Genesis-Moshe 1: B'reishith-בראשית

By Mark Pitrone

You are holding the author's notes on the book of Genesis as he has taught it for more than fifteen years on succeeding Sabbaths and on various venues, both "brick and mortar" and online.

Some men have made a mess of what Elohenu (our God) revealed to the patriarchs and prophets, both Old and New Testaments, translating it with the biases of their rabbis or pastors or denominations.

Mark is attempting (he even succeeds once in a while) to understand it and teach it as close to El's [God's] original intent as he can get by eliminating those doctrinal biases. (For instance, "God nailed the Law to the cross." There were exactly two things nailed to the Roman torture stake. What were they? Hint: One was Yeshua or Jesus. Matthew 27:37, Mark 15:26, Luke 23:38, John 19:19-look these up and then think.)

If that teaser intrigues you, see what Moshe [Moses] has to say in Genesis. There's a lot more than just what's written on the page.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098074272

Book preview

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Genesis-Moshe 1

B'reishith-x'x"xx(c)x(tm)xa

Mark Pitrone

ISBN 978-1-0980-7426-5 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-0980-7427-2 (digital)

Copyright © 2021 by Mark Pitrone

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

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Table of Contents

B'reishith [Genesis] 1

B'reishith 2

B'reishith [Genesis] 3

B'reishith [Genesis] 4

B'reishith [Genesis] 5

B'reishith [Genesis] 6

B'reishith [Genesis] 7

B'reishith [Genesis] 8

B'reishith [Genesis] 9

B'reishith [Genesis] 10

B'reishith [Genesis] 11

B'reishith [Genesis] 12

B'reishith [Genesis] 13

B'reishith [Genesis] 14

B'reishit [Genesis] 15

B'reishith [Genesis] 16

B'reishith [Genesis] 17

B'reishith [Genesis] 18

B'reishith [Genesis] 19

B'reishith [Genesis] 20

B'reishith [Genesis] 21

B'reishith [Genesis] 22

B'reishith [Genesis] 23

B'reishith [Genesis] 24

B'reishith [Genesis] 25

B'reishith [Genesis] 26

B'reishith [Genesis] 27

B'reishith [Genesis] 28

B'reishith [Genesis] 29

B'reishith [Genesis] 30

B'reishith [Genesis] 31

B'reishith [Genesis] 32

B'reishith [Genesis] 33

B'reishith [Genesis] 34

B'reishith [Genesis] 35

B'reishith [Genesis] 36

B'reishith [Genesis] 37

B'reishith [Genesis] 38

B'reishith [Genesis] 39

B'reishith [Genesis] 40

B'reishith [Genesis] 41

B'reishith [Genesis] 42

B'reishith [Genesis] 43

B'reishith [Genesis] 44

B'reishith [Genesis] 45

B'reishith [Genesis] 46

B'reishith [Genesis] 47

B'reishith [Genesis] 48

B'reishith [Genesis] 49

B'reishith [Genesis] 50

About the Author

B'reishith [Genesis] 1

B'reishith 1:1–2:3 (V.1)

B'reishith bara Elohim et hashamayim v'et haAretz. I believe, along with a lot of actual Hebrew scholars and rabbinical sages, that if we could fully understand just this one seven-word verse of scripture, we would need to know nothing else, as it contains all the Torah and prophets within it. In the pashat¹ level of understanding, it is the thesis statement of the chapter on the ex nihilo [out of nothing] creation and can be taken as such for the entire Word of Yah. Every good piece of literature mentions its thesis statement in the first paragraph or sentence. The thesis is the overarching purpose for the author writing the thing in the first place. The very first word of Torah tells us the purpose for Yah's creation. What follows is not exclusively of my own authorship. I am basing this on an Eddie Chumney teaching² on the word b'reishith and adding my own observations to it.

