An Original Hebrew Bible Study
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“Tohu” – The Hebrew Word for Formless
Genesis 1:1 says “In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void and darkness was over the face of the deep.”
The Hebrew word for formless is tohu תהו.
Tohu is used in the Bible to mean vanity, nothingness, a wasteland, a wilderness, and an uninhabitable place.
An easy way to understand this word is if you were to add water to the word tohu – that is, if you were to add the letter mem ם which is a picture of water to the word tohu – you would end up with the word tehom תהום which in Hebrew means “the deep.” The word tehom is used to describe the deep abysses of the ocean.
Tohu is an uninhabitable wasteland. Tehom is the same sort of place, just with water ם added.
“Bohu” – The Hebrew Word for Void
Genesis tells us that in the beginning the earth was not only tohu (an uninhabitable place), it was also bohu בהו.
The first letter of the word bohu is beyt ב which is a picture of a house. And, as you live in your house, the letter beyt is used in Hebrew words to mean in and inside. As one example of this, in Hebrew “in the beginning” is the single word b’resheet. Resheet means beginning in Hebrew and the letter beyt is added as a prefix to mean in.
The second letter in the word bohu is the letter hey ה which is often used in Hebrew words to mean to reveal.
When the inside ב of an item is revealed ה it’s because there are no contents in that item – the item has been emptied out. The Hebrew word bohu means empty and void.
So, in the beginning, GOD created the heavens and the earth. But when HE first created it, the earth was tohu – an uninhabitable place – and it was bohu – an empty place.
Video Version of this article:
From Water and Through Water
Continuing in Genesis, we read: “And the Spirit of ELOHIM was hovering over the face of the waters.”
As we continue through the creation account, you’ll see that the Earth is about to be formed and the heavens are about to be stretched out, but at the very beginning of creation, everything could be described as “waters.”
As Peter says, “The earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of GOD.” (2 Peter 3:5)
The Name ELOHIM – It’s Not Plural
The Name our Creator uses as HE’S telling us about His creation is ELOHIM. And, it seems nearly everyone believes ELOHIM is a plural name. However, Hear O Israel THE LORD our GOD is One!
You can tell ELOHIM is not plural because Genesis says “In the beginning HE created” not “they created.” In Hebrew, the words are b’resheet bara ELOHIM. If it was they created instead of HE created, the Hebrew would say b’resheet baru ELOHIM.
People who believe ELOHIM is plural say it’s because of GOD’s majesty, but if that was the reason, then wouldn’t all of His Names be plural?
The main reason people assume ELOHIM is plural is because it ends with “im,” which is a suffix that can be added to the end of Hebrew words to make them plural.
This is similar to how, in English, if you want to make something plural, you add the letter “S.” Horse becomes horses for example. But not everything in English that ends with the letter S is plural, and as we see with the name ELOHIM, not everything in Hebrew that ends with -im is plural.
If you look at the original Hebrew script of Father’s Name, you’ll see that His Name ELOHIM has to do with the creation.
One of GOD’s Names is EL אל. The first letter Alef א is a picture of a bull which is used in Hebrew words to mean chief. Lamed ל is a picture of a shepherd’s staff and it’s used in Hebrew words to mean shepherd. EL is our Chief Shepherd as Peter says (1 Peter 5:4).
Another one of GOD’s Names is ELOHE אלה, or as some pronounce it, ELOAH. It’s the name EL with the letter hey at the end. The letter hey is used in Hebrew words to mean men, life and existence, so the name ELOHE has the meaning of Chief Shepherd of men, Chief Shepherd of Life and Chief Shepherd Who Is.
Another one of His Names is ELOHIM, which is the Name ELOHE with a yod and a mem at the end. Yod י is a picture of an arm. And, as you use your arm to work and make things, the letter yod is used in Hebrew words to mean to work and to make. The letter Mem ם is a picture of water.
So the meaning of His name ELOHIM is Chief Shepherd of Men, Maker of the Waters.
At the beginning, all of the creation was contained in the deep waters, and the Maker of those waters was hovering over them. ELOHIM – The Chief Shepherd of Men and Maker of the Waters – is the Name HE gave us to show us that HE is the CREATOR of everything.
What is light?
Continuing in Genesis, we read “And ELOHIM said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”
When GOD said this, it was on creation Day 1, before the sun was created. So what was the light that HE called into being?
John tells us that in Him is life, and that this life is the light of men (John 1:4). We believe when HE said let there be light, Father was calling forth the ability for things to exist and to live inside of the creation that HE had just made.
What is Good?
“And ELOHIM saw that the light was good.”
