HEBREW WORD STUDY – LOVE – TOV MO’ED –מאד  טוב  

Genesis 1:31: “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

You won’t find this in any lexicon or commentary, nor has this idea been published in any academic journal for peer review.  I am strictly out on my own on this one.  I did mention it to a rabbi who only smiled and shrugged.  So feel free to disagree with me.

However, before  you pick up your rocks to throw at me, at least hear me out and see if you think there is merit in my line of thought.  God looked at everything He created and saw that it was mo’ed tov, very good as we would say in English.   He did not use that adjective mo’ed – very as he created the world, so we are led to assume that the creation of a tree and a fish were just good by themselves but put them together and you they become very good.   From this many see the holistic nature of God’s creation.  Everything God created is somehow linked together to move from good to very good.   I believe this to be true and my theory only makes the holistic nature of the world even more apparent.

Let’s look at that English word good.  What would you think if I pointed to my 2001 Ford Focus and say: “It is a good car?”  You would think it was a good running car, dependable or adequate. Now if I were to say it was a great car or an excellent car,  you would think it was low mileage and in mint condition.   You see our English word good conveys something that is adequate, useful and just simply ok.  Webster defines good as something that is satisfactory, beneficial, pleasing, suitable, fit.

Yet, in English we have words that elevate the worth of something.  We say it is excellent or if even better quality we call it superior.  Biblical Hebrew does not have words to elevate.  There are words that you could apply the word excellent or superior.  For instance nasa’ to lift up in a certain context could be rendered with the English word superior.  Perhaps mo’ed tov, very good could be rendered as excellent as the word mo’ed suggest something better than just good.   

There are a couple other words in Biblical Hebrew that could be rendered as good such as to’eleth which means to be useful or beneficial.  We could apply the English word good to that.  There is shapir which means to be well, fine and we could apply the word good to that or even the word excellent depending on its context.

Note I am talking context here.  Meanings of words vary with the context. So what is the context here at creation?  Is God’s creation just simply good?  Why not excellent or better yet superior. Again the context.  How do you see the context?  Is good speaking of the quality of his creation or the relationship of creation.  Hebrew is a related language.  You are always seeking to find a relationship.  I am continually trying to find a relationship between Hebrew words that sound alike, are spelled alike or have the same numerical value for in Biblical Hebrew there is a relationship between such words.  This is unlike English where you can have words that sound alike.  Take for instance the word bear and bare.  You can say: “No his name is not Sitting Bull, it is Standing Bare.”  If you speak if you have no problem but if you read it spelled the way I did you get a different idea.  In English, we have the word trunk.  If you pass through customs you declare a trunk and the agent knows from the context you are not speaking of an elephant’s nose nor a tree log.  However, in Biblical Hebrew, you would look for a relationship between these three usages, seek a common denominator which would be something that is cylindrical.  It means little in English but in Hebrew that gives you a clue to some deeper understanding.

I believe the context of good in Genesis is speaking of a relationship and not the quality of His creation.  Hence we use the idea of being in harmony with God, being of value to God, being fit for God etc.   I like the word harmony.  Then when he completed His creation it became very good, or in complete harmony with God, like a symphony orchestra where each instrument and musician are good and in harmony with the director’s ear but when all the musicians and instruments are played together they are in complete harmony, they are holistic, they are all connected with each other in perfect harmony.    So what words do we use for this perfect harmony?  We can apply the English words beautiful, lovely, heavenly, wonderful –  hold it – wait, back up  – lovely?   What is lovely?  It is something that is loveable, that you love. In a way, you can say that an orchestra playing in perfect harmony is an expression of love for the musician can only create that sound if he or she loves making that sound.

God saw his creation and found it was very good.  I believe the best English words to help understand the intent behind those words very good mo’ed tov would be: “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, [He] loved it.”

Meditate on this: “There isn’t anything God makes that He does not love.”