Bereshit Chapter 1 - NazareneSpace Blog

James Trimm’s Nazarene Commentary on Bereshit Chapter 1

1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ

With this opening passage, Elohim places His signature, that of an infinite mind, on the text. Clearly no mere mortal could have composed these seven words with so much inherent mathematical beauty based around factors of seven.

This verse contains seven words. These seven words contain 28 (7×4) letters. The opening phrase בראשית ברא אלהים “in the beginning God” contains 14 (7*2) letters, and the last phrase את השמים ואת הארץ “the heavens and the earth” also contains 14 (7*2) letters. In this second phrase, the two sub phrases את השמים “the heavens” and ואת הארץ “and the earth” are seven letters each. The three concrete nouns אלהים “Elohim” השמים “the heavens” and הארץ “the earth” have seven letters each and the four remaining words contain 14 (7*2) letters.

The gematria of the first (ב), middle ׂ(א and מ) and last (צ) letters add together to 133 (7*19). The gematria of all of the first and last letters of each word in this verse is 1393 (7*199). The first and last letters of the first and last words (7*71). All of the words between the first and last words have a gematria of 896 ((2 ^ 7) *7). The three concrete nouns add to a gematria of 777 (7*111) and the verb “created” has a gematria of 203 (7*29). And the gematria of the repeated articles (ה and את) are added together we get 406 (7*58).

If one begins with the first tav (ת) in the Torah, the final letter of בראשית and skips every 49 (7*7) letters, the word Torah (תורה) is spelled out.

If one begins with the yod (י) in בראשית and counts every 521st letter. the name Yeshua (ישוע) is spelled out. (521 is the gematria for אשכר meaning gift or tribute).

The Rabbis teach that the word בראשית Bershit teaches us that the world began at Rosh HaShanna, the first of Tishre, since בראשית is an anagram for “on Tishre 1” (בתשרי א)

The Rabbis found messages embedded in the word בראשית thru notarikon For example:

בראשית ראה אלוהים שיקבלו ישראל תורה

“In the beginning Elohim saw that Israel would receive the Torah”

The 17th Century Rabbi Shlomo Meir Ben Moshe also found several messages concerning Yeshua as Messiah in the word Bereshit thru notarikon:

בן רוח אב שלושתם יחד תמים

“The Son, the Spirit, the Father, they are three, a perfect unity”

בכורי ראשוני אשר שמו ישוע תעבודו

“You shall worship My first-born, My first, whose name is Yeshua”

בבוא רבן אשר שמו ישוע תעבודו

“When the master shall come whose name is Yeshua, you shall worship”

There is a great truth embedded in the Hebrew grammar of this verse. In his monumental work On Creation, the first century Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria wrote:

“(7) For some men, admiring the world itself rather than the Creator of the world, have represented it as existing without any maker, and eternal; and as impiously as falsely have represented God as existing in a state of complete inactivity, while it would have been right on the other hand to marvel at the might of God as the creator and father of all, and to admire the world in a degree not exceeding the bounds of moderation. (8) But Moses, who had early reached the very summits of philosophy, and who had learnt from the oracles of God the most numerous and important of the principles of nature, was well aware that it is indispensable that in all existing things there must be an active cause, and a passive subject; and that the active cause is the intellect of the universe, thoroughly unadulterated and thoroughly unmixed, superior to virtue and superior to science, superior even to abstract good or abstract beauty; (9) while the passive subject is something inanimate and incapable of motion by any intrinsic power of its own, but having been set in motion, and fashioned, and endowed with life by the intellect, became transformed into that most perfect work, this world. And those who describe it as being uncreated, do, without being aware of it, cut off the most useful and necessary of all the qualities which tend to produce piety, namely, providence:” (Philo; On Creation 7-9)

These words recall the Wisdom of Solomon which reads:

“For all men who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature;
and they were unable from the good things that
are seen to know him who exists,
nor did they recognize the craftsman while
paying heed to his works;”
(Wisdom of Solomon 13:1 RSV)

As well as those ascribed to Timaeus in Plato’s Timaeus:

…we therefore who are purposing to deliver a discourse concerning the Universe, how it was created or haply is uncreate, … Now first of all we must, in my judgement, make the following distinction. What is that which is Existent always and has no Becoming? And what is that which is Becoming always and never is Existent? Now the one of these is apprehensible by thought with the aid of reasoning, since it is ever uniformly existent; whereas the other is an object of opinion with the aid of unreasoning sensation, since it becomes and perishes and is never really existent. Again, everything which becomes must of necessity become owing to some Cause; for without a cause it is impossible for anything to attain becoming. … Now the whole Heaven, or Cosmos, or if there is any other name which it specially prefers, by that let us call it,—so, be its name what it may, we must first investigate concerning it that primary question which has to be investigated at the outset in every case,—namely, whether it has existed always, having no beginning of generation, or whether it has come into existence, having begun from some beginning. It has come into existence; for it is visible and tangible and possessed of a body; and all such things are sensible, [28c] and things sensible, being apprehensible by opinion with the aid of sensation, come into existence, as we saw, and are generated. And that which has come into existence must necessarily, as we say, have come into existence by reason of some Cause. Now to discover the Maker and Father of this Universe were a task indeed; and having discovered Him, to declare Him unto all men were a thing impossible.
(Plato’s Timaeous 27-28)

Philo is saying that every event in the universe is part of a chain of cause and effect. Everything that happens is the effect of a previous cause, and that cause was an effect of a previous cause, in a chain of cause and effect, reaching back to the First Cause (Creator). And since no effect is greater than it’s cause (an idea today we would call the Second Law of Thermodynamics), that Creator must be superior to anything in the universe.

This same truth is revealed in the grammatical structure of Genesis 1:1:

בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ

“In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.”

The first word בראשית means “In the beginning” the next word is the verb ברא “created” then the word אלהים (Elohim) means “God”.

The key word here is את which is a word which cannot be translated into English (or any other language). It is a unique Hebrew word that points to the next word as receiving the action of the verb, in this case pointing to השמים “the heavens” and again to הארץ “the earth” as receiving the action from the verb “create”. This word literally denotes the passive subject of an active cause. So in the literal Hebrew text of Genesis 1:1 we see revealed that “the heavens and the earth” are the passive subject, acted upon by the active cause of creation, and that the source of the active cause of creation was Elohim “the intellect of the universe” and that this event was “the beginning” or first “cause”.

Several translations render this phrase “In the beginning God created…” (KJV, 1917 JPS and many others). The Rabbinic commentators point out that this traditional translation of this verse is problematic.

Rashbam says of this meaning “this is impossible, as verse 2 tells us there was ‘a wind from God sweeping over the water, meaning that the water too already existed.”

Likewise Rashi says:

…there is no רֵאשִׁית in Scripture that is not connected to the following word, [i.e., in the construct state] like (Jer. 27:1):“In the beginning of (בְּרֵאשִית) the reign of Jehoiakim” ; (below 10:10)“the beginning of (רֵאשִׁית) his reign” ; (Deut. 18:4)“the first (רֵאשִׁית) of your corn.” Here too, you say בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אלֹהִים, like בְּרֵאשִׁית בְּרֹא, in the beginning of creating. And similar to this is,“At the beginning of the Lord’s speaking (דִּבֶּר) to Hosea,” (Hos. 1:2), i.e., at the beginning of the speaking (דִּבּוּרוֹ) of the Holy One, Blessed be He, to Hosea, “the Lord said to Hosea, etc.”

