 and 29).

The evaluation: And God saw that it was good (1:10b). As a result of the LORD’s evaluation, the work of the second day was completed.

Then, again, Elohim said signals the beginning of a second miracle on this day. Plant life will appear because He spoke it into existence. God did not “use” evolution to create the world; it was an immediate result of His sovereign command. And this represents one of the puzzling steps of creation that evolution cannot explain: the generation of life from nothing. Evolution can only deal with systems that are already working. Something that does not exist cannot “evolve.” Evolutionists don’t even want to discuss this issue because they have no answers. It is the weakest part of their argument. They go from supposed “scientific facts” to guesswork. They cannot compete with ADONAI; it is no contest. Therefore, evolution utterly fails to explain how life began.²⁶

The second action: Here we see exactly how it happened. God spoke: Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to the various kinds (1:11a). Vegetation of every kind appeared immediately. The three main divisions of plant life are mentioned. Vegetation (deshe eisev) is a general term that includes grass and grain; seed-bearing plants (mazria zera) refer to herbs, which include bushes, shrubs, and vegetables; trees that bear fruit (eitz pri) are simply fruit trees.

The most important point of this verse is that these plants were created fully grown. They were not created as seeds, but full-grown plants with seeds in them. Thus, they had the “appearance of age.” This was a necessary part of real creation. Adam was created as a full-grown man, the trees were created as full-grown trees, and the whole universe was made as a functioning unit, complete and fully developed right from the beginning.²⁷

The fulfillment: And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds (1:11b-12a). The Hebrew word for kinds (min) is roughly comparable to the English word species. The fact that plants, animals and people reproduce according to their own species is a fundamental principle of genetics. Each has a unique DNA structure, with genes and chromosomes that determine all its characteristics. There can be variations within species, but one specie cannot become another. The crucial phrase: according to their kinds (1:11, 12, 21, 24, 25) categorically rules out the possibility of evolution because eachspecie was carefully distinguished from each other. Plants could only reproduce plants, trees could only produce trees and animals could only produce animals. In particular, the Bible precludes the evolution of new kinds! Speaking of the resurrection of bodies of believers after Christ returns, Rabbi Sha’ul says: But God gives each kind of specie a body as He has determined, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another (First Corinthians 15:38-39). If we believe the Bible, that should end that argument.

The evaluation: And God saw that it was good (1:12b). There is order and balance to the universe. This order points to the all-wise hand of an intelligent Creator.

The numbering of each day: And there was evening, and there was morning – a third day. The terms evening (ereb) and morning (boqer) each occur more than one hundred times in the TaNaKh, and always have the literal meaning – this is, the termination of the daily period of light and the termination of the daily period of darkness, respectively. Similarly, the occurrence of day modified by a numeral (for example, a third day) is a construction occurring more than a hundred times in the Torah alone, and always with a literal meaning. Even though it may challenge our minds to visualize the lands and seas, and all plants being formed in one literal day, that is exactly what the Bible says! We are not justified at all either in questioning God’s power to do this or His truthfulness in telling us that He did it.²⁸

Of all the days of creation, the third day brought about the most spectacular changes. At the beginning of the day the earth was covered with water, but at the end of the day it was covered with lush, green vegetation of all kinds, next to a blue ocean. No wonder God saw that it was good. It was a perfect environment for the creature Elohim planned to make in His own image.

God Called the Light Day and the Darkness Night
1: 3-5

God called the light day and the darkness night DIG: Why does Elohim first form the world on days one through three and then fill the world on days four through six? What is the meaning of ADONAI’s spoken word: And God said, and His sovereign power resulting in: And it was so? What did the rabbis teach about the memra, and how did John relate the memra (the witness) to Yeshua?

REFLECT: How aware are you of the created world in your everyday life? What do you find most remarkable about it? How does it affect your opinion of God?

