Word for Word: Episode 12

מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם

Moving over the Water

Though mighty, the Spirit worked His wonders gently. The verb for this movement is רָחַף , a rare word in the Bible meaning to grow soft or relax. Following this, then, the action God takes after gathering the tiny particles together is to cover them gently, settling down among them.

Scientists have seen evidence of what they call "neutron stars" that develop when stars collapse. All the space is crunched out as the neuclei lose their electrons. It seems likely that such would happen if all the quarks were brought together.

The very dense neutron universe could only disrupted by an act of God. It is not hard to see that disruption would be affected by the Spirit settling down over, under and around that vast, motionless assemblage to give it "life".

At that point the great forces of gravity and the strong force would give way to God's personal touch. That touch would nudge electrons into orbit to form atoms. By His presence, space would expand, allowing for atoms and molecules. Two active gases from this action would hydrogen and oxygen. The unique molecule which we call water defines density, for its density is 1.

Taking this verse quite literally, a giant sphere with a radius of from one to six light years would be "home" to the same God Who lives within Christians.

This water is מָּֽיִם, a dual form of an unused singular noun. The ancient form of the letter "m" is a picture of waves. The duality of water places its state in a unique when liquid. Pressure alone cannot compress it. Both heat and heat loss (cold) will cause it to expand.