THE BEGINNING.
"In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the
earth."--Genesis i., 1.
It is a remarkable and instructive fact that the first verse of the
Hebrew sacred writings speaks of the material universe--speaks of it
as a whole, and as originating in a power outside of itself. The
universe, then, in the conception of this ancient writer, is not
eternal. It had a beginning, but that beginning in the indefinite and
by us unmeasured past. It did not originate fortuitously, or by any
merely accidental conflict of self-existent material atoms, but by an
act--an act of will on the part of a Being designated by that name
which among all the Semitic peoples represented the ultimate, eternal,
inscrutable source of power and object of awe and veneration. With the
simplicity and child-like faith of an archaic age, the writer makes no
attempt to combat any objections or difficulties with which this great
fundamental truth may be assailed. He feels its axiomatic force as the
basis of all true religion and sound philosophy, and the ultimate fact
which must ever bar our further progress in the investigation of the
origin of things--the production from non-existence of the material
universe by the eternal self-existent God.
It did not concern him to know what might be the nature of that
unconditioned self-existence; for though, like our ideas of space and
time, incomprehensible, it must be assumed. It did not concern him to
know how matter and force subsist, or what may be the difference
between a material universe cognizable by our senses and the absolute
want of all the phenomena of such a universe or of whatever may be
their basis and essence. Such questions can never be answered, yet the
succession of these phenomena must have had a commencement somewhere
in time. How simple and how grand is his statement! How plain and yet
how profound its teachings!
It is evident that the writer grasps firmly the essence of the
question as to the beginning of things, and covers the whole ground
which advanced scientific or philosophical speculation can yet
traverse. That the universe must have had a beginning no one now needs
to be told. If any philosophical speculator ever truly held that there
has been an endless succession of phenomena, science has now
completely negatived the idea by showing us the beginning of all
things that we know in the present universe, and by establishing the
strongest probabilities that even its ultimate atoms could not have
been eternal. But the question remains--If there was a beginning, what
existed in that beginning? To this question many partial and imperfect
answers have been given, but our ancient record includes them all.
If any one should say, "In the beginning was nothing." Yes, says
Genesis, there was, it is true, nothing of the present matter and
arrangements of nature. Yet all was present potentially in the will of
the Creator.
"In the beginning were atoms," says another. Yes, says Genesis, but
they were created; and so says modern science, and must say of
ultimate particles determined by weight and measure, and incapable of
modification in their essential properties--"They have the properties
of a manufactured article."[29]
"In the beginning were forces," says yet another. True, says Genesis;
but all forces are one in origin--they represent merely the fiat of
the eternal and self-existent. So says science, that force must in the
ultimate resort be an "expression of Will."[30]
"In the beginning was Elohim," adds our old Semitic authority, and in
him are the absolute and eternal thought and will, the Creator from
whom and by whom and in whom are all things.
Thus the simple familiar words, "In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth," answer all possible questions as to the origin
of things, and include all under the conception of theism. Let us now
look at these pregnant words more particularly as to their precise
import and significance.
The divine personality expressed by the Hebrew Elohim may be fairly
said to include all that can be claimed for the pantheistic conception
of "dynamis," or universal material power. Lange gives this as
included in the term Elohim, in his discussion of this term in his
book on Genesis. It has been aptly said that if, physically speaking,
the fall of a sparrow produces a gravitative effect that extends
throughout the universe, there can be no reason why it should be
unknown to God. God is thus everywhere, and always. Yet he is
everywhere and always present as a personality knowing and willing.
From his thought and will in the beginning proceeded the universe. By
him it was created.
What, then, is creation in the sense of the Hebrew writer. The act is
expressed by the verb _bara_, a word of comparatively rare occurrence
in the Scriptures, and employed to denote absolute creation, though
its primary sense is to cut or carve, and it is indeed a near relative
of our own English word "pare." If, says Professor Stuart, of Andover,
this word "does not mean to create in the highest sense, then the
Hebrews had no word by which they could designate this idea." Yet,
like our English "create," the word is used in secondary and
figurative senses, which in no degree detract from its force when
strictly and literally used. Since, however, these secondary senses
may often appear to obscure the primitive meaning, we must examine
them in detail.