However Kimhi disagrees saying “The noun ‘beginning’ is not in the construct form here, but in the absolute form as in ‘I foretell the end from the beginning (מראשית)’ (Is. 46:10). The meaning ‘In the beginning God created’ is therefore the correct one.”

Ibn Ezra writes “Others say that our word always means “the beginning of” and that a following word must be understood here… But they have forgotten ‘He chose for himself the beginning (ראשית) part” (Deut. 33:21), which has no ‘of'” However Ibn Ezra ultimately concludes “In my opinion our word does indeed indicate ‘of’ just as it does in ‘At the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim’ (Jer. 27:1)

Concerning the translation “When God began to create…” (as in the New JPS Version) Rashbam comments:

One who explains it to mean “when God began to create heaven and earth,” following the syntax of “When the LORD first spoke to Hosea” (Hosea 1:2), is saying that before heaven and earth were created, the earth was [already] “unformed and void,” and (again) that the water had already been created. But this too is obviously nonsence. There is no earth to be “unformed and void” if the earth had not yet been created before the water was fashioned.”

Rashbam suggests that the true meaning of בראשית is “at the beginning of” as in Gen. 10:10 “the beginning of [Nimrod’s] kingdom was Babel.”

And Rashi writes concerning the interpretation “At the beginning of [all/everything] God created…” saying:

Now if you say that it came to teach that these (i.e., heaven and earth) were created first, and that its meaning is: In the beginning of all, He created these-and that there are elliptical verses that omit one word, like (Job 3:10): “For [He] did not shut the doors of my [mother’s] womb,” and it does not explain who it was who shut [the womb]; and like (Isa. 8:4): “he will carry off the wealth of Damascus,” and it does not explain who will carry it off; and like (Amos 6:12): “or will one plow with cattle,” and it does not explain: “if a man will plow with cattle” ; and like (Isa. 46: 10): “telling the end from the beginning,” and it does not explain that [it means] telling the end of a matter from the beginning of a matter-if so, [if you say that Scripture indicates the order of creation] be astounded at yourself, for the water preceded, as it is written: “and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the water,” and Scripture did not yet disclose when the creation of water took place! From this you learn that the water preceded the earth. Moreover, the heavens were created from fire and water. Perforce, you must admit that Scripture did not teach us anything about the sequence of the earlier and the later [acts of creation].

Philo of Alexandria writes of this phrase:

(27) But if the beginning spoken of by Moses is not to be looked upon as spoken of according to time, then it may be natural to suppose that it is the beginning according to number that is indicated; so that, “In the beginning he created,” is equivalent to “first of all he created the heaven;” for it is natural in reality that that should have been the first object created, being both the best of all created things, and being also made of the purest substance, because it was destined to be the most holy abode of the visible Gods who are perceptible by the external senses; (28) for if the Creator had made everything at the same moment, still those things which were created in beauty would no less have had a regular arrangement, for there is no such thing as beauty in disorder. But order is a due consequence and connection of things precedent and subsequent, if not in the completion of a work, at all events in the intention of the maker; for it is owing to order that they become accurately defined and stationary, and free from confusion. (29) In the first place therefore, from the model of the world, perceptible only by intellect, the Creator made an incorporeal heaven, and an invisible earth, and the form of air and of empty space: the former of which he called darkness, because the air is black by nature; and the other he called the abyss, for empty space is very deep and yawning with immense width. Then he created the incorporeal substance of water and of air, and above all he spread light, being the seventh thing made; and this again was incorporeal, and a model of the sun, perceptible only to intellect, and of all the lightgiving stars, which are destined to stand together in heaven.
(On Creation 27-29)

Concerning this issue Kimhi wrote “To call it “beginning” is pushing the boundaries of language, as that is a word of temporal sequence, and time itself began only with the movement of the spheres.”

Rashbam concludes:

To understand the straightforward sense of the verse, you must understand this basic point: Biblical texts regularly mention things that are not yet relevant in order to foreshadow later texts. For example, Gen. 9:18 tells us that “the son’s of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth”; why does it add “Ham being the father of Canaan? Because in Gen. 9:25 Noah will say, “Cursed be Canaan.” If Canaan had not already been mentioned, we would have no idea why Noah was cursing him. Another example. When “Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s “concubine” (Gen. 35:22), why does the verse continue, “and Israel found out”? After all, Israel does not say a word to Reuben about it. But it is meant to prepare the reader to hear Jacob to say on his deathbed, “Unstable as water you shall excel no longer; for when you mounted your father’s bed, you brought disgrace– my couch he mounted!” (Gen. 49:4) The same phenomena is found in many places. … when God had begun to create…” and so forth. That is, near to the start of creation– when the upper heavens and the earth had all been in existence for however long a time– at the period when the story starts, the earth was unformed and void and so on.

On a midrashic level, Rashi interprets (based on Midrash Rabbah):

This verse calls for a midrashic interpretation [because according to its simple interpretation, the vowelization of the word בָּרָא, should be different, as Rashi explains further]. It teaches us that the sequence of the Creation as written is impossible, as is written immediately below] as our Rabbis stated (Letters of R. Akiva , letter “beth” ; Gen. Rabbah 1:6; Lev. Rabbah 36:4): [God created the world] for the sake of reshit [beginning],” They were created for the sake of the Torah, which is called (Prov. 8:22): “the beginning of His way,” and for the sake of Israel, who are called (Jer. 2:3) “the first of His grain.”

Nachmanides takes us a bit deeper than Rashi’s midrashic level, to a sod level:

The midrash cited by Rashi is actually profoundly obscure. There are many other things tha are called reshit (“beginning”), each with its own midrash… What the sages meant by this was that the world was created by means of the ten sefirot, and that reshit refers specifically to the sefirah of Hokhmah (“Wisdom”), which is the basis for everything: “The LORD founded the earth by wisdom” (Prov. 3:19).

We read in the Zohar that the word Bereshit is the key that opens the gates to mysteries of hidden treasure:

Said R. Yudai: ‘What is the meaning of Bereshith? It means “with Wisdom”, the Wisdom on which the world is based, and through this it introduces us to deep and recondite mysteries. In it, too, is the inscription of six chief supernal directions, out of which there issues the totality of existence. From the same there go forth six sources of rivers which flow into the Great Sea. This is implied in the word Bereshith, which can be analysed into BaRa-SHiTH (He created six). And who created them? The Mysterious Unknown.’ R. Hiya and R. Jose were walking along the road. When they reached the open country, R. Hiya said to R. Jose, ‘What you said about Bereshith signifying bara-shith (created six) is certainly correct, since the Torah speaks of six primordial days and not more. The others are hinted at but not disclosed; nevertheless, from what is told us we can perceive the following. The Holy and Mysterious One graved in a hidden recess one point. In that He enclosed the whole of Creation as one who locks up all his treasures in a palace, under one key, which is therefore as valuable as all that is stored up in that palace; for it is the key which shuts and opens. In that palace there are hidden treasures, one greater than the other. The palace is provided with fifty mystic gates. They are inserted in its four sides to the number of forty-nine. The one remaining gate is on none of its sides and it is unknown whether it is on high or below: it is hence called the mysterious gate. All these gates have one lock, and there is one tiny spot for the insertion of the key, which is only marked by the impress of the key. It is this mystery which is implied in the words “In the beginning created God”, “In the beginning” (Bereshith): this is the key which encloses the whole and which shuts and opens. Six gates are controlled by this key which opens and shuts. At first it kept the gates closed and impenetrable; this is indicated by the word Bereshith, which is composed of a revealing word (shith) with a concealing word (bara).
(Zohar 1:3b)

The 17th Century Rabbi Shlomo Meir Ben Moshe commenting on בראשית (bereshit) remarked:

Bereshit literally translated, signifies “At the beginning of”, leaving an ellipsis, which some have supplied by inserting “all”, and others by repeating the second word in the text; as, “In the beginning of all things”, or “In the beginning of the creation, Elohim created”. This elliptical form of expression was used by Elohim, not for want of other words, but from design, to indicate a hidden mystery (sod).