The first word, B'reishith, begins with an enlarged Beth. Irregular letters have been placed in the Hebrew text to call our attention to them; they have a special purpose, and we should be circumspect and diligent to see what it is. The letter beth is a pictograph that represents a house, and the word beit means house, as in BethLechem, House of Bread, or Food. So we can deduce from this enlarged beth that Yah wanted to build a large house for His people and for Himself to live in on the earth. He is accomplishing this spiritually through the redeemed nation of Yisrael, and He shall accomplish it physically on the New Earth in which His Righteousness [Yah Yeshua, the Tzadik Rebbe] will dwell physically among His people.

The first two letters are beth and resh, which spell the Aramaic word bar, meaning son. Since the letter beth, a house, is a part of both the Hebrew and Aramaic words translated son, we can deduce that Yah wanted to build His spiritual house in His Son, Yah Yeshua haMashiyach. In the Hebrew marriage, the ketubah was entered into at the time of betrothal, and the son then went to his father's house to prepare a home for his wife, which is what Yeshua is doing as we study today.

The first two letters, beth and resh, and the last two letters, yud and tav, form the word brith, which means covenant. From all this, we can deduce that Yah was building a house in His Son by way of a covenant. Yah has established at least six covenants with men; the first in time was with Adam, the second with Noach, the third with Avraham, the fourth with physical Israel at Sinai, the fifth with David, and the sixth with redeemed Yisrael in Jeremiah 31:31–34. None of these covenants abrogate any previous covenant, but each successive covenant adds to the ones before. Our part of each covenant is obedience. But in each covenant, Yah takes on more responsibility to help us keep our part, until He finally expunges our inclination to evil (what Xianity designated as OSN, the Old Sin Nature) so that we will no longer want to sin.

By leaving off the enlarged beth, we're left with the word reishith, which means beginning or first. So, by all of these things taken together, we can deduce that Yah wants to build a house in His Son by way of a covenant in or for the sake of the beginning or first. In Schottenstein's³ (and Stone's) Chumash, on page 3, we see how Rashi derives (seen in Genesis Midrash Rabbah, on 1:4) that [the world was created] for the sake of [things that are called] the beginning. Things that are called the beginning are Yisrael, Torah, and Mashiyach. Yisrael is Yah's firstborn Son.

And thou shalt say unto Paraoh, Thus saith Yah, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. (Exodus 4:22)

Torah is wisdom.

My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that you incline your ear unto wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding. (Proverbs 2:1–2)

My son, forget not my Torah; but let your heart keep my commandments. (Proverbs 3:1)

Happy the man finds wisdom, and the man gets understanding. (Proverbs 3:13)

She [Wisdom] a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy that retains her. (Proverbs 3:18)

Wisdom created the world.

Yah by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. (Proverbs 3:19)

Mashiyach is wisdom and Yah's firstborn.

But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Mashiyach the power of Elohim, and the wisdom of Elohim. (1 Corinthians 1:24)

Who is the image of the invisible Elohim, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:15–16)

The Word of Yah created the world, the Word of Yah is Yeshua, and Yeshua is the beginning.

By the word of Yah were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth fear Yah: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was; he commanded, and it stood fast. (Psalm 33:6–9)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. The same was in the beginning with Elohim. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. (John 1:1–3, 14; see Matthew 7:2ff and Mark 9:2ff).

This has not been at all exhaustive of the scripture passages that show that Mashiyach Yeshua, Torah, and Israel can never be fully separated; they are, in reality, echad—one.

There is another way to see v.1. I said that I see it as the thesis statement of the Word and that the rest of scripture is the details. Some of the Hebrew sages see it as the material of the creation being created fully and then the rest of Genesis 1 as the ordering of that which was created in v.1, like the land having already been formed, but made dormant or hidden under the surface of the waters or the earth, to be brought forth (an expression used a few times in chapter 1) as Yah progressively revealed new things. I can see this point as having some possible validity, but not to the point of changing my approach.

