Category: Criticism

Hebrew Without Vowels or Accents

The text of Genesis 1: 9 to 13 appears as follows:

Samaritan Targum Interlinear Translation

Here’s the interlinear translation of Genesis 1:9 to 13 from tanakh.info:

Facts About Hebrew

We can add the following to our facts about Hebrew:

18.          The Hebrew el אל is translated as a participle ‘into’ in Gen 1:9  (Strong’s 413 which occurs 5517 times and is translated sometimes as ‘against’ in reference to positioning), but allegedly it could be a noun meaning god (Strong’s 410 235 times), or ‘not’ (Strong’s 408 725 times and Strong’s 409 4 times). The fact that the letter lamed ל which means ‘to, for’ is within the word el אל supports the Strong’s 413 definition, and this meaning makes sense in the context of Gen 1:9, makes it more probable. 

Plus, we don’t see  el אל translated as ‘god’, or ‘not’ until well into Genesis (chapters 14 & 13 respectively), and in the case of ‘god’ within known interpolations (4 times in the Melchizedek verses in Gen 14:18 to 22).  When we reach Genesis 13 & 14 in our study, we’ll need to consider whether the translation of  el אל as ‘god’ or ‘not’ is accurate, an error, or an interpolation.   

19.          The meaning of Gen 1:11 & 12 is obscured by translators word choices.  The verb עשה (Strong’s 6213) previously translated as ‘made’ in the form  יעש in Gen 1:7 “gods made the firmament”,  is translated as ‘bearing/yields’, in the form, עשה in Gen 1: 11 “the tree fruit makes according to kind”, and Gen 1:12 “and tree makes fruit whose seed to kind”.  The Hebrew verb zara זרע (Strong’s 2232) is also translated ‘yields’ but means ‘to scatter/sow’, “sprout the earth grass herb to sow seed according to its kind”.  These mistranslations blur the difference between plants which ‘sow/scatter seed’ and fruit trees which ‘make fruit’, which is critical to understanding the broader meaning of the text.

20.              In #4 we discussed the one letter word, beth, that means ‘in’.  In Gen 1:12 we find beth with the suffix waw in the Hebrew bow בו which indicates possessive ‘his, its’ and is translated as ‘in itself’.

Constructing The Sentences

Let’s construct the sentences – subject, verb, object:

Gen 1:9    has two clauses.  In the major clause, the subject is ‘gods’, the verb ‘said’, the object is what they said, ‘bind together the waters under the heavens into one place and see the dry ground’.  Within the object of the major clause are two clauses, for the first clause the subject is ‘the waters’, the verb ‘bind together’, and the object ‘under the heavens’, and a subordinate clause with the verb ‘see’ and object ‘the dry ground’.  The sentence ends with a subordinate clause the subject is the major clause, the verb ‘be’, and the object ‘so’.

Gen 1:10 has three major clauses.  In the first clause, the subject is ‘gods’, the verb ‘called’, the object is ‘dry ground, earth’.  In the second clause, the subject is ‘gods’, the verb ‘called’ and the object ‘gathering of waters, seas’.  In the third clause, the subject is ‘gods’, the verb ‘see’, and the object ‘that good’.

Gen 1:11 has one major clause and three sub-clauses.  In the major clause, the subject is ‘gods’, the verb ‘said’, the object is what they said, ‘grow the earth grass, herb sows seed, tree fruit makes fruit to kind whose seed in’.  Within the object of the major clause are three sub-clauses with the subject is ‘the earth’, for the first sub-clause the verb is ‘grow’, and the object ‘grass’, for the second, the verb ‘sows’ and object ‘seed in itself’, and the third, the verb ‘makes’ and object fruit tree fruit with a sub-clause ‘to kind whose seed in itself’.

