One of the things I enjoy about small group Bible study is the sharing of the various English translations/ versions of the Holy Bible.
Each Bible translator (or group of translators) chooses the word equivalent (meaning) as they see fit.
Often these word choices have hidden biases or agendas of the translators (either consciously or unconsciously).
- Reading from different translations can bring to light different nuances of meaning (denotations) as well as various associated ideas and concepts (connotations).
- Reading the definitions of the Hebrew and Greek words themselves (with the lexicographer, but without the translator) can also bring to light new word relationships (especially related words from the same root word), often leading [me] to “aha” moments.
- Researching the definitions of the Hebrew and Greek words themselves eliminates the translator, but not the lexicographer.
A common lexicon (dictionary) used in studying the Bible is Strong’s Concordance.
However, I typically use biblehub.com, which include Strong’s definitions.
Hebrew Word Study
Bara’ ’Asah Yatsar: Create Make Form
An early impetus to my study of the Hebrew foundation of the Christian faith was my discovery in a Lifeway Christian Book Store.
Unfortunately, Lifeway Book Stores are now out of business.
The tactile serendipity of discovery inherent in a “bricks and mortar store” is now mostly lost in on-line shopping.
Nevertheless, one day I found the Hebrew Greek Key Word Study Bible NASB [HGKWSB].
This is the Bible that introduced me to the “original languages” of the Christian Bible: Hebrew and Greek.
Bara’ : Create
My first exciting discovery was right at the beginning, in Genesis 1:1.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
In the Hebrew Greek Key Word Study Bible “Lexical Aids” (p1716) I found that the Hebrew word translated as “created” in verse 1 was bara’.
bara’1254
to create, form[,] make, produce; to cut, to cut down; to engrave, to carve.
My current go-to for Hebrew and Greek definitions, the Interlinear Bible Greek, Hebrew, Strongs (found at biblehub.com), concurs.
bara’1254
shape, fashion, create, always of divine activity
choose, create creator, cut down, dispatch, do, make fat
I have also examined bara’ when discussing the Omnificence of YHVH.
In Times of Trials and Suffering Like the COVID-19 Pandemic, Who Are We Compared to God?
The Hebrew Greek Key Word Study Bible NASB definition continues:
bara’ emphasizes the initiation of the object, not manipulating it after creation.
The word as used in the Qal [a linguistic form] refers only to an activity which can be performed by God.
Consequently, in Hebrew, there is a word for creating something beyond what humans can create.
The Hebrew language has a word that refers to a creative power that only God possesses.
The Hebrew language has a word that refers to a creative power that produces something that can be done only by God.
A word the English language does not have.
Creation Ex Nihilo
Ex nihilo is the Latin term for creating “out of nothing.”
If …
- something is created by God …
- something is that can only be created by God …
- something is a new manifestation …
- something is an actualization of some phenomenon that never before existed …
… then that something was created out of nothing!
This is certainly something only God can do!
As R. C. Sproul, in What Does ‘Ex Nihilo’ Mean?, explains:
God did not take eternally preexisting matter or substance and reshape or reconfigure it into the present world.
His creative activity is not like that of human artists.
Human Creativity
I consider myself a creative person.
As an artist, I have made (IMO) beautiful images out of both oils and watercolor, as well as pencils and charcoal or other materials.
- Each “creation” is a representation of my perception of an image, either real or imagined.
- Each “creation” is new, never previously existing, even if I paint the same image more than once.
- Each “creation” is a new expression of my creative force.
Yet, I do not “create” ex nihilo.
I do not “create” out of nothing.
I cannot bara’.
No, for oil painting I have to use existing wood, canvas, pigments, oils, turpentine, brushes, a palette, and palette knives to mix and apply as I determine.
For watercolor I have to use an existing backer board, paper and tape, pigments, clean water, brushes, sponges and other found materials, to create colors and textures of my own design.
For drawings I have to use papers and supports; pencils. charcoal, conté sticks, etc.; pens, inks; erasers, stumps, fixative, and more.
I always have to use previously created materials for all of my creations.
Humans cannot bara’.
’Asah : Make
Reading a little further in Genesis, I found an additional word used to describe God’s work: ’asah.
7 God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. Genesis 1:7 NASB
The Hebrew Greek Key Word Study Bible NASB (p1763) definition says
’asah6213
… to work, to labor, to toil; to make, to create, to construct, to build, to accomplish; to acquire, to earn, to procure; to prepare, to offer, to sacrifice; to appoint, to constitute; to keep, to fulfill; to be made, to be done, to be created, to pe prepared; to happen, to be; to handle, to squeeze.
The basic meaning of ’asah is “do” or “make” in a general sense.
Again, biblehub.com agrees:
’asah6213
Do, make, work with, produce, observe/ celebrate [religious festivals]
The HGKWSB (p1763) definition further explains:
In the account of creation in Genesis, bara’1254 and ’asah6213 alternate.
Bara’ conveys the thought of creation ex nihilo, while ’asah is broader in scope and dealt with refinement [of existing material].
In fact, Genesis 2:3 uses both words:
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created (bara’) and made (’asah).
Yatsar : Form
Intriguingly, a few versed later, there is yet another word used in describing God’s act of creation. This time regarding the creation of “man.”
7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Genesis 2:7 NASB
This time the word used for the creation of Adam, humankind, is yatsar.
From Hebrew Greek Key Word Study Bible NASB (p1732):
yatsar3335
It means to form, to fashion, to devised, to frame; to produce, to create; to be formed or fashioned; to exist; to be predestined. …
The word implies initiation as well as structuring.
The definition at biblehub.com is similar – as well as highlighting both the human and the divine potter.
More about yatsar and how it relates to Adam, humanity, and earth …
… next time.
Blessings,
TLThomas
- How do you think the Hebrew language, by having a word for “create,” as specifically for something only God can do, affects(ed) the Jewish/ Hebrew view of creation, of the world?
- How might having an English word for something only God can do have affected the paradigm (world view) of English speakers, specifically re: belief in God?
What other words in the Bible would you like to learn more about?
Please let me know in the comments.
Together we can Check It Out!
© TLThomas 2021