The pattern for each day of creation is established here. There are seven steps, but not all are in the same order or used every day. Firstly, except for the seventh day, each day begins with the phrase: And God said. Secondly, Elohim says: Let there be, which is one word in Hebrew. Thirdly, there is an action: God created, God called or made. Fourthly, there is a fulfillment of that action, which is again one Hebrew word: and it was so, and there was or and it was so. Fifthly, there is a naming or blessing: and Elohim called or blessed. Sixthly, the LORD evaluates the situation or gives an expression of Divine satisfaction: And God saw that it was good. Lastly, the numbering of each day: And there was evening and there was morning, a first day, a second day, and so on.

There is symmetry to this first chapter of Genesis where the form of the first three days is filled in the last three days. Therefore, the light and the darkness of day one are filled by the sun and the moon of day four; the sun to govern the day and the moon to govern the night. On day two Elohim formed the sky and the sea, which suggests that the earth was moisture before it was formed. On day five God filled the sky and the sea with birds and fish. The land and the plants of day three are filled by man and animals on the sixth day; they were to live on the land and eat the plants.

After the creation of the original material universe, the most significant feature of the first day was the creation of light.¹⁷ All things came into being by God’s word. By the word of ADONAI were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; He puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere Him. For He spoke it, and it came to be, He commanded, and it stood firm (Psalm 33:6-9). This is the first record of God speaking in the Bible. And He said: Let there be (yehi) light (1:3a). God the Father is the creator of all things (1:1), God the Spirit is the energizer of all things (1:2), and God’s Word is the revealer of all things (1:3).

The Gospel of John explains this concept of the Word in a very unique way. John writes: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us; And the Word was with God, and we have seen His Sh’khinah glory (the visual manifestation of the glory of God), the Sh’khinah glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father; And the Word was God, full of grace and truth (John 1:1 and 14). The rabbis taught that this was the work of the memra, which is an Aramaic word that means the word. In Hebrew it is davar, and in Greek it is logos but they all mean the same thing, the word. By the time Christ was born, the TaNaKh had been translated into Aramaic, and whenever the Hebrew Scriptures used davar, the Aramaic translation used memra.

And out of the Aramaic translation the rabbis had seven things to say about the memra. First, they taught that the memra was a person (Isaiah 45:23). They taught that the memra had intellect, will, and emotion. Secondly, the rabbis taught that the memra was the means by which ADONAI made His covenants. Thirdly, they taught that the memra was the means of salvation. Fourthly, the rabbis taught that the memra was the means of revelation (Ezeki’el 1:3). Fifthly, they taught that the memra was the author of creation (Psalm 33:6). Sixthly, the rabbis taught that at times the memra was the same as Elohim, while at other times it was distinct from God. And lastly, they taught that the memra was the visible appearance of the LORD in the TaNaKh (Exodus 3:5; Joshua 5:13-15).

Accordingly, the apostle John was telling those first century Jews that Yeshua was the memra. Because the rabbis taught that the memra was a person, John could say to them: The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us (John 1:14a). Because the rabbis taught that the memra was the means by which God made His covenants, John says to them that the Torah was given through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). The Jews believed that the memra was the means of salvation, and John said: to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become the children of God (John 1:12). The rabbis taught that the memra was the means of revelation, and John said that no one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known (John 1:18). Although the rabbis taught that the memra was the agent of creation, John would say about the Messiah: He was with God in the beginning (John 1:2). The rabbis taught that the memra was at times the same as Elohim, while at other times distinct from the LORD, and John said: The Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). And even though the rabbis taught that the memra was the visible appearance of ADONAI in the TaNaKh, John would say: The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). So everything that the rabbis taught about the memra was true of Yeshua. John brought them back to their point of reference and communicated to them in terms they could understand.

The fulfillment: and there was (bayehi) light (1:3b). The light that came into existence on the first day was different from the light of the sun because the sun will not be created until the fourth day. Therefore, this provided light for the first three days. This was a necessary first step in creation. The picture this suggests is that of someone who comes to arrange items in a dark room, and before he does anything else, he turns on the light.¹⁸ This light is the Sh’khinah glory, the visible presence of ADONAI. For the LORD, who said: Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Messiah Yeshua (Second Corinthians 4:6). The rabbis recognized that this was a unique light, a special light that functioned only during the first three days of creation and did not function thereafter. Both let there be (yehi) and there was (bayehi) are related to God’s name. Yud Heh Vav Heh (YHVH) or the name is the source of to be, or I AM (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click At – I AM Has Sent Me to You).

