Three Words From The CreationSample

Word Study:

In reference to this word, בְּרֵאשִׁית (Bereshit) In The Begining, let's look more closely at the shape of the first Hebrew letter in the Bible ב (bet)

Before we talk about the profound impact that this letter has, it would be beneficial to give a bit of history of the Jewish culture since it flows throughout all of scripture.

We can clearly read in the Bible that creation has a big importance in the life of man. The way we communicate is through language and speaking about things around us. For example, the Book of Psalms is filled with metaphors of things created by God such as “Your righteousness is like the highest mountains” or in Proverbs “The heart of the king is like rivers of water in the hand of the Lord.” Even when God speaks directly to individuals he uses creation to make his point clear. For instance, when speaking to Moses He says “a land flowing with milk and honey” or to Job “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?”

The importance of and reverence for creation is still seen today in Judaism : the culture from which our faith sprung. The way that the Israelites were able to know when certain festivals began and ended was by determining the position of the moon. As we can see, creation is a big deal.

If creation is important to God, His word must also be important. It may be difficult to understand how sacred the actual text is outside of the Jewish culture. We often write and highlight in our Bibles. However, this is not seen in Judaism because of the reverence one must show to the Bible. The words that are in your hands were carefully copied over and over throughout thousands of years by professional scribes who had to pray and have their hands cleansed in order to copy the text.

The first word בְּרֵאשִׁית (Bereshit) - In The Begining, starts with the letter ב (bet). As you can see, this letter is 'closed' on three sides and is open only on the left side – the side from which words continue forward. (In Hebrew we read from right to left.)

Although today's form of the letter is different from the original manuscripts, only slight adjustments have been made.

Reflection on the letter ב (bet) :

God chose this to be the first letter of the Bible. It looks forward towards all the other letters in scripture. This can teach us a lot. One interpretation of this letter’s significance is when we do things, we must always look ahead. Just like the letter ב (bet) in the Bible directs us towards the entire text, the direction of life; So too, we must look straight ahead in our lives.

Look forward and continue in life. Do not keep glancing back and focusing on what happened and why it happened… But rather look ahead toward the future, towards what God has planned for your life.