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No.7.
The Creation of
Gen. 1: 1
a "Firstfruits".
pp. 101 - 104
We have considered very briefly "the end", the goal of the ages, the consummation of
redemption, the day when God shall be all in all. An "end" presupposes a "beginning",
and moreover, if we rightly apprehend what is aimed at in the "end", we shall better
appreciate what is implied by "the beginning". Let us therefore turn back to the opening
sentence of the Bible and reconsider what is intended by the revelation that "In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1: 1). "Beginning", is the
Hebrew reshith, derived from rosh "head", which is the translation of this word in
349 occurrences. In Gen. 2: 10 we have the four `heads' or beginnings of the rivers
that encompassed Eden, and the word occurs next in the great promise of Gen. 3: 15 "It
shall bruise thy head". Reshith, the form of the word that is used in Gen. 1: 1, occurs but
three times in Genesis: "In the beginning" (1: 1), "the beginning of the kingdom" (10: 10),
"the beginning of my strength" (49: 3), where it will be seen that Babel, a place or
system, and Reuben, a person, not a date in the calendar, is in view. So in Leviticus
to Deuteronomy we have the word translated "firstfruits" (Lev. 2: 12; 23: 10;
Numb. 18: 12; Deut. 18: 4; 26: 10). Altogether the term "firstfruits" is stated in
eleven passages, and implied in at least seven others. Several passages bring the two
words `beginning' and `end' together.
"Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever"
(Numb. 24: 20).
"From the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year" (Deut. 11: 12).
"Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase" (Job 8: 7).
"So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning" (Job 42: 12).
"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof" (Eccles. 7: 8).
"Declaring the end from the beginning" (Isa. 46: 10).
Common usage inclines the mind to think of time, when the phrase "in the beginning"
is read, but if we press the point and ask "in the beginning of what?" how can we expect
an answer? If God necessarily existed before the first act of creation, time cannot strictly
be said to begin at all. When we consult a dictionary we find that the time element is of
the first prominence. The English word is ultimately derived from the Greek ginomai
and geno to become, to be brought forth, and the following are the headings of Lloyd's
Encyclopedic Dictionary:
A. Transitive.
(1) To commence action; to pass from action to action.
(2) To trace the first ground, element, or existence of anything.
B. Intransitive.
(1) To come into being, or commence or enter on any particular state of existence.
(2) To commence any action or cause of action; to take the first step from non-action to action.
Begin and Begin with . . . . . To select any particular person or thing as the first of a series.