Revelation of the Bible: The Book of Genesis is the first volume in a series on biblical revelations offering timely insights into the world and revealing the prophecies of Jacob. Author Moshe Ben Yoseph HaLevi identifies the Messiah out of the house of Judah. This volume explores creation from both scientific and biblical perspectives. The secrets of creation are examined along with the meaning of life, the location of the Garden of Eden, and the story of Adam and Eve. What is the meaning of the tree of knowledge and who are the children of God? HaLevi provides a detailed analysis of the seven names of God and their meanings as well as the selection of Abraham as God’s chosen person. He follows the Hebrew text of Genesis and in some cases paraphrases the specific content for clarity. He has not included any English translations of the Hebrew text because he believes that there are many such translations that vary too widely in their interpretations. Revelation of the Bible offers rare insights into the book of Genesis based upon the Kabbalah and scientific scrutiny.

REVELATION OF THE BIBLE

THE BOOK OF GENESISBy Moshe Ben Yoseph HaLevi

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Moshe Ben Yoseph HaLevi
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-8559-9

Contents

Preface...................................................................................xiChapter 1 Creation of Something from Nothingness..........................................1Chapter 2 Scientific Account of Creation..................................................5Chapter 3 Biblical Account of Creation....................................................35Chapter 4 The Garden of Eden..............................................................63Chapter 5 Banishment from the Garden of Eden..............................................71Chapter 6 The Generation of Noah..........................................................85Chapter 7 The Seventy Nations of the Earth................................................95Chapter 8 Abraham is Chosen by God........................................................99Chapter 9 Sodom and Gomorrah..............................................................109Chapter 10 God's Covenant with Abraham....................................................113Chapter 11 The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Story of Lot.....................129Chapter 12 Abraham and King Abimelech of Gerar............................................135Chapter 13 The Birth of Isaac.............................................................143Chapter 14 Hebron and the Cave of Machpelah...............................................149Chapter 15 The Story of Isaac.............................................................153Chapter 16 The Story of Jacob.............................................................161Chapter 17 The Story of Dinah.............................................................193Chapter 18 Jacob Arrives at Beth El.......................................................199Chapter 19 Jacob settles in Hebron........................................................201Chapter 20 The story of Joseph............................................................203Chapter 21 The story of Judah.............................................................211Chapter 22 Joseph in Egypt................................................................217Conclusion................................................................................263References................................................................................265About the Author..........................................................................267

Chapter One

Creation of Something from Nothingness

Genesis 1 and 2

To understand creation in the book of Genesis, one needs to understand the meanings of the concept of nothingness. The reason for this is simple; the passage tells us that God has created something from nothing. This simple statement implies that nothing existed before God began creating.

The question, therefore, is, what is nothingness?

One could only use an analogy to grasp the concept of nothingness. This is because of the fact that it is impossible to define nothingness in simple terms. One can't define nothingness in terms of its opposite by saying that there is nothing there, or by saying that it is empty space, or by saying it is void of anything. Each of these words defines something but not nothing. It is similar to the concept of zero in mathematics, which parallels the concept of nothingness but is not the same. A discussion of the history of zero and the struggle that humanity had in defining it is given by Professor Robert Kaplan, author of The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero and former professor of mathematics at Harvard University. Here is one paragraph of his article published in Scientific American, January 16, 2007:

"The mathematical zero and the philosophical notion of nothingness are related but are not the same. Nothingness plays a central role very early on in Indian thought (there it is called sunya), and we find speculation in virtually all cosmological myths about what must have preceded the world's creation. So it is written in the Bible's book of Genesis (1:2): 'And the earth was without form, and void.'"

Professor Kaplan sums it up well, but we still do not know what nothingness is. (The reader is encouraged to read Kaplan's article and book for better insight.)

It is clear that none of these definitions or explanations defines accurately the concept of nothingness. Therefore, we are forced to use an analogy to explain it.

Consider the following scenario: What if planet Earth was made only of water and a person was sitting in the center of the planet? Now then, when that person looks around, what does he see other than his own body?

The answer is obviously nothing.

Why is that so?

It is because the mind cannot form any geometric single point or line or three-dimensional structure of any kind within the body of water. It is clear that the reason for this phenomenon is that there is uniformity within the water. Therefore, we can say that nothingness is literally equal to absolute uniformity. This is only one half of the analogy. The other half that can further explain nothingness is discussed below.

To understand the other half of the analogy, consider the entire universe and fill it, in your imagination, with equal squares. Then erase the outline of those squares. What do you have? If one considers this exercise carefully, it becomes clear that once you erase all the outlines of the squares, all that remains is the universe itself. This, however, leads us to another concept, and that is the concept of ONE.