Gen 1:12 has two major clauses, the first with two sub-clauses.  For the first major clause, the subject is ‘the earth’, the verb ‘brought forth’, and the first object  which is a sub-clause the subject ‘grass, herb’, verb ‘sows’, and object ‘seed’, with a sub-clause ‘to kind’, and the second object which is a sub-clause the subject ‘tree’, verb ‘makes’, and object ‘fruit whose seed in itself to kind’.  The second major clause, the subject is ‘gods’, the verb ‘saw’, and the object ‘good’.

Gen 1:13 has one clause.  The subject is the ‘third day’, the verb ‘be’, and the object ‘evening’, and a sub clause with the verb ‘be’, and object ‘morning’.

Literal and Figurative Translation

The paragraph translates as follows:

And said gods “gather together the waters under the heavens into one place and see the dry land”, and be so.  And called gods to dry land, earth, and collected the waters called seas and saw gods that good.  And said gods “sprout the earth, grass, herb, sow seed, tree fruit make fruit to kind whose seed in itself on the earth”, and be so.  And brought forth the earth grass, herb sow seed, to kind, and tree make fruit whose seed in itself to kind, and see gods that good.  And be evening and be morning third day.

Analysis

After God separated the waters above from the waters below, the earth was covered by the sea.  The Hebrew noun t’hom תהום translated as ‘deep(s)’ also means ‘abyss, sea’, the figurative meaning is ‘large difference’, and its origin is possibly related to the arabic hama which means ‘to be thirsty, to crave’.   In English the word abyss means ‘hell, the bottomless pit, primeval chaos, unfathomed depth, & moral depravity’.  In Rev 20:13 the sea is indicated to be one of the places the dead are sleeping at the time of the final judgment.

The ‘dry land’ is ‘the wilderness’ Ezek 19:13.  The land is dry due to the absence of the living waters above, God’s spirit Isaiah 44:3, the result of Satan, king of Babylon, overthrowing the cities of the world, and not allowing his prisoners to go home Isaiah 14:4 to 22.  The wilderness is where mankind are tested, as Israel was tested after their Exodus from Egypt, and those who failed to obey God’s commandments were not permitted to enter the promised land, including Moses for not believing, treating God as holy before Israel Numbers 20:12.

Gods gathered the waters, called seas, to expose dry land, called earth, and declared this separation to be ‘good’ Gen 1:9 & 10.  The Hebrew adjective/verb tob טוב means ‘to do/make good’, not ‘excellent’ as Brown-Driver-Briggs indicates.  The separation improves on the situation, making it acceptable to God until the new heaven and earth come down out of heaven from God, the first heaven and earth will pass away, there will no longer be any sea, the tent of God will be among mankind Rev 21:1 to 3, and the earth will not be dry anymore, it’s righteous residents having access to the water of life without cost Rev 21:6 to 8.

We see the difference between the literal, physical sea and dry land during Israel’s exodus from Egypt, when God divides the sea, allowing Israel to walk on dry land Exodus 14: 16 to 29, but Pharaoh’s army sink like a stone in the sea, the depths covered them Exodus 15: 4 & 5. But ‘dry land’ is not paradise either, yet it is on the ‘dry ground’, in the wilderness, that gods create plants that sow seed/offspring and fruit trees that make fruit Gen 1: 11 & 12!

Throughout scripture, fruit trees are used as an analogy for free will, which is why the seed is ‘in itself’, because all will eat “the fruit of their actions” Isaiah 3:10.  In Yahshua’s parable of the sower, there are two different seeds, the wheat sown by God and those with God’s spirit and weeds sown by the enemy, Satan and those with the spirit of lawlessness 1 John 3:2 to 10, and both allowed to grow together until the harvest when the weeds were gathered in bundles and burned and the wheat gathered into the barn, representing the kingdom of heaven Matthew 13: 24 to 30.

In his parable of the sower, Yahshua explains that the seed is the word of the kingdom, but unless the soil is good, it fails to yield a crop Matthew 13: 1 to 8 & 18 to 23.  Yahshua was “a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit” Isaiah 11:1, and he set an example for us to follow 1 Peter 2:21.  Yahshua said “I am the true vine, and my parent is the vine dresser.  Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, God takes away and every branch that bears fruit, prunes it so that it may bear more fruit” John 15: 1 & 2. 