In the first chapter of Genesis, after the general statement in verse
1, other verbs signifying to _form_ or _make_ are used to denote the
elaboration of the separate parts of the universe, and the word
"create" is found in only two places, when it refers to the
introduction of "great whales" (reptiles) and of man. These uses of
the word have been cited to disprove its sense of absolute creation.
It must be observed, however, that in the first of these cases we have
the earliest appearance of animal life, and in the second the
introduction of a rational and spiritual nature. Nothing but pure
materialism can suppose that the elements of vital and spiritual being
were included in the matter of the heavens and the earth as produced
in the beginning; and as the Scripture writers were not materialists,
we may infer that they recognized, in the introduction of life and
reason, acts of absolute creation, just as in the origin of matter
itself. In Genesis ii. and iii. we have a form of expression which
well marks the distinction between creation and making. God is there
said to have rested from all his works which he "created and
made"--literally, created "for or in reference to making," the word
for making being one of those already referred to.[31] The force of
this expression consists in its intimating that God had not only
finished the work of _creation_, properly so called, but also the
elaboration of the various details of the universe, as formed or
fashioned out of the original materials. Of a similar character is the
expression in Isaiah xlii., 5, "Jehovah, he that _created_ the heavens
and spread them out;" and that in Psalm cxlviii., 5, "He commanded and
they were _created_, he hath also established them for ever and ever."
In as far as I am aware, the word _bara_ in all the remaining
instances of its occurrence in the Pentateuch refers to the creation
of man, with the following exceptions: Exodus xxxiv., 10, "I will do
(create) marvels, such as have not been seen in all the earth;"
Numbers xvi., 30, "If the Lord make a new thing (create a creation),
and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up." These verses are
types of a class of expressions in which the proper term for creation
is applied to the production of something new, strange, and
marvellous; for instance, "Create in me a clean heart, O Lord;"
"Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth." It is, however,
evidently an inversion of sound exposition to say that these secondary
or figurative meanings should determine the primary and literal sense
in Genesis i. On the contrary, we should rather infer that the sacred
writers in these cases selected the proper word for creation, to
express in the most forcible manner the novel and thorough character
of the changes to which they refer, and their direct dependence on the
Divine will. By such expressions we are in effect referred back to the
original use of the word, as denoting the actual creation of matter
by the command of God, in contradistinction from those arrangements
which have been effected by the gradual operation of secondary agents,
or of laws attached to matter at its creation. It has been farther
observed[32] that in the Hebrew Scriptures this word _bara_ is applied
to God only as an agent, not to any human artificer; a fact which is
very important with reference to its true significance. Viewing
creation in this light, we need not perplex ourselves with the
question whether we should consider Genesis i., 1, to refer to the
essence of matter as distinguished from its qualities. We may content
ourselves with the explanation given by Paul in the eleventh of
Hebrews: "By faith we are certain that the worlds[33] were created by
the decree of God, so that that which _is seen_ was made of that which
_appears not_." Or, with reference to the other uses of the word, if
the first introduction of animal life was a creation, and if the
introduction of the rational nature of man was a creation, we may
suppose that the original creation was in like manner the introduction
or first production of those entities which we call matter and force,
and which to science now are as much ultimate facts as they were to
Moses.
The _nature_ of the act of creation being thus settled, its _extent_
may be ascertained by an examination of the terms heaven and earth.
The word "heavens" (_shamayim_) has in Hebrew as in English a variety
of significations. Of material heavens there are, in the quaint
language of Poole, "_tres regiones, ubi aves, ubi nubes, ubi sidera_;"
or (1) the atmosphere or firmament;[34] (2) the region of clouds in
the upper part of the atmosphere;[35] (3) the depths of space
comprehending the starry orbs.[36] Besides these we have the "heaven
of heavens," the abode of God and spiritual beings.[37] The
application of the term "heaven" to the atmosphere will be considered
when we reach the 6th and 7th verses. In the mean time we may accept
the word in this place as including the material heavens in the widest
sense: (1.) Because it is not here, as in verse 8th, restricted to the
atmosphere by the terms of the narrative; this restriction in verse
8th in fact implying the wider sense of the word in preceding verses.
