Bere’shiyth (Genesis) 1:1-2

In the beginning ELOHIYM created אֵת eth the heavens and אֵת eth the earth.

Bere’shiyth bara ELOHIYM eth ha’shamayim v’eth ha’aretz.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the RUACH ELOHIYM moved upon the face of the waters.

Vay’ha’aretz hayah tohu v’bohu v’chosheck al pahneem tehome RUACH ELOHIYM rachaph al pahneem mayim.

We have already discussed these key words ELOHIYM and shamayim.  Another word of interest, however, in this discussion is ha’aretz – the earth. 

As we have determined earlier, the ha in ha’aretz can be interpreted as the word the, i.e. the earth.

Strong’s 776, gives us the word אָ֫רֶץ 'erets as a word from an unused root probably meaning to be firm; i.e., the earth (at large, or partitively a land): the country, earth, field, ground, land, way, wilderness, or the world.

Hebrew is a curious language, where the vowels often do not appear.  The Masorites attempted to cure this difficulty with additional markings that would signify the sound of the vowel where the vowel was not found – however, the spelling can often be had in both ways.  The word aretz being spelled aleph-resh-tsadi safit is of course one approach.  However, the same word may be spelled aleph-resh-ayin-tsadi safit. Under these circumstances, the question can then be asked, is the term earth the best understanding of the term ha’aretz in verse 1? 

Before taking apart this word, let us review again the giving of the sacred name at the burning bush, which is given as eyhayah asher eyhayah.

Shemot (Exodus) 3:14

             אהיה  אשׁר  אהיה  

Again, we note that each word begins with an aleph (א).  The word that is interpreted as I AM is an interesting word, because in its analytics we see the word hayah as the portion that is the AM (see Strong’s 1961 הָיָה hayah, meaning to exist, i.e. to be or to become, or to come to pass. Therefore, necessarily the portion of the word that declares I is the singular aleph (א).  We will come back to this concept.

Verse 2 of Genesis 1 then begins with the phrase Vay’ha’aretz hayah tohu v’bohu, which is often interpreted as “and the earth was without form and void.”  However, given the definition of hayah can we not also see that the earth came to be without form and void?  Well, certainly, assuming that earth is again the best understanding of the word ha’aretz.   

Let us return to the spelling of aretz as aleph-resh-ayin-tsadi safit (ארעץ). Now consider that the aleph means I as it does in eyhayah (I AM).  The resh (ר) then means the chief, and the following letters are ets (עץ), meaning a tree; i.e., the chief tree of the ALEPH.  This produces a bit of a novel understanding in the sod meaning of ha’aretz; rather than meaning the earth, ha’aretz could imply the tree of life itself – the etz chayim, or the first tree of the ALEPH.   

If we view this in the ultimate macro fractal under a PRDS hermeneutic, this macro (chief) tree of life is the first construct of light within the finite, and the structure of the tree is initially tohu and bohu, which can be understood as an empty vacuum. 

Given our discussion above, consider again Bere’shiyth 1:1.

Bere’shiyth bara ELOHIYM eth ha’shamayim v’eth ha’aretz.

Before rendering a sod interpretation for the entire verse, let us first consider the word which is interpreted as created, namely bara.  Strong’s 1254 gives us the word בָּרָא bara' as having the meaning to create; (qualified) to cut down (a wood), select, feed (as formative processes): to choose, create (creator), cut down, dispatch, do, make (fat).

When we look at its tedusha, we discover ben (son), resh (the first) and the ALEPH; i.e., the first son of the Aleph! Our sod understanding emerges then as:  

In the beginning was the first son of the ALEPH, ELOHIYM, the waters of salvation, and the first tree of life.

And further: And the first tree of life was in an empty vacuum.  Darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the breath of ELOHIYM fluttered over the face of the waters.

This alliteration goes even deeper with further research, but, depending on what your view is of the etz chayim (the tree of life), the creation of existence can begin to be understood, as the light shining through the darkness, and shining along the structure of the tree of life.