The word for good in Hebrew is tov טב.
The letter tet ט is a picture of a storage container, and the letter beyt ב as we saw before is a house.
To get an understanding of why a picture of a storage container ט and a house ב mean good, think of an empty house. And let’s say you and your family are getting ready to move into this house. What sort of things will you fill the house with? It’s likely that you’ll head to a few stores to pick up things that you need, want, and like, and you’ll bring them home and store them ט in your house ב.
In the same way, when Father created the heavens and the earth, HE filled them with things that HE considered worthy and necessary to make everything function the way HE wanted it to. HE filled the creation with things that were tov טב.
We can see from the word tov that all of creation is a type of beyt – that is, it’s a house and a dwelling place. As it says in Isaiah 45:18 (literal translation from the Hebrew):
“For thus says YHVH who created the heavens, HE is THE ELOHIM who formed the earth and made it. HE has established it not tohu, HE created it for a dwelling and HE formed it. I am YHVH and there is no other.”
When creation began, the earth was tohu (formless), but His intention all along was to establish it and form it to be a habitation for us. It’s also a dwelling place for Him, since His desire has always been to dwell among men. Maranatha LORD YASHUA.
Day and Night
“And ELOHIM separated the light from the darkness. ELOHIM called the light Day,” Hebrew is GOD’s language and the original Hebrew alphabet was designed by none other than the Creator of Heaven and Earth. His word for day is yom ים and HE named it yom to commemorate that this is when HE first began his work in making י the waters מ.
“and the darkness he called Night.”
In the beginning, before HE said let there be light, darkness was over the face of the deep. Here, HE names the darkness night. So, the creation begins with darkness and night. And if you read Revelation, you’ll see that the whole creation will one day end with light and day.
“There will be no more night in the city, and they will have no need for the light of a lamp or of the sun. For THE LORD GOD will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 22:5)
This is one of the reasons that on Father’s calendar, His days begin at sunset. Nighttime comes first, then daytime, and that makes up a full day as HE sees it. It’s a daily sign to us and a model for us of how it all started and how it will, one day, all end.
How Was There Evening and Morning Before the Sun?
“And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”
Earlier, we saw that before the sun was created, there was light. And here we see that before the sun was created, there was already the concept of evening and morning.
In Hebrew, the word for evening is ereb, and the word for morning is boqer.
The letter beyt ב as we saw earlier with the word tov is used as a picture of the creation.
The letter ayin ע is a picture of an eye, and it’s often used in Hebrew words to mean observe.
The letter resh ר is a picture of a man’s head, and it’s used in Hebrew words to mean man, as well as beginning. For example, just as the “header” of a document is its top and its beginning, the letter resh is used to mean top and beginning (Father’s alphabet is quite simple to understand).
The letter quf ק is a picture of the sun at the horizon and it’s used in Hebrew words to mean sun and light. It’s also used to mean to rise and to go forth, the same way the sun rises and goes forth from the horizon.
With that, you now know all of the letters in ereb and boqer. So here are the meanings of the words in the original Hebrew script:
On Day One, before the sun was created:
In the evening (ereb ערב), HE observed ע the beginning ר of creation ב.
In the morning (boqer בקר), creation’s ב light ק began ר when HE said let there be light.
Later, after Father created the sun:
Ereb is the time of day when you can observe ע the head ר of the sun going into ב the horizon.
Boqer is the time of day when, as David describes in Psalm 19, from its chamber ב the sun ק begins ר its journey through the daytime sky.
And after Father created mankind:
Ereb also represents time of day you can see ע men ר going home ב from their work, and
Boqer also represents the time of day when from his house ב goes forth ק man ר.
Creation Day 1 Recap
To Recap All of Creation Day 1:
And the Spirit of ELOHIM was hovering over the face of the waters. The Maker of the Waters was hovering over the waters HE had just created. These waters contained elements of the earth that HE was about to form and elements of the heavens that HE was about to start stretching out.
And ELOHIM said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. HE made it so things could exist in what was initially uninhabitable.
And ELOHIM saw that the light was tov טב – it was worthy to be part of His creation.
And ELOHIM separated the light from the darkness.
ELOHIM called the light yom ים – to commemorate the beginning of His work י on the waters ם
and the darkness HE called Night.
And there was ereb ערב – when HE observed the beginning of His creation
and there was boqer בקר – when creation’s first light had it’s beginning
the first day.
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This document is free and dedicated to the Public Domain (copyright waived) | By M. Dawson, March 2025
Original Hebrew Bible Study videos: https://www.youtube.com/@originalhebrewseries
Shalom unto Jerusalem.
