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וְהִנֵּה־טֹ֖וב מְאֹ֑ד And behold--Very good Having surveyed everything on earth, the Creator was satisfied with the work He had done. The inspired penman emphatically ( הִנֵּה hinneh "behold") states that things went extremely well ( מְאֹ֑ד m@`od "exceedingly" + טֹ֖וב towb "good"). The word הִנֵּה (behold) first appeared in verse 29. It is from the root  הֵן ( hen ) which appears in combination with prepositions or the article as the third person plural "they, those". Different vowel sounds changes hennah to hinneh, that is, from "those" to "those!". Much has been written about "very good", but the word translated "very" ( מְאֹ֑ד) has its roots in the word אוּד (' ood ), a rake or poker for maximizing the heat of embers. With this in mind, m'a°d  (my attempt at transliteration) runs the gambit of meanings, from "very" (137×) to "mightily" (2×). The idea carries with it s...

וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן And it was so The most remarkable statement in the creation account is this little phrase. Whatever God wants, He gets. Furthermore, whatever He says is true. The word translated "so" is כֵֽן (keyn). It is from the verb כּוּן (koon), which means to be firm, be stable, be established. Though pagan kings would claim this status for their laws, it is absolutely true with God's decrees. From the first day on, the Creator spoke and things that came about were perpetuated throughout all of time. Where a human can direct things to be done ("make it so"), God doesn't delegate. He says "Let (it) come into existence" and it's there for good.

בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים God created The history of the first verb,  בָּרָא (bar´a), is interesting, for its root meaning appears to have indicated the idea of cutting, rather than of molding . The imagery is of a carpenter rather than the potter. The form בֵרֵאתָ֤ is translated "cut down" in Joshua 17 when Joshua tells the strong northern tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh to go into the woods and create more space. It seems that they were not satisfied with the lottery of preexisting towns. The eventual meaning of creation from nothing but an idea is tied to the clearing of land to build something new. Like the "sons of Joseph", the Creator had a plan. He had nothing given to Him. However, since He exists in and of Himself (Exodus 3:14), it follows that the universe and all that is in it is not co-infinite with Him. His creation is, in the final analysis, out of nothing but an idea. Everything was made by his speaking it into existence. The name...