(2.) Because the atmospheric firmament, elsewhere called heaven,
divides the waters above from those below, whereas it is evident that
all these waters, and of consequence the materials of the atmosphere
itself, are included in the earth of the following verse. (3.) Because
in verse 14th the sidereal heavens are spoken of as arranged from
pre-existing materials, which refers their actual creation back to
this passage.
In the words now under consideration we therefore regard the heavens
as including the whole material universe beyond the limits of our
earth. That this sense of the word is not unknown to the writers of
Scripture, and that they had enlarged and rational views of the
star-spangled abysses of space, will appear from the terms employed by
Moses in his solemn warning against the Sabaean idolatry, in
Deuteronomy iv.: "And lest thou lift up thine eyes to the heavens, and
when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host
of the heavens, shouldest be incited to worship them and serve them
which Jehovah thy God hath appointed to all nations under the whole
heavens." To the same effect is the expression of the awe and wonder
of the poet king of Israel in Psalm viii.:
"When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers,
The moon and the stars which thou hast ordained;
What is man that thou art mindful of him?"
I may observe, however, that throughout the Scriptures the word in
question is much more frequently applied to the atmospheric than to
the sidereal heavens. The reason of this appears in the terms of verse
8th.
If we have correctly referred the term "heavens" to the whole of
extramundane space, then the word "earth" must denote our globe as a
distinct world, with all the liquid and aeriform substances on its
surface. The arrangement of the whole universe under the heads
"heaven" and "earth" has been derided as a division into "infinity and
an atom;" but when we consider the relative importance of the earth to
us, and that it constitutes the principal object of the whole
revelation to which this is introductory, the absurdity disappears,
and we recognize the classification as in the circumstances natural
and rational. The word "earth" (_aretz_) is, however, generally used
to denote the dry land, or even a region or district of country. It is
indeed expressly restricted to the dry land in verse 10th; but as in
the case of the parallel limitation of the word "heaven," we may
consider this as a hint that its previous meaning is more extended.
That it is really so, appears from the following considerations: (1.)
It includes the deep, or the material from which the sea and
atmosphere were afterwards formed. (2.) The subsequent verses show
that at the period in question no dry land existed. If instances of a
similar meaning from other parts of Scripture are required, I give
the following: Genesis ii., 1 to 4, "Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them;" "these are the generations
of the heavens and the earth." In this general summary of the creative
work, the earth evidently includes the seas and all that is in them,
as well as the dry land; and the whole expression denotes the
universe. The well-known and striking remark of Job, "Who hangeth the
earth upon nothing," is also a case in point, and must refer to the
whole world, since in other parts of the same book the dry land or
continental masses of the earth are said, and with great truth and
propriety, to be supported above the waters on pillars or foundations.
The following passages may also be cited as instances of the
occurrence of the idea of the whole world expressed by the word
"earth:" Exodus x., 29, "And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone
out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord, and the
thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou
mayest know the earth is the Lord's;" Deuteronomy x., 14, "Behold, the
heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's, the earth also, and
all that therein is."
The material universe was brought into existence in the "beginning"--a
term evidently indefinite as far as regards any known epoch, and
implying merely priority to all other recorded events. It can not be
the first day, for there is no expressed connection, and the work of
the first day is distinct from that of the beginning. It can not be a
general term for the whole six days, since these are separated from it
by that chaotic or formless state to which we are next introduced. The
beginning, therefore, is the threshold of creation--the line that
separates the old tenantless condition of space from the world-crowded
galaxies of the existing universe. The only other information
respecting it that we have in Scripture is in that fine descriptive
poem in Proverbs viii., in which the Wisdom of God personified--who
may be held to represent the Almighty Word, or Logos, introduced in
the formula "God said," and afterward referred to in Scripture as the
manifested or conditioned Deity, the Mediator between man and the
otherwise inaccessible Divinity, the agent in the work of creation as
well as in that of redemption--narrates the origin of all created
things:
"Jehovah possessed[38] me, the beginning of his way,
Before his work of old.
I was set up from everlasting,
From the beginning, before the earth was;
When there were no deeps I was brought forth,
When there were no fountains abounding in water."
The beginning here precedes the creation of the earth, as well as of
the deep which encompassed its surface in its earliest condition. The
beginning, in this point of view, stretches back from the origin of
the world into the depths of eternity. It is to us emphatically _the_
beginning, because it witnessed the birth of our material system; but
to the eternal Jehovah it was but the beginning of a great series of
his operations, and we have no information of its absolute duration.
