johndbrey@gmail.com
©
2013 John D. Brey.
Without
getting too deep into Rashi, Nachmanides, and all the other experts in Hebrew
exegesis . . . it can't be accurately stated that the Masoretic interpretation
presents an acceptable translation of the first sentence in the holy text. ---
In truth---it’s a bereshity translation.
----
Bereshit is a noun in the construct and requires another noun to
complete the phrase. That noun is missing, since bara is a verb. ------
In a correct translation, the beit ב in bereshit must be
translated as a prepositional phrase, “By means of,” such that a correct
translation of Genesis 1:1 reads: “By means of the Head, hidden in the
beginning, were the Elohim, heaven, and earth, all created.”
Not only is there the problem that bereshit in the construct requires another noun, but furthermore, the alef א which is the head of the Hebrew alphabet, should come before the beit ב, which incongruously begins the first word in the Torah. The Hebrew letters alef-tav את (the first and last letters) represent the entire Torah, such that for this, and a multitude of other reasons, the alef א would be thought to be the first letter in the Torah.
The New Testament, with emphasis on Paul’s epistles, speak of a “Mystery" hidden from the creation of the world; a Mystery revealed not through the written Torah, not in the synoptic Gospels, but exclusively through John’s Gospel and the Epistles (to include Revelation).
Without getting too deep into Paul, and Peter, and the author of the NT book of Hebrews, we’re told by Paul that the basis of the Mystery is that the Head (rosh ראש) of the Church, was hidden in the beginning, and revealed only after the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Colossians, Paul says forthrightly that Jesus Christ is the firstborn, the image of the invisible God, the Head . . . and that in and through Him all things were created and hold together. We see the same teaching in the first chapter of John. -----So it would seem a foregone conclusion that Genesis 1:1 be brought into line with this teaching, particularly since the Jewish sages themselves point out the problems with the way Genesis 1:1 is translated for the profane masses.
Revelation 13:8 speaks of a “Lamb," slain for the Foundation of the world. And since this Lamb would be the Head, it would be a Ram as well as a Lamb, such that the Hebrew alef א pictographically representing an Ox, or a horned quadruped, fittingly serves as the letteral emblem of the Ram or Lamb of God.
Since Paul tells us that this Ram, this Lamb, is “hidden” in the Torah until the death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should look more carefully, now that our Lord is seated at the right hand of the Father, to see if He is indeed hidden in the “beginning" of the Word of God.
א
רש
בית
בראשית
If we take the Lamb of God, the Head of all Creation (the alef א) , and place it into the Hebrew word “Head” ראש, and then take the word for “Head” (rosh ראש) and place it into the Hebrew word for “house,” beit (בית), we get the word Bereshit בראשית----- If we set aside the first letter of bereshit בראשית, the ב, (since it’s prepositional) we’re left with the word reshit ראשית, which is the Hebrew word “beginning.”. . Which is to say that the Lamb/Ram of God, the alef א, is “housed” or hidden in the “beginning,” the reshit ראשית. ----- If we separate the first three letters (the original text had no separation of letters so that all separations are based on interpretation) bara ברא, “created,” from the last three letters shit שית, “foundation," it reads: “Created foundation,” justifying our belief that the alef found hidden in the “beginning” ב–, is the created foundation of the world, the Lamb slain for the foundation of the world, in all but the bereshitiest of translations of the Word of God.
Not only is there the problem that bereshit in the construct requires another noun, but furthermore, the alef א which is the head of the Hebrew alphabet, should come before the beit ב, which incongruously begins the first word in the Torah. The Hebrew letters alef-tav את (the first and last letters) represent the entire Torah, such that for this, and a multitude of other reasons, the alef א would be thought to be the first letter in the Torah.
The New Testament, with emphasis on Paul’s epistles, speak of a “Mystery" hidden from the creation of the world; a Mystery revealed not through the written Torah, not in the synoptic Gospels, but exclusively through John’s Gospel and the Epistles (to include Revelation).
