Beginnings - the Deep
May 17, 2022
“Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the DEEP, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־ פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־ פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃
Genesis 1:2
The Hebrew word translated as “the deep” is TEHOM (תְּהוֹם), a noun used more than thirty times in Jesus’ Bible. Knowing that the translators turn TEHOM into “the deep” is not, however, helpful to understanding the word’s real meaning to the Text’s original audience. To know its true meaning, we need a little tour of Ancient Near-Eastern cosmology and cosmogony. And understanding that is like a key which unlocks the meaning of all of Genesis 1.
Jewish cosmogony envisions a three-part world, with the heavens (SHAMAYIM) above, the land (ERETS) in the middle, and the underworld (SHEOL) below. Surrounding it all were cosmic waters (MAYIM), separated from the heavens and the land by a firmament (RAQIA). And below the land was the great deep (TEHOM), comprising the same waters that were above the firmament.
The Hebrew Bible does not innovate with this depiction, but rather adapts a model that other cultures in their Ancient Near Eastern world also held to be true. The Hebrew word TEHOM is a cognate of similar words that occur in Ugaritic (T-H-M) and Akkadian (TAMTU). All of these words are closely related TIAMAT, an early Sumerian goddess of the sea.
In the Enuma Elish, an ancient Babylonian creation epic, TIAMAT gives birth to the first deities, but she later takes on the form of a sea dragon and makes war on her children. She is then slain by MARDUK, who uses her carcass to form the heavens and the earth.
In the Hebraic thinking of Genesis, it is G-d the Creator who forms the land – calls it into existence – not by destroying a rival god, but rather by His Word.
No comments:
Post a Comment