Now we have two concepts that we were not familiar with before: the concept of nothingness and the concept of one.

Why are these concepts important? The following sections attempt to clarify the answers both from the scientific and biblical viewpoints in regard to nothingness as an existence before creation and the concept of one relating to the entire creation itself.

Chapter Two

Scientific Account of Creation

The scientific and biblical accounts of creation are one and the same; however, they are viewed from two distinct points of reference. The scientific account is a bottom-up account of creation, whereas the biblical account is a top-down account. To understand this statement, consider the following two scenarios of a top-down account (biblical) and a bottom-up account (scientific) below. Note that the bottom-up view of creation that science offers has within it two views, that of the deterministic universe in accordance with Einstein's famous statement, "God does not play dice with the universe" and that of the quantum theory with its principle supposition, the Heisenberg principle of uncertainty, which is covered in the following sections. Please note that both of these views are correct. However, they must be viewed from their point of reference, top down versus bottom up. Einstein's statement was in regard to the top-down view of the universe.

2.1 What ignited the big bang?

It is well known that a spark of unknown origin ignited the big bang and brought existence and expansion to the universe. We do not know how this spark came to be or what its origin was, but we do know that the result was a massive explosion that we call the big bang. The big bang caused the creation of matter and its expansion and in turn the formation of galaxies, various planets, and other heavenly bodies. We do not know what existed before the big bang. However, we do know that galaxies are moving away from each other, and that all combination of matter will deteriorate at the end of time to a frozen state or, if you wish, nothingness. At this end-of-time state, we can say that no energy exists. Therefore, one can think of this state or end-of-existence state as a universe of nothingness, lacking any energy, therefore being in total darkness.

2.2 Very short review of the big bang theory

(start of article from Wikipedia)

Theory

The theoretical scientific exploration of the ultimate fate of the universe became possible with Albert Einstein's 1916 theory of general relativity. General relativity can be employed to describe the universe on the largest possible scale. There are many possible solutions to the equations of general relativity, and each solution implies a possible ultimate fate of the universe. Alexander Friedman proposed a number of such solutions in 1922 as did Georges Lemaître in 1927. In some of these the universe has been expanding from an initial singularity; this is, essentially, the Big Bang.

Observation

In 1931, Edwin Hubble published his conclusion, based on his observations of Cepheid variable stars in distant galaxies that the universe was expanding. From then on, the beginning of the universe and its possible end have been the subjects of serious scientific investigation.

Big Bang and Steady state theories

In 1927, Georges Lemaître set out a theory that has since come to be called the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe. In 1948, Fred Hoyle set out his opposing steady state theory in which the universe continually expanded but remained statistically unchanged as new matter is constantly created. These two theories were active contenders until the 1965 discovery, by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, of the cosmic microwave background radiation, a fact that is a straightforward prediction of the Big Bang theory, and one that the original Steady State theory could not account for. As a result The Big Bang theory immediately became the most widely held view of the origin of the universe.

Cosmological constant

When Einstein formulated general relativity, he and his contemporaries believed in a static universe. When Einstein found that his equations could easily be solved in such a way as to allow the universe to be expanding now, and to contract in the far future, he added to those equations what he called a cosmological constant, essentially a constant energy density unaffected by any expansion or contraction, whose role was to offset the effect of gravity on the universe as a whole in such a way that the universe would remain static. After Hubble announced his conclusion that the universe was expanding, Einstein wrote that his cosmological constant was "the greatest blunder of my life." (George Gamow, My World Line, 1970).

Density parameter An important parameter in fate of the universe theory is the Density parameter, Omega (Ω), defined as the average matter density of the universe divided by a critical value of that density. This selects one of three possible geometries depending on whether Ω is equal to, less than, or greater than 1. These are called, respectively, the flat, open and closed universes. These three adjectives refer to the overall geometry of the universe, and not to the local curving of space time caused by smaller clumps of mass (for example, galaxies and stars). If the primary content of the universe is inert matter, as in the dust models popular for much of the 20th century, there is a particular fate corresponding to each geometry. Hence cosmologists aimed to determine the fate of the universe by measuring , or equivalently the rate at which the expansion was decelerating.

Repulsive force Starting in 1998, observations of supernovae in distant galaxies have been interpreted as consistent with a universe whose expansion is accelerating. Subsequent cosmological theorizing has been designed so as to allow for this possible acceleration, nearly always by involving dark energy, which in its simplest form is just a positive cosmological constant. In general dark energy is a catch-all term for any hypothesized field with negative pressure, usually with a density that changes as the universe expands.