Without getting too deep into Paul, and Peter, and the author of the NT book of Hebrews, we’re told by Paul that the basis of the Mystery is that the Head (rosh ראש) of the Church, was hidden in the beginning, and revealed only after the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Colossians, Paul says forthrightly that Jesus Christ is the firstborn, the image of the invisible God, the Head . . . and that in and through Him all things were created and hold together. We see the same teaching in the first chapter of John. -----So it would seem a foregone conclusion that Genesis 1:1 be brought into line with this teaching, particularly since the Jewish sages themselves point out the problems with the way Genesis 1:1 is translated for the profane masses.
Revelation 13:8 speaks of a “Lamb," slain for the Foundation of the world. And since this Lamb would be the Head, it would be a Ram as well as a Lamb, such that the Hebrew alef א pictographically representing an Ox, or a horned quadruped, fittingly serves as the letteral emblem of the Ram or Lamb of God.
Since Paul tells us that this Ram, this Lamb, is “hidden” in the Torah until the death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should look more carefully, now that our Lord is seated at the right hand of the Father, to see if He is indeed hidden in the “beginning" of the Word of God.
א
רש
בית
בראשית
If we take the Lamb of God, the Head of all Creation (the alef א) , and place it into the Hebrew word “Head” ראש, and then take the word for “Head” (rosh ראש) and place it into the Hebrew word for “house,” beit (בית), we get the word Bereshit בראשית----- If we set aside the first letter of bereshit בראשית, the ב, (since it’s prepositional) we’re left with the word reshit ראשית, which is the Hebrew word “beginning.”. . Which is to say that the Lamb/Ram of God, the alef א, is “housed” or hidden in the “beginning,” the reshit ראשית. ----- If we separate the first three letters (the original text had no separation of letters so that all separations are based on interpretation) bara ברא, “created,” from the last three letters shit שית, “foundation," it reads: “Created foundation,” justifying our belief that the alef found hidden in the “beginning” ב–, is the created foundation of the world, the Lamb slain for the foundation of the world, in all but the bereshitiest of translations of the Word of God.
It’s difficult to understand
how Christian interpreters overlook the teaching of the New Testament
concerning Genesis 1:1. For instance, only a daft exegete could possibly read
Colossians 1:15-20 and not see that Paul is clearly and unequivocally
responding to the incompetence of the Jewish traditional interpretation of
Genesis 1:1. Which is to say Colossians 1:15-20 is a straightforward response
to the corruption of Genesis 1:1 passed on through the MT (Masoretic Text):
Who is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones,
or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and
for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is
the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the
Father that in him should all fulness dwell . . ..
These verses are speaking not of God himself, but of Christ, as the first created being (the “firstborn of every creature”) through whom God (the Father) created the angels (elohim), the heavens, and the earth. The traditional reading of Genesis 1:1 gives no first created cause through whom God created everything subsequently. This is a fatal flaw so far as the traditional reading of the verse is concerned.
The traditional translation of Genesis 1:1 is patently wrong according to Colossians 1:15-20, since it claims God created the heaven and the earth . . . with no mention of the agency of that creation, which all of the Epistles of the New Testament teach us is Christ, the first-fruit, the firstborn of all creatures, the first created agency through whom God the Father created the angels (elohim), the heaven, and the earth. Colossians 1:15-20 is clear that apart from the “creation" of Christ, nothing was created that has been created, and yet Christ is “hidden” in the Jewish interpretation of the text adopted by daft Christian traditionalists.
John 1:1-5 confirms what’s taught in Colossians 1:15-20, that the Word was “with” God (as the image of God, and the agency of God) even though the Word was God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All
things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In
him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in
darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Christ is the “head,” rosh ראש in Hebrew, so that we’re not surprised to find rosh ראש hidden in the first word, the beginning word, in the account of the Creation. The Hebrew word for the “head,” as in the New Testament “head” of all creation, the firstborn of creation, is hidden in the Hebrew word “beginning” reshit ראשית, which happens to be the beginning word in the Creation account. . . . And since we have no noun after the first Hebrew word, reshit, we must translate “the beginning created elohim,” meaning that the head rosh, hidden in the beginning reshit, created elohim, the heaven, and the earth.