Read not Bereshit (בראשית) but Bar Ashit (בר אשית) “I will appoint, set up, or place the Son.” The word Bar (בר) has a twofold meaning : it also signifies grain, or bread, in allusion to the bread of the Passover, and to the words of Yeshua who said, ” I am the living bread, which came down from heaven.” (Yochanan 6:51) There is great beauty in designating the Son by a term applicable also to bread, in preference to other words signifying only a Son; and there is likewise a striking propriety in the appellation here given to grain, which has been distinguished by three names adapted to the three different states in which men have been found:

Grain is also called דגן DAGAN which symbolizes that before the fall, man was to subsist on the produce of the tree of paradise, made into bread, and called דגן, which can also be translated, “of the garden.”

Wheat grain is also called חטא CHITTA which also means “sin” symbolizing the period from the fall of man to the coming of Messiah.

Finally grain is also called בר BAR which also means “son” symbolizing that since the coming of the Messiah, the bread symbolizes the incarnate Son of Yah ; according to the declaration of Yeshua, “If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.” (Yochanan 6:50)

Rabbi Eliezer Hakkalir commented of Gen. 1:1:

When God created the world, “He created it through three Sefarim, through Sefer, Sephar and Sippur” (Sefer Yetzirah 1:1) And these allude to three beings. And it is written in the account of Bereshit (Genesis) “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created (בְּהִבָּֽרְאָ֑ם)” (Gen. 2:4). Our rabbis of blessed memory, have expounded the letter ה, in the word בְּהִבָּֽרְאָ֑ם thus: through the letter ה He created; thus the world is created through the letter ה because in this letter (signifying YHWH) are indicated the three beings, and this is the secret (sod) of the Torah, when saying, “In the beginning God created” (Gen. 1:1) and afterwards when it is said, “In that day YHWH Elohim made the earth and the heavens.” (Gen. 2:4) The Psalmist (peace be upon him) said “By the Word of YHWH were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the Spirit of His mouth.” (Ps. 33:6)

My mentor and teacher Rabbi Moyal taught me concerning the first three letters of Torah. These three letters are also the same three letters of the second word of the Torah meaning “created”. These same three letters also spell the Hebrew word for “Creator.” These are the initial letters of the words BEN (בן) (Son), RUACH (רוח) (Spirit) and ABBA (אבא) (Father), showing us that the Creator is the BEN, RUACH and ABBA, the Three Pillars of the Godhead, and that this is the reason that the Hebrew of Ecclesiastes 12:1 literally reads “Remember now your Creators” in the plural (though most translations render “Creator” here in the singular, this is actually the plural form of our same word for Creator discussed herein.)

Created – There is controversy over the meaning of this verb in the Hebrew. We read in 2Maccabees:

I beseech thee, my son, look upon the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, and consider that God made them of things that were not; and so was mankind made likewise.
(2Maccabees 7:28 KJV)

However Ibn Ezra points out that the verb here need not refer to creation ex nihilo:

Most of the commentaries say that this Hebrew verb refers specifically to creation ex nihilo, making something out of nothing, as in “If the LORD make a new thing” (Num. 16:30). But they have forgotten “God created the great sea monsters” (v. 21), which were brought forth from the waters (see v. 20). In v. 27 “created” is used this way three times! “I form the light, and create darkness” (Isaiah 45:7) is even more disastrous for their theory; here God is “creating” nothingness– light is a substance, darkness merely its absence. The correct explanation is precisely this: The word ברא is two different verbs: one, a verb that means “to create out of nothing,” and another that is an alternate form of the verb ברה.

In his book The Kabbalah; The Religious Philosophy of the Hebrews, Adolphe Frank interpreted the doctrine of emanation taught in the Sefer Yetzirah (and the Zohar) as contrary to that of creation ex nihilo. He comments on Sefer Yetzirah 1:7 saying:

Is not this what is called the doctrine of emanation? Is not this the doctrine which denies the popular belief that the world was evolved from nothing? The following words free us from uncertainty: “The end of the ten Sefiroth is tied to their beginning as the flame to the fire-brand, for the Lord is One and there is no second to Him: and what will you count before the One?” [(Sefer Yetzirah 1:7)]

However in a later passage the Sefer Yetzirah says:

יצר ממש מתהו ועשה את אינו ישנו

“He formed substance from tohu and made nonexistence into existence.” (Sefer Yetzirah 2:6) (For more on tohu see Comments on Bereshit 1:2)

According to the Jewish tradition known as Kabbalah, as one approaches Ayn Sof (the Infinite One) one passes through four worlds. These four worlds are based on the four stages of the process of creation, each of which exists outside the dimension of time and thus they all are to be passed through as one approaches Ayn Sof.

These four worlds, or four stages of creation are laid out in the Tanak in the book of Isaiah:

All that is called in My Name, for My Glory (K’vod),
I have created (Beri’ah) it,
I have formed (Yetzirah) it,
And I have made (Asiyyah) it.
(Is. 43:7)

The four worlds are known as the World of Atzilut (emanation) ; the World of Beri’ah (creation), the World of Yetzirah (formation) and the World of Asiyyah (action).

When the Infinite One created the universe, His work of creation followed these four stages. Since all but the last of these worlds exists, like YHWH, outside the dimension of time, as one approaches YHWH from this world, one must pass though the upper three worlds which stand as stages of this world, or worlds of their own, between this creation and the Creator.

The First Century Jewish Writer Philo of Alexandria also writes about the Creation as unfolding in stages corresponding to other “worlds”. And while Philo is commonly understood of speaking of two worlds, a closer examination will show that Philo actually subdivides each of these two worlds into to two, so that Philo’s system actually has four worlds as well.