V.2

Stone's (and Schottenstein's) Chumash translates the vav prefix as when; KJV has and, which is the most common meaning of the vav prefix, which is pictographically a nail connecting one thing to another—in this case the thesis of v.1 with the first detail given in v.2. Chumash's translation is When the earth was astonishingly empty (v'haAretz haithah tohu v'bohu). We can see the word tohu used in discussing the "waste (tohu—from the Hebrew root tahah תהה—to confuse, to be chaotic) howling wilderness" of Deuteronomy 32:10. Since tohu and bohu have similar meanings, it is probably acceptable to translate it this way; but usually when you see a noun used as an adjective/adverb, it has repeated itself. I think KJV has the right idea in translating these different but related roots individually as without form and void. Tohu literally means to lie waste—a desolation. Bohu literally means to be empty—a vacuity. I take this to mean that Yah started with absolute emptiness, as the Chumash says; but the point is driven home more fully by saying, in effect, there was nothing there to form. I mean, how can you form nothingness?

The deep is literally an abyss. An abyss is something bottomless, or without depth. The deep of the yet to be spoken Word of Yah was even emptier, for it didn't even have water in it. Hamayim or המימ, translated waters, is pictographically two mems connected by a yud. The Hebrew pictograph, mem, symbolizes [1] mighty, massive, or many [like the ocean]; [2] chaos [like the ocean]; and [3] to come from [like water down a stream]. מימ is a plural form of the two-letter root מה mah, which means unknown, or the chaos of not knowing what you are beholding. Think of Tim, the toolman, saying Whuh, wuh-hh?! Utter chaos. No organization. Nothing. There is no surface to nothingness. When Ruach began to move on the face [אל–פני el-p'nei] of the utter chaos, the next thing we see is the following.

V.3–5

This was where physical light was created by the first spoken Word of Elohim—ohr, אור, aleph, vav, resh. Yah Yeshua said, ּLight, and light is. יהי והר ויהי והר, Y'he ohr, va-y'he ohr. As soon as physical light came into existence, anything that blocked the source of light would create a shadow, an area where the light did not shine in its fullness. Where light is blocked, there is darkness. Darkness has no independent existence. For darkness to exist, there must first be light. Remember that nothing existed until Yah Yeshua spoke it into existence. When Yah created light on day 1, that light had no fixed source; light just was, emanating from everywhere, and there was no shadow. Since he created nothing else until the next day, Yah's separation of light from darkness was not to see fruition until a subsequent day, even though he declared the separation on day 1. If darkness had independent existence, you could add darkness to absolute darkness and achieve darker darkness. In the same way, cold has no independent existence; if it did, you could add cold to absolute zero (0 Kelvin, –459.67 F, and –273.15 C) to make the cold colder. That is the temperature at which entropy reaches its minimum value. It is the temperature at which thermal energy ceases to exist. It is, therefore, the temperature of pre-creation, for light has thermal and photo energy. Humans cannot achieve absolute zero, much less add cold to it. And what Yah did was to add energy to the nothingness that didn't exist before his addition of energy as the first creation. The energy Ruach added was of a spiritual source that affected the new, physical creation. That energy which affected the physical creation was both light and heat. We will see this as the special creation of day 4 when Yah formed the light. So Yah saw that the light was good and declared the end of day 1 (see note in Schottenstein's Chumash, page 3).

"Throughout the narrative, the term that it was good means that the creation of the item under discussion was completed.Thus, for example, the light is described as ‘good' because its existence and function were now final . The waters , however, did not receive their final form until the third day, when they were gathered into seas and oceans . Consequent ly, they were not called good until the third day [Rashi to v.7]."

The first day is now complete. Scripture uses the cardinal number אחד, echad, one day, instead of the ordinal number, ראשון, rashon, first day, to indicate that on this day God was One [because this phrase can be rendered the day of the One and Only]. On this day, God was still the only spiritual being in existence, for the angels were not created until the 2nd day [Rashi]."

An interesting note: Elohim created light on the first day, and on the fourth day he placed all the organized lights in their places in the heavens.