“Through the agency of the head ראש hidden in the beginning ראשית the invisible unnamable and unnamed Father created the angels אלהים the heaven שמים and the earth ארץ.”
A careful reading of
Colossians 1:15-18 makes it pretty clear that the passage is speaking of the
same Christ who is called the Logos in the first chapter of John. And the
glaring problem is that this entity is called the firstborn creature, the
initial creation from the transcendent God, the mediator of all subsequent
creation. God (Elohim) does not create heaven and earth ex nihilo. He creates
Christ, the Word, ex nihilo, and then creates heaven and earth through the
Word, the Christ, using Christ as the foundation, the schematic, and the means
by which He creates heaven and earth.
The remarkable thing is that
the idea of a prototype through which the rest of creation is mediated is
Jewish through and through. And yet even the Jewish exegetes refuse to use
their knowledge that YHVH is the Protokos, while Elohim is the invisible God,
to correct the chasm that is the errant interpretation of Genesis 1:1. There
appears to be a conspiracy between Christians and Jews to ignore all the
problems with the current interpretation of Genesis 1:1 . . . as though a
proper interpretation does some kind of damage to false traditions idolized in
both faiths?
* * *
The proper translation of
the Hebrew of Gen. 1:2 translates the disjunctive clause, "but" the
earth "became." Something occurs between verse 1 and 2, which is
described elsewhere, that leads to the earth "becoming," tohu and bohu.
And if the original creation is hidden
in the first creation, then Gen. 2:4 is the original, the protokos, which is
then hidden in the first creation (just like the first letter, alef א, is hidden
in the second letter, beit ב).
This explains many things. First of all how the wind of the Elohim can hover over the water, when water is not created till later in the process. It explains why Adam is created first in the second creation account, while animals are created before him in the first creation account. But more important, is the fact that in the second creation account we have "YHVH Elohim" doing the creating, while in the first account, which is really the second, YHVH is not to be found. The Elohim merely restore, starting with Genesis 1:2, what was originally created (by "YHVH Elohim") in the second creation account, beginning in Genesis 2:4.
Psalm 33:6 says: "By the word of YHVH were the heavens made; by the breath of his mouth." YHVH is noted in the Genesis 2:4 account, while he is absent in the first chapter of Genesis.
This explains many things. First of all how the wind of the Elohim can hover over the water, when water is not created till later in the process. It explains why Adam is created first in the second creation account, while animals are created before him in the first creation account. But more important, is the fact that in the second creation account we have "YHVH Elohim" doing the creating, while in the first account, which is really the second, YHVH is not to be found. The Elohim merely restore, starting with Genesis 1:2, what was originally created (by "YHVH Elohim") in the second creation account, beginning in Genesis 2:4.
Psalm 33:6 says: "By the word of YHVH were the heavens made; by the breath of his mouth." YHVH is noted in the Genesis 2:4 account, while he is absent in the first chapter of Genesis.
Tohu, and bohu, cannot speak of God's initial
creation. Something happens between verse 1 and verse 2, which is hidden in the
rest of the Bible, particularly the NT, and particularly Revelation 13:8.
When Adam sins, he and Eve will be condemned immediately to Gehenna, unless a substitute takes their place. YHVH takes their place. He's sacrificed by a select group of Elohim (angels) who are the heavenly version of the earthly Israel. Adam and Eve are then clothed in the flesh and blood of the Lamb of God, animals being the type of deity in the OT. The Elohim are represented by bulls and serpents, while YHVH is represented by the innocent Lamb.
In the Zohar, which is the place where Judaism's most hush hush secrets are revealed, we're told that Elohim is the "palace" created to house God's Name. The word "bereshit" is literally the word for a "palace," a home, or temple, "beit," with the word for "origin" (rosh) housed right in the middle of the word for "palace" (temple, house): be-rosh-it (beit yod-tav with rosh inserted in the middle).
