Explore the ancient ideas behind the Hebrew letters and see how they formed the words of the Bible. Written language was developed to express ideas, and in those ancient ideas is conveyed a a much deeper understanding of the words we see today. Although the Hebrew language is not necessary for salvation, it is a joy to explore the origins and meanings of words with a deep dive to enrich our experience of the Biblical passages.
Genesis 1:1
This is the very first verse that God gave to Moses to write down for us in all our generations. It is the story of our birth. This is chapter one, verse 1.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
Here is the Hebrew in which it was written, reading from right to left as is done in the Semitic language.
“ בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ׃”
It is transliterated, “Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz”.
The first word is בְּרֵאשִׁית, and we can separate the prefix of the word. It is read as,
בְּ – in
רֵאשִׁית – beginning, the ‘a’ is implied
Although it is translated as ‘in the beginning’, there is no ‘the’ to designate a specific beginning or to imply that it is the only beginning. This is because God was here before creation so our creation was not the actual beginning. Second of all, there will be another beginning for us after this creation concludes and is destroyed. Christ told us that the heaven and earth that we know today is temporary. (note: ‘heaven’ means sky, not the abode of God and angels as depicted by churches)
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” Matthew 24:35
John also testifies about this in his vision from Christ,
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.” Revelation 21:1
Peter testifies the same,
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” 2Peter 3:10-13
Therefore, the proper translation of our creation is ‘a beginning’, as it is only one beginning and there will be another.
The first word and the second word of this verse are related. Both have the same first three letters.
בְּרֵאשִׁית – in a beginning
בָּרָא – created
Essentially, ‘created’ could be something like ‘beginned’. Creation is the act of beginning something. So let’s look briefly at the first three letters.
The Hebrew letters were once pictures representing different things. The pictures were slimmed down over time and eventually became the Hebrew script which you see today. The pictures conveyed meaning and were grouped together to create words which described the world around us. The first three letters were originally ‘tent, head, ox’.
The first letter is the ‘bet’ which was a tent and then later became a house. It can mean ‘in’, as is the primary purpose of a shelter. The second letter is the ‘resh’ which is a head. It is the highest authority of a body. It is the first.
“But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” 1Corinthians 11:3
The head is where ideas are constructed. The heart may yearn for something, but it is the head where the plan is made. The ‘head’ is often used in the idea of the beginning of something. For example, the start of a Jewish year is called ‘Rosh HaShanah’ meaning ‘head of the year’.
The next letter is the ox. This represents strength and to be first.
These first three letters (tent, head, ox) say, ‘in one’s mind, strongly first’. This is creating. The plan is conceived in the mind first.
Now lets look at the full word, ‘a beginning’, the execution of that plan. The next letters are ‘tooth, arm, mark’.
The tooth means to cut. The cut is made by the arm. The result is a mark. This is the execution of the plan conceived in the mind. God began putting His mark on the waters which at that time was markless, as stated in verse two.
The first two words are ‘inabeginning created’. The third word is the word for God.
אֱלֹהִים – God (subject)
Notice that the subject comes after the verb. The structure of verb first followed by subject is a normal order of words in Hebrew but it can be in any order. However, this verse shows the humility of God. He could have made Himself the first Word of His Book but He did not, even though He is the most High of all and deserves to be honored first. Instead, He emphasized the act of creating. How great is the humility our immensely powerful God!
This word, ‘Elohim’, essentially describes God.
The letters are ‘ox, shepherd’s crook, breath, arm, water’.
God is the ‘strongest and first’, He is a ‘shepherd/teacher/leader’, He is the very ‘breath’ given to us, His ‘arm’ is that ‘breath’ which is His Spirit which goes out into the world to give life, and His Spirit is living water.
The plural ending with ‘water’ as the last letter matches the nature of God being a fullness that cannot be singular. You do not see a piece of water in the same sense as you see beans, for example. There is no clear separation in a bowl of water where you can see individual water pieces next to each other. God is One. You can have drops of water apart but when they come together, they become indistinguishable from individual pieces. This idea was formed long before microscopes, this was what people saw and understood. This would make sense why ‘Elohim’ is used to refer to YHWH in the singular even though it is a plural word form. Also, this would make sense why the ending itself is used to represent the plural in regular words.
et – אֵת is not considered a word but a grammatical tool to indicate the object of an action. The word ‘et’ is the symbols ‘ox, mark’ meaning ‘first strong mark’ which says ‘next is what is being acted upon.
הַ – the
‘breath’
This designates a specific something. The breath acts as an emphasis, drawing attention to what comes next. This letter was often used to mean ‘behold’, and you can imagine your breath being part of that idea. This is attached to words as a prefix to become the definite article.
שָּׁמַיִם – heavens/sky
‘tooth, water, arm, water’
This word is the word for water ‘מַיִם’ (mayim) but with the tooth letter ‘שָּׁ’ (sh) meaning 'cut' in front. The sky was a ‘cut’ ‘water’ by the Arm of God as seen further down in Genesis where the one body of water was separated into two which created a light water in between. It is not an empty space, it is still water. It flows and moves as water because it is water. It just isn’t a visible type of water unless something is in it like smoke or dust.
This is why the swimming creatures and flying creatures were created together. They both swim. One swims in the heavy waters of the seas and rivers below while the other swims in the light waters of the sky above. They both have a type of fins to navigate their particular type of water.
וְ – and
The vav letter is a ‘nail’ which is a joining letter that is attached as a prefix.
אֵת – et, same as above
הָ – the, same as above
אָרֶץ – earth
‘ox, head, submission (man kneeling in prayer)’
The ‘first or beginning in submission’. The earth is the lowest form of ‘us’. The dust is in full submission because it can’t get lower. The earth or dirt or land is where we came from. The knowledge of that should bring incredible humility. God raised us from the dust, and to dust we return at death. We were made to serve God, to remain in submission to Him with all His Instructions and Laws.
“In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:19
Hebrew is an ancient language which came from Babylon, for more on this see the post ‘Is Hebrew a heavenly language?’ Because Hebrew came out of Babylon, it is rich in ancient ideas. Breaking down the individual letters reveals much more than the standard text translation and helps us see more clearly what our ancestors were communicating. I recommend enhancing your learning with your own deep dives to reveal the remarkable stories of each word. It is a way to enjoy the cultural setting of a time long ago when mankind was first forming these words with ideas of the time. I hope you enjoy this series.
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