Again we see that the Genesis creation account is dual, both literal and figurative at the same time.  The literal ‘sea’, ‘dry land’, ‘seed’ and ‘trees’ in our physical reality represent the spiritual choices we have before us.  Bearing fruit means loving the word in deed and truth, keeping God’s commandments, doing things that are pleasing in his sight, believing in the name of his son, Yahshua the Messiah, and loving ‘one another’ (the children of God only, as we are to not associate with those who do not abide in the teaching of the Messiah 2 John 1:9 to 11) just as he commanded, then God will abide in us by the spirit whom he will give us 1 John 3: 18 to 24.  In order to know the truth and God’s commands, we must study scripture and pray for the spirit of truth to teach us John 14:26 & 16:13.  The gate is small and the way narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it Matthew 7:14.

In my next article, I will look at Genesis 1: 14 to 19.

Hebrew Without Vowels or Accents

The text of Genesis 1: 6 to 8 appears as follows:

Samaritan Targum Interlinear Translation

Now let’s look at the interlinear translation of Genesis 1:2 to 5 on tanakh.info:

Facts About Hebrew

We can add to our list of important facts about Hebrew:

14.          In Genesis 1:6 & 7 there are three occurrences of the preposition/substantive בין , translated as ‘between’ but according to Strong’s means ‘an interval, space between’.  The first occurrences of this word were in Gen 1:4, and I didn’t pick up on the full meaning so I will go back and add it to my translation.

15.          In Genesis 1:6 there is another word to add to our list of common, single letter words found in the article In The Beginning, under #4.  At the end of the sentence, the word ‘waters’ מים occurs twice, and the second occurrence is prefixed with the preposition  ל that means ‘to, for’.

16.          In Genesis 1:7 we find the conjunction אשר that according to Strong’s Concordance means ‘that, who, which’, and is mostly translated as ‘which’, or ‘who(m)’, or ‘because’.

Robert Holmstedt in his 2002 dissertation, The Relative Clause in Biblical Hebrew: A Linguistic Analysis states that the relative clause modifies the noun ‘the waters’, “distinguishing between those waters that were above and below the dividing element, the firmament” p 115.  Holmstedt translates אשר as ‘that were’ in both occurrences in Gen 1:7, emphasizing the separation aspect, supporting that the waters above are different from the waters below.  This nuance is captured in some Bible translations as ‘that were’ (ESV) or ‘which were’ (NASB, and KJB), but not all Bible translations (NIV, NLT, and Berean Study Bible).

17.          In Genesis 1:7 we find a new adjective/adverb כן (Strong’s 3651) that according to Strong’s means ‘so, thus’, but according to Brown-Driver-Briggs, as an adjective means ‘right, veritable, honest’, as an adverb means ‘so’.  It doesn’t seem to affect the meaning of this verse, whether it ends with ‘and be so’ or ‘and be right’.

Constructing The Sentences

Let’s construct the sentences – subject, verb, object, like we did for previous verses:

Gen 1:6 has two major clauses.  In the first clause, the subject is ‘gods’, the verb ‘said’, the object is what they said, ‘let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it separation space between the waters and the waters’.    Within the object are two subclauses, the subject of both is ‘gods’ from the first clause, in the first subclause the verb is ‘be’, and the object ‘a firmament in the midst of the waters’, and the second subclause the verb is ‘and be’, and the object ‘separation space between waters for waters’.

Gen 1:7 has two major clauses.  In the first clause, the subject is ‘gods’, the verb ‘made’, the et את indicates that ‘the firmament’ is a direct object of ‘gods made’.    In the second clause, the subject is ‘gods’ from the first clause, the verb ‘separate/d’, and the object ‘space between the waters that were under the firmament and the waters that were above the firmament’, emphasized by the subordinate clause ‘and be so’. 