Philo writes of two worlds,

We must mention as much as we can of the matters contained in his account, since to enumerate them all is impossible; for he embraces that beautiful world which is perceptible only by the intellect, as the account of the first day will show: (16) for God, as apprehending beforehand, as a God must do, that there could not exist a good imitation without a good model, and that of the things perceptible to the external senses nothing could be faultless which wax not fashioned with reference to some archetypal idea conceived by the intellect, when he had determined to create this visible world, previously formed that one which is perceptible only by the intellect, in order that so using an incorporeal model formed as far as possible on the image of God, he might then make this corporeal world, a younger likeness of the elder creation, which should embrace as many different genera perceptible to the external senses, as the other world contains of those which are visible only to the intellect. (17) But that world which consists of ideas, it were impious in any degree to attempt to describe or even to imagine: but how it was created, we shall know if we take for our guide a certain image of the things which exist among us. When any city is founded through the exceeding ambition of some king or leader who lays claim to absolute authority, and is at the same time a man of brilliant imagination, eager to display his good fortune, then it happens at times that some man coming up who, from his education, is skilful in architecture, and he, seeing the advantageous character and beauty of the situation, first of all sketches out in his own mind nearly all the parts of the city which is about to be completed–the temples, the gymnasia, the prytanea, and markets, the harbour, the docks, the streets, the arrangement of the walls, the situations of the dwelling houses, and of the public and other buildings. (18) Then, having received in his own mind, as on a waxen tablet, the form of each building, he carries in his heart the image of a city, perceptible as yet only by the intellect, the images of which he stirs up in memory which is innate in him, and, still further, engraving them in his mind like a good workman, keeping his eyes fixed on his model, he begins to raise the city of stones and wood, making the corporeal substances to resemble each of the incorporeal ideas. (19) Now we must form a somewhat similar opinion of God, who, having determined to found a mighty state, first of all conceived its form in his mind, according to which form he made a world perceptible only by the intellect, and then completed one visible to the external senses, using the first one as a model. (On Creation 15b-19)

So this presents two worlds, one of incorporeal ideas, perceptible only to the intellect, and a corporeal world perceptible to our senses.

However these two worlds may be further divided. Philo says of the incorporeal world, that it is “an incorporeal model formed as far as possible on the image of God.” (On Creation 17)

And of the corporeal world Philo says:

(8) But Moses, who had early reached the very summits of philosophy, and who had learnt from the oracles of God the most numerous and important of the principles of nature, was well aware that it is indispensable that in all existing things there must be an active cause, and a passive subject; and that the active cause is the intellect of the universe, thoroughly unadulterated and thoroughly unmixed, superior to virtue and superior to science, superior even to abstract good or abstract beauty; (9) while the passive subject is something inanimate and incapable of motion by any intrinsic power of its own, but having been set in motion, and fashioned, and endowed with life by the intellect, became transformed into that most perfect work, this world. And those who describe it as being uncreated, do, without being aware of it, cut off the most useful and necessary of all the qualities which tend to produce piety, namely, providence: (On Creation 9-9)

So that the corporeal world is composed of a stage or world that is merely a “passive subject inanimate and incapable of motion by any intrinsic power of its own” but which “became transformed into… this world” when it was “set in motion, and fashioned, and endowed with life by the intellect,” (On Creation 9)

This means that Philo of Alexandria actually presents four “worlds” or “four stages of creation”: The image of Elohim, the incorporeal model formed as far as possible on the “image of God”. A corporeal “passive subject” and “this world” which is “set in motion.”

Philo’s Four Worlds correspond exactly with the Four Worlds of Kabbalah! This tells us that either the Four Worlds as taught in Kabbalah are either derived from Philo of Alexandria, or that (more likely) both Kabbalah and Philo of Alexandria are referencing a very ancient Jewish tradition of the “Four Worlds” that dates back at least to the First Century, but possibly much, much further into ancient times.

Does the substance of Elohim himself constitue “preexistant material”?

This contraoversy has added complications as we have learned more about the universe itself. We now must ask what constitutes “nothing” and what constitutes “something”. Once empty space was though of as “nothing”. The theories of relativity have shown us that even empty space has structure, can be warped and contracted. And quantum mechanics has shown us that space is never truley empty, instead virtual particles are constantly poppong in and out of existance in any given area of space.

Is the universe expanding from a single point?

ET the heavens and ET the earth

In the King James Version of the Bible we read three times that Messiah says “I am Alpha and Omega” (Reveleation 1:8, 21:6, and 22:13). In the Aramaic text of Revelation, as we read in the Hebraic Root Version, that Yeshua actually said “I am Alef and I am Tav.”

The phrase “I am Alef and I am Tav” has a very special meaning in Judaism.

We read in Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.”

בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ

The Zohar says of this verse:

BARA (ברא) represents the mysterious source from which the whole expanded. ELOHIM (אלהים) represents the force which sustains all below. The words ET HASHAMMAIM (את השמים) indicate that the two latter are on no account to be separated, and are male and female together. The word ET (את) consists of the letters ALEF (א) and TAV (ת), which include between them all the letters, as being the first and last of the alphabet. Afterwards HE (ה) was added, so that all the letters should be attached to HE (ה), and this gave the name ATTAH (אתה) (You); hence we read “and You (VE-ATTAH) (ואתה) keep all of them alive” (Neh. 9:6). ET (את) again alludes to YHWH, who is so called. HASHAMMAIM (השמים) is YHWH in his higher signification. The next word, VE-ET (ואת), indicates the firm union of male and female; it also alludes to the appellation VE-YHWH (ויהוה) (and YHWH), both explanations coming to the same thing. HA-ERETZ (הארץ) (the earth) designates an ELOHIM (אלהים) corresponding to the higher form, to bring forth fruit and produce. This name is here found in three applications, and thence the same name branches out to various sides.
(Zohar 1:15b)

Here we learn two important significations of the ALEF and the TAV in Genesis 1:1.

The first is that the ALEF and the TAV, being the first and last letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, are an abbreviation for all twenty-two letters.

Each of the twenty-two Hebrew letters represents one of twenty-two paths which connect the Sefirot of the Tree of Life. Each of these twenty-two letters represents a relationship between two of the Sefirot and a combination of two of the Sefirot. These twenty-two letters are part of the image of Elohim and they took part in the creation. When Messiah said that he is the ALEF and the TAV it was an abbreviation to indicate that Messiah the incarnate “Word” embodied the twenty-two letters. When Elohim created the heavens and the earth he did so through words. Elohim “said” things and they were so. Elohim created the universe by his Word, through the ALEF and the TAV meaning through the twenty-two Hebrew letters.

Each Hebrew word is more than a word, it is a matrix of dynamic relationships within the Godhead. Hebrew letters are also the building blocks of creation. In the upper worlds all things exist in their prime-material state as the strings of Hebrew letters and words which were the building blocks of creation. As we read in the Sefer Yetzirah:

Twenty-two Foundation letters: He engraved them,
He carved them, He permuted (TZIRUF) them,
He weighed them, He transformed them,
And with them, He depicted all that was formed
and all that would be formed.
(Sefer Yetzirah 2:2)

The Zohar gives us a second important significance to the ALEF and the TAV as they appear in Genesis 1:1 “indicates the firm union of male and female”.

Now we read in the Torah:

26 And Elohim said: Let us make man in our image; after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.
27 And Elohim created man in His own image: in the image of Elohim created He him; male and female created He them.
(Gen. 1:26-27 HRV)

What does this mean? Let US make man in OUR image?

The Zohar gives a very interesting answer:

And Elohim said, Let us make man (Gen. 1:26). The secret (SOD) is to them who fear him (Ps. 25:14)…

That most reverend Elder opened an exposition of this verse by saying ‘Simeon Simeon, who is it that said: “Let us make man?” Who is this Elohim?’ With these words the most reverend Elder vanished before anyone saw him.