God, who is the I AM, said: Let there be, and there was. The rabbinic interpretation of this verse is that when Elohim said: Let there be light, it was to reveal the light that He will ultimately illuminate Isra’el with. It was the light of the Messiah, of whom it is written: Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon You. See darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon You and His Sh’khinah glory appears over You. Nations will come to Your light, and kings to the brightness of Your dawn (Isaiah 60:1-3).

The rabbis teach that there are two reasons why the word light is mentioned 5 times in this passage. The first reason is that the 5 lights represent the 5 books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). The second reason is that there are 5 kinds of lights (the light of creation, the light of redemption, the light reserved for one who repents, the light of the Temple, and the light of the Torah and its commandments).

The evaluation: God saw that the light was good. This phrase referring to something that Elohim created being good runs through the biblical creation account. This statement stresses the divine origin and perfection of all that was created. Creation is good because the LORD is good. All that He created was good. He declared the light to be good because He is good.¹⁹ And He separated the light from the darkness (1:4). Light and darkness would function simultaneously, but in opposite spheres. This is the first of five separations in this chapter (1:4, 6, 9, 14-18, 26). The rabbis teach that ADONAI saw that the wicked were not worthy to enjoy the light; therefore, He set it apart for the righteous in the Messianic Kingdom (Isaiah 4:2-6, 11:1 to 12:6, 54:11-17).

The naming: God called the light day and the darkness he called night (verse 5a). The act of naming in Scripture shows ownership, lordship or sovereignty. To demonstrate this, one will name or even rename someone, for example, Abram and Sari to Abraham and Sarah, Jacob to Isra’el, and Saul to Paul (Second Kings 23:34 and 27:17). In this way, the kings displayed their sovereign control over the throne of Judah. Furthermore, in the Bible, naming emphasizes the nature, the essence, and the quality of that being named.

The numbering of each day: And just to guard against someone thinking that this was a long evolutionary process, 1:5b states emphatically: And there was evening, and there was morning – a first day. Because the definite article before the word day is not included until the sixth day, I will be using the phrase a first day, and so on, to denote a difference. The Hebrew word for day is yom. Like Clarence Darrow in the Scopes monkey trial, people try to create “dinosaur space” to say that the word yom does not mean twenty-four hours, but could mean longer, even billions of years. It is true that when used by itself, this word could mean a longer period of time, but the context of how the word is used gives us some direction as to how it can be interpreted.

There are four important points to remember when interpreting the word yom. First, whenever it is used with a number it always means a literal twenty-four hour day. And here in Chapter 1 it is always used with a number, a first day, a second day, and so on. Therefore, this chapter is speaking of twenty-four hour days.

A second important point is that not only do you have a day with a number, but you also have the phrase: and there was evening, and there was morning. This is because the Jews counted their days differently than the Gentiles. The Jewish day starts in the evening, and then there is morning. The day is reckoned from sundown to sundown. Taken at its natural meaning, it begs for a twenty-four hour day.

A third important point is that the Sabbath commandment that was given to Isra’el in the Torah is based on the six days of creation and the seventh day of rest. These commandments would become meaningless if these were not twenty-four hour days.

Lastly, within a fourth day there is the mention of signs to mark seasons and days and years (1:14). This is already showing that in Chapter 1, you have the normal system of time. Again and again the natural reading of the chapter is a twenty-four hour day. Thus each day had distinct boundaries and was one in a series of days. Moshe was trying to guard in every possible way against the thought that these were not literal days.

Both light and darkness were part of God’s creative plan. This same cycle of light and darkness, day and night, has been the same since the first day of creation. The word light is found five times in this verse and darkness is found two times, for a total of seven times. It doesn’t describe a billion-year process (to read more about this click – here). It describes the first day, one cycle of light and darkness, one cycle of evening and morning. This is how it all began.