V.6–8

Rashi says that the waters were begun on the second day, but not completed until the third day, and that is why the second day is the only day when creation was not called good. Also, waters symbolize peoples and nations elsewhere in scripture. The waters were divided on the second day, and division symbolizes strife, which is never good. I think it is this division that makes the sages think that the angels were created on the second day. The firmament might have been a separation between the angelic hosts of Michael and Gavriel and those of Lucifer or haSatan, if the sages are correct. Interesting note: the waters were created on the second day, and the aquatic animals were created on the fifth.

V.9–13

On the third day, Yah declared boundaries for the waters beneath the firmament. I referred earlier to some of the Hebrew sages thinking that the stuff of the heavens and the earth were created complete on day 1, but were not put in their proper order until the days in which he placed them there and their purpose was complete. Only then were they declared tov—good. This is the day that the dry surfaces were created (my position) or revealed (the aforementioned sages' position). On this day, the seas were given their boundaries across which they could not come (until Yah sent the flood). By doing this, Yah made it possible for the dry to sustain vegetation and air-breathing animal life. Hayabashah is translated in KJV as "dry land." The italicized word, land, is added, as it is in Exodus, where Israel walked across the Red Sea on "dry land." As Elohim did here, he did there. When this land was created, it wasn't even damp as it arose from the waters that surrounded it, even as when He removed the water from the seabed; Israel did not walk on damp or wet sludge or silt, but their feet and shoes were as dry as Israel in July. V.12 says that when the herbs, grasses, and fruit trees sprung up from the ground, they were already mature, bearing fruit with its seeds. I infer that the grasses were already aviv and ready to drop seeds and fruits ready to eat or to plant. I think⁴ that every life-bearing thing that Yah created was mature and ready to reproduce. I also think that the sea veggies were created on this day in anticipation of the fifth day. Interesting note: Elohim created the dry on the third day and the dry's animals on the sixth day. Am I seeing a pattern here? That animal life came three days after its medium was created? In the same way, eternal life came to the physically dead body of Yeshua after it was in the grave for three days. Coincidence? Or a remez?

I don't believe in coincidences in the creation. Yah's works are well thought out and perfect.

V.14–19

On the fourth day, Elohim created the luminaries in their positions and set them in motion in orbits around their respective zero points in space (the sun being the zero point of its planetary system and the earth being the zero point of its satellite system). And I think that the luminaries were also created with at least apparent maturity; that is, the sun, moon, and stars were created in their places complete with light streaming between them and earth; as if they had been in place since however long it would take for the light to travel the distance in between—the sun just a bit more than eight minutes, the moon about 1.3 seconds, Alpha Centauri about four years, and so on. These luminaries were placed in such a way as to be signs to seasons, days, and years. The seasons are moedim—set apart appointments that Elohim set up during His ex nihilo creation for us to meet with Him on a regular basis. These were not signs to set apart weeks, but seasons, days, and years. The week is set apart by the Shabbats that run on a continuous and contiguous seven-day cycle regardless of the beginnings of months, seasons, or years. The sun and moon set apart the days and the physical seasons. The sun and the constellations of stars set apart the years. The sun is the greater great light that rules the day. The moon is the lesser great light that rules the night, and the stars are seen in the night, as well. There is never a time on the surface of the earth when there is no visible light. Even on an overcast night on the dark of the moon, the stars provide enough light, even though the overcast, to keep the dead dark at bay. Even in the middle of the ocean, where no artificial light is visible, it is not totally dark. HaSatan must absolutely hate it. I think the vegetation that was created on the third day began to photosynthesize as soon as the sun was properly placed in anticipation of the animals that would need the nutrients provided by photosynthesis on the subsequent days of creation. I think that since the angels are likened to the stars in a few places in scripture (a C. S. Lewis theme in his Space Trilogy of Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength), they were created on this day, as well.

