Genesis Study: Week 3 - 1:3
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That Which is Spoken
That Which is Spoken
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
The word for God here is “Elohim” like before, and we only know that this is the Hebrew God because of the continuing context and the conjugation of the verb “said” again.
The word for “then” is “wa” just like in the “tohu wa bohu” phrase from last week. So effectively this is simply a word like “and” or “then” which means this is a direct continuation of the previous thought(s).
“And said God…” which makes the sentences from vs 2 and 3 to flow more like, “…and the Spirit of God was hovering over…and God was saying…” to where it’s a continuously unfolding sequence of events that are being revealed as connected but also sort of ongoing and incomplete despite being definitely completed in the past. So the same way “was hovering” is translated actually applies here as well: “was saying”. it’s still a complete past tense event but is told in the “ongoing” format in the sentence.
The formation of this verb “said” (yo-mer) is referred to as “wayyiqtol” which has this Function: “It creates a sequence of past events that are logically or temporally connected to the preceding action.”
It is the "engine" that drives the narrative forward, showing one event happening after another.
an example is: "And he said, and he saw, and she came" would be a series of wayyiqtol verbs showing sequential actions.
…“Let there be light”…
This is where things start getting good!
The word here for “Let there be” is actually a verb form of : “to be”. It is a direct command to a third person (ie: thing or person) telling the thing “to become!” or “The light will be!” which is very interesting because given that it’s not in what’s called “the imperative tense”, it means that God is not speaking to the observer or something (using “you”) OR that the person writing this has a perspective which is neither God nor Light but the individual revealing things (maybe The Word itself?).
And the best part of all: the word for “Let there be!” is the root of the name “I AM WHO I AM” or “I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE” (eh-yeh). So God is basically using a core part of the way He identifies Himself to Moses in the creative act itself! “Yehi or!” which is “there will be light!” and “Eh-Yeh aser Eh-Yeh” which is “I AM WHO I AM”.
This basically means that in essence, the source of and association of ALL being is rooted in the Being of God Himself. This is likely directly what’s implied in the verse:
for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His offspring.’
In this passage Paul uses the name for God “Eimi” that is leveraged in the Septuagint here:
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
which is: “Ego Eimi ho Eimi” — “I AM THE EXISTING ONE” basically. Every time that we talk about anything which is or something being, we are directly extending and associating that thing with God’s personal Name in some way. It can not be avoided but to acknowledge Him in anything discussing “being”.
—- HAVE SOMEONE READ JOHN 8:56-58
This is the reason that when Jesus says this:
“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
In this interaction, Jesus states that Abraham (in the past) “rejoiced” as a simple and completed action in the undetermined past, and he “saw” as a simple and completed action in the undetermined past, the Day of Jesus. They rebut with, “…You are not fifty…have You seen Abraham?”
In this sentence Jesus uses a phrase “before Abraham was” (who had lived AND died around 2,000 years ago) — the Greek here is literally: “before Abraham existed/came to exist, I AM BEING.” He specifically states that there was a completed action of Abraham coming into existence, and even Abraham’s dying if you want to be as charitable as possible to the Pharisees making Jesus say basically “Before Abraham’s time”, then He shifts from a past, completed action which they are ALL familiar with the timing and relevance of that fact to a form of the verb “to be/exist” that is in the present and active tense which is a direct quotation from the Exodus 3:14 verse in the Septuagint.
the Word for “light” (or) is the word for all sorts of light generally speaking. it’s light in general, the sun itself, the sunshine, even lightning, the dawn, and also the appearance of a face which is happy and positive. (his face lit up) it is very regularly used as generally positive phrasing as contrasted to “darkness”. it can mean guidance, prosperity, good judgment, etc.
…“Let there be light”; and there was light.
This verb form for “let there be” shifts from the 3rd person commanding of the light to come into being in that form to the “and was” form from earlier: “…and the light was being.”
