In The Beginning = "בראשית" = "Bə·rê·šhîṯh"
The ancient paleo-hebrew symbols reveal greater depth and interconnectivity of the Biblical text than is immediately apparent on the surface.
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"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth"
Genesis 1:1
The very first word of the Bible holds concealed but grand significance. bereshith (בראשית) is translated as "In The Beginning" and begins the account of the creation of all things by God. Later in Isaiah God declares:
"Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
declaring the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times things which have not been done,
saying, ‘My plan will be established,
and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’"
Isaiah 46:9-10
This verse is not only a declaration of God’s timeless power to foresee and fulfill the future — it also invites us to discover that His intentions for creation are hidden in the very first word of the Bible. From "the beginning", God foretold and intended what has happened and what will happen, affirming His divine authorship and the Bible’s unified metanarrative. So, we zoom in on the original text to discover what God has concealed.
Hebrew Letter Meanings
Beyt
Ancient
Modern
Image Association: House, Tent, Container
Associated Nature: Containment, Stability, Permanence, Structure, A place one enters/exits/dwells
Resh
Ancient
Modern
Image Association: Head, Man
Associated Nature: Head, First, Top, Foremost, Beginning
Aleph
Ancient
Modern
Image Association: Ox, Oneness, Unity, Power, God the Father
Associated Nature: Beginning, Authority, Leadership, Source, Master, Oneness
Ancient symbol associated with the ox shows connection with sacrifice for sin atonement. Modern symbol resembles a Vav (connector) with two Yuds (Hands) depicting God who is first and foremost. The transition of the symbol between these states looks to reflect Jesus's first advent as the sacrifice in atonement for sin of the world and second advent as the authoritative messiah-king.
Shin
Ancient
Modern
Image Association: Teeth
Associated Nature: God Initiated State Change, Destruction, Crushing, Pressing, Eating
This letter also has some association with a period of time. As in, over time something was changed/destroyed/crushed rather than an instantaneous event.
Yud
Ancient
Modern
Image Association: Hand, Arm
Associated Nature: Hand, Work, Throw, Worship
This letter also has some association with an instance in time, particularly a beginning. As in God bringing something into existence with his hand.
Tav
Ancient
Modern
Image Association: Crossed sticks, cross
Associated Nature: Mark, Sign, Signal, Monument
As the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Tav is associated with completion, ending, and perfection. This letter is found in the Hebrew words for both life and death. And, Jesus is quoted in Revelation 22:13 saying "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Tav directly correlates to the omega, last, and end in this verse. We find the culmination of all the above meanings with tav's association to the cross on which Jesus was crucified.
Bereshith Prophecy
When we consider the meanings associated with the letters something amazing begins to happen with the word "bereshith" — a story summary presents itself:
"From His home (beyt), someone with authority (resh) with emphasis or godly authority (Aleph) causes change or destruction (shin) and brings about a new beginning (yud) that is also associated with completion or an absolute end (tav)."
This appears to be an overview of the plot of the Bible. We get confirmation of this if we notice something else about bereshith — there are other words within this 6-letter word.
We find that if we take the first two letters of bereshith (beyt + resh) we get the word "bar" which means "son". Likewise, there are other words with various combinations of letters within bereshith. Now, if we impose a couple of rules on ourselves like keeping the letters always in order, keeping the words in order of how they appear in the word, and exhausting every combination we get something very special, we get a series of words. While there are a couple of variations available to the translation, the result is a concealed message within the first word of the Bible that communicates the plot of the Bible, and prophetically declares the purposes of God for His Son and mankind.
This not only fulfills Isaiah 46:9-10 in a literal sense, but it serves as evidence to the divine authorship of the Bible from the very beginning, and attests to the timeless omniscience of God. A genuinely miraculous occurrence within the very first word of the Bible.