Genesis 1:1

Genesis 1:1 is the first Bible verse of the first chapter in the Book of Genesis, and the first words in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, the first word b’reishit is employed to name both the first Torah portion (parshah) of the lectionary cycle as well as the name for the first book of the Bible. This article addresses critical scholarship, religious exegesis, and usage of the verse. Variant English translations of the verse and references may be found below.

Critical scholarship

In Biblical source criticism, Genesis 1:1 opens a chapter that exemplifies the work of the priestly source (P). For instance, Von Rad argues that the chapter lacks hymic, mythological, or symbolic elements. Rather, it is a concise exposition of priestly doctrine.

Verse 1 may be analyzed syntactically as either an independent sentence (Von Rad) or, more commonly, as a temporal clause leading into v.2 (e.g., Kselman, Oxford)

The opening word of the verse, b’reishit, has a temporal meaning, though the precise meaning is open to interpretation. (That is, it may mean: “in the beginning”, “in the beginning when…”, “at the beginning”, “during the beginning” or “when [God] began.”) (N.B. The Hebrew word, b’reishit, apparently lacks the definite article (‘the’), which accounts for some of the differences in translation.) The interpreted meaning is highly significant because it contributes to both Biblical thought and subsequent religious doctrines.

The verb in the verse is bara (created or fashioned) which, says Von Rad (49), “contains the idea both of complete effortlessness and creatio ex nihilo, since it is never connected with any statement of the material.” Hence it may be contrasted with alternative, such as qanah or yatzar. The verb bara typically signifies a divine activity and it occurs 48 times in the Hebrew Bible (Even-Shoshan concordance).

The Hebrew word for "God" used in this passage is Elohim. This word choice may be contrasted with the tetragrammaton (four letter name of God), which appears throughout the second telling of creation in Genesis ch. 2. Source critics attribute the tetragrammaton to the J (Yahwistic) source.

In verse 1:1, Genesis states that God created “the heavens and the earth.” This ordering may be contrasted with the creation account of Genesis 2:4b (“earth and heavens”), attributed to the earlier J source. (N.B. In Hebrew, “heavens” is in a plural form.)

In his classic analysis, Von Rad (p.49) states: “One may understand v.1 as the summary statement of everything that is unfolded step by step in the verse.” He argues that v.1 is dominant, relative to its companion v.2, and thereby ensures that Genesis ch.1 “moves not so much between the poles of nothingness and creation as between the poles of chaos and cosmos.” (p.51) Whether Biblical scholars stress ex nihilo creation, or creation from a pre-existent chaos, would tend to justify or constitute quite different doctrinal readings of the verse. For this reason, it is worth noting that some critics (e.g., Levenson) question the neutrality of Protestant Biblical scholars when they interpret Biblical theology.

Religious interpretations

The verse begins the account of creation according to Genesis, where God creates "the heavens and the earth." This has been variously interpreted:

• Some believe that Genesis 1:1 refers to the creation of matter itself, through the creation of atoms, molecules, heat, and stars. This hypothesis is referred to as creatio ex nihilo, Latin for “creation from nothing."

• Some believe that Genesis 1:1 refers to the ordering of matter by God as the "master architect," such as the creation of a multi-dimensional space-time continuum.

Some suggest that God must have withdrawn some of his own being in order to create or order the universe. (E.g., see kabbalah.)

Jewish interpretations

In the traditions of Jewish interpretation and amplifying narrative (i.e., midrash and aggadah) of the Hebrew Bible, Genesis 1:1 is one of the Biblical verses addressed at greatest length.

In typical midrashic fashion, Jewish exegesis of the verse begins with the first letter, bet. For instance, Genesis Rabbah (1:10) recognizes that the letter is closed on three sides and, accordingly, reads this closure as a sign to not speculate about the beginning of God or whatever preceded the creation account. (Cp. Mishnah Hagiga 2:2)

Midrashic and medieval rabbinic commentary also focus on the different word choices for the divine in verse 1:1ff. and 2.4ff. Thus, God in the first creation account acts from the attribute of “Judgment” in contradistinction to “Mercy”. For instance, Rashi declares that the world could not survive under pure judgment and hence, as seen by chapter 2, God gave precedence to divine mercy.

In the modern period, some Orthodox Jews interpret verse 1:1ff. in line with creationism, which may reflect the literal reading of some Protestants.

Neverthless, for many rabbis, verse 1:1 indicates not so much the literal order or manner of creation (cf. creationism, but rather it testifies to the foundational claim that God created the world. Thus, Aqiva argues in midrash that just as a house proves the existence of the builder, a garment of the weaver, so the world testifies to God as the creator.