R. Simeon, hearing that he had called him plain “Simeon”, and not “Rabbi Simeon”, said to his colleagues: ‘Of a surety this is the Holy One, blessed be He, of whom it is written: “And the Ancient of days was seated” (Dan. VII, 9). Truly now is the time to expound this mystery, because certainly there is here a mystery which hitherto it was not permitted to divulge, but now we perceive that permission is given.’

He then proceeded: ‘A king had several buildings to be erected, and he had an architect in his service who did nothing save with his consent (Prov. 8:30). The king is the supernal Wisdom above, the Middle Pillar is the king below: Elohim is the architect above, being as such the supernal Mother, and Elohim is also the architect below, being as such the Divine Presence (Shekinah) below. Now a woman may not do anything without the consent of her husband. And all the buildings were created through his Emanation (aziluth), the Father said to the Mother by means of the Word (amirah), “let it be so and so”, and straightway it was so, as it is written, “And he said, Elohim, let there be light, and there was light”: i.e. one said to Elohim, let there be light: the master of the building gave the order, and the architect carried it out immediately; and so with all that was constructed in the way of emanation.
(Zohar 1:22a)

The Zohar understands “US” and “OUR” to be reflected in the “male and female” image of Elohim mentioned in verse 27 and these are here referred to as “the Father” and “the Mother” just as YHWH is expressed as a Father (Mal. 1:6; Is. 63:16; 64:7) and as a Mother (Is. 66:13) in the Tanak. (YHWH as a “Mother” is the “Comforter in Is. 66:13 which is the Holy Spirit in Jn. 14:16-17, 27; 15:26; 16:7).

The Male and Female image of Father and Mother are the Elohim which is the “Architect above” while the “architect below” is the “Elohim below” or the “king below” and identified as the “Middle Pillar”. Elsewhere the Zohar identifies the Middle Pillar as the “Son of Yah”:

Better is a neighbor that is near, than a brother far off.
This neighbor is the Middle Pillar in the Godhead,
which is the Son of Yah.
(Zohar 2:115)

Here (Zohar 1:22a) the Zohar also identifies the Middle Pillar with the Word, and as the union of the male and female aspects of the Godhead, the ALEF and the TAV,

So the words “Let Us create man in Our own image” are spoken from the Father to the Mother (Holy Spirit) and this is the Elohim above, and these words are carried out by the Word which is the Son of Yah, the Middle Pillar, the Elohim below.

Just as we read in the Ketuvim Netzarim:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Eloah, and the Word was Eloah.
2 This was in the beginning, with Eloah.
3 Everything existed through Him, and without Him, not even one thing existed of that which existed.
(Yochanan (John) 1:1-3 HRV)

1:2 Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of Elohim hovered over the face of the waters.
(Gen. 1:2 HRV)

the earth was unformed (tohu) and void (bohu)

There are three ways to understand the timing of this passage:

If we understand the first verse to mean “When Elohim began to create…” (As it is understood in the New JPS translation) then we may understand this passage to mean, “When Elohim created the heavens and the earth, the earth was [already] void and without form.” This interpretation would agree with the Babylonian Creation myth, where the Universe began as chaos. It could also agree with the doctrine that the world was made from preexistent matter.

If we understand the first verse to mean “In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth” (as does the 1917 JPS version, and most English translations), then the phrase “and the earth was void and without form” merely indicates the initial state of the earth upon its creation.

If we understand the verb of being in verse 2 as “became” rather than “was” then the verse may be understood as “And the earth *became* void and without form”, then the earth became “void and without form” subsequent to creation. This is known as the “gap” theory, because it places a gap between the events of verse 1 and those of verse 2. Proponents of this theory cite Isaiah 45:18 as support:

For thus says YHWH that created the heavens, He is Elohim; that formed the earth and made it, He established it, He created it not a waste (tohu), He formed it to be inhabited: I am YHWH, and there is none else.
(Isaiah 45:18 HRV)

By this theory a period of time, perhaps even millions or billions of years, passed between verse 1 and verse 2, that some great disaster (such as the fall of Satan) caused the earth of this earlier creation in verse 1 to become void and without form, and thus the creation account beginning in verse 2 is an account of recreation, or repair.

Rashbam understands a gap, even without that interpretation, saying “when the upper heavens and the earth had all been in existence for however long a time– at the period when the story starts, the earth was void and without form.”

Why does verse 2 single out the earth, but not the heavens and the earth, as in verse 1? Kimhi said that this teaches us that the heavens were complete after the initial creation, but that the earth was net yet complete.

Why was the earth “void” (tohu) and “without form” (bohu)? What do these words really mean?

Targum Onkelos interprets that the earth was “desolate and empty” (וְאַרְעָא הֲוַת צָדְיָא וְרֵיקַנְיָא) and the Septuagint translates as “unsightly” (ἀόρατος) and “unfurnished” (ἀκατασκεύαστος).

Rashi says that the word “tohu” means “astonishment” such that the earth was so desolate that it was astonishingly so.

In his translation oכ the Sefer Yetzirah (1:11) Aryeh Kaplan translated tohu and bohu as “chaos and void” and comments (p. 75) “This alludes to the initial state of creation… the Sefer Yetzirah later says that it was out of this chaos (tohu) that substance [ממש] was formed (2:6).” And says “Tohu denotes pure substance that does not contain information. Bohu is pure information that does not relate to any substance.”

Kimhi taught that the earth was “void” because it was uninhabbited and “without form” because, being completely covered in water, the earth was mud and mire, as the Sefer Yetzirah 1:11 says “tohu and bohu; mire and clay”.

This agrees with a comment by Philo of Alexandria:

And after this, as the whole body of water in existence was spread over all the earth, and had penetrated through all its parts, as if it were a sponge which had imbibed moisture, so that the earth was only swampy land and deep mud, both the elements of earth and water being mixed up and combined together, like one confused mass into one undistinguishable and shapeless nature,…
(On Creation 38)

Rabbi Barachiah, in the Bahir is reported as commenting on this verse:

What is the meaning of the word “was” in this verse? This indicates the tohu existed previously [and already was]. What is tohu? Something which confounds. What is bohu? It is something that has substance. This is the reason that it is called Bohu, that is Bo Hu– “It is in it.”

The Zohar explains the meaning s of tohu and bohu as follows:

Tohu is a place which has no colour and no form, and the esoteric principle of “form” does not apply to it. It seems for a moment to have a form, but when looked at again it has no form. Everything has a “vestment” except this. Bohu, on the other hand, has shape and form, namely, stones immersed in the chasm of Tohu, but sometimes emerging from the chasm in which they are sunk, and drawing therefrom sustenance for the world.
(Zohar 1:16a

Nachmanides taught that tohu is the Hebrew word for what the Greek philosophers called “hyle” (ὕλη) a Greek term coined by Aristotle to describe that which receives form or definiteness, that which is formed. Bohu, Nachmanides taught, are “forms that are clothed in matter.” He also taught, based on Isaiah 34:11 “He shall measure it with a line of tohu and with stones of bohu” that tohu is “what an artisan uses to outline the pan of a building” and the stones (bohu) are “the form it takes.”

This agrees withe the Zohar which teaches that the original, spiritual matter from which everything derives is called Aleh which alludes to Homer Hiyulih Hebrew: חומר היולי‎, lit. “hyle matter”.