When Adam sins, he and Eve will be condemned immediately to Gehenna, unless a substitute takes their place. YHVH takes their place. He's sacrificed by a select group of Elohim (angels) who are the heavenly version of the earthly Israel. Adam and Eve are then clothed in the flesh and blood of the Lamb of God, animals being the type of deity in the OT. The Elohim are represented by bulls and serpents, while YHVH is represented by the innocent Lamb.
In the Zohar, which is the place where Judaism's most hush hush secrets are revealed, we're told that Elohim is the "palace" created to house God's Name. The word "bereshit" is literally the word for a "palace," a home, or temple, "beit," with the word for "origin" (rosh) housed right in the middle of the word for "palace" (temple, house): be-rosh-it (beit yod-tav with rosh inserted in the middle).
Acts 7 tells us what is repeated
throughout the NT; that when Israel created the golden calf, and then crucified
Christ as the fulfillment of that type, God hid his face from Israel, such that
they began to worship angels in the place of the true God. The veil in the
temple represents the hiding of God from Israel. That veil was torn at the
crucifixion, such that the head that was hidden in the Jewish interpretation of
Genesis 1 is revealed after the crucifixion of Christ (when the veil in the beit is torn) such that we now know that
Jesus Christ is the rosh, the origin,
hidden in the Jewish interpretation of the first chapter of the book of
Genesis. We need only realize that the second creation account is actually the
original, which became the second, only when the origin was hidden, veiled, in
the first.
Israel is first. The Church, which is second, is the origin --- hidden in the first. Jesus Christ is the origin of Israel, hidden in the genes of Israel until the virgin birth. He who came second is the first. Before Abraham's mother gave him birth, Christ was. Before the Elohim were, Christ was.
Israel is first. The Church, which is second, is the origin --- hidden in the first. Jesus Christ is the origin of Israel, hidden in the genes of Israel until the virgin birth. He who came second is the first. Before Abraham's mother gave him birth, Christ was. Before the Elohim were, Christ was.
Elohim is used for men, God,
and angels.
Since word division is a product of the Jewish traditional pointing (punctuation), associated with the Song of Moses, which is a curse against Israel, God's "face" or "head" rosh, is hidden in the particular word division of the sacred text which became the Masoretic Text. Deuteronomy 31 makes it clear that God gives Israel the Song of Moses as the cantillation that will be translated into a reading of the text, specifically Genesis 1:1, that will hide the "face" or "head" of God (i.e. Christ) from Israel, even as that reading is, and leads to, a breaking of the covenant (i.e., the head of the covenant, Jesus Christ).
Since word division is a product of the Jewish traditional pointing (punctuation), associated with the Song of Moses, which is a curse against Israel, God's "face" or "head" rosh, is hidden in the particular word division of the sacred text which became the Masoretic Text. Deuteronomy 31 makes it clear that God gives Israel the Song of Moses as the cantillation that will be translated into a reading of the text, specifically Genesis 1:1, that will hide the "face" or "head" of God (i.e. Christ) from Israel, even as that reading is, and leads to, a breaking of the covenant (i.e., the head of the covenant, Jesus Christ).
The word "covenant," berit, is literally a shortened version
of bereshit. Bereshit is בראשית, while berit
is ברית. The word "rosh" is
merely condensed into the letter r, reish,
but the meaning remains the same. In other words, The rosh, ר, is hidden in, behind the veil, of the temple beit ברית. Not
until that veil is torn, is the "head," rosh, revealed. And even then, it is the Church, and not Israel, at
this point in the revelation, who sees the "head," as is revealed in
Colossians 1:15, and Hebrews chapter 1.
Throughout Jewish scripture and midrashim, the sages battle the reading of Genesis 1:1 that has the Elohim as the object, rather than the subject. They battle it not so much on grammar, since if word division is left open, the grammar works (such that the Zohar, and other Jewish sources translate/interpret Genesis 1:1 with Elohim as the object), but through other tactics of exegesis, all of which are pointless (so to say) regarding the authority of the Christian reading.
