In my earlier post, In the beginning, I described how Jesus and his redemptive work on the cross was depicted in the ancient Hebrew pictographs that make up the first word in the Bible, the Hebrew word barasheet (translated most frequently as "In the beginning"). This, of course, echoes Isaiah 46:10 “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is still to come...” In fact, this confirmation in scripture is found throughout the ancient Hebrew. It is almost as if each Hebrew word is itself a scriptural reference. I have attempted in my previous posts to show several of these.
For example, the first sentence in most English bibles is translated: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." I have previously shown In the beginning, God (The Lord is My Shepherd), and I have given a little taste of "the heavens" (see Oh, My Heavens! Part 1 and Part 2.
Now let's look at the word "created". In the Hebrew sentence structure, "created" is actually the second word in the Bible. It would more literally be translated, "In the beginning created Elohim the heavens and the earth." The word translated as "created" is the Hebrew word bara, from the same root as barasheet ("In the beginning") and barak ("bless", see God's Blessing).
Before I get into the ancient Hebrew pictographs, I want to emphasize the way in which each word is a scriptural reference in itself. For "created", let's look at two scriptures:
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.; and
Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
Okay, now the Hebrew pictographs. The Hebrew word bara is spelled BET (the equivalent of our letter "B")(pictured as a house or a tent, and meaning house/lineage), RESH (R)(pictured as a man's head, meaning the first or highest person), and ALEPH (A) (pictured as an ox head, meaning strength or God, as in "the Lord is my strength"). Recall from earlier posts that the Hebrew/Aramaic word bar (spelled BET RESH) is the word for "son". So, bara ("created", more literally "to create") is actually depicted as the SON of GOD.