From the time when God began to create the celestial orbs, until that
time when it could be said that he had created the heavens and the
earth, countless ages may have rolled along, and myriads of worlds may
have passed through various stages of existence, and the creation of
our planetary system may have been one of the last acts of that long
beginning.
The author of creation is Elohim, or God in his general aspect to
nature and man, and not in that special aspect in reference to the
Hebrew commonwealth and to the work of redemption indicated by the
name Jehovah (_Iaveh_). We need not enter into the doubtful etymology
of the word; but may content ourselves with that supported by many,
perhaps the majority of authorities, which gives it the meaning of
"Object of dread or adoration," or with that preferred by Gesenius,
which makes it mean the "Strong or mighty one." Its plural form has
also greatly tried the ingenuity of the commentators. After carefully
considering the various hypotheses, such as that of the plural of
majesty of the Rabbins, and the primitive polytheism supposed by
certain Rationalists, I can see no better reason than an attempt to
give a grammatical expression to that plurality in unity indicated by
the appearance of the Spirit or breath of God and his Word, or
manifested will and power, as distinct agents in the succeeding
verses. This was probably always held by the Hebrews in a general
form; and was by our Saviour and his apostles specialized in that
trinitarian doctrine which enables both John and Paul explicitly to
assert the agency of the second person of the Trinity in the creative
work.
This elementary trinitarian idea of the first chapter of Genesis may
be further stated thus: The name Elohim expresses the absolute
unconditioned will and reason--the Godhead. The manifestation of God
in creative power, and in the framing and ordering of the cosmos, is
represented by the formula "God said"--the equivalent of the Divine
Word. The further manifestation of God in love of and sympathy with
his work is represented by the Breath of God, and by the expression,
"God saw that it was good"--operations these of the Divine Spirit.
The aboriginal root of the word Elohim probably lies far back of the
Semitic literature, and comes from the natural exclamations "al,"
"lo," "la," which arise from the spontaneous action of the human vocal
organs in the presence of any object of awe or wonder. The plural form
may in like manner be simply equivalent to our terms Godhead or
Divinity, implying all that is essentially God without specification
or distinction of personalities. As Dr. Tayler Lewis well remarks in
his "Introduction to Genesis," we should not dismiss such plurals as
mere _usus loquendi_. The plural form of the name of God, of the
heavens (literally, the "heights"), of the _olamim_, or time-worlds,
of the word for life in Genesis (lives), indicates an idea of vastness
and diversity not measurable by speech, which must have been impressed
on the minds of early men, otherwise these forms would not have
arisen. God, heaven, time, life, were to them existences stretching
outward to infinity, and not to be denoted by the bare singular form
suitable to ordinary objects.
Fairly regarding, then, this ancient form of words, we may hold it as
a clear, concise, and accurate enunciation of an ultimate doctrine of
the origin of things, which with all our increased knowledge of the
history of the earth we are not in a position to replace with any
thing better or more probable. On the other hand, this sublime dogma
of creation leaves us perfectly free to interrogate nature for
ourselves, as to all that it can reveal of the duration and progress
of the creative work. But the positive gain which comes from this
ancient formula goes far beyond these negative qualities. If received,
this one word of the Old Testament is sufficient to deliver us forever
from the superstitious dread of nature, and to present it to us as
neither self-existent nor omnipotent, but as the mere handiwork of a
spiritual Creator to whom we are kin; as not a product of chance or
caprice, but as the result of a definite plan of the All-wise; as not
a congeries of unconnected facts and processes, but as a cosmos, a
well-ordered though complex machine, designed by Him who is the
Almighty and the supreme object of reverence. Had this verse alone
constituted the whole Bible, this one utterance would, wherever known
and received, have been an inestimable boon to mankind; proclaiming
deliverance to the captives of every form of nature-worship and
idolatry, and fixing that idea of unity of plan in the universe which
is the fruitful and stable root of all true progress in science. We
owe profound thanks to the old Hebrew prophet for these words--words
which have broken from the necks of once superstitious Aryan races
chains more galling than those of Egyptian bondage.