Genesis 1:1

_IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH._ In the beginning God. The Hebrew word х_ 'ELOHIYM_ (H430)], from its derivation and use, signifies 'strong,' 'mighty;' and hence, though other names are applied in the Pentateuch to the Supreme Being, this appellation is used exclusively in the narrative of the first chapter, as expressive of the powers displayed in the work of creation. It is equivalent to the English word, Deity, the great object of awe and reverence "whom no man hath seen at any time;" and its adoption in this opening portion of Scripture was peculiarly appropriate, as infolding all the august attributes of God as the Creator of the universe. A remarkable peculiarity, however, distinguishes this word, because it is a plural noun accompanied with a singular verb, which is the construction maintained for the most part throughout the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old T...

1._In the beginning. _To expound the term “beginning,” of Christ, is altogether frivolous. For Moses simply intends to assert that the world was not perfected at its very commencement, in the manner in which it is now seen, but that it was created an empty chaos of heaven and earth. His language therefore may be thus explained. When God in the beginning created the heaven and the earth, the earth was empty and waste. (35) He moreover teaches by the word “created,” that what before did not exist was now made; for he has not used the term יצר, (_yatsar,_) which signifies to frame or forms but ברא, (_bara,_) which signifies to create. (36) Therefore his meaning is, that the world was made out of nothing. Hence the folly of those is refuted who imagine that unformed matter existed from eternity; and

1,2 The first verse of the Bible gives us a satisfying and useful account of the origin of the earth and the heavens. The faith of humble Christians understands this better than the fancy of the most learned men. From what we see of heaven and earth, we learn the power of the great Creator. And let our make and place as men, remind us of our duty as Christians, always to keep heaven in our eye, and the earth under our feet. The Son of God, one with the Father, was with him when he made the world; nay, we are often told that the world was made by him, and nothing was made without him. Oh, what high thoughts should there be in our minds, of that great God whom we worship, and of that great Mediator in whose name we pray! And here, at the beginning of the sacred volume, we read of that Divine Spirit, whose work upon the heart of man is so often mentioned in other parts of the Bible. Observ...

THE FIRST BOOK OF MOSES CALLED GENESIS -Year before the common era of Christ, 4004. -Julian Period, 710. -Cycle of the Sun, 10. -Dominical Letter, B. -Cycle of the Moon, 7. -Indiction, 5. -Creation from Tisri or September, 1. CHAPTER I First day's work-_Creation of the heavens and the earth_, 1, 2. _Of the light and its separation from the darkness_, 3-5. Second day's work-_The creation of the firmament, and the separation_...

- Section I - The Creation - The Absolute Creation ראשׁית _rḕshı̂̂yt_, the “head-part, beginning” of a thing, in point of time Genesis 10:1, or value Proverbs 1:7. Its opposite is אחרית _'achărı̂̂yth_ Isaiah 46:1. בראשׁית _rê'shı̂̂yth_, “in the beginning,” is always used in reference to time. Here only is it taken absolutely. ברא _bārā'_, “create, give being to something new.” It always has God for its subject. Its object may be anything: matter...

EXPOSITION I. THAT this initial section is not _history _is apparent from the circumstance that the occurrences it describes belong to a period of time which antedates the dawn of history. That it is not _science_ is evinced by the fact that, in some, at least, of its particulars, it refers to a condition of our globe concerning which even modern research has attained to no definite conclusions, while in all of them it claims to be regarded not as uttering the findings of reason, but as declaring the course of nature. That still less can it be _myth _must be obvious to any who will carefully contrast it with those heathen cosmogonies which it is said to resemble. Only the most absolute devotion to preconceived opinion can render one oblivious of its immense superiority, to them in respect of both simplicity of construction and sublimity of conception. The absurdities, puerilities, and mo...

IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH. By the heaven some understand the supreme heaven, the heaven of heavens, the habitation of God, and of the holy angels; and this being made perfect at once, no mention is after made of it, as of the earth; and it is supposed that the angels were at this time created, since they were present at the laying of the foundation of the earth, Job 38:6 but rather the lower and visible heavens are meant, at least are not excluded, that is, the substance of them; as yet being imperfect and unadorned; the expanse not yet made, or the ether and air not yet stretched out; nor any light placed in them, or adorned with the sun, moon, and stars: so the earth is to be understood, not of that properly so called, as separated from the waters, that is, the dry land afterwards made to appear; but the whole mass of earth and water before their separation...

Genesis 1:1. _In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth._ When that «beginning» was, we cannot tell. It may have been long ages before God fitted up this world for the abode of man, but it was not self-existent; it was created by God, it sprang from the will and the word of the all-wise Creator. Genesis 1:2. _And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep._ When God began to arrange this world in order, it was shrouded in darkness, and it had been reduced to what we call, for want of a better name, «chaos.» This is just the condition of every soul of man when God begins to deal with him in his grace; it is formless, and empty of all good things. «There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is

NOTE: For Index to Scofield Materials (_ See Scofield) - (Hosea 4:9); (Hosea 5:14). _ GOD "Elohim" (sometimes "El" or "Elah"), English form "God," the first of the three primary names of Deity, is a uni-plural noun formed from "El", means "strength", or "the strong one", and "Alah", "to swear", "to bind oneself by an oath", so implying "faithfulness". This uni-plurality implied in the name is directly asserted in (Genesis 1:26) (plurality), (Genesis 1:27) (unity); see also (Genesis 3:22). The Trinity is latent in Eloh

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE CREATION ACCOUNT The manner in which the book of Genesis begins leaves no doubt that it is the revelation of God. The creation account is historical truth. The question is how was it given? An answer to this question claims that the Jews obtained the account from the records of other nations concerning the origin of the universe and that they altered it according to their own religious ideas. This is an impossibility. The ancient heathen nations considered God and the universe one and had absolutely no knowledge of the existence of God independent of the universe, nor did they know anything of a creation of the world. Here is something wholly different from all the theories, mythologies and other inventions of the human race. How then was it given? By revelation of God is the only answer. No human being knew anything about the origin of the heavens and t...