|
Rav
Richard 'Aharon' Chaimberlin |
THE
term "Genesis" is Greek in origin, coming from the word geneseos. Depending on context, it can mean birth,
genealogy, or history of origin. In Hebrew, it is called B'reisheet, which is the very first word in the Torah:
"B'reisheet bara Elohim et hashamayim v'et ha'aretz," or, as the
English translations say, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and
the earth." B'reisheet
means "in the beginning."
The beginning of verse 2 generally reads,
"And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the
face of the deep." There is a theory called the Gap Theory, which I personally
subscribe to. Christians are generally credited with the idea of the Gap Theory.
However, many of the Rabbis of old also believed in what might be called the
Gap Theory. They of course believed that "In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth." However, they believed in a gap between verses
1 and 2, during which time there were other creations.
In English, Genesis 1:2 reads, "And
the earth was without form and void." In the Hebrew, we read,
"V'ha'aretz haitah
tohu v'vohu." The verb
haitah can indeed mean was, and indeed
usually does mean "was." However, in Genesis 19:26, using the same shoresh
(root word), it is translated "and she (Lot's wife) became a pillar
of salt." Therefore, Genesis 1:2 can also be translated, "And the
earth became formless and void." The terms for "formless and
void" in Hebrew are, "tohu v'vohu."
Some may hold to the traditional translation,
which reads, "And the earth was formless and void." However,
we would then have a contradiction with Isaiah 45:18, which reads, "For
thus saith the LORD
(YHWH) that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it;
He has established it, He created it not in vain. He formed it to be inhabited.
'I am YHWH, and there is none else." The Hebrew words that are translated
"in vain" are the Hebrew words "lo tohu,"
which literally means "not empty" or "without form."
("Lo" means no or not.)
More accurately, Genesis 1:2 reads,
"And the earth became without form (lo tohu)
and void." I also believe Isaiah 45:18, where God
says that He "created the earth lo tohu
(not formless and void)" Both verses are correct, because there is a gap
of time between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. We have no idea of knowing how big
this gap of time is. It could be thousands of years. According to many rabbis,
the earlier creation of Genesis 1:1 was destroyed. Then beginning in Genesis
1:3, we are reading of a new creation. The Bible does not teach evolution.
There might be micro-evolution within species. You can take a pair of dogs, and
through selective breeding bring about many of the dog breeds that we have
today. However, the result is always a dog. You cannot continue selective
breeding with dogs and end up with a cat. Likewise, monkeys and apes will
always be monkeys and apes. They will never become humans.
In Genesis 1:28, God gives mankind his
first command, which in the KJV reads, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish[1]
the earth." My Random House Dictionary defines "replenish" to
mean, "to make full or complete again."
In other words, the world was full, and now mankind is ordered to make it full again!
We can only guess about what the earlier creation(s) might have been like. It
is interesting that the very first commandment is procreation, which was done
the old-fashioned way, without test tubes, artificial insemination, etc. The second commandment is in Genesis 2:9, in which God
commanded Adam not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. There
are many who believe that God doesn't care about what we eat. Yet in this
verse, about 2500 years before Moses, we find that the second
commandment given to mankind is a dietary restriction!
As an additional evidence of a gap between
Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, we find that HaSatan, the devil, the Adversary, was
already a fallen being in Genesis chapter 3, when mankind was at most only a
few years old. To be fair, the Rabbis of old do not all agree that this being
in Genesis chapter 3 is Satan. Some allegorize this passage to mean the yetser hara (the
"evil impulse") came into existence at this time, as a counterbalance
to the yetser hatov
(the "good impulse"). However, later books of the Bible make it clear
that there is a demonic creature commonly called "the devil" or
HaSatan (the Adversary). I don't begin to understand all that is taking place
in Genesis chapter 3. However, I believe it can be dangerous to
"allegorize" something simply because we don't fully understand it.
This evil being communicated with Chava[2]
(called "Eve"[3]
in most English translations). The end result was that Chava
ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. We have no idea
what this fruit looked like, despite the many artistic drawings in which Chava ("Eve") eats of an apple and then gives it
to Adam. This results in certain curses being placed upon
both the man and woman, and also upon this evil being that caused the
temptation, which you can read about in Genesis 3:14-20. They could have had an
eternity in Gan Eden ("Paradise"). However,
because of their transgression, they were exiled, never to return.
There are various hints to the existence of
HaSatan in some of the earlier books of the Bible. However, it isn't until we
reach 1 Chronicles 21:1 that this evil creature is mentioned by name, when
"Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel."
Israel suffered horrendously from this unfortunate blunder on the part of King
David, which resulted in 70,000 men dying in Israel.[4]
For the sake of comparison, this resulted in more men getting killed than what
the United States lost in the entire Vietnam War. However, Israel's population
was only a tiny fraction of the U.S. population, so it was a much larger disaster
for Israel.
JOB - A
Man of Righteousness
The
Book of Job gives more clues about this character that Scripture calls
"Satan." This book was written by an Israelite. We know that because
the covenant name of God (YHWH) is used 26 times in this book.[5]
However, Job was not Jewish. He was one of the righteous from among the
nations.
In Job 1:6, we read, "Now there was a
day when the sons of God came to present themselves before YHWH, and
Satan came also among them." These "sons of God" were not mere
humans. These were what we would call angels. And not all angels were
"good." There were the heavenly angels, as well as the fallen angels.
You can read about them in the next paragraph. In the Book of Job, you can see
these sons of God presenting themselves before
God.