Now the Earth was Formless and Empty
1: 2

Now the earth was formless and empty DIG: What is described in this verse? What is the scene reminiscent of (Jeremiah 19:1-13)? Who was hovering over the waters? Why? For what purpose did Elohim create the world? What other hovering was there (Second Peter 1:21)?

REFLECT: The Bible teaches that Elohim is not the God of confusion but of peace. If your life is full of darkness and emptiness, ask the Potter to mold you, to send the Spirit of God to hover over you and become involved with your life. But this is a dual undertaking. Our responsibility is to pray and ask (James 4:2), and ADONAI promises to hear your prayer and answer according to His good will and in His good time.

This verse describes the earth before Creation. This is the natural reading of the first two verses of Genesis. God’s normal method is to work from disorder to order (First Corinthians 14:33). The human author Moses did not write these words to confuse us, but to strengthen our faith. There are three independent narrative phrases in this verse that describe the original state of the earth and introduce the next verse. These phrases are neutral and simply describe the raw material used for creation. We go from looking at Hebrew words in 1:1 to looking at Hebrew phrases in 1:2.

Now the earth was formless (tohu) and (waw) empty (bohu). Elsewhere in the Bible, it is clear that Elohim created the earth from nothing (Psalm 33:6 and 9; 148:5; Hebrews 11:3) and here the earth is seen as an empty place of utter destruction.¹³ The same expression is used in Jeremiah 4:23. There, Jeremiah is lamenting the doom of Isra’el. In Jeremiah 4:19 he says: Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. Why? Because the trumpet signaling God’s judgment against Isra’el has sounded. Disaster follows disaster; the whole land lies in ruins (Jeremiah 4:20a). And Jeremiah borrowed the very words from Genesis 1:2, where Moses wrote: I looked at the earth, and it was formless (tohu) and (waw) empty (bohu); and at the heavens, and their light was gone. That is how Jeremiah described the condition of Judah under the devastating destruction that was brought upon it by the judgment of God. What was once fruitful had become a wilderness. It had reverted to a state of barrenness that reminded Jeremiah of the state of the earth in the beginning, before Elohim’s creative work had formed it into something beautiful. It was a place devoid of form or inhabitants – a lifeless, barren place. It suggests that the very shape of the earth was unfinished and empty. The raw material was all there, but it had not yet been given form.¹⁴

This scene is reminiscent of a potter and his clay (Jeremiah 19:1-13). The potter wants to make a beautiful container to be filled up and used. He first takes a lump of unformed clay and puts it on the wheel so that he can mold it. This is what God did; He began with raw materials and carefully shaped it into something perfect. Therefore, His work throughout the first six days is like the potter working on the wheel. And the seventh day is like the potter’s finished work. It was a process of perfecting that which Elohim had already created in the beginning.

Darkness was over the surface of the deep (tehom). It all began in total darkness. The word deep in Scripture is an expression used for the sea. This suggests that the earth’s surface was a vast, global ocean. The psalmist said of the original state of the earth: You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains (Psalm 104:5-6). The absence of light means darkness, just like the absence of form and inhabitants means an earth not yet completed. Evil is not implied here, simply incompleteness. This deep (Proverbs 8:24; Isaiah 51:10) was wrapped in darkness. But it was in the process of formation, for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters.¹⁵

And the Spirit of God was hovering over (merachephet) the waters (mayim). In rabbinic theology, this refers to the Spirit of King Messiah, giving this Spirit messianic overtones. God the Holy Spirit brooded over it. When we think of hovering we think of a hen brooding over her chicks. It conveys the concept of protecting, caring, fluttering, or flying. The same Hebrew word appears twice in the TaNaKh. Deuteronomy 32:11 pictures an eagle hovering over its nest, and Jeremiah 23:9 where it is translated tremble, describes the prophet’s bones shaking over the word of ADONAI. In modern terminology you could say it vibrated because it implies movement. If the universe is to be energized, there must be an Energizer. As the Spirit of God began to flutter, particles of earth and water began to come together to form a great sphere moving through space. Therefore, the Ruach ha-Kodesh was actively involved in the act of creation (Job 6:13; Psalm 104:30).

