How God Created the Universe from Nothing
Reality is not all that is seen. In the beginning, there was only the Eternal existing in singularity. No one and nothing else existed, and nothing else could exist without compromising His singularity and outside of His singularity. He (Ein Sof) is the absolute existence, and nothing and no one can exist outside of Him. Therefore, in order to create the world, the Creator “contracted” His presence to make space for creation to exist within Himself. Otherwise, nothing can exist outside of Him. So, when the Eternal created the world, He embedded a spark of in every element of His creation which is nothing less than an extension of Himself.
Of all natural phenomena none is more wondrous than the primordial light.
“After all, if the Bible is God’s Word and it reveals Truth, then the closer we get to the Truth in our presuppositions, the faster we will discover the Truth in the details”. Sir Isaac Newton
What was the world like before Genesis 1:1 begins. Why did the Eternal create the world in the first place and what is the purpose of life? He spoke ten utterances in the first chapter of the Scripture and founded the earth with wisdom and established the heavens with understanding, as it is said in Pro 3:19. We believe that the Infinite One existed before the creation of the universe, although the term “existence” appears to imply the notion of time, wherein the term “time” is used to signify something analogous or similar to what we already know.
Before everything began with the first words of the Scripture, there was astonishing emptiness and darkness. But did God create the universe from nothing? After all, there was nothing but Him before Genesis 1. In the creation narrative, Torah seemingly implies that He created the heavens and the earth from nothing. But did He? But as we see in the following, the Torah tries to tell us something beyond what is immediately obvious. We will now remove all difficulties.
If the universe has come out of nowhere by accident, what is its purpose to exist, as randomness can hardly have any purpose? The universe as being a result of some cosmic accident, called “Big Bang”, can be challenged by employing the following arguments. (1) The fact that everything observed in the world (effect) is surely evidence that there is an originator (cause) that has made it come into existence. This is assumed by the axiomatic truth of cause and effect. If we observe an effect, there must be a cause of it. If we rewind the time to the beginning, we will find that everything is a cause but also an effect of something else. And when we reach the point of the “Big Bang” (effect), what is this that caused it? (2) Everything, even what man makes, has a purpose, which most naturally presupposes the existence of intellect, unless the universe is purely physical. Everything we observe has a purpose: from the sun and the moon to the smallest bug. And any unexplained phenomenon merely points to the same conclusion.
With that being said, what is the cause of the universe?
“When you first drink from the cup of natural science, you become an atheist, but at the bottom of the cup God is waiting for you”. Werner Heisenberg, physicist
It is not quite true that science does not recognize “god”. It does. What is “God”? “God” is the original substance (originator) from which everything in the universe originally began. Hence, science has a god. The flaw is that science calls the originator “it”, while the Scripture calls the originator “He”. And hence, the term “Big Bang”, being the cosmic explosion that is hypothesized by science to have marked the origin of the physical universe, is not completely incorrect. According to the Big Bang theory, the world has a beginning and developed over period of time. While science hypothesizes the origin as an explosion, the holy Book of Zohar (Zohar 15a Bereshit.1) introduces the reader to a deeper level of understanding of what had taken place before Genesis 1:1 begins.
Insight: While the English translations use the word “God”, the actual Hebrew word is Elohim which means “the Master of all forces”. Ramban explains that the root of Elohim is Eil, meaning force. The word Elohim is a composite consisting of the words Eil, “Force” and heim, “they” alluding to all other forces. Thus, Elohim means “Force of all forces”. We now return to the text.
The Zohar says that with the beginning of the manifestation of the Eternal One’s will, when He desired to create the world, “a hard spark made an engraving upon the supernal light”. Beyond this point, says the Zohar, nothing is knowable, and because of this, it is called by the name “Beginning”, which means the first of the [ten] sayings of the Creator with which the world was created. We will return to this supernal primordial light later on to explain.