Then Rabbi Shimon, interrupting him, said: “Eleazar, my son! Continue explaining the verse, because a profound mystery is to be revealed, which the children of the world have never known about until today”. Rabbi Eleazar stopped speaking. Rabbi Shimon was silent for a moment, and then said: “Eleazar, my son, what is the meaning of the word Aleh (“these things”)? It cannot mean the stars, constellations and other celestial planets which are always visible and seen by the eye of man and were created from Mah, as it is written, By the word of God the heavens were made. (Psalms. 33: 6). Aleh (“these things”) cannot refer to invisible things, but to those that are seen.” “The mysterious meaning of the word was revealed to me one day when I was standing by the sea, when Elijah, the prophet, suddenly appeared and said to me: “Rabbi! Do you know what Aleh (“these things”) means?” And I answered and said that it meant the heavens and the celestial planets, the work of God ,the Holy… may He be blessed, that it behooves every man to study as it is written: When I consider your heavens, which are the work of your fingers (Psalms. 8: 3); Oh, Lord, our God, how great is your name in all the earth! (Psalms. 8: 9). Rabbi! [Said Elijah] this is an occult word, and was thus revealed and explained in the “Heavenly Yeshivah”. When God wished to reveal Himself, He first created a “point”… and it became a “Divine Thought in which there were the ideas of all created things and the forms of all things, and also that holy, glorious sacred and mysterious Light”, an “image” representing the most sacred mystery, a profound work that emerged from the Divine Thought: it was only the beginning of the building, existing without yet existing, hidden in the Name, and which up to that moment was called only Mi (“Who”, i.e. God). Then, wanting to manifest Himself and be called by his name, God put on a precious and resplendent robe and He created Aleh which was added to his Name; for these words, joined and associated together, form “Alhim” (Elohim), which is composed of Aleh (these things), and Mi” (“Who”, i.e. God)… [The word/name of God] “Alhim” did not “exist” before Aleh was created.
(Zohar 1:2a)

darkness was upon the face of the deep

the spirit of Elohim hovered over the face of the waters.

According the the Zohar this is that Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit)

The “spirit of God” is the Holy Spirit that proceeded from Elohim Hayyim (living God), and this “was hovering over the face of the waters”
(Zohar 1:16a)

However the Midrash Rabbah says that it was the Spirit of Messiah:

AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD HOVERED: this alludes to the spirit of Messiah, as you read, And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him (Isa.11:2).
(Genesis Rabbah II:4)

1:3-5

3 And Elohim said: ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light.
4 And Elohim saw the light, that it was good: and Elohim divided the light from the darkness.
5 And Elohim called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
(Gen 1:3-5 HRV)

Yochanan wrote:

בראשית היה הדבר והדבר היה אצל האלהים ואלהים הוא היה הדבר זה היה בראשית אצל האלהים. כל הדברים נעשו בו ומבלעדיו לא נעשה דבר מכל אשר היה. בו היו החיים והחיים היו אור האשים. והאור היה זורח באפלות והאפלות לא הכלוהי

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with Elohim and the word was Elohim. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made from all that is. In him was the life, and the life was the light of men. And the light was shining in the darkness and the darkness could not contain it.
(Yochanan 1:1-5)

Yochanan is identifying the “light” in Bereshit 1:3 as the “light of men” i.e. “enlightenment” which genbearlly agrees with Philo of Alexandria who identifies this light as as “perceptible only to the intellect”.

And after the shining forth of that light, perceptible only to the intellect, which existed before the sun, then its adversary darkness yielded, as God put a wall between them and separated them, well knowing their opposite characters, and the enmity existing between their natures. In order, therefore, that they might not war against one another from being continually brought in contact, so that war would prevail instead of peace, God, burning want of order into order, did not only separate light and darkness, but did also place boundaries in the middle of the space between the two, by which he separated the extremities of each. For if they had approximated they must have produced confusion, preparing for the contest, for the supremacy, with great and unextinguishable rivalry, if boundaries established between them had not separated them and prevented them from clashing together,
(On Creation 33)

My mentor Rabbi Moyal taught me that the word “light” in this passage of Bereshit represents the Messiah as the middle pillar of the Godhead because “light” in Hebrew is spelled אור the א represents אבא (Abba) “Father” and ר the represents רוח (Ruach). The ו connecting the two represents the middle pillar of the three pillars of the Godhead, connecting and harmonizing the outer two pillars. The ו was anciently a pictograph of a nail, teaching us that the light is the “nail” that fastens the Abba and Ruach together, but also prophetically pointing us forward to the death of Messiah who would be nailed to the gallows.

The gematria for “light” (אור) is 207 which is also the gematria for אדון עולם Adon Olam, אין סוף Eyn Sof, זר (the crown of the Ark) and רבה Rabbah, Great, Great One.

The Zohar also comments upon this passage applying it to the Son of Yah (The union of the supernal Father and Supernal Mother)

The Zohar says concerning this verse:

(בראשית א) יְהִי אוֹר וַיְהִי אוֹר. כֵּיוָן דְּאָמַר יְהִי אוֹר, אֲמַאי כְּתִיב וַיְהִי אוֹר, דְּהָא בְּוַיְהִי כֵן סַגְיָא. אֶלָּא, יְהִי אוֹר, דָּא אוֹר קַדְמָאָה, דְּאִיהוּ יְמִינָא, וְאִיהוּ לְקֵץ הַיָּמִין. וַיְהִי אוֹר, דְּמִימִינָא נָפִק שְׂמָאלָא, וּמֵרָזָא דִּימִינָא נָפִק שְׂמָאלָא, וְעַל דָּא וַיְהִי אוֹר, דָּא שְׂמָאלָא.

מִכָּאן דְּוַיְהִי קַדְמָאָה דְּאוֹרַיְיתָא, בְּסִטְרָא דִּשְׂמָאלָא הֲוָה. וּבְגִין כַּךְ לָאו אִיהוּ סִימָן בְּרָכָה. מַאי טַעְמָא. בְּגִין דְּבֵיהּ (נ”א דמניה) נָפַק הַהוּא חֹשֶׁךְ דְּאַחֲשִׁיךְ אַנְפֵּי עָלְמָא. וְסִימָנָא דָּא כַּד אִתְגְּלֵי רָזָא דְּעֵשָׂו וְעוֹבָדוֹי, בְּהַאי וַיְהִי הֲוָה, דִּכְתִּיב (בראשית כה) וַיְהִי עֵשָׂו אִישׁ יוֹדֵעַ צַיִד. אִתְקָיָּים בְּוַיְהִי אִישׁ יוֹדֵעַ צַיִד, לְפַתָּאָה בְּנֵי עָלְמָא, דְּלָא יַהֲכוּן בְּאֹרַח מֵישָׁר.

וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת הָאוֹר כִּי טוֹב, דָּא אִיהוּ עַמּוּדָא דְּקָאִים בְּאֶמְצָעִיתָא, וְקָאִים וְאָחִיד בְּסִטְרָא דָּא, וּבְסִטְרָא דָּא. כַּד הֲוָה שְׁלִימוּ דִּתְלַת סִטְרִין, כְּתִיב בֵּיהּ כִּי טוֹב, מָה דְּלָא הֲוָה בְּהָנֵי אַחֲרָנִין, בְּגִין דְּלָא הֲוָה שְׁלִימוּ עַד אוֹר תְּלִיתָאָה, דְּאַשְׁלִים לְכָל סִטְרִין, וְכֵיוָן דְּאָתָא תְּלִיתָאָה דָּא, כְּדֵין אַפְרִישׁ מַחֲלוֹקֶת דִּימִינָא וּשְׂמָאלָא, דִּכְתִּיב וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלהִים בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ.