This hovering or brooding of the Spirit of God in the creation account is extremely important. It demonstrates the biblical worldview that ADONAI is personally involved in our creation. Elohim is not aloof, unwilling or unable to intervene on our behalf. He didn’t fall asleep at the switch and leave the universe to grow up on its own. Every bit of it, from the smallest particle to the largest galaxy (see Lw – The Witness of the Stars), shows His handiwork. It is the work of His fingers (Psalm 8:3).

There is another hovering of the Spirit of God mentioned in the Bible. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Ruach ha-Kodesh (Second Peter 1:21). Here the Greek word carried along in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the TaNaKh) is translated as hovered over in Genesis 1:2. As the Holy Spirit hovered over the ancient universe to bring form and life into ADONAI’s original creation, so He later carried along God’s prophets to bring spiritual life to His new spiritual creation.¹⁶ Therefore, the Bible teaches us that Elohim did not create the earth to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited (see my commentary on Isaiah Ie –Turn to Me and Be Saved, For I AM God and there is No Other), and that is what we see in the first day of creation.

The Supposed Gap Theory

Just a word about the supposed gap theory. If you have never heard of the gap theory you haven’t missed much. Some see a “gap” between Genesis verses 1 and 2 where Satan falls and sin and chaos enter the world before the fall of mankind. They say Satan’s fall left the earth in darkness and covered with water as a divine judgment. Then, they believe, that God “re-created” the world in the literal days described in Genesis 1:3-31. The main purpose for this has been to harmonize evolution with the Bible. This is the only way these theistic evolutionists can account for the geological ages (otherwise known as dinosaur years) necessary for evolution to take place. But not only is their motivation suspect, so is their scientific premise.

The gap theory does not account for the billions of years it says it does (to read more about this click – here). The system of geological ages is based completely on the theory of uniformitarianism. That is a big word, but simply put it is the belief that physical processes have always functioned in the past essentially as they do today, and implies vast amounts of geological time. This is an important theory and will be proved to be scientifically false in Chapter 7. Uniformitarianism would eliminate any worldwide punishment from God as required by the gap theory. Therefore, the gap theory is self-defeating scientifically. It attempts to accommodate the geological ages by postulating a worldwide catastrophe, but a worldwide catastrophe denies the premise on which the geological age system is based, and would indeed wipe out all the so-called evidence of the geological ages. A worldwide catastrophe that would leave the earth formless and empty, with darkness and waters covering it would take nothing less than a global explosion, blowing billions of tons of earth into the sky. This kind of an explosion would wipe out the sedimentary crust and all its fossils. You can’t have it both ways. Either the LORD destroyed the earth and re-created it or He didn’t. If the earth were destroyed, the earth and all the geological age evidence for evolution would be destroyed with it. But the gap theory is not only impossible scientifically, it is also damaging theologically.

Anyone who accepts the gap theory accepts the fossil record that goes along with it. Fossils, however, are dead things! And if the world of dinosaurs existed before the worldwide catastrophe necessary for the gap theory, then it existed before the sin of Satan that brought on the catastrophe. That is, suffering and death existed for billions of years before the sin of Satan and the subsequent sin of Adam. But the Bible is clear that sin and death came into the world only through Adam (Romans 5:12 and First Corinthians 15:21-22). This directly contradicts the assumption of the gap theory. God’s normal method is to work from chaos to order. Therefore, before the earth was formed, the Spirit of God moved to create order out of disorder. This is the natural reading of the first two verses of Genesis.¹²

In the Beginning
God Created the Heavens and the Earth
1: 1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth DIG: Why is there no room for evolution in this verse? Which came first? Matter or God? What Hebrew word is used for God throughout the first chapter? Because Elohim is a plural noun, what conclusion can we come to? What theologies does 1:1 refute? Why is the verse so important?

REFLECT: How significant is it to you that you were created rather than merely being the result of some cosmic accident? How does being created change the purpose for your life? How special does it make you feel to know that God had you specifically in mind before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4)?

Parashah 1: b’Resheet (In the Beginning) 1:1-6:8
(see my commentary on Deuteronomy, to see link click Af – Parashah)

The Key People include Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Enoch, Lamech, Seth, Methuselah and Noah.