Hebrews chapter 1, Colossians 1:15-20, and John 1:1-6 (with other NT passages) make it patently clear that Christ is the "image" or "radiance" or created manifestation of the uncreated, and un-manifested God, and that nothing was created that wasn't created by, and through, him. Scripture suggests strongly that Christ has not yet been revealed to the angels, 1 Peter 1:12, Eph. 3:10, as he has been revealed to the Church. This suggests that Christ created the angels, who fashioned the earth, without their knowledge of his existence. Like their scientific materialistic human counterparts, these angels probably posit a natural or dare one say Darwinistic, theory for their own existence. If they're theistic, like their Jewish counterparts, they read the Torah as Israel does, as the traditional reading of Genesis 1:1 does . . . which is to say, reading Christ out of the picture: for He is utterly hidden to them, or from them.
Christ created the angels, who, therein fashioned the earth (starting with Gen. 1:2). But unbeknownst to the angels and all the earth is the fact that He, the head, and his spiritual body, the Church, through whom the spiritual Kingdom, and the New heaven and earth will be fashioned, were all hidden in the beginnings of this creation; revealed prematurely to the Church, Christ's spiritual body, hidden with Him, but revealed to all creation at the eschaton, when all creatures will see what is hidden to all but those who have been prematurely born "in Christ" hidden from the world by the veil that is the nature of the fallen world.
Throughout Jewish scripture and midrashim, the sages battle the reading of Genesis 1:1 that has the Elohim as the object, rather than the subject. They battle it not so much on grammar, since if word division is left open, the grammar works (such that the Zohar, and other Jewish sources translate/interpret Genesis 1:1 with Elohim as the object), but through other tactics of exegesis, all of which are pointless (so to say) regarding the authority of the Christian reading.
Hebrews chapter 1, Colossians 1:15-20, and John 1:1-6 (with other NT passages) make it patently clear that Christ is the "image" or "radiance" or created manifestation of the uncreated, and un-manifested God, and that nothing was created that wasn't created by, and through, him. Scripture suggests strongly that Christ has not yet been revealed to the angels, 1 Peter 1:12, Eph. 3:10, as he has been revealed to the Church. This suggests that Christ created the angels, who fashioned the earth, without their knowledge of his existence. Like their scientific materialistic human counterparts, these angels probably posit a natural or dare one say Darwinistic, theory for their own existence. If they're theistic, like their Jewish counterparts, they read the Torah as Israel does, as the traditional reading of Genesis 1:1 does . . . which is to say, reading Christ out of the picture: for He is utterly hidden to them, or from them.
Christ created the angels, who, therein fashioned the earth (starting with Gen. 1:2). But unbeknownst to the angels and all the earth is the fact that He, the head, and his spiritual body, the Church, through whom the spiritual Kingdom, and the New heaven and earth will be fashioned, were all hidden in the beginnings of this creation; revealed prematurely to the Church, Christ's spiritual body, hidden with Him, but revealed to all creation at the eschaton, when all creatures will see what is hidden to all but those who have been prematurely born "in Christ" hidden from the world by the veil that is the nature of the fallen world.
Genesis 1:1 records the fact
that through the created foundation (bara
shit), the angels (i.e "heaven") and mankind (the
"earth") were all created. That's a complete revelation. Genesis 1:2
records not earth as it was created, for tohu
and bohu are signs of death,
destruction, evil, refuse, etc. Genesis 1:2 takes up after a cosmic battle of
biblical proportions has taken place, with earth the battle ground. Even as
Israel rejected the head, hidden from them, the Elohim, who
like their human counterparts, were blinded from seeing Him in his manifest
glory, rejected the head.
Revelation chapter 12 reveals that the great dragon drew one third of the angels of heaven into a plot which caused him (them) to be thrown out of heaven to earth, causing the earth to become tohu and bohu. We see the same thing in Genesis 6, when the bene ha elohim leave their heavenly realm to contaminate the sons and daughters of Seth with their filth. . . Once again, the waters of discipline cover the earth, and the "wind" of God passes over the water so that dry earth once again appears only as the prototype of a new epoch.
Revelation chapter 12 reveals that the great dragon drew one third of the angels of heaven into a plot which caused him (them) to be thrown out of heaven to earth, causing the earth to become tohu and bohu. We see the same thing in Genesis 6, when the bene ha elohim leave their heavenly realm to contaminate the sons and daughters of Seth with their filth. . . Once again, the waters of discipline cover the earth, and the "wind" of God passes over the water so that dry earth once again appears only as the prototype of a new epoch.
