Sunday, May 06, 2007

The only way it CAN"T be translated is 'In the beginning..'


Gerard Schroeder,"the Hidden face of God: Science Reveals The Ultimate Truth", p. 49:

Genesis 1:1 is usually read in the English, is "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Unfortunately, that rendition, which the entire English speaking world has heard repeatedly from youth (both biological and cultural youth), misses the meaning of the Hebrew. The miss is not very surprising. The English version stems from the King James Bible, first published in 1611. But the King James Bible is a translation preceded by the Latin Vulgate attributed to St. Jerome in the 4th century and that Latin version is taken from the Greek Septuagint that dates back some 2200 years. The Septuagint is taken from the Hebrew. "In the beginning" is three translations downstream from the original.

The opening word, usually translated as "In the beginning," is the Hebrew Be'reasheet. Be'reasheet can mean "In the beginning of" but not "In the beginning." The difficulty with the preposition "of" is that its object is absent from the sentence and so the usual English translation merely drops it. Rather than changing the meaning of the Hebrew and ignoring the "of," the 2,100 year old Jerusalem translation of Genesis into Aramaic realizes that Be'reacheet is a compound word: the prefix Be' – with; and raesheet – a first wisdom. The meaning becomes: "With wisdom God created the heavens and the earth." That wisdom is the first part of creation finds its parallel repeatedly in the Bible. For example, "With the word of God the heavens were formed" (Ps. 33:6). And, "How manifold are Your works, Eternal, You made them all with wisdom" (Ps 104:24). And, "Raesheet hohmah - Beginning of wisdom," (Ps. 111:10). Wisdom is the fundamental building block of the universe, and as such it is an inherent characteristic. In the processes of life that wisdom finds its most complex revelation.

Wisdom, information, an idea, is the link between the metaphysical creating Force and the physical creation. It is the hidden face of God.

- Gerard Schroeder,"the Hidden face of God: Science Reveals The Ultimate Truth", p. 49

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