The Scenes include the heavens and earth, the Garden of Eden, or Paradise, four rivers, Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and the Euphrates, and the land of Nod, east of Eden.

The Main Events include creation, the first Shabbat rest, Adam and Eve’s disobedience and the consequences, sons and sacrifices, sibling rivalry, the first murder, and mankind’s wickedness with the exception of Noah, Mrs. Noah, and their sons and wives.

This is the foundational verse of the Bible. If Genesis is the foundational book, and Chapter 1 is the foundational chapter, then verse 1 is the foundational verse. It is the foundation of all foundations and thus it is the most important verse in the Scriptures. If you really believe Genesis 1:1, then you will not find it difficult to believe anything else recorded in the Bible. That is, if God really created all things, then He controls all things and can do all things.⁵

On February 5, 1971, Apollo 14 commander Edgar Mitchell placed on the moon a microfilm packet containing a complete Bible and one verse of the Bible written out in sixteen different languages: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. This is a summary statement that introduces the Bible and will be explained in more detail from 1:2 to 2:3. But it is vitally important that if we are to ever fully understand anything in the Bible, or in the world in general, that we must first understand this verse. Therefore, let us consider each word in this foundational verse.

In the beginning: This is one Hebrew word bereshit (Bara-SHEET). It is also the first word of the book in the Hebrew text, as well as the name of the first parashah (see the commentary on Deuteronomy, to see link click Af – Parashah). The English name, Genesis came from the Septiguant (or the Greek translation of the TaNaKh). The Greek word Genesis means beginnings. Hence the English word also speaks of creation, or beginnings. The gospel of John starts with the same words: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning (John 1:1-2). Elohim made everything but Himself. He has always existed. Moses understood this when he wrote: Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God (Psalm 90:2). Some modern translators, trying to find a way to accommodate both evolution and creation and account for billions of years in the creation story, have suggested a weaker translation of bereshith to mean, “In the beginning when God created,” “In the beginning of God’s creating,” or “When God began to create.”⁶ Although Hebrew scholars recognize that this is a grammatically permissible translation, the context does not allow it. The purpose is clearly to tell about the beginning of all things, whereas this kind of faulty translation only raises more questions than it answers.

One could hardly think of a better way to begin the Bible than with these moving words, where Elohim teaches us that He is the Creator of all that exists and He brought the world into existence a long time ago. No one knows exactly when the beginning was. But the TaNaKh is far more interested in the fact of creation than the time of creation.⁷

God: The first mention here of the divine name is the Hebrew Elohim, the name of God that stresses the idea of omnipotence and sovereignty. He is the God of creation and destruction. This is clearly indicated by the fact that from 1:1 to 2:4 alone, the word Elohim is used 35 times alone.⁸ He has no beginning because He is the beginning. He existed before all things. This fact is brought to light only in the Bible. All other religions and philosophies begin, not with God, but with preexisting matter or energy in some form. But, for believers, the Bible starts with God and then matter is brought into existence. Elohim is the name used throughout the first chapter of Genesis.⁹

The word Elohim in its Hebrew form is a plural noun. The –im ending makes it a masculine plural. Because it is a plural noun, it opens the door to plurality in the Godhead. But this was something the rabbis did not like to deal with because they did not believe in the Trinity. The word does not prove the Trinity, but it opens the door. Elohim used progressive revelation to reveal Himself and the Trinity in the Bible. The door is opened in Genesis to the possibility of a triune God, in Isaiah 48:16 we have the clearest example of the Trinity in the TaNaKh, and by the time we get to the Renewed Covenant, the doctrine of progressive revelation is clearly established. The Scriptures teach that God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4; First Corinthians 8:4). At the same time the Bible just as clearly teaches that one God exists in three Persons and is, therefore, also a Trinity (Matthew 28:19; Second Corinthians 12:14). And it would seem that all three Persons were active in creation from the beginning: God the Father (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-2), God the Son, or the Word (John 1:3 and 10), and the Ruach ha-Kodesh (Genesis 1:2).