In Genesis 6:2, we read that "the
sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they
were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose."
The result of these unions were the Nephilim
(lit., "fallen ones"), called giants in the KJV, Genesis 6:4.
The Nephilim may be the origin of the ancient Asian
and European mythologies, which are all very similar, talking about
"gods" coming to earth and cohabiting with earthly women. The end
result of this was that mankind was corrupted both morally and genetically. God
decided to destroy the world with a Great Flood, and used Noah and his family
to preserve a remnant of humans and animals aboard a giant ark, described as
300 cubits in length (Gen. 6:15), about 150 meters in length, at least 460 feet
long. It was also 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.
It would be the equivalent of taking a 45 story building and tipping it on its
side. HUGE!
You know the story. YHWH brags about Job,
this righteous man who is serving God. Satan is the accuser, and claims that
Job is serving God for selfish reasons, only because Job is being blessed by
God. Satan is permitted to test Job, in order to prove whether or not Job is
genuine in his devotion to God. In a series of rapid fire disasters, Job's servants,
animals, and children are all killed, and his house is destroyed (Job 1:13-19).
"Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell to the
ground and worshipped. And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked
I shall return hither. YHWH gave, and YHWH has taken away. Blessed be the name
of YHWH.' Through all this, Job did not sin nor did he blame God." Job was
a very amazing fellow! I doubt that many today would pass the test as well as
Job did!
We learn more about the sons of God
in Job chapter 38. In this chapter, it sounds like God is a little bit peeved
at some of Job's comments. He answers Job, saying, "Where were you when I
laid the foundation of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. Who has
laid the measurements, since you know. Who stretched
the line on it? On what were the foundations sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy?" (Job 38:4-7)
We know, of course, that "morning stars"
(in the literal sense) don't sing. However, it is interesting to note that
these were angelic beings who were here before the
creation of man. Also, music was "invented" before the creation of
man. These angelic beings (the morning stars and the sons of God) were joyful
as they witnessed Creation.
We also read a somewhat troubling passage
in Revelation 12:4, in which Satan swept away a third of the stars of
heaven and threw them to the earth. Today we know that most stars are massive
objects a few hundred thousand miles in diameter, often even millions of miles
in diameter. And there are many trillions of stars in the universe. Obviously,
it would be impossible to have trillions of stars smashing into our tiny planet
less than 8000 miles in diameter. The stars being referenced are the same
"stars" being talked about in Job chapter 38. HaSatan led a rebellion
in the heavenlies, in which a third of the angels
joined him in this rebellion. The prophets of the Tanakh (O.T.) give us more
clues as to what took place thousands of years ago, even before the Creation
account beginning in Genesis 1:3.
Satanic Verses
Isaiah
(chapter 14) writes about the Lord's taunt against the "king of
Babylon." However, as you read through this chapter, you will see that
this "king of Babylon" is no ordinary human. Scripture talks about
spiritual "powers" and "principalities" in such places as
Matthew 24:29; Romans 8:38; Ephesians 3:10, 6:12; Colossians 1:16, 2:15;
Hebrews 6:5; and 1 Peter 3:22. There are also "powers" and "principalities"
over various nations, both heavenly and satanic. In the case of Isaiah 14,
we are reading about HaSatan himself. It is a sort of mini-biography of this
evil creature. Beginning in verse 11, we read:
11Your pomp
is brought down to the grave, and the music of your harps. The worm is
spread under you, and the maggots cover you. 12How you have fallen
from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how
you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! 13For
you have said in your heart, "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my
throne above the stars (angels) of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north. 14I will ascend above the
heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." 15Yet you
shall be brought down to Sheol ("hell"), to the recesses of the pit.
Obviously, this is no ordinary king being discussed. This is an
incredibly evil being who sought to be greater than God Himself. And as we saw
in Job chapter 38, this rebellion in the heavenlies
apparently occurred before the Creation account beginning in Genesis chapter 1.
In Luke 10:18, Yeshua said, "I beheld Satan as lightening fall from
Heaven."
We see a similar account
in Ezekiel chapter 28, in which the principality behind the king of Tyre
is described, none other than HaSatan:
11Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 12 Son of man, take up a
lamentation upon the king of Tyre, and say to him, "Thus saith the Lord GOD; you had the seal of perfection, full of
wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13You had been in Eden the garden
of God; every precious stone was your covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and
the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship
of your settings and sockets was prepared in you in the day in which you were
created. 14You were the anointed cherub who covers; and I
placed you there; you were upon the holy mountain of God; you walked up and
down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15You were perfect
in your ways from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in
you. 16By the multitude of your merchandise they have filled the
midst of you with violence, and you have sinned. Therefore I have cast you as
profane out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy you, O covering cherub,
from the midst of the stones of fire. 17Your heart was lifted up
because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your
brightness. I will cast you to the ground, I will lay
you before kings, that they may behold you."
This was no earthly king in Gan Eden, as
we see in verse 13. And no earthly king was a cherub as we see in the next
verse. HaSatan was created in perfection. However, in verse 17, we find that
pride entered into Satan because of his beauty. This is why chametz
(leavening) is symbolic of sin, as we see in 1 Cor. 5:6-8. The leavening
"puffs up," as we see proud people are prone to do. And from pride
came all the other sins, as HaSatan led his rebellion against the Most High.
HaSatan knows that his
days are numbered. Revelation 20:7-10 tells us that the day will come when he
will be cast into the Lake of Fire, a very real place, where Satan and his
followers will be "tormented day and night forever and ever."