Isaiah 40:6-8 (NASB)

Isaiah 40:6-8 (NASB)

6) A voice says, “Call out.”
Then he answered, “What shall I call out?”
All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

7) The grass withers, the flower fades,
When the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.

8) The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Just 31 verses to Creation climax--and then?

Immediate Context:

Gen. 1:31-2:3, "31) God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. 1) Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2) By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3) Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
  • ‘ā-śāh (Strong's 6213) - Gen. 1:31, Gen. 2:2--Gen. 1:31 is the first occurrence of this exact word; see below for definition
  • la-‘ă-śō-wṯ (Strong's 6213) - Gen. 2:3--first occurrence of this exact word in Genesis; see below for definition

Focus Verse:

Gen. 2:4, "This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven."
  • "account": Hebrew ṯō-wl-ḏō-wṯ (Strong's 8435) - genealogical succession or begettings (see the Genesis geneologies: Gen. 5:1, 6:9, 10:1, etc.)
  • "of the heavens": Hebrew haš-šā-ma-yim (Strong's 8064) - apparently starry heavens when unaccompanied by "expanse" (see post "Are there multiple 'heavens'?")
  • "and the earth": Hebrew wə-hā-’ā-reṣ (Strong's 776) - apparently means the whole earth (see post "Whoah (slow down) . . . double-check the Hebrew.")
  • "when they were created": Hebrew bə-hib-bā-rə-’ām (Strong's 1254) - only occurrence for exact word; from root word bā-rā (Strong's 1254), meaning to shape or create (heaven & earth, Gen. 1:1; man, Gen. 1:27)
  • "in the day that": Hebrew bə-yō-wm (Strong's 3117) - same word as used for the sun governing the day and the 7th day of creation's completion (see post "Day, night, morning, and evening--here comes controversy . . . ")
[1/2/2016
First occurrence of exact word in Genesis. Remaining occurrences of exact word in Genesis are translated "in the day", ". . . in time", "on the day". Genesis usage is illustrated in Gen. 2:17 (God's injunction about the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil"), Gen. 21:8 (". . . Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned."), and Gen. 35:3 (". . . I [Jacob] will make an alter there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress").           ]
  • "made": Hebrew ‘ă-śō-wṯ (Strong's 6213) - only occurrence of exact word in Genesis--to accomplish; do or make (doing right or wrong, "writing" in Eccl 12:12, or "produced" in Isaiah 7:22)
  • "earth": Hebrew ’e-reṣ (Strong's 776) - apparently dry land (see post "Whoah (slow down) . . . double-check the Hebrew.")
  • "and heaven": Hebrew wə-šā-mā-yim (Strong's 8064) - only occurrence in Genesis; same word as in Isaiah 40:12, where it says that God has "marked off the heavens by the span" (where a "span" is the width of a man's spread hand from the thumb-tip to the tip of the little finger). 

I think the coming verses of Genesis might be a little clearer if Genesis 2:1-4 were included in Genesis 1.

1 comment:

  1. I realized that I made an error regarding the Hebrew word for day in Gen. 2:4. My correction can be seen above.

    ReplyDelete