Based on what God is able to do in 1:1, it tells us two things about Him. First, Elohim is self-sufficient. There is no need for anyone else or anything else. He did not create mankind because He needed fellowship because fellowship already existed from all eternity past within the Godhead. Secondly, God is eternal and unchangeable. The Bible makes no attempt to prove that God exists. This opening verse of Genesis simply takes this fact for granted, as though it were so obvious that only a fool would say there is no God (Psalm 14:1).¹⁰

Created: The Hebrew verb for create, bara, always has God as its subject. Only God can create, only Elohim can call into existence that which did not exist. It is never used of human activity. We can “make” things or “form” things, but we can never create things. The universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible (Hebrews 11:3). Bara is used very sparingly in this chapter. We are told that God created the heavens and the earth (1:1), the great creatures of the sea (1:21), and man (1:27). So, that special verb is reserved for the most crucial items in Elohim’s program of creation. It is not used indiscriminately.¹¹

Bara is used five different ways throughout Scripture. First, of the universe and its contents (Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 40:26 and 28, Isaiah 42:5 and Psalm 89:12). Secondly, of the cosmic forces of nature (Isaiah 45:7; Amos 4:13). Thirdly, of the creation of living creatures (Genesis 1:21 and 27 (three times); Genesis 5:1-2 (three times); Genesis 6:7; Deuteronomy 4:32; Psalm 89:47; Isaiah 45:12); of Isra’el and the believing remnant (Ecclesiastes 12:1; Isaiah 43:1 and 7); of the transformation and the renewal of things (Numbers 16:30; Psalm 51:10; Isaiah 41:20, 45:8, 57:19, 65:17-18; Jeremiah 31:22). Therefore, when you see the word bara, or created, it means that God created these, creatio ex nihilo, from nothing and He did it effortlessly.

Consequently, what we have in the first three Hebrew words of the Bible, bereshith bara Elohim: In the beginning God created, is the foundation of all theology. God is seen as self-sufficient and is only knowable where He chooses to reveal Himself. And through the pages of the Bible He chose to reveal Himself to us and to send His Son to buy us back.

The Heavens: This word is the Hebrew shamayim that, like Elohim, is a plural noun and can be translated either heaven or heavens, depending on the context or whether it is associated with a singular or plural verb. It does not mean the stars of heaven, which were made only on the fourth day of the creation week (1:16). The more common meaning today would be the word space, like when we speak of the universe in space and time. There is no other Hebrew word used in this sense in the Scriptures, but the use of heaven is widely used with such a concept.

The Earth: The Hebrew had no word for universe, so Moses used the heavens and the earth instead. It is a biblical way of saying all things (Isaiah 44:24; Jer 10:16; John 1:3) since everything that exists is either on the earth or in the heavens. The Hebrew word for earth is erets and is often translated ground or land. Somewhat like the use of the word heaven, it can mean either a particular part of the earth, like the land of Canaan in 12:5, or it can be translated to mean the earth in general, as let the land produce vegetation as in 1:11. This earth would become the center of God’s program: What is man that You are mindful of Him, the son of man that You care for Him (Psalm 8)?

1:1 refutes nine different human theologies. (1) It refutes atheism (which teaches that there is no God) because it assumes the existence of a personal God. The universe is not the result of a “Big Bang” but was created by Elohim. (2) It refutes agnosticism (which teaches that one cannot know if there is, or is not, God) because God has revealed Himself in what He has done. (3) It refutes pantheism (which teaches the worship of all gods) because God is above that which He creates. (4) It refutes polytheism (which teaches that there are many gods) because only one God created all things. (5) It refutes materialism (which teaches that physical matter is the only reality) because there is a clear distinction between God and His material universe. This verse clearly teaches that matter had a beginning and that Elohim created it. (6) It refutes naturalism (which teaches that all truth comes from “mother nature”) because nature itself had a beginning and was created by God. (7) It refutes dualism (which teaches that the world is ruled by antagonistic forces of good and evil) because God was alone when He created the world. (8) It refutes humanism (which teaches that man is the ultimate reality) because Elohim, not man, is the ultimate reality. And (9) it refutes evolution (which teaches that after billions of years man evolved from cells, then fish, then animals) because God is the instantaneous Creator of all things.