Colossians 1:12-20:
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even
the forgiveness of sins: 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones,
or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and
for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18 And
he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it
pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; 20 And, having made
peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto
himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
This is the New interpretation of Genesis 1:1 . . . the one revealed by Messiah, and relayed to us by his most able adept the Apostle Paul. -----Paul's revelation, while not transgressing the actual "letters" in the signature text, does in fact transgress the literal "reading" nailed down (so to say) by the Jewish translation/imposition (the MT).
Although the letters of the
Hebrew autograph open themselves up for Paul's reading of the text, the Jewish
tradition contained in the Masoretic Text does not. Which is to say that Paul's
reading of Genesis 1:1 is compatible with the un-pointed Hebrew text, but not
with the Jewish reading of the text. Both readings are compatible with the
un-pointed text, but both readings are not compatible with each other.
Paul's reading is not compatible with the Masoretic Text, since in the MT, "Elohim" is the creator, who creates heaven and earth as the first fruits of his creative act, while in Paul's version of Genesis 1:1, the "invisible God" (Elohim) is not the creator. His "image," or "Name," is called the πρωτότοκος, translated "firstborn," of all creation. Protokos speaks of a point in a sequential frame, a point in a timeline, while "Elohim," when used of the highest God, speaks of transcendence, and utter invisibility, "the invisible God." The "invisible God" (Elohim) did not create anything; not even His Name. The Protokos "emanated" from the Invisible God. And all that actually was "created," was created by the Son, who, in his creative work, was already in time, in the world . . . hidden no doubt . . . in the very Creation which came through Him.
The "invisible God" (Elohim) did not create. His emanation, the Protokos, the Christ, the firstborn, the Name (Ha Shem, YHVH) did all the creating. And this is not a nit-picking game of semantics. Paul's Gospel is the light that must shine on the un-pointed text of the scripture before that scripture can be illuminated by the light. And the light must strike the text that is born of it (and in which the light was once hidden), before it can be fully seen, and the fullness of its glory be fully registered.
Paul's reading is not compatible with the Masoretic Text, since in the MT, "Elohim" is the creator, who creates heaven and earth as the first fruits of his creative act, while in Paul's version of Genesis 1:1, the "invisible God" (Elohim) is not the creator. His "image," or "Name," is called the πρωτότοκος, translated "firstborn," of all creation. Protokos speaks of a point in a sequential frame, a point in a timeline, while "Elohim," when used of the highest God, speaks of transcendence, and utter invisibility, "the invisible God." The "invisible God" (Elohim) did not create anything; not even His Name. The Protokos "emanated" from the Invisible God. And all that actually was "created," was created by the Son, who, in his creative work, was already in time, in the world . . . hidden no doubt . . . in the very Creation which came through Him.
The "invisible God" (Elohim) did not create. His emanation, the Protokos, the Christ, the firstborn, the Name (Ha Shem, YHVH) did all the creating. And this is not a nit-picking game of semantics. Paul's Gospel is the light that must shine on the un-pointed text of the scripture before that scripture can be illuminated by the light. And the light must strike the text that is born of it (and in which the light was once hidden), before it can be fully seen, and the fullness of its glory be fully registered.
Christ, rosh, ראש,
the head, i.e., the firstborn of all creation, through whom, and in whom, all
things are created and hold together, was hidden in the temple of the world,
the beit, בית, such that we see the beit, the "house" that is the
world, with the head, rosh, hidden
inside it בראשית: "He
was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He
came unto his own, and his own received him not."
In a question indirectly
related to Christ’s preeminence, Rashi's asks,"What is the reason that He began with the Book of Genesis?"
FOOTNOTE
2 [in Rashi's commentary to comment quoted above]. Rashi does not mean to question the inclusion of all the material from
the account of Creation until the verse, "this month shall be for you the
beginning of the months." That section includes several of the fundamental
beliefs of Judaism, as well as a wealth of halachic information. The question
is, "Why did the Torah begin with the account of Creation?" It should
have begun with "this month etc.," which is the first commandment
directed to the entire Jewish nation, and the rest should have been included at
a later point.
