(October 17, 2016 at 3:02 pm)Arkilogue Wrote: ...the first sentence of Genesis "in the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth" is not a true translation of the Hebrew...She said she eventually concluded the Hebrew verb "bara"...does not mean "to create" but to "spatially separate".
Definitely a minority opinion. All the more unlikely since verse four uses a different word, root Beit-Dalet-Lamed, which means commonly means "separate", the same thing as "divide".
(October 17, 2016 at 3:02 pm)Arkilogue Wrote: Also the Hebrew word used for God in Gen 1:1 is "Elohim" and that is plural.Meaning what exactly? If you are suggesting polytheism then you do so only by ignoring the whole counsel of Scripture. The best interpretation of that word choice was that the author is referring to the Divine Council which would include not only YHVH but the various heavenly host mentioned elsewhere, such as cherubim, angels, and seraphim.