The rabbis debated many things that seem absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary. Here is one example. One of those debates was why the first word of the book of Genesis doesn’t begin with the first Hebrew letter Aleph, but the second Hebrew letter Beth. They reasoned that God began with the letter Beth, because just as it is closed on three sides and open on the fourth, so Elohim enclosed the world on three sides, with the north side remaining open. Furthermore, Beth stands for the Hebrew word for blessing, while Aleph stands for the Hebrew word for cursing. God did not want to begin His Torah with a curse, so He began it with a blessing. But Aleph complained that the Torah should begin with the first letter. God then appeased Aleph by promising to begin the Ten Commandments with an Aleph. Therefore, in the first phrase: I am ADONAI your God (Exodus 20:2), the Hebrew word I begins with an Aleph. This is an example of how fanciful these comments can be.

This is not merely a stiff and formal statement about creation. Its teaching is intended to encourage us about who we are and where we come from, and its emphasis is oriented toward life rather than death, as Isaiah comments on so beautifully: Heavens above, rain down justice; let the clouds pour it down. Let the earth open, so that salvation springs up, and justice sprouts with it; I, ADONAI, have created it (Isaiah 45:8 CJB). Here the heavens and earth are now summoned to bring forth and pour down spiritual blessings in heavenly gifts, according to the will and in the power of ADONAI. When the heavens above rain down justice, salvation springs up. God created it, and it gives Him great pleasure.

1:1 is a summary statement that will unfold as the whole chapter is read. There are seven Hebrew words with exactly twenty-eight Hebrew letters (4X7).

Before you leave Genesis 1:1, you should remind yourself that God had you specifically in mind before the foundation of the world! For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His children through Jesus Christ, and He will continue to love us for all eternity in accordance with His pleasure and will (Ephesians 1:4-5). Biblical love, agape love is not an emotion but the nature of the heart to seek the welfare and meet the needs of others (John 15:13). And to be adopted into the family of God means you are very special to Elohim. So, on those days when you don’t feel very special, you need to believe by faith the reality of your worth to the Creator of the universe. You are a child of the King.

The Creation of the World
1:1 to 2:3

The account of creation is the logical starting point for Genesis, for it explains the beginning of the universe. In writing this book for Israel, Moses wanted to picture ADONAI as the founder and creator of all life. It shows that the God who created Israel is the God who created the world and all who are in it. Therefore, Israel is founded on the LORD of creation. That nation, her commandments, her customs, and beliefs are all founded on who YHVH  (the Hebrew name of God) is. The implications of this are great.

First, it means that everything that exists is under the LORD’s control. The creation is subject to the Creator. Neither forces of nature, threatening nations, nor pagan deities could threaten the servants of the living God.

Secondly, the creation account also reveals the basis for the Torah. If God was before all things and made all things, how foolish it would be to have any other gods before Him! There were none. If ADONAI made man in His own image, how foolish it would be to make any image of God! If the LORD set aside one day for rest from His work, should not man or a woman who is walking with Ha’Shem do the same? The Torah finds its logical beginning here. Both ADONAI and Ha’Shem are substitute names for YHVH. ADONAI is more of an affectionate name like daddy, while Ha’Shem is a more formal name like sir.

Thirdly, the creation account reveals that ADONAI is a redeeming LORD who buys back that which has been lost. It records how He brought order out of chaos, turned darkness into light, made divisions between them, transformed cursing into blessing, and moved what was evil and darkness into what was righteous and holy. Ultimately God caused His light to shine in our hearts (Second Corinthians 4:6) so that we can become new creations (Second Corinthians 5:17).⁴

This is the first of eleven family documents. It is not headed by the words this is a written account of, and for good reason. Being the beginning, there is no need to trace what became of creation. Rather, its own heading in 1:1, B’resheet or in the beginning shows the contents of the chapter. The name for God in this section, Elohim, is actually plural, pointing us to the realization that the Trinity was actively involved in the creation.