HEBREW WORD STUDY – LET THERE BE LIGHT –  YEHI ‘OHR  יהי אור  Yod Hei Yod  Aleph Vav Resh

Genesis 1:3:  “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”

And God said; “Yehi ohr”  “Let there be light.”  Grammatical this is an antiptosis which is a rhetorical device in which one grammatical case is substituted for another for the purpose of showing an emphasis.  So, “Let the be light” grammatically is a Qal imperfect infliction in a Jussive form.  A Jussive shows a desire or wish, not a command as our English translations imply.  God is really saying; “My desire is for light.” Or “I wish for light.”  In plain English the best we can do is say: “Let there be light” that is if we are talking about Jesus as the light or a luminary.  It can’t be a luminary because the stars, sun and moon were not created until the fourth day, yet he divided this light into day and night and gave it a sense of time, one day.   It is one those mysteries, I guess, maybe not. Some say the light was Jesus but then how can there be day and night unless God divided his creation into light Jesus and darkness without Jesus. That is an interesting thought. 

Let me throw a third possibility into this mix. My PhD is in Biblical Archaeology which means I studied Middle Eastern ancient history.  My thesis was on the Esoteric Structure of the Hebrew Alphabet which means I focused on ancient languages.  One area in my studies that I found fascinating was in the use of idioms.  Every language has idioms. They are little colloquial expressions that to someone not familiar with the language would be confused as to its meaning. 

For instance, in English a boss may warn an employee to stay on his toes. If this employee is new to the English language it may give him some pause as he ponders why his boss wants him to stand on his toes, he certainly would find the work more difficult in such an uncomfortable stance.  Of course, those of us who are familiar with the English language automatically know the boss is warning the employee to stay alert. 

Well, a similar problem exists when one is learning any new language, that person will need to acquaint himself with the idioms and colloquial expressions of that language and the culture that uses that language.  When I was growing up there was a popular song called Waltzing Matilda.  I never paid much attention to the words of the song, I just like the music.  I always figure it was about a man who was dancing with a woman named Matilda.  A few years ago my brother who was a missionary in Papua New Guinea and spent considerable time in the neighboring land of Australia where song Waltzing Matilda originated encouraged me to think about the words of the song and when I did I could not associate the idea of a man dancing with a woman with the context of the song.  That was when my brother explained that a matilda was an idiom for a back pack and when you walk the back pack bounces up and down like it is dancing with the hiker. Hence the colloquial expression “Waltzing Matilda” is speaking of what we in the States call “back backing.” 

I hate to think how many years I lived under the false understanding of that song because I did not bother to explore what a waltzing matilda was to a native Australian.  This made me think of how many possible ancient idiomatic expressions we read in the Bible but only view them through the eyes of modern, Western, Cultural English.  For instance: “Let, there be light” and the light was separated from the darkness creating one day. In our culture we think: “Yeah, sure, of course, daytime and night, the sun goes down it is nighttime, time of darkness.  Then we scratch our heads and wonder: “But where did the light come from if the sun and moon were not yet created.

Ok, at the beginning of this little study, I gave our standard, Western Christian explanation but let me throw out something to you.  Could it be that the phrase: “Let there be light” is really an ancient Hebraic idiom?  I discovered that light was often an idiomatic expression for understanding in ancient Middle Eastern culture.  In fact, we have a word in English that uses that very idea, it is enlightenment.  Often when someone gets an idea or an understanding in a cartoon figure, the cartoonist draws a picture of a light bulb turning on in the character’s head. 

Let me offer this as a possibility, the first thing God did in the creation process was to say or ‘amar simply a declaration, “I desire understanding.”  I know, He is God, He is all knowing. Yet, He is all knowing only with regard to his nature and experience.  There is nothing to say that God had full understanding of what it would be like to have a physical body.  What it would be like to love a being that he creates and give that being a free will and then have the being choose to love Him or not love Him.  He may have had no understanding what it would be like to create a being that rejects him and does not love Him.  He may have had no understanding what a broken heart was.  So, he declared that He desired understanding and created a natural material universe.  A universe filled with light – understanding of a completed love which is voluntarily return and a darkness where that love is not returned.  God created us for one purpose, to love Him, to let Him experience the ultimate joy of love, that is when love is voluntarily returned.

I read something very interesting in the Talmud.  The nation of Israel, when they returned from captivity failed to rebuild the temple because they focused their attention on growing crops, protecting themselves from the neighbors who did not want them back in the land and protecting the families and homes. As a result building the temple, a central dwelling place for God was put on hold.  They were concerned for the material things of this world like eating, living a life without fear, of building a defense and protecting those they love.  God, however, was focused on just wanting to walk with man, hand in hand trusting Him to take care of those other things that they found important.  

So is our purpose in life, to learn to love God in pure love, not because he commands it, not because we owe Him or are obligated to love Him, but only because we want to love Him.

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