Genesis 1:1 - Exposition

In the beginning , Bereshith , is neither "from eternity," as in John 1:1 ; nor "in wisdom" (Chaldee paraphrase), as if parallel with Proverbs 3:19 and Psalms 104:24 ; nor "by Christ," who, in Colossians 1:18 , is denominated ἀρχὴ ; but "at the commencement of time." Without indicating when the beginning was, the expression intimates that the beginning was. Exodus 20:11 seems to imply that this was the initiation of the first day's work. The formula, "And God said," with which each day opens, rather points to Exodus 20:3 as its proper terminus a quo , which the beginning absolute may have antedated by an indefinite period. God Elohim (either the highest Being to be feared , from alah , to fear,—Hengstenberg, Delitzsch, Keil, Oehler, &c; or, more probably, the strong and mighty One , from aūl , to be strong—Gesenius, Lange, Tayler Lewis, Macdonald, Murphy, &c.;) is the most frequent designation of the Supreme Being in the Old Testament, occurring upwards of 2000 times, and is exclusively employed in the present section. Its plural form is to be explained neither as a remnant of polytheism (Gesenius), nor as indicating a plurality of beings through whom the Deity reveals himself (Baumgarten, Lange), nor as a plural of majesty (Aben Ezra, Kalisch, Alford), like the royal "we" of earthly potentates, a usage which the best Hebraists affirm to have no existence in the Scriptures (Macdonald), nor as a cumulative plural, answering the same purpose as a repetition of the Divine name (Hengstenberg, Dreschler, and others); but either