"Gen 1:3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light."In this passage, was God creating light or was he giving it permission?”
My answer would be, given the two choices presented, was that “he gave it permission”, in the sense of being the cause of the what was to be the effect. Here is why.
In Genesis 1:3, which you present in English above, reads in the Hebrew as, “Vayomer Elohim yah-owr ha’yah-owr” The phrase used here is ‘yah (or ha’yah, or vayehi) ‘owr (‘or). – “let there be (hayah) light (‘owr).
Ha’yah (hwh, or hyh) is a word of “cause”, as in cause “to be”, cause “to become”, cause to “come to pass”, cause to “exist”, cause to “happen”, and so. In its numerous uses in the Hebrew text, it is rarely used in the sense to denote simple “existence” or the identification of a thing or person. It is in fact, a portion of the tetragrammaton (the name of the true Hebrew god), Yhwh, (meaning he causes to be). This is also emphasized in the context, wherein the root alone (‘yah) is used first, and the definitive ha’yah is used last (cause, and effect – God saying let there be light (cause –yah’owr) and then light occurs (effect – definitive, ha’yah-owr).
In the context of Genesis 1:3, its use is preceded by a “command” Vayomer Elohim – “God said” – commanded (yah-owr)– and the light was caused to be (ha’yah-owr). God was the “cause” of light being brought into existence. A command was given, carried out, and returned the exact results as commanded (there is more in this area if you are ever interested, having to do with God’s master worker, and the employment of “us” later on in Genesis, and claims made by Jesus, and John).
This is quite different than had it been written “Vayomer Elohim bara owr, ha’bara owr” or “God said I create light, and light was created” - the sense of “cause” being absent.
The first use of “bara” occurs in Genesis 1:1, “Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'arets.” - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Here the word used is created – “bara’ – a word used in the Qal only of God’s activity – a distinct use of the word appropriate to the concept of creation by divine fiat. The root bara denotes the concept of personally “initiating something new” versus causing something to occur, or come to be, or cause to happen. In Isaiah 41:20 it is used of the changes which will take place in the restoration when God “affects” that which is new and different. It is used in the creation of “new things” (hadashot) in Isaiah 48:6-7 and the “creation” of the “new earth and new heaven”. Marvels never seen before are described by use of “bara” as in Exodus 34:10. The word also possesses the meaning of bringing into existence, almost exclusively, in a personal manner directly by God himself, rather than God being the underlying initial cause of the events which took place to bring his command, or word, to full and complete fruition (cause to be sense of ha’yah).
In the sense that God was the cause “to be” (’yah) of light, he gave a command, or “permission”, and his instructions were complied with, and light came to be (ha’yah).
The Bible claims that is it because (cause) of God’s “will” that ALL things “existed and were created” – Re 4:11, and while this is quite true, being the cause of will does not require one to actually be the workman who carried it out – this is confirmed Proverbs 8:12, and 8:22-31. Identification of this “masterworker” came later, as according to the Christian Greek, Jehovah’s first creation “in the beginning” was his only-begotten (only directly created) son (John 3:16) “the beginning of the creation by God” (Rev 3:14). This one, “the firstborn of all creation” was used by Jehovah in creating all things in heaven and earth (ha’yah) – the “things visible and the things invisible” (Col 1:15-17).
Bara’ is used to identify the creator of the created heavens and earth, in the first verse of Genesis, and is not used again for anything “created”, until man is created, and again, bara is used, but only after reference is made to the agency employed in Genesis 1:26 – in which the word used in ‘asar, meaning to do or make, bringing forth through “forming” (‘asar) something new “bara” – as man was the something new formed from the earth itself. And again, the act of agency is invoked, in “let us”.
My answer would be, given the two choices presented, was that “he gave it permission”, in the sense of being the cause of the what was to be the effect. Here is why.
In Genesis 1:3, which you present in English above, reads in the Hebrew as, “Vayomer Elohim yah-owr ha’yah-owr” The phrase used here is ‘yah (or ha’yah, or vayehi) ‘owr (‘or). – “let there be (hayah) light (‘owr).
Ha’yah (hwh, or hyh) is a word of “cause”, as in cause “to be”, cause “to become”, cause to “come to pass”, cause to “exist”, cause to “happen”, and so. In its numerous uses in the Hebrew text, it is rarely used in the sense to denote simple “existence” or the identification of a thing or person. It is in fact, a portion of the tetragrammaton (the name of the true Hebrew god), Yhwh, (meaning he causes to be). This is also emphasized in the context, wherein the root alone (‘yah) is used first, and the definitive ha’yah is used last (cause, and effect – God saying let there be light (cause –yah’owr) and then light occurs (effect – definitive, ha’yah-owr).
In the context of Genesis 1:3, its use is preceded by a “command” Vayomer Elohim – “God said” – commanded (yah-owr)– and the light was caused to be (ha’yah-owr). God was the “cause” of light being brought into existence. A command was given, carried out, and returned the exact results as commanded (there is more in this area if you are ever interested, having to do with God’s master worker, and the employment of “us” later on in Genesis, and claims made by Jesus, and John).
This is quite different than had it been written “Vayomer Elohim bara owr, ha’bara owr” or “God said I create light, and light was created” - the sense of “cause” being absent.
The first use of “bara” occurs in Genesis 1:1, “Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'arets.” - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Here the word used is created – “bara’ – a word used in the Qal only of God’s activity – a distinct use of the word appropriate to the concept of creation by divine fiat. The root bara denotes the concept of personally “initiating something new” versus causing something to occur, or come to be, or cause to happen. In Isaiah 41:20 it is used of the changes which will take place in the restoration when God “affects” that which is new and different. It is used in the creation of “new things” (hadashot) in Isaiah 48:6-7 and the “creation” of the “new earth and new heaven”. Marvels never seen before are described by use of “bara” as in Exodus 34:10. The word also possesses the meaning of bringing into existence, almost exclusively, in a personal manner directly by God himself, rather than God being the underlying initial cause of the events which took place to bring his command, or word, to full and complete fruition (cause to be sense of ha’yah).
In the sense that God was the cause “to be” (’yah) of light, he gave a command, or “permission”, and his instructions were complied with, and light came to be (ha’yah).
The Bible claims that is it because (cause) of God’s “will” that ALL things “existed and were created” – Re 4:11, and while this is quite true, being the cause of will does not require one to actually be the workman who carried it out – this is confirmed Proverbs 8:12, and 8:22-31. Identification of this “masterworker” came later, as according to the Christian Greek, Jehovah’s first creation “in the beginning” was his only-begotten (only directly created) son (John 3:16) “the beginning of the creation by God” (Rev 3:14). This one, “the firstborn of all creation” was used by Jehovah in creating all things in heaven and earth (ha’yah) – the “things visible and the things invisible” (Col 1:15-17).
Bara’ is used to identify the creator of the created heavens and earth, in the first verse of Genesis, and is not used again for anything “created”, until man is created, and again, bara is used, but only after reference is made to the agency employed in Genesis 1:26 – in which the word used in ‘asar, meaning to do or make, bringing forth through “forming” (‘asar) something new “bara” – as man was the something new formed from the earth itself. And again, the act of agency is invoked, in “let us”.
