GENESIS REVISITED
When God bestowed the Torah s Sefer Bereshit (Book of Genesis) upon the Hebrew tribes approximately 3,400 years ago, He knew that, due to the limited scientific comprehension of His people, the enigmatic information conveyed in its first eight verses (comprising the first two Days of Creation and memorialized at Genesis 1:1-8) could not be understood by them (or, for millennia thereafter, by their descendants) in its correct cosmological sense, but only in its simplest sense. To that end, God employed commonly-understood words with simple meanings to describe complex cosmological phenomena (sometimes even employing the same vernacular label to describe different cosmological phenomena, e.g., the employment of the word שָׁמָיִם -- in both Genesis 1:1 & 1:8, and the employment of the word מַיִם in both Genesis 1:2 & 1:6) that were well beyond the comprehension of His immediate audience. Describing the Creation of Existence in this way generally allowed God to eschew the employment of unique cosmological nomenclature that would have rendered the complex information conveyed thereby completely incomprehensible and, consequently, completely inaccessible, to His immediate audience, as well as -- until the Era of Modern Science -- to their better-educated descendants. Unfortunately, as cosmology progressed, generations immersed therein began to view the Torah s description of the Creation of Existence (especially in light of its employment of vernacular labels for complex cosmological phenomena) as mythological.
For example, as employed in the Torah, the word הָאָרֶץ -- which is traditionally translated as the land -- can refer to a territory, the ground, or the soil, depending upon the context. However, those known meanings for that word do not foreclose the existence of other meanings for that word -- especially in the cosmological realm. That is why, in Genesis 1:1, the word הָאָרֶץ is always translated as the [planet] Earth , even though the ancient Hebrews were ignorant of the existence of planets, including the fact that they lived on one of those planets. Yet, as it is indisputable that the planet Earth was a later rather than a primordial cosmological creation, it is certain that, in Genesis 1:1, God s employment of the word הָאָרֶץ (to describe one of the two existential components that God created at the Beginning of the Creation of Existence) means something other than the [planet] Earth -- let alone the land . However, the ancient Hebrew tribes would not have been able to comprehend a unique term for that complex cosmological creation. For this reason, God employed the comprehensible word הָאָרֶץ for that creation. So, what was that creation? In light of cosmological discoveries, I hypothesize that that creation was the primordial Matter of the Universe, comprising electrons, quarks, positrons, and antiquarks, which formed the particles (i.e., electrons and quarks) and the antiparticles (positrons and antiquarks) of the primordial Matter -- a complex cosmological phenomenon that would not have been understood by anyone before the Era of Modern Science. Consequently, in Genesis 1:1, the word הָאָרֶץ should be retranslated as the primordial Matter of the Universe .
The below exegesis is an imperfect attempt to retranslate the first eight verses of the Torah in light of the discoveries of cosmology. The attempt is imperfect because much of the Science embedded in the Torah s description of the Creation of Existence has not yet been discovered by cosmologists; and, for that reason, the undiscovered Science embedded in the Torah remains well beyond my comprehension.
First, the Hebrew text of the Torah is displayed. Next, a traditional translation of the text is displayed. Finally, a suggested scientific retranslation of the text is displayed, which aspires to maintain a logical connection between the words employed by God to describe the Beginning of the Existence of Creation. For example, in Genesis 1:2, the phrase תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ -- which is traditionally translated as unformed and void -- is employed to describe the composition of הָאָרֶץ -- which is traditionally translated as the [planet] Earth . However, if הָאָרֶץ indeed means the primordial Matter of the Universe , then it is logical to retranslate תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ, which comprised that primordial Matter, as particles and antiparticles .
בָּרָא
אֱלֹהִים אֵת
הַשָּׁמַיִם
וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ בְּרֵאשִׁית .1
In the Beginning, God
created the Heavens and the Earth.
In the Beginning of the
Creation of Existence, God created the Expanse of Outer Space and the
primordial Matter.
וְהָאָרֶץ
הָיְתָה
תֹהוּ
וָבֹהוּ
וְחֹשֶׁךְ
עַל-פְּנֵי
תְהוֹם
וְרוּחַ
אֱלֹהִים מְרַחֶפֶת
עַל-פְּנֵי
הַמָּיִם .2
And the Earth was
unformed and void; and Darkness was upon the face of the Deep; and the Spirit
of God hovered upon the face of the Waters.
And the primordial
Matter was in the form of particles and antiparticles; and Darkness permeated
the Immeasurable Plasma Vacuum; and the Spirit of God hovered beyond the
confines of the Plasma.
וַיֹּאמֶר
אֱלֹהִים
יְהִי אוֹר
וַיְהִי-אוֹר .3
And God said, Let
there be Light ; and there was Light.
And God said, Let
Electromagnetic Energy emerge from within the Darkness of the Immeasurable
Plasma Vacuum ; and Electromagnetic Energy emerged.
וַיַּרְא
אֱלֹהִים
אֶת-הָאוֹר
כִּי-טוֹב וַיַּבְדֵּל
אֱלֹהִים
בֵּין הָאוֹר
וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁך .4
And God saw that the
Light was Good; and God separated between the Light and the Darkness.
And God discerned that
the Electromagnetic Energy was Beneficial for His Purpose; and God separated
the Electromagnetic Energy from the Darkness, thereby enabling the
Electromagnetic Energy to escape therefrom and fill the Universe.
וַיִּקְרָא
אֱלֹהִים
לָאוֹר יוֹם
וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ
קָרָא
לָיְלָה
וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב
וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר
יוֹם אֶחָד .5
And God called to the
Light: Day ; and to the Darkness He called:
Night ; and there was Evening, and there was Morning -- One Day.
And God called to the
Visible Segment of the Electromagnetic Energy: Day ; and to the Darkness He
called: Night ; and there was Evening, and there was Morning -- One Day,
according to God s Reckoning.
וַיֹּאמֶר
אֱלֹהִים
יְהִי
רָקִיעַ
בְּתוֹךְ
הַמָּיִם
וִיהִי
מַבְדִּיל
בֵּין מַיִם
לָמָיִם .6
And God said, Let
there be a Firmament in the midst of the Waters, and let it separate between
the Waters and the Waters.
And God said, Let
there be made ready the conditions necessary for the formation of an
Atmospheric Envelope around the planet Earth in the midst of the Waters, and
let it separate between the Waters and the Waters.
וַיַּעַשׂ
אֱלֹהִים
אֶת-הָרָקִיעַ
וַיַּבְדֵּל
בֵּין
הַמַּיִם
אֲשֶׁר
מִתַּחַת לָרָקִיעַ
וּבֵין
הַמַּיִם
אֲשֶׁר מֵעַל
לָרָקִיעַ
וַיְהִי-כֵן .7
And God made the
Firmament; and it separated between the Waters that were below the Firmament
and the Waters that were above the Firmament; and it was so.
And God made ready the
conditions necessary for the formation of the Atmospheric Envelope, which was
to separate between the Terrestrial Waters and the Celestial Waters; and it was
so.
וַיִּקְרָא
אֱלֹהִים
לָרָקִיעַ שָׁמָיִם
וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב
וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר
יוֹם שֵׁנִי .8
And God called to the
Firmament: Heavens ; and there was Evening, and there was Morning -- a Second
Day.
And God called to the
future Atmospheric Envelope: Sky ; and there was Evening, and there was
Morning -- a Second Day, according to God s Reckoning.
Mark Rosenblit