When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of Elohim shouted for joy? (Job 38:7)

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of Elohim: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. (Isaiah 14:13)

Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. (Jude 13)

And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. (Revelation 12:4)

V.20–23

On the fifth day, Yah created the animal life in the sea and air. During the third day, Elohim commanded the earth to bring forth vegetation; and on the fifth day, He created the animal life that would sustain their lives by eating it. These aquatic and aviary creatures were also created ready to reproduce. In fact, the females might have been created ready to drop young or lay eggs, as the vegetation had been created with fruit already ripe and bearing seed. I think the phrase bring forth in v.20 is clarified in v.21 by the phrase vayib'rah Elohim, and Elohim created that which the waters brought forth and the fowls of the air. I think that they are shown here to be parallel phrases, the second elucidating the first. Elohim's blessing on the aquatic and winged creatures is fruitfulness and multiplicity. Schottenstein's Chumash has an interesting note on this subject on page 7.

ברו ורבי buru urvu, Be fruitful and multiply." Had the verse not added ורבו, and multiply, each creature would produce only one offspring—multiply implies multiple births to the blessing… In this context, the phrase is a blessing that the creatures would have the capacity to populate the earth. Later, in v. 28, with relation to Man, It was also a commandment that he engage in procreation."

V.24–31

On the sixth day, Elohim created land animals and man. The way it reads in English, the land animals sprouted out of the ground, which is kind of how C. S. Lewis portrays the Narnian creation in his book The Magician's Nephew. It makes for a good children's story, but I don't think that is really how it happened (though it is possible…; His thoughts are not our thoughts and His way are not our ways, after all). I think he made each kind of life as a special creation—dogs, cats, apes, man, and so on. It is interesting though, in Lewis's Narnian view of things, that the composition of the minerals and stuff of our bodies is roughly the same as that of the earth; our bodies are about the same percentage of water as is the surface of the earth, and our bodies are healthiest when our mineral content is closest to that of seawater. But I digress.

Elohim made all the dry animals in three stages: (1) the living beast (chai), which I think may mean the unclean animals, like dogs, cats, and other non-offering animals; 2) the cattle (behemah), like cows, sheep, and such; and (3) the creeping things (remes), like lizards, insects, and such (perhaps even the locust, which is declared clean [Leviticus 11:22]). Each kind can reproduce within its kind, but cannot outside of its kind, that is, a dog and cat cannot produce a cog or a dat, but a lion and a tiger can produce a liger or a tigon, and a mare and a jack can produce a mule. Usually, the hybrid is infertile. This is a genetic defense mechanism that Yah built into the system and which I think haSatan taught men to manipulate with the Nephilim, which we will look at in a bit more depth in chapter 6. Men are now manipulating the genetic structure of various organisms in much the same way in these last days, as I infer Yeshua said we would:

And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. (Luke 17:26)

After he'd made all the dry animals, he created man. There were three uses of the word created to this point, v.1, v.21, and here v.27, where the term is used three times, as well. In v.26, Elohim had said, Let us make man in our image. Some of the sages say that He took counsel with the heavenly Sanhedrin of His servant angels. If this is true, He told them He was going to make man as a spiritual being in a flesh and blood body with intellect and understanding and that this being would be of higher authority than even the Sanhedrin with whom He was counseling. The note in Schottenstein's Chumash to v.26 (page 8) brings forth this idea.

This preamble indicates that Man was created with great deliberation and Wisdom. God did not say, Let the earth bring forth, as He did with the other creatures: instead, Man was brought into being with the deepest involvement of Divine Providence and Wisdom [Abarbanel].

When Moses wrote Torah and came to this verse (let us make), which is in the plural and implies that there is more than one Creator, he said, Sovereign of the Universe! Why do you thus furnish a pretext for heretics to maintain that there is a plurality of divinities? WRITE!, God replied. Whoever wishes to err will err… Instead, let them learn from their Creator Who created all, yet, when he came to man he took counsel with the ministering angels [Midrash]."

This is the tradition that Yah called "the Heavenly Sanhedrin together to tell them His plan to create man in His image and to place man over ALL His creation—including this very body of His counselors." I think that this revelation of Elohim to His counselors may be what inspired Lucifer to rebel and lead away his host of malachim, haSatan's angels, as it were.