In a sense, it did begin
with "this month," since the first commandment given in relationship
to the first month regards the sacrifice of the Passover lamb. The Lamb, who is
the head, the rosh, was in the
world (the beit, the temple), and he
created the world, but the world did not recognize that he was in the world,
that the rosh was in the beit, in be-rosh-it (bereishit).
He came unto his own, the Elohim, the heavenly representatives of earthly
Israel, and though he made them (and their world), they did not recognize nor
receive him.
Genesis and John speak of the same thing . . . one as the shadow (Genesis) and one as the Light that makes the shadow. The origin is hidden in the beginning. The Creator is hidden in the creation (to be revealed sequentially: first to His Church, then to Israel, and finally to all creation). Although John's Gospel propounds the origin hidden in Genesis chapter one, it comes (sequentially) after Genesis chapter one. But in truth John chapter one is parallel with Genesis one and two.
Rashi's question is answered: Genesis chapter 1 is parallel to Exodus chapter 12. But since Rashi does not recognize Christ in the flesh, he doesn’t recognize the Passover Lamb in the first and second chapters of Genesis. This lack of recognition of the head hidden in the beginning bollixs things up nicely . . . . . . such that to this very day interpretations and translations of Genesis chapters one and two are a farce. ---- The Passover Lamb is in Genesis chapter one and two. The Gospel is in Genesis chapter one and two. It's hidden there from the Jewish exegetes who, like the Elohim before them (for whom they are earthly representatives), still don't see the Lamb in John one or Genesis one (1 Peter 1:12).
Genesis and John speak of the same thing . . . one as the shadow (Genesis) and one as the Light that makes the shadow. The origin is hidden in the beginning. The Creator is hidden in the creation (to be revealed sequentially: first to His Church, then to Israel, and finally to all creation). Although John's Gospel propounds the origin hidden in Genesis chapter one, it comes (sequentially) after Genesis chapter one. But in truth John chapter one is parallel with Genesis one and two.
Rashi's question is answered: Genesis chapter 1 is parallel to Exodus chapter 12. But since Rashi does not recognize Christ in the flesh, he doesn’t recognize the Passover Lamb in the first and second chapters of Genesis. This lack of recognition of the head hidden in the beginning bollixs things up nicely . . . . . . such that to this very day interpretations and translations of Genesis chapters one and two are a farce. ---- The Passover Lamb is in Genesis chapter one and two. The Gospel is in Genesis chapter one and two. It's hidden there from the Jewish exegetes who, like the Elohim before them (for whom they are earthly representatives), still don't see the Lamb in John one or Genesis one (1 Peter 1:12).
The general Jewish
interpretation of the two forms of the letter mem (opened מ and closed ם)
. . .and this is Rashi's viewpoint . . . is that a "closed mem"
represents a "closed saying" (where the deeper meaning is hidden),
while an open mem represents an "open saying," such that the
meaning is not hidden. In a Christian context, the meaning of Jesus' birth is a
"closed saying" for Israel, but a revelation opened up for the
Church. In this sense, Jesus, who comes from a closed mem, and whose
meaning is "closed" for Israel, "opened" all the meaning
that had previously been "closed" from the first word of the Torah, bereishit,
to the last word, "yisrael."
On this last point we have the statements of a well-known Professor of Jewish Thought at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Yehuda Liebes:
On this last point we have the statements of a well-known Professor of Jewish Thought at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Yehuda Liebes:
. .