Gen 1:8 has two major clauses.  In the first clause, the subject is ‘gods’, the verb ‘called’, the object is ‘to firmament sky’.  In the second clause, the subject is the ‘second day’, the verb ‘be’, and the object ‘evening’, and a sub clause with the verb ‘be’, and object ‘morning’.

Literal and Figurative Translation

Finally, we can translate all the sentences in this paragraph:

And say gods ‘let there be firmament in the midst of the waters and be separating space between waters to waters.  So make gods the firmament and separating space between the waters which were under to firmament and space between the waters which were above the firmament, and be so.  And call gods to firmament ‘sky’ and be evening and be morning second day.

Analysis

Looking at what has transpired so far, there is clearly a major theme of separation.  Analyzing how this unfolded, we see that, at the start, gods ‘created’ the heavens and the earth’ in Gen 1:1, and the earth became formless/waste  and void/empty, and darkness over face of deep/abyss and spirit of gods hovering over face of waters in Gen 1:2.  The cause of the earth becoming ‘formless and void’ was the change in Satan from a perfect creation to unrighteous and was cast from the mountain of God as described in Ezek 28: 12 – 16. 

Gods said ‘let there be light and be light’ Gen 1:3, and the light was separated from the darkness on day one Gen 1:4 & 5.  God’s said ‘let there be firmament in the midst of the waters be separation space between waters to waters’, and ‘made gods the firmament’, and called to firmament ‘sky’ on the second day in Gen 1: 6 – 8.  Gods making, as opposed to creating, or speaking into existence appear to reflect a change to the creation due to corruption, hence the separation space between the waters above and below.

The figurative meaning of ‘waters’ in Genesis is similar to Revelation, where waters from God (those above) are said to be the source of life Rev 7:17 & 21:2, and those on the earth are ‘peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues’ Rev 17:15.  The ‘deep/abyss’ can also mean ‘sea’, a large body of water, representing Satan and his angels, who are also separated from God by the firmament.  The ‘deep’ causes trees to grow lofty, its roots extend to many waters, and its heart haughty in its loftiness, as Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, which appears to be referring to Adam, who is outside God’s garden Ezekiel 31: 1 to 10.   

 In my next article, I will look at Genesis 1: 9 to 13.

Interpolations (meaning “the insertion of something of a different nature into something else”) play a major part in redaction (meaning edit, censor or obscure) of the inspired word of God. Other forms of redaction include translation into languages other than the original Hebrew and Greek, mistranslation of key words and phrases, and improper chapter division.  Identifying redaction requires a firm understanding of the message of all Bible text in the original Hebrew and Greek, and a comparison to highlight that which has a different message.

A prime example of the opposing messages found in the Bible is in the difference between the traditional teaching about Adam and Eve and Paul’s teaching.  As Jerome Murphy-O’Connor said in his article Interpolations in 1 Corinthians, it was Paul’s opinion that “Adam was the transgressor par excellence (Rom 5: 12-21, 1 Cor 15:21-22, 45-49); and Eve was the prototype of the entire Corinthian community and not merely of the feminine element (2 Cor 11:3)”.  This truth is obscured by interpolations in 1 Cor 14: 34-35 and the Pastoral Epistles in their entirety, tradition which continues to teach that Eve was the cause of the fall, and redaction of the Genesis creation account, all working in concert to support this lie.

This example reveals the intricacy with which tradition changed the word of God into a lie Jeremiah 8:8.    Traditionalists would have us hold their words in the same esteem as the words of God, but in many cases they contradict them, polluting God’s words with theirs, making it impossible to distinguish between their lies and the truth without a comprehensive analysis.  This leads many to question their faith in God or put their faith in the church and its traditions hoping to find salvation which is only found through the Messiah Gal 2:16.

If I had to guess, I’d estimate that at least half the text of the Bible is not inspired by God.  The problem is so pervasive, we need to divide the Bible in sections to test one at a time.  Testing includes researching source and text criticism.  From the example above we see that not all sources are inspired, and some that are have sections added to deceive us.  When we find text we believe is inspired, and that which is closest to the original, we need to test its translation.