Where in v.26 Elohim said, Let us make, in v.27 Elohim created man, created him in His image and created them as male and female. He created both male and female on day 6. What follows the setting apart of the Shabbat for men in chapter 2 is not a different creation than what is recounted in chapter 1, but a more in-depth look at the creation of man on the sixth day. Again, the Chumash's comments are good on v.27 (page 8).

"Among all living creatures, Man alone is endowed—like his Creator—with morality, reason and free will. He can know and love God and can hold spiritual communion with Him; and Man alone can guide his actions through reason. It is in this sense that Torah describes Man has been created in God's image and likeness. (Rambam)

Although all living creatures were created male and female, this fact is specified only in human beings, to stress that both sexes were created by God in His likeness (R' Hirsch)."

V.28 is Elohim's blessing on man. It is basically the same as His blessing on animal life, but with the addition of his authority and responsibility over the entire creation of Elohim. This is a positive commandment to procreate and fill the earth with little humans. When we refuse to multiply, we are in violation and bring punishment against ourselves. The wickedness of man's heart has fully abandoned the blessing of Elohim to multiply, to subdue the creation and rule over it. We are instead attempting to let the earth subdue us through abrogating the commands to subdue and rule the earth and ceding those responsibilities back to the creation.

Most folk see v.29–30 as a unit, showing that indeed the diet all the creatures of the earth were given was herbivorous or/and frugivorous. No flesh was permitted to eat flesh until after Noach's flood, and even then, it was only the clean animals that man was permitted to eat. It is likely, in my opinion, that the Nephilim ate flesh—even human flesh—and that some humans might have started to eat flesh, as well, and that this was the straw that broke the camel's back, bringing the destruction of the world that then was.

Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. (2 Peter 3:6)

V.31 has a bit different declaration from five of the first six days of creation. In four of those five days [day 2 was where the separation of the firmament came, perhaps foreshadowing the separation of man from Yah Elohenu], the work of them was declared tov, good, because the individual creations were complete. But when Elohim saw the sum total of his six days' work, He declared it tov me'od, very good, because all things worked together to make something that was even better than the sum total; Elohim had created it and it all worked synergistically; they came together to make something even better and greater than the sum of the parts. Yah had taken all the good things He had created and made shalom among and between them.

B'reishith 2

2:1–3

The Shabbat was inaugurated on yom hash'viyiy the seventh day, when Elohim declared complete and abstained from His work of creating ex nihilo, out of nothing. He, of course, could not fully abstain from sustaining His creation by the same creative word He had been using, but from that time He has not created any new thing. It is now up to man to create, after a fashion, as Elohim created. We are able to devise new things that to our knowledge never existed before—to make them from the elements He gave us.

B'reishith 2:4–3:23

In light of v.4, I really don't see why anyone would think that chapter 2 is describing anything more than just more details of the six days of creation, mainly since v.4 ends with in the day that Yah Elohim created the heaven and the earth. Day there speaks of the time when Yah Elohim created, which, as we saw in chapter 1, was a six-calendar day period. The phrase when they were created is translated from the Hebrew word b'hiyvar'am. The letter ה is an irregular letter, which as we learned in chapter 1 is placed in the text to call attention to the word for a deeper meaning than the pashat [normal, concrete meaning]. Schottenstein's Chumash has good notes on this verse on pages 10–11.

The letters of this word can be arranged to spell באברהמ, meaning that God created the world for the sake of Avraham or (IN Avraham [the beth prefix often meaning in]; MP) [Midrash], because he was the epitome of kindness, one of the pillars of the world [Zohar].⁵

Hashem Elohim יהוה אלהים, This is the first mention in the Torah of the Hebrew Four Letter Name, י-ה-ו-ה, which denoted God in His attribute of Mercy. At first, God created the world exclusively with His Attribute of Justice, because the ideal state for man is to be judged according to