Why, it may be asked, was it necessary to repeat the word “light” in this verse? The answer is that the first “light” refers to the primordial light which is of the Right Hand, and it is destined for the “end of days”; while the second “light” refers to the Left Hand, which issues from the Right.
The next words, “And God saw the light that it was good” (Gen. 1:4), refer to the pillar which, standing midway between them, unites both sides, and therefore when the unity of the three, right, left, and middle, was complete, “it was good”, since there could be no completion until the third had appeared to remove the strife between Right and Left, as it is written, “And God separated between the light and between the darkness.”
(Zohar 2:167a)

וַיַּרְא אֱלהִים אֶת הָאוֹר כִּי טוֹב דָּא עַמּוּדָא דְאֶמְצָעִיתָא כִּי טוֹב אַנְהִיר עֵילָא וְתַתָּא וּלְכָל שְׁאָר סִטְרִין בְּרָזָא ידו”ד שְׁמָא דְּאָחִיד לְכָל סִטְרִין. וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים וְגו’ אַפְרִישׁ מַחְלוֹקֶת לְמֶהֱוֵי כֹּלָּא שְׁלִים.

AND GOD SAW THE LIGHT THAT IT WAS GOOD. This is the Middle Pillar: Ki Tov (that it was good) threw light above and below and on all other sides, in virtue of YHWH, the name which embraces all sides.
(Zohar 1:16b)

Yochanan opens his account saying:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Eloah, and the Word was Eloah.
2 This was in the beginning, with Eloah.
3 Everything existed through Him, and without Him, not even one thing existed of that which existed.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 And the Light brought light into the darkness, and the darkness did not over take it.
6 There was a man sent from Eloah, whose name was Yochanan.
7 This man came for a witness, that he might bear witness to the Light: that every man might believe through him.
8 He was not the Light, but came that he might bear witness to the Light.
9 For He was the light of truth, that which lights every man who comes into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was by His hand: and the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His, and His did not receive Him.
12 But those who did receive Him, those who believed in His Name, He gave power that they should be sons of Eloah:
13 Those who, neither by blood, nor by the will of flesh, nor by the will of man, were begotten, but by Eloah.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt with us, and we saw His glory: as the glory of the only begotten who is from the father, who is full of grace and truth.
(John 1:1-14 HRV)

The Zohar sheds light on this section of Yochanan:

Concerning this, too, it is written: “Let there be light, and there was light” (Gen. I, 3). Why, it may be asked, was it necessary to repeat the word “light” in this verse? The answer is that the first “light” refers to the primordial light which is of the Right Hand, and is destined for the “end of days”; while the second “light” refers to the Left Hand, which issues from the Right. The next words, “And God saw the light that it was good” (Gen. 1, 4), refer to the pillar which, standing midway between them, unites both sides, and therefore when the unity of the three, right, left, and middle, was complete, “it was good”, since there could be no completion until the third had appeared to remove the strife between Right and Left, as it is written, “And Elohim separated between the light and between the darkness” (Ibid.).
(Zohar 2:167a)

This is the Middle Pillar: Ki Tov (that it was good) threw light above and below and on all other sides, in virtue of YHWH, the name which embraces all sides.
(Zohar 1:16b)

According to the Zohar the Middle Pillar of the Godhead is the Son of Yah:

Better is a neighbor that is near, than a brother far off.
This neighbor is the Middle Pillar in the Godhead,
which is the Son of Yah.
(Zohar 2:115)

The Middle Pillar is the Ki Tov (That which is good), the light, and the Son of Yah.

The fact that the Son of Yah is the Middle Pillar, the light that is called in Genesis “Ki Tov” (That which is good) helps us to understand Yeshua’s exchange with the man who called him “Good Rabbi”, as we read:

16 And behold, one came near, and said to Him, Good Rabbi, and what good thing shall I do, that I may acquire the life of the world to come?
17 And He said to him: Why ask you me concerning what is good? There is none good but one: there is a good, and that is El. And if you desire to enter into the life of the world to come: keep the commandments of El.
(Matthew 19:16-17 HRV)

Messiah was acknowledging that this man was identifying him rightly as the Ki Tov, the Middle Pillar of the Godhead, the Son of Yah, the only begotten.

Now let us seek to understand the process whereby the light was “begotten”. The Zohar tells us much more:

(1) And Elohim said Let there be light, and there was light (Gen 1:3).
(2) From here is the beginning for finding treasures, how the world was created in particular.
(3) For until now, it was general, and it then returns to speaking in general terms so that it will be general, specific, general.
(4) Until now everything was suspended in the air by the secret of Ayn Sof.
(5) Once its power spread into the upper temple, the secret of Elohim, ‘utterance’ is written, “And Elohim said,” for above utterance is not written in particular, even though “In the beginning” is an utterance, it does not say, “and He said.”
(Zohar 1:16b)

The Zohar is saying that up until this point the Torah has given only generalities but not specifics as to how the world was created. In addition there is a double meaning in the actual Aramaic, that up until this point the universe had only a general existence without specific parts. The text points out that the first statement in the Torah “In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth…” although it is not preceded by the words “And Elohim said” is still regarded as a creative utterance. (The tradition of the Zohar is that the universe was created by ten utterances, each corresponding to the ten sefirot. While the phrase “He said” appears only nine times in the creation account, the first phrase of Torah is said to be an utterance as well).

The Zohar continues:

(6) This, “and He said,” establishes questions and knowledge.
(7) “And He said,” a power that was raised and lifted up silently, from the mystery of Ayn Sof, in the mystery of thought.
(8) “And he said,” now the temple begat, of that which she conceived from the holy seed, and she begat silently, and that which was begotten was heard from without, and the one giving birth gave birth silently and was not heard at all; once that which went forth from it went forth, a voice was made that was heard from without.
(9) “Let there be light.” Everything that emerged went forth by this mystery.
(Zohar 1:16b)

Here we are told just how the light was begotten. A power was raised and lifted up silently from within the very mind of Ayn Sof (the Infinite One) as a “holy seed” into the heavenly Temple from which it was begotten.

Like Yochanan, the Zohar tells us that everything (all creation) came into existence through this “light” which was begotten.

The Zohar continues:

(10) Yehi (יהי) (let there be) concerns the mystery of the Father and Mother symbolized by the letters Yod He became now a starting-point (symbolized by the second Yod) for further extension.
(Zohar 1:16b)

Here we are told that the Hebrew word Yehi (יהי) “let there be” points to the mystery of the begetting of the light. The first two letters spell YAH יה and consist of the letters yud י and heh ה. We are told that these two letters represent the Father and the Mother, and that the second yud י represents the light which was the starting point of creation.

So now when you read the first fourteen verses of Yochanan you will understand what it means when it identifies the Messiah as the “light” and as the “only begotten” and says that “Everything existed through Him, and without Him, not even one thing existed of that which existed.” Just as the Zohar tells us that “Everything that emerged went forth by this mystery.”