. there is still more to this melange of motifs and associations. An additional
association forces itself upon us when we examine the aforementioned quote from
the Sifra di-Tsni'uta. On studying this sentence, which connects the
"son" with the words or statements God used to create the world and
the word bereshit (in the beginning), the reader cannot ignore the
echoes in this passage of the opening words of the Gospel of John. "In the
beginning there was the word [Greek, logos] and the word was of God and
God was the word." Later in the same chapter (i, 14) the word is even
identified as the "son." The opening phrase of John's Gospel bears an
obvious parallel to the first words of the Torah--- "In the beginning God
created" -- and it would have been astonishing if Christians had not tried
to draw some correspondence in content between the verses. This connection
could easily have been made by interpreting the word bara in Genesis i,1
according to its Aramaic rendering ---son-- especially if they utilized the
statement of the rabbis discussed previously: "`In the beginning' (i.e.,
the word bereshit) is also a statement (by which God created the
world).'" this interpretation would have carried even more weight had
Christians added to it the talmudic passage that designated the closed final mem
as a "closed statement" along with their own understanding of this
letter as representing the womb of the virgin, as mentioned above.
In the next paragraph, Professor Liebes notes that not long after these associations came to him, he obtained a Christian text written hundreds of years before The Zohar, where all of these ideas are combined in a clear and concise manner. The Torah begins with a beit because it's the "closed house" (the house with an intact veil, i.e., the "temple" that's closed until the revelation of the "head" hidden in the middle of the "house," which is really a "temple" since it is indwelt despite an intact veil). God, who is both the speaker of the word, and the word, is hidden away from his own (John 1:10-12), until such a time as the "closed mem" is opened, such that the "closed statement" the Torah beginning with a beit, is revealed to all the world, and at the very time that the veil in the temple is torn by the strength of a hand, the nails in a hand.
In Jewish thought, Messiah's birth is associated with the destruction of the Temple, celebrated as occurring on Tisha b' Av. When the veil in the temple is rent, the temple is destroyed in the sense that what it was designed to keep "closed," or hidden, behind the veil, the "closed mem," has now left the temple, rendering the stone temple useless.
The New Testament Epistles
(and most succinctly the Epistle to the Hebrews) dwell obsessively on the
concept that what was once hidden behind the veil in the temple has now left
that hiding place and taken up residence in living and breathing temples of
flesh. The heart of stone has been replaced by a heart of flesh. What was
hidden in the dead letter engraved into stone is now alive in the thoughts and
minds of those who have been made pregnant in their hearts not by the dead
letter, in a golden casket of the covenant, but by the Living Word, the Son,
who was with the Father from the beginning, and hidden in the beginning word, b--reish--it:
the "reish" in the middle of the "beit"
formed by the intact veil of the "bat."
In a passage speaking specifically of the arrival of Messiah, the son of David, Isa. 9:7, and in conjunction with Isa. 7:14, which speaks of the sign of a child born to a virgin, we find the only place in the word of God where a "closed mem" is found where it should not be found; which is to say it is not at the end of the word for "increase" as it should be. [Closed mem only appear at the end of a word, and never in the middle, as is the case only one place, Isaiah 9:7, speaking of the arrival of Messiah.] Which is to say that in the "letter," (or letters) used to speak about the birth or appearance of Messsiah, we have a closed "mem" where it has never been closed before. While in the deed, so to say, we have only one case where a woman's "mem" [brane] was "closed," while the size of her stomach was "increasing." We have only one case where a woman was a "mom" while her membrane was closed. . . . Ironically, this closed membrane, is a closed-statement for Israel. They recognize the closed mem in the letter -- Isaiah 9:7 --- but not in the deed. They reject virgin birth.
Many ancient religions recognized correspondence between the "temple" and virgin priestess. The Parthenon in Athens is a temple named after the virgin Goddess Athena. The word "Parthenon" is obviously related to "parthenos."
What's significant about
this is that Hebrew often uses the same word for a "house" and a
"temple," beit בית, which is to say that a "temple"
is just a particular "house," and the particularity of the
"temple" as a "house," is that the "temple" is
the "house" of God. What distinguishes God's "house" from
any other "house," is that the veil in the "temple," which
is opened when bride and groom cross the threshold, i.e. consum-mate their
union, is still closed when God's union with His bride is consummated. The
temple is indwelt while the veil is intact (Isaiah 62:4). It's opened after the
consummation, at birth, and not at conception. The Groom’s veil is rent at
conception. The bride’s veil is transgressed at birth.
