He was just a little lad,
and on the week’s first day,
Was wandering home from Sunday School,
and dawdling on the way.
He scuffed his shoes into the grass;
he found a caterpillar
He found a fluffy milkweed pod,
and blew out all the filler.
A bird’s nest in a tree o’er head
so wisely placed and high
Was just another wonder
caught by his eager eye.
A neighbor watched his zig zag course,
and hailed him from the lawn
Asked him where he’d been that day,
and what was going on.
“Oh, I’ve been to Sunday School,
(He carefully turned a sod,
And found a snail beneath it);
I’ve learned a lot about God”
“M’m’m, a very fine way,” the neighbor said,
“for a boy to spend his time;
If you’ll tell where God is
I’ll give you a brand new dime.”
Quick as a flash his answer came!
Nor were his accents faint –
“I’ll give you a dollar mister,
if you tell me where God ain’t.”
This poem by my favorite author, Anonymous, speaks to one of the great verses in the Bible. In fact, it’s the very first verse–Genesis 1:1.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis, the book of beginnings, records the creation of the cosmos and the beginning of the human race. While the Bible is not intended to be a book of science, it does not conflict with proven facts of science. In fact, five fundamental principles of natural phenomena are found in this first verse.
Ironically, it was a staunch evolutionist, Herbert Spencer, an English philosopher and biologist, who in 1882 identified these basic manifestations of the universe: space, time, matter, motion and force.
(1) “In the beginning” (time)
There was a time when scientists believed that the universe had no beginning–that it always existed. However, today, most scientists agree that the universe had a beginning. There was a point of origin. Time began. The Bible says so!
(2) “God” (Force)
God is the original “Force.” He is the “First Cause.” The Bible teaches that He is omnipotent. His power is beyond measure. Incomprehensible! Inscrutable! And incredible!
(3) Created (motion)
When God moves things happen! The word “created” speaks to divine activity and action. It means to shape. To fashion. To form. Our God is a living and active God. He is unique. Unparalleled. Unequalled. He can create something out of nothing!
(4) “Heavens”(space)
God literally spoke the cosmos into existence! “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” (Ps 33:6). The sun, moon and stars are the handiwork of God creation. And they declare His glory, power and preeminence.
(5) “Earth” (matter)
What an incredible place is planet earth. Lawrence Richards called earth “the odd planet.” It’s different than all other planets. We are unique in our solar system with the perfect atmosphere that makes life possible. Why? Because God made the earth specially for the dwelling place of His creation!
Genesis 1:1. Ten words. Simple. Succinct. And yet profound in their implication and application.
The Psalmist was right when he wrote: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein…The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” (Ps 24:1; 19:1)
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
ThePreachersWord 
Truly God has not left Himself without witness, Acts 14:17.
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The Hebrew syntax of v. 1 is entirely blessed for us. It is so in two ways.
First, the first phrase of the verse is an anticipatory-benevolent kind of metaphysics:
In the beginning created |
Second, the second phrase,
| God the heaven and the Earth.
implies a direct relation between the Creator and the Creation. God is not aloof, but rather, most intimately concerned for what He creates.
In fact, not only does the first phrase suggest an anticipation of the Creator’s benevolent relationship to His Creation, the self-evidently two objects of the second phrase suggest a life-affirming relation between the general ‘heaven’ and the special ‘Earth’:
1. the general cosmos and the special Earth.
2. The Earth, as its own general subject, implying that which we all intuit is most valuable about the Earth unto itself in all the cosmos: its abiding maximal abundance of open liquid water.
3. that water and its special relation to the Sun’s light, hence the water cycle;
4. The water cycle and its special beneficiary and member, biology;
5. biology and its special category, animal biology (plant/animal/mineral = animal);
6. Animal biology and its special category, human;
7. The man and his wife (Genesis 2:21-23)
Genesis 1:1 does not begin with, ‘In the beginning God’. It begins with ‘In the beginning created… The Hebrew syntax is not trivial. It is key to the whole account as anticipatory. The verse, in the Hebrew, puts God in the center, between two parts, the later part being ‘et ha-shamayim ve-et ha-erets’.
The phrase ‘ve-et ha-erets’ does not amount to ‘the Earth’. It amounts to ‘something something the Earth’. It has a compound ‘something’, whereas ‘et ha-shamayim’ has only a singular ‘something’. In other words, ‘the Earth’ has more information than has ‘the heaven’.
So this seven-fold recursion shows that, contrary to either a godless or a Platonic outlook, Genesis 1:1 can be seen to be entirely concerned to affirm the fact that, since the Living God designed and created us, we not only are not insignificant, we are the central value of the entire account and the entire cosmos. For, this view of v. 1 sets the theme for the rest of the account.
Even more, the above seven-fold recursion fits the fact that the account conspicuously lacks mention of any material origin for humans, and only for humans. This uniquely human lack of such mention at once (A) poses humans as transcending the Earth and (B) as implying that such mention is to be anticipated, as a completion to the first chapter. Per 7, this anticipation is fulfilled in Genesis chapter 2.
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Daniel, Thanks for reading my blog. And especially for your expert, informative and insightful exegesis.
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