Messiah is the Son of Yah, the only begotten, the Ki Tov, the light, the Middle Pillar of the Godhead, and everything which emerged in creation went forth through Him.

Such is the testimony, not only of Yochanan, but of the Zohar as well.

The Zohar interprets this passage to teach that the universe is expanding from a single point:

Radiance! [zohar] Concealed of concealed struck its aura, which touched and did not touch this point. Then this beginning expanded, building itself a palace worthy of glorious praise. There it sowed seed to give birth, availing worlds.
(Zohar 1:15a)

God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light (Gen. 1:3). Here begins the discovery of hidden treasures: how the world was created in detail… This light is concealed mystery, an expansion expanding, bursting from the mysterious secret of the hidden supernal aura. First it burst, generating from its mystery a single concealed point, for Ein Sof burst out of its aura, revealing this point (yod). Once this yod expanded, what remained was found to be light (OR), from the mystery that concealed aura (AVIR). After the primordial point, yod, emerged from it into being, it manifested upon it, touching yet not touching. Expanding, it emerged: this is light (OR), light remaining from aura (AVIR),
(Zohar 1:16b)

one day – While English translations have “first” day, the actual Hebrew has “one” day. This unusual reading also appears in the Aramaic Peshitta text and the Greek Septuagint text. Both the Rabbis and Philo of Alexandria see special significance to this unusual word.

Kimhi says this term is used because “there could not be a first day without a second”.

Philo of Alexandria writes “He called it not ‘the first day,’ but ‘one day;’ and it is spoken of thus, on account of the single nature of the world perceptible only by the intellect, which has a single nature.” (On Creation 35)

Under Philo’s interpretation of the Creation account, the first five verses of Bershit, deal with Elohim creating the blueprint for creation, the world which can be perceived only by the intellect. Then beginning with the second day, the corporal world is created. Thus, rather than this being “the first day” it is “one day”.

1:6-8

6 And Elohim said: ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’
7 And Elohim made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
8 And Elohim called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
(Bereshit 1:6-8 HRV)

According to the Talmud (b.Chag. 12b) the firmament is the second of the seven heavens and is mentioned in Scripture as a heaven as fllows:

“And Elohim set them in the firmament (RAKIA) of the heaven,
to give light upon the earth,”
(Gen. 1:14 HRV)

According to Rashbam “The Hebrew noun [Rakiah] is derived from a passive verb; a ‘firmament’ is something that has been ‘firmed up’.” Rashbam imagined that this was “a solid exapanse stretching from east to west and north to south”.

However Philo of Alexandria appears to have had a better understaning of why it was called “firmament”. He writes:

(36) The incorporeal world then was already completed, having its seat in the Divine Reason; and the world, perceptible by the external senses, was made on the model of it; and the first portion of it, being also the most excellent of all made by the Creator, was the heaven, which he truly called the firmament, as being corporeal; for the body is by nature firm, inasmuch as it is divisible into three parts; and what other idea of solidity and of body can there be, except that it is something which may be measured in every direction? therefore he, very naturally contrasting that which was perceptible to the external senses, and corporeal with that which was perceptible only by the intellect and incorporeal, called this the firmament.
(On Creation 36)

This agrees somewhat with the view of Nachmanides:

God did not name ‘Heaven’ (Shamayim) until the second day, when he had colthed it in the form of a firmament, though it had already been created on the first day.

The heavens had only been created in an incorporeal spiritual form in verse 1, but now this is called “firmament” because the incorporeal idea of the heavens became a corporeal reality on the second day. That is to say, the idea and blueprint of the heavens in the mind of Elohim became an external reality with the creation of the “firmament”. It was called “firmament” because it was the first corporeal creation.

…

1:26-27

Targum Jonathan on the Torah reads here:

And the Word [Memra] of YHWH
created man in his likeness,
in the likeness of YHWH, YHWH created,
male and female created He them.
(Targ. Jonathan Gen. 1:27)

Man, or Adam (אדם) has a gematria of 45 which is equal to the ten digits of the ten sefirot added together (0+1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9 = 45).

Philo of Alexandria writes:

(16) for God, as apprehending beforehand, as a God must do, that there could not exist a good imitation without a good model, and that of the things perceptible to the external senses nothing could be faultless which wax not fashioned with reference to some archetypal idea conceived by the intellect, when he had determined to create this visible world, previously formed that one which is perceptible only by the intellect, in order that so using an incorporeal model formed as far as possible on the image of God, he might then make this corporeal world, a younger likeness of the elder creation, which should embrace as many different genera perceptible to the external senses, as the other world contains of those which are visible only to the intellect. (17) But that world which consists of ideas, it were impious in any degree to attempt to describe or even to imagine: but how it was created, we shall know if we take for our guide a certain image of the things which exist among us. When any city is founded through the exceeding ambition of some king or leader who lays claim to absolute authority, and is at the same time a man of brilliant imagination, eager to display his good fortune, then it happens at times that some man coming up who, from his education, is skilful in architecture, and he, seeing the advantageous character and beauty of the situation, first of all sketches out in his own mind nearly all the parts of the city which is about to be completed–the temples, the gymnasia, the prytanea, and markets, the harbour, the docks, the streets, the arrangement of the walls, the situations of the dwelling houses, and of the public and other buildings. (18) Then, having received in his own mind, as on a waxen tablet, the form of each building, he carries in his heart the image of a city, perceptible as yet only by the intellect, the images of which he stirs up in memory which is innate in him, and, still further, engraving them in his mind like a good workman, keeping his eyes fixed on his model, he begins to raise the city of stones and wood, making the corporeal substances to resemble each of the incorporeal ideas. (19) Now we must form a somewhat similar opinion of God, who, having determined to found a mighty state, first of all conceived its form in his mind, according to which form he made a world perceptible only by the intellect, and then completed one visible to the external senses, using the first one as a model.
(On Creation 16-19)

And then later in the same book:

(139) And that he is superior to all these animals in regard of his soul, is plain. For God does not seem to have availed himself of any other animal existing in creation as his model in the formation of man; but to have been guided, as I have said before, by his own reason alone. On which account, Moses affirms that this man was an image and imitation of God, being breathed into in his face in which is the place of the sensations, by which the Creator endowed the body with a soul. Then, having placed the mind in the dominant part as king, he gave him as a body of satellites, the different powers calculated to perceive colours and sounds, and flavours and odours, and other things of similar kinds, which man could never have distinguished by his own resources without the sensations. And it follows of necessity that an imitation of a perfectly beautiful model must itself be perfectly beautiful, for the word of God surpasses even that beauty which exists in the nature which is perceptible only by the external senses, not being embellished by any adventitious beauty, but being itself, if one must speak the truth, its most exquisite embellishment.
(On Creation 16-19)

What does this mean? Let US make man in OUR image?

The Zohar gives a very interesting answer:

And Elohim said, Let us make man (Gen. 1:26). The secret (SOD) is to them who fear him (Ps. 25:14)…

Better is a neighbor that is near, than a brother far off.
This neighbor is the Middle Pillar in the Godhead,
which is the Son of Yah.
(Zohar 2:115)

Here (Zohar 1:22a) the Zohar also identifies the Middle Pillar with the Word.

Just as we read in the Ketuvim Netzarim:

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