With this in mind, let’s begin testing Genesis.

One of the most important and most difficult decisions we must make is whether or not we believe “all scripture is inspired” as stated in 2 Tim 3:16.  As I stated in my article on Katharine Bushnell, there are two opposing schools of thought on this.  Some, like Katharine Bushnell, believe that “all scripture is inspired” and some, like Ray Munson, believe there are interpolations that need to be weeded out. 

According to Dr. Felix Just, 80% of scholars believe  the Pastoral Epistles and Ephesians  were not authored by Paul and “most likely written late in the first century by some member(s) of the ‘Pauline School’ who wanted to adapt his teachings to changing circumstances”.  Although he admits these writings are pseudepigraphic which means “false attribution of authorship”, works composed “as if it were written by a person from the past (the ‘attributed author), while the actual author was someone else (usually anonymous)”, he states that “these writings should not be called false writings”.  In his opinion, “judging a particular letter to be pseudepigraphic does not mean that it is any less valuable than the other letters, but only that it was written later by someone other than Paul” http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/Paul-Disputed.htm .   

Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, a leading authority on Paul and Professor of the New Testament, in an article titled Interpolations in 1 Corinthians, states “apart from the manifest contradictions, the principal reason for denying Pauline authorship of 14:34-35 is the invocation of the authority of the Law, as Paul never appeals to the Law in this manner”.  He points out that “vv34-35 are parallel to 1 Tim 2:11-15, not only in content but vocabulary” and opinions that 1 Tim 2:14 “is definitely un-Pauline in its attitude toward Adam and Eve: Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became the transgressor (v14).  For Paul, on the contrary, Adam was the transgressor par excellence (Rom 5:12-21, 1 Cor 15: 21-22, 45-49); and Eve was the prototype of the entire Corinthian community and not merely a feminine element (2 Cor 11:3).  The possibility that 1 Tim 2:11-15 is a return to a position once repudiated by Paul is discounted by what has been said concerning v36.”  In other words, he sees the contradictions as justification for disregarding their message.

I highly recommend going through the four part analysis on Cognitive Discopants titled Did Paul Write The Pastoral Epistles?  The author, Mason Slater, does a comprehensive analysis of the late attestation & mixed reception,  vocabulary & style, and lack of congruence with Paul’s journeys from other Pauline letters, all evidencing the likelihood that Paul was not the author.  He identifies that the Church tradition, teaching against Gnosticism, and Church structure all point to the “post-Pauline era”.  He identifies doctrinal differences between the Pastoral Epistles and Pauline writings, a different meaning for “keeping the faith” from referring to trust in God to trust in Church teachings, and “a more restrictive role for women”.  The alternate message is of great concern because it would leaven Paul’s teachings on vital issues.

The danger of these interpolations, is that they mix Paul’s teachings with a “different gospel” which is exactly what Paul warned against in Galatians 1:6.  The leaven in these verses replace faith in God with faith in Church tradition, subordinate women to men, and men to Church authorities, makes it appear that Paul considers the Law to hold authority over the congregation, and makes it appear that Eve was the transgressor not Adam, all of which are patently false.   Paul warned that those who distort the gospel of the Messiah are accursed in Gal 1:7 – 9. 

This evidences how challenging it is to find the truth.  Not only do we need to study scripture in its original languages, but we need to “test all things” 1 Thes 5:21, “weigh carefully what is said” 1 Cor 14:29, “test the spirits to see whether they are from God for many false prophets have gone out into the world” 1 John 4:1. We need to separate the truth from lies, because the truth sets us free John 8:32 from sin, sanctifies us John 17:17, leads us to holiness, and the outcome, eternal life Romans 6: 18 – 22, but lies are the works of Satan and his children 1 John 3:7 – 10 which keep us enslaved to sin, and the worthless elemental things in the world Gal 4:9. 

In my next article I will present a list of chapters and verses which are suspected interpolations.