In English, we call Bereshit, the first book of the Five Books of Moses, “Genesis.”
However, it is an imperfect translation.
Bereshit means “In the Genesis,” or “In the beginning.”
The difference is, that “In the Beginning” means that it is not “The Beginning”. It happened in the beginning, but it is not the beginning.
The book of Bereshit begins with the story of creation, but creation was not the beginning, creation happened in the beginning.
The true genesis, the true beginning, was God’s plan and vision for the world.
Creation happened after, and as a result of, God’s desire.
If we are the beginning of it all, then our existence is a given.
But we are not the beginning. The story of the universe starts before we come onto the stage.
When we think of the creation of man as “the beginning,” we take our own existence for granted, when really, we didn’t have to exist. The world didn’t have to exist. We are only here because God has a plan and purpose for us.
It’s not that “we existed, and then God came along and told us to do stuff.”
It’s “God wanted something, and so he brought us into existence and told us how to do what he made us to do.”
