Beresheit (in the beginning) (Genesis) 1:1 – 6:8

When you are hungry for Torah, you see a correlation between your spiritual hunger and your physical hunger. You don’t eat once and you’re done. Your hunger is a cycle. You eat and satisfy your hunger; after awhile, you are hungry again and you eat again. It is a cycle that lasts throughout your life.

The Cycle

The study of Torah is also a cycle. I am at the beginning of the annual cycle this week with Beresheit (in the beginning). I know there are a variety of cycle schedules, and if the one I am following is different from the one you use, I apologize. But the essential lesson here is that the study of Torah is a cycle. We begin, we study our way through each book, and we end, but the end is only the end in the same sense that a ring has an end.

 The Father's Heart

The last letter in the Torah is a lamed. It comes at the end of the last word, Israel. The first letter of the Torah is the bet. It comes at the beginning of the first word, beresheit. When we see the Torah as a cycle, ring, or circle, where the end connects with the beginning we have the word Lamed bet, lev, heart. The rabbinic teaching is that this shows that the Torah is the heart of the Father. I don’t think the rabbis get it all right all the time, but there are times such as this that I think they are right on track.

The Torah tells us more about who Elohim is and what He is like than any other book. Even when Yeshua was with us, He constantly referred back to the Torah. Yeshua said “I can do nothing but what the Father shows me.” Where did the Father show Yeshua what to do? If we look at how often Yeshua referred to the Torah, we can see that it is filled with instructions for living. I think Yeshua was saying that He followed the written instructions given in the Torah.

The encouraging news is that if we love Yehovah with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength, we can also do all that the Father shows us. I don’t mean to say we can do all that Yeshua did, He was the only begotten Son in the flesh, but we can still be obedient to Father’s instructions, just as Yeshua was. That was part of Yeshua’s message, “Follow me.”

Starting at the Beginning...of John

I am going to begin this study with Yochanan’s (John) explanation of beresheit.

“In the beginning (beresheit) was the Word (ha Dvar), and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. The same was in the beginning with Elohim. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:1-3)

We need to remember that in Yochanan’s day the Scriptures had not been divided into the chapters and verses we have today. He would have referred to a portion of text by its name; in this case, he pointed us to our current portion, beresheit. Now let’s return to beresheit and lay Yochanan’s explanation alongside the verse to which he referred.

In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

And in Hebrew;

Beresheit bara elohim et haShamayim v’et haEretz. (Beresheit 1:1)

In Hebrew, can you see something that isn’t there in English? I see a balance of seven. Three words on one side and three words on the other side with the little word, et, aleph tav, in the middle. It balances the two sides. On one side, the verse says, “In the beginning created Elohim,” and on the other side of the balance it says, “The heavens and the earth.”

A Rabbi Trail to the End

Now, I’m going to take a little rabbi trail and bring up Yochanan’s vision as recorded in the book of Revelation.

“...Saying, “I am Alpha and Omega (Since both Yochanan and Yeshua were Hebrews, more than likely, that’s not what He said. He probably said (I am) “ani Aleph Tav”), the first and the last: and, What you see, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.” And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;” (Revelation 1:11-12)

What is the likely form that seven candlesticks would take for a first century Hebrew? The menorah! Imagine if you will a golden menorah. Got the picture in your mind? Now, in the middle is Yeshua and on each side are three arms of the menorah. On one side, in the beginning created Elohim, and on the other the heavens and the earth. After all, Yeshua has just said, “ani aleph tav,” and lo and behold, there He is, standing right where the aleph tav in our first verse of the Torah puts Him.

 The Trail Back to the Beginning

Okay, back from that rabbi trail excursion...and onto another.

“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Elohim moved upon the face of the waters. And Elohim said, Let there be light: and there was light.” (Beresheit 1:2-3)

According to Yochanan, the Word was with Elohim and the Word was Elohim. It says, Elohim said, what did He say? In the Hebrew it was “yahee ohr,” let there be Light. Words. And there was light.

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended (seized, overtook) it not.”(John 1:4-5)

Do you see the correlation between the account Yochanan gives and the account in Beresheit? There was darkness, and Elohim said words, “Let there be light and there was light,” “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.”

Enough trails, let’s get into the portion.

Elohim is The Creator

This, the very first portion of Torah tells us some vital information. Elohim created the heavens, the earth, and everything that occurs naturally in them. He is the Creator. All that we see in nature is His. Since it is all His, He has the right to tell all of creation what to do and what not to do. As we progress through the instructions in the Torah, we need to keep that in mind. Elohim has the right to tell us what to do

He also has the right to correct us when we go astray, and to discipline us when we refuse to return, shuv to His instructions.

Skip down with me to Beresheit 1:14, 

“And Elohim said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years...” (Genesis 1:14)

Signs of What? Seasons?

Note the underlined signs and seasons. First signs, oht in Hebrew. What are they signs of? They are signs that Elohim is the Creator placed where man cannot monkey with them (Evolution/Monkey). The Gospel in the Stars, by Joseph Seiss, explains that the stars and constellations tell the story of the Gospel. If Seiss is correct, then the statement that the planets and stars are for signs is quite literal.

According to end time prophecy, the stars are going to fall from the heavens, as a sign of the coming of the Son of Man. We have the signs that explain the entire plan of Elohim before us nightly, and in the end, those same stars will become a sign that the end is here.

The second word, seasons, is the Hebrew word moedim, festivals. We have just completed the final festival of the year, Sukkoth, with its attendant days of Hoshana Rabbah and Simchat Torah. The moon is our guide for the festivals. Sukkoth began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. 

How do we know the fifteenth day of the month? We watch for the new moon, and when it appears, we begin to count. The first day of the new moon is day one. We count to fifteen and we arrive at Sukkoth. It’s the same with the other festivals (except one but we will go into that when we get to that portion) they are attached to a day of the month, and the moon tells us when to start counting.

Elohim put the sun, the moon and the stars in the heavens for light and to show us the His story, and to give us a calendar so we can keep His festivals.

Each of the days of creation are numbered, but not as they appear to be in the English. They progress as, day one, day two and so on, until the sixth day and the seventh day. Perhaps the days of the two crowning events of creation are set apart from the other days. On the sixth day, Elohim created man, and on the seventh day, the Shabbat.

 Humans are Specially Formed, not Final Links on an Evolutionary Chain

As we look at the actions involved in creating man there is a difference from the other creations. Elohim forms man from the ground. In Hebrew, man (adam) is formed from the ground (adamah) and Elohim calls him adam (man). Once adam is formed, then Yehovah Elohim breathes into adam the neshama of life and adam becomes a living nephesh.

According to the creation account, all animals have a nephesh, but only adam has a neshama. Yehovah breathed into adam His neshama before adam became a living nephesh. All the other creatures were created as living nephesh. People are special creations

As a side note, evolution is a lie that attempts to remove Elohim and turn the world upside down. In creation people are a special creation, endowed by the Creator with something none of the animals have, a neshama. In evolution, people are just another animal descended along the same familial lines as all other animals, from a rock in a primordial soup.

So much more in this portion, but so little space, and I know that your time is valuable, so I will end with the thought that even though Elohim saw that all of creation was good, that it didn’t take long for people to pervert creation to the point that Elohim destroyed it to remove the evil. “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man.”

I look around at the world today and measure it against the Torah and I see that the thoughts of humans in general appear to be evil continually. Maybe we should examine ourselves and repent.

Until next week when we will feed our hunger for Torah and delve into portion Noach, shalom, keep Torah like your life depends on it, for Torah is not idle words, it is your life.