The foremost medieval rabbinic commentator, Rashi argues that the verse does not signify the order of creation, else it would have used other wording (barishonah or “at first”). Furthermore, he notes, were the verse to signify order then the waters (v.2) would be deemed to have been created before the heavens and earth. Similarly, in midrash, the schools of Shammai and Hillel disagree about the order of creation, due to the conflicting ordering of the heavens and earth in Gen. 1:1 and 2:4. Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai reportedly tries to reconcile this conflict, arguing for simultaneous creation “like a pot and a lid”. (Cp. the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitiones I:27, per Urbach).

Given such traditions in Rabbinic interpretation, some Orthodox Jews and most other Jews do not accept a literal “creationism” reading of Genesis 1:1ff.

Rabbi Aqiva reportedly is challenged to explain the two uses in verse 1:1 of the word ‘et (this word marks the accusative state (direct object) and cannot be translated in English). Aqiva declares that each ‘et amplifies the creation account by hinting at specific celestial and earthly entities. Urbach (185) argues that Aqiva’s creative exposition “sought to controvert a Gnostic explanation.”

Finally, rabbinic Judaism considered why the Torah begins with verse 1:1ff. at all. Rhetorically, midrashic sources hypothesize that the Torah could begin with another key point, such as the first commandment to Israel (Exodus 12:1). In the end, some suggest that the world was created for the sake of the Torah itself.

Similarly, midrash Genesis Rabbah (1:1) actually opens by declaring that the first word of the verse means “with the Torah” and it suggests that the Divine Architect used the Torah as a blueprint. (Cf. Philo, De opificio mundi 17-20 and John 1:1)

Christian exegesis

Not unlike the (later) rabbinic midrash that envisions God as creating with a pre-existent Torah, some early Christian exegesis of Genesis 1:1 put the emphasis on a logocentric account of creation. Hence, the Gospel of John opens: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Oxford)

Verse 1:1 is cited in Christian approaches to creatio ex nihilo doctrine(s). For example, Augustine states: “The Bible says (and the Bible never lies): ‘In the beginning God made heaven and earth.’ It must be inferred that God has created nothing before that; ‘in the beginning’ must refer to whatever he made before all his other works. Thus there can be no doubt that the world was not created in time but with time.” (Confessions IX:6) Some thinkers, such as Aquinas, compare and correlate Christian doctrine with various strands of Greek philosophy.

Genesis verse 1:1ff. is also central to Christian literalist doctrines of creationism, which is discussed in a separate article.

Usage (non-religious)

The verse and especially the phrase "In the beginning" are referenced in popular culture.

Among modern poets, for example, the verse is both attacked and exegeted:

“In the beginning God created slums and garbage dumps He looked out from his balcony

And saw they were gorgeous….”

• from Genesis by Nicanor Parra (in Curzon)

“Yet at the first verse, a hair-thin net of cracks appears, each crack a vast highway, and wildly we

leap

on this first, this universal, cobble, BREISHIT.

‘In-the-beginning.’

Or maybe, ‘In-the-beginning-of.” Of what, you may

Ask – of “making”? No…..

ELOHIM. The third word of the Bible is God. Well literally “gods” but by convention – except in pagan contexts – through Christians, too, find Trinity adumbrations here, faint rushes of the Presence-packed Unseen. …. … The

lovely

sentence, the terrible world – the beginning. Inerrant, perfect, the first verse of the Bible.”

• from The First Verse by Anne Winters (in Curzon)

Text

בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ

Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz.

Translation	Text
American Standard Version	"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Bible in Basic English	"At the first God made the heaven and the earth."
Darby Bible	"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
God's Word	"In the beginning God created heaven and earth."
Jewish Publication Society (3rd ed.)	"When God began to create heaven and Earth—"
King James Version	"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
The Message	"First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don't see. "
Young's Literal Translation	"In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth."

Sources and references

• Curzon, David. Modern poems on the Bible: an anthology. Phila: Jewish Publication Society, 1994.
• Kselman, John S. “Genesis” in Harper’s Bible Dictionary.
• The Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha
• Rosenbaum and Silberman. Pentateuch with Rashi’s Commentary.
• Torat Chaim Chumash. Mossad HaRav Kook. 1986
• Urbach, Ephraim E. The Sages: the world and wisdom of the rabbis of the Talmud.
• Von Rad, Gerhard. Genesis: A commentary. Phila: The Westminster Press, 1972

• Jewish Publication Society. The Torah: The Five Books of Moses (3rd ed). Philadelphia: 1999.
• "Genesis 1:1." Online Parallel Bible. [1]

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