But now a good departure point to delving into this intriguing matter of what was before Genesis 1. We read the most recognizable verse in the Bible. The Hebrew reads, “Bereishit bara Elochim et hashamayim v’et ha’arets” – “In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth”, with which the Hebrew Scripture opens for its readers. At the beginning of the creation of heaven and earth, matter was astonishing with emptiness and darkness, when the Creator uttered the first words of creation, “Light shall exist”, and light came into existence. Henceforth, by necessity it must be admitted that Scripture does not teach us anything about the sequence of the earlier and the later acts of creation. The matter can be compared to a farmer who sows the seeds of creation at the same time, but the seeds germinated in six days instead of all sprouting forth simultaneously. Thus, the six days of creation described in the Torah report the sequence in which the creation manifested itself not necessarily the strict sequence of creation. Concerning the date of when the universe was created there is a dispute among the scholars, hence, difference in the opinions. Some rabbis hold that the universe was created in the seventh month (in the autumn), while others say it was created in the first month of the Aviv (in the spring). We hold the latter view and believe that we are 5990 years from creation.
This translation of verse 1 of the Scripture is not necessarily wrong, because the Hebrew verb translated as “created” does seem to imply that something comes out of nothing. But there is more to it than the eyes can see.
The Hebrew words for “create” בָּרָא bara, which also means “to shape”, “to form“, and for “to make fat”, “to fatten” בָּרִיא bari, derive from a common three-letter root בּרא. At first reading, it is difficult to see a connection between these Hebrew words. To make the things even more intriguing for the reader, the words for “creation” בְּרִיאָה beriah, and for “food” בִּרְיָה derive from the same common root. Hence, the Hebrew verb בָּרָא bara, “to create”, also means to feed, to make [especially an animal] fat, literally and figuratively. We find this application of bara in 1Samuel, where we read,
Wherefore kick ye at My sacrifice and at Mine offering, which I have commanded in My habitation; and honourest thy sons above Me, to make yourselves fat (bara) with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel My people? (1Sa 2:29 JPS)
By extension, bara means also to fill up, to shape or form something. Hence, it seems that the Creator had not made the world from nothing but “fattened” it, or more properly in this case, filled up something to create it into matter. If so, Genesis 1:1 reads anew:
In the beginning Elohim filled up the heavens and the earth. Gen 1:1 (literal translation)
Therefore, we understand that the Creator filled up or made full, that is, He shaped the universe and gave it a form. But He filled up the universe with what? The Apostolic Writings provides a fine answer, namely, that the Eternal created the visible from the invisible things, as we read in Hebrews, thus,
By the work faith, we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of Elohim, so that what is seen was not made of what is visible. (Heb 11:3)
Since there was no one to witness this marvelous event of creation, by the work of faith, we understand that the universe was made as the Creator spoke out His Words, so that all we observe today was made of what had not been seen in the beginning of the creation. The author of Hebrews must have been very familiar with the Book of Enoch which reads the following,
2Enoch, Chapter 24: Of the great secrets of God, which God revealed and told Enoch, and spoke with him face to face 2 … Enoch, beloved, all that you see, all things that are standing finished I tell to you even before the very beginning, all that I created from non-being, and visible things from invisible… 4 For before all things were visible, I alone used to go about in the invisible things, like the sun from east to west, and from west to east. 5… I conceived the thought of placing foundations, and of creating visible creation.
And what is this that is invisible for our eyes, but the atoms and molecules: the building blocks of matter? Science agrees that the universe consists of matter, energy, and space-time, and that these interact in particular ways that are described as the “laws of physics” aka Newtonian laws. But where did atoms and molecules come from?
“There is no place devoid of Him”. (Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 57)
In his commentary on Genesis 1:1, Ramban [Nachmanides] writes,
“Now listen to the correct and clear explanation of the verse in its simplicity. The Holy One, blessed be He, created all things from absolute non-existence. Now we have no expression in the sacred language for bringing forth something from nothing other than the word bara (created). Everything that exists under the sun or above was not made from non-existence at the outset. Instead, He brought forth from total and absolute nothing a very thin substance devoid of corporeality but having a power of potency, fit to assume form and to proceed from potentiality into reality. This was the primary matter created by God”.
Then, Ramban explains that He did not create anything, but He formed and made things with it, and from this He brought everything into existence and clothed the forms and put them into a finished condition. This substance is called in the sacred language tohu, “without form”. Hence, what the verses is saying is this: In the beginning God created the heavens from nought, and He created the earth from nought. The earth, when created, was tohu and then it became bohu, “empty”, and in these there were “darkness” (See Gen 1:2), explains Ramban.