Role of the shape of the universe

See also: Shape of the universe

The ultimate fate of an expanding universe depends on the matter density Ω_M and the dark energy density [OMEAG]_Δ. The current scientific consensus of most cosmologists is that the ultimate fate of the universe depends on its overall shape, how much dark energy it contains, and on the equation of state which determines how the dark energy density responds to the expansion of the universe. Recent observations have shown that, from 7.5 billion years after the Big Bang onwards, the expansion rate of the universe has actually been increasing, concurrent with the Open Universe theory.

Closed universe

If Ω > 1, then the geometry of space is closed like the surface of a sphere. The sum of the angles of a triangle exceeds 180 degrees and there are no parallel lines; all lines eventually meet. The geometry of the universe is, at least on a very large scale, elliptic.

In a closed universe lacking the repulsive effect of dark energy, gravity eventually stops the expansion of the universe, after which it starts to contract until all matter in the universe collapses to a point, a final singularity termed the "Big Crunch," by analogy with Big Bang. However, if the universe has a large amount of dark energy (as suggested by recent findings) then the expansion of the universe can continue forever—even if Ω > 1.

Open universe

If Ω<1, the geometry of space is open, i.e., negatively curved like the surface of a saddle. The angles of a triangle sum to less than 180 degrees, and lines that do not meet are never equidistant; they have a point of least distance and otherwise grow apart. The geometry of such a universe is hyperbolic.

Even without dark energy, a negatively curved universe expands forever, with gravity barely slowing the rate of expansion. With dark energy, the expansion not only continues but accelerates. The ultimate fate of an open universe is either universal heat death, the "Big Freeze," or the "Big Rip," where the acceleration caused by dark energy eventually becomes so strong that it completely overwhelms the effects of the gravitational, electromagnetic and weak binding forces.

Conversely, a negative cosmological constant, which would correspond to a negative energy density and positive pressure, would cause even an open universe to re-collapse to a big crunch. This option has been ruled out by observations.

Flat universe If the average density of the universe exactly equals the critical density so that Ω=1, then the geometry of the universe is flat: as in Euclidean geometry, the sum of the angles of a triangle is 180 degrees and parallel lines continuously maintain the same distance.

Absent dark energy, a flat universe expands forever but at a continually decelerating rate, with expansion asymptotically approaching a fixed rate. With dark energy, the expansion rate of the universe initially slows down, due to the effect of gravity, but eventually increases. The ultimate fate of the universe is the same as an open universe.

Theories about the end of universe

The fate of the universe is determined by the density of the universe. The preponderance of evidence to date, based on measurements of the rate of expansion and the mass density, favors a universe that will continue to expand indefinitely, resulting in the "big freeze" scenario below. However new understandings of the nature of dark matter also suggest its interactions with mass and gravity demonstrate the possibility of an oscillating universe.

Big Freeze or Heat death

The Big Freeze is a scenario under which continued expansion results in a universe that asymptotically approaches absolute zero temperature. It could, in the absence of dark energy, occur only under a flat or hyperbolic geometry. With a positive cosmological constant, it could also occur in a closed universe. This scenario is currently the most commonly accepted theory within the scientific community. A related scenario is Heat death, which states that the universe goes to a state of maximum entropy in which everything is evenly distributed, and there are no gradients—which are needed to sustain information processing, one form of which is life. The Heat Death scenario is compatible with any of the three spatial models, but requires that the universe reach an eventual temperature minimum. (end of article)

If we examine the state of the universe before the big bang, we can think of it also as being in total darkness, or in a state of nothingness. This is what the Jewish sages referred to as the "end and the beginning being one." If you wish, alpha and omega are one and the same.

The question we have now is this: who ignited this void or nothingness and was responsible for bringing it to life?

It is clear that nothingness or the one could not act on itself since it was in a totally static state. Therefore, there must have been an outside intervention that caused it to become dynamic and therefore alive.

What was this intervention?

2.3 The universe becomes dynamic

We now have the following: a universe of nothingness that is completely in static mode and is acted upon by a spiritual force from outside itself, or the one. This spiritual force has caused the universe of nothingness or the universe of absolute uniformity to become nonuniform and therefore dynamic and therefore alive.

We can conceptualize this as follows: when the spiritual force acted on the universe of nothingness or the one, it caused a completely static universe to become dynamic. It is clear that it could not have been physical, since the entire physical universe was concentrated in the one, or in the nothingness.

(Continues...)

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