"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," so says the Bible. This article will be directed mainly for those of a Christian background who flock to DEN OF HEATHENS. I'm not here to confirm or deny what the Bible says. I hate arguments where people argue for or against the Bible. Remove either side and that's where I stand. That first scripture in Hebrew text, translated to english, has been the subject of much controversy. To understand this scripture, we should not look at a translation, nor should we look at a version of Hebrew scripture. We should study it in its original form; Hebrew.
The original text reads, Bereshyt barah Elohim et ha-shamaim va-et ha-eretz. Let's break down this sentence into a direct literation. The first word, Bereshyt, means "In the beginning" This includes the word, Reshyt, which means "the beginning," but what beginning does it speak of? The word doesn't imply an actual beginning, but is used as a source name from which creation stems from. The second word is, barah, meaning "created." The next word to follow holds the deepest confusion. Elohim, is transliterated to mean "the Gods." English versions of the original text only offer the word "God" ignoring the fact that the word is plural in origin. The word may have originated from the Canaanite god, El. Elohim is also a masculine and feminine sense of Divinity
Bereshyt barah Elohim, seems to state that "Bereshyt created the Gods" from which the source of all Divine can be originated. Now, can more than one God be varified in Hebrew scripture, or was Judiasm a religion of single God? Genesis 1:26 has God speaking, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness..." When he speaks, who is it that he refers to as our image and our likeness?
The next word is puzzling. Et implies "you" in a female sense of the word. Perhaps when the text reads, Elohim et, it's refering to a female pantheon of Gods, as in intentionally directing our attention to the Goddess, but there's no proof in this, and only my mind rambles on. The rest of the text reads, ha-shamaim va-et ha-eretz. Again, the word, et, is seen The words, ha-shamaim and ha-eretz, means "the heavens" and "the earth" respectively.
When the text speaks of the heavens, the word for it does not imply a literal place where the Divine dwell. The word, shamaim, refers to the sky where the sun and moon are found. The idea of the Heavens being a far away place is often misunderstood. When the text speaks of the heavens and the earth, what's being implied is the sky and the earth having been created. Remember that everything in nature has a duality. The sky is masculine and the earth is feminine. Forces do not oppose each other, as many Christians would believe. Forces compliment each other, because all things should have a balance of equality.
So what does the first scripture of Hebrew text express? "Bereshyt created the Gods, the heavens and the earth," would seem to be a direct phrasing of the text. That first scripture of Hebrew text launches th ideas for the rest of the Bible which follows. A direct literation seems to have a different focus. People have often wondered and questioned where and whom god came from. According to Hebrew scripture, this would imply that Bereshyt is the creator of all things, Bereshyt being the source name, rather than a beginning from which the word is translated.