Therefore, what the Torah describes as “earth” had neither function nor future, for it was tohu תֹהוּ vavohu וָבֹהוּ “without form and empty” [tohu vavohu, an undifferentiated (undistinguished, uniform) state of matter]. There was also what the Torah calls “darkness”, set all about the waters that were constantly boiling, whipped by a mighty “wind of Elohim” (Elohim אֱלֹהִים ruach רוּחַ) that was sweeping over it. With that said, we rephrase the first two verse of the creation narrative,
When at the beginning Elohim began to fill up heaven and earth, the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind of Elohim sweeping over the waters, Elohim said, “Light shall exist!”; and light existed.
Gen 1:1 is not showing the creation of the universe but rather the filling up of it. In Gen 1:2 we see that the earth was formless and empty before it was filled up, then Ruach Elohim hovers over the waters. This sweeping was the action of Ruach Elohim, the creative power of Elohim, filling up the universe. This transition from infinitude to a finite cosmos could not happen gradually, i.e., in incremental steps. Rather it happened in a moment, when the Infinite One “contracted” Himself leaving a place “void and empty” in which the process of creation unfolded, explains the Zohar.
In other words, the Torah calls the indefinable material tohu, the original matter, and once this indefinable material had been shaped and assumed a definitive form, the Torah calls it bohu. Thus, tohu was a primordial form of existence, and bohu what followed up. To sum up what the Zohar explains: “At the beginning Elohim created a minute amount of matter out of absolute nothingness”. Once this matter was created, it contained within itself the potential and energy to expand into what the Torah calls “heaven and earth”. The wind was blowing entering the darkness and sweeping above the water: this is the energy propelling matter. And the Creation began. The rest we know.
One final thought. While the Messiah’s task is to bring about the end of the world as we know it, some Rabbinic sources argue that the Messiah existed before history.
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer (Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer) retells and expands upon the biblical narrative, from the beginning of the Book of Genesis through the story of Miriam’s leprosy in the Book of Numbers. Among other topics, it includes also topics such as the creation and the end of days. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer is traditionally ascribed to Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, a 2nd-century sage. According to this work, the Messiah’s name was one the seven things created before the world. They are: The Torah, Gehinnom, the Garden of Eden, the Throne of Glory, the Temple, Repentance, and the Name of the Messiah. As we studied in other articles, the Rabbis explain that the term Ruach Elohim in verse 2 refers to the Messiah (Hebrew, Mashiach, “anointed one”). It would be advantageous for the reader to study the entire matter of Messiah in the section “The Messiah”.
According to the Sages, the fact that the “spirit of Mashiach” was sweeping above the waters indicates that the world was created for the end to which Mashiach will bring it. They also say that Mashiach is necessary element in Creation, without which it cannot exist. For this reason, the name of Mashiach is listed as one of the seven things that preceded the creation of the world. (Tana d’vei Eliahu Rabba 31; Bereishit Rabba 1:4).
In conclusion, let us picture to ourselves the gradual development of our reasoning. The Eternal YHVH, the Infinite One (Ein Sof), is in everything, and everything is within Him. His existence is absolute existence, and in comparison, everything else does not exist. Before the creation there was only Him until He wanted to create the world. In order to create it, He wanted to reveal Himself. As He is limitless, He limited Himself to make space for His work He desired to do. Prior to that there was only the infinite revelation of the Eternal, which in Hebrew is called the Ohr Ein Sof, “the Light of the Infinite One”. The Ohr Ein Sof is not the Eternal Himself, only His infinite revelation of Himself. YHVH Himself is the Essence which cannot be seen and always remains concealed. And how were the heavens created? Psalm 104 describes it in a beautifully expressed in a poetical form.
Bless the Eternal, O my soul. O Eternal my Elohim. You are very great. You are clothed with glory and majesty. Who covers Yourself with light as with a garment, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain. (Psa 104:1-2)
The Infinite One took part of the light of His garment, stretched it out like a curtain, and since then the heavens (universe) are extending continually. The creation of light was a separation of the light from the primary matter, a separation which established the alternation of light and darkness, the distinction between day and night.
Many words have been written and many more can be written, but this is the conclusion of the entire matter: Nothing came from nothing. All came from the Eternal, who is the real Existence. From Him came the primordial light, which condensed into matter which is energy. From this matter all was made.
This subject of the creation of the world requires a lengthy exposition, but it is all explained in our commentary in the series “The Origin” and “The Oneness of the Creator”, to which we would like to turn the reader’s attention.
Suggested reading:
“Einstein’s formula encoded in Genesis”.
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May we merit seeing the coming of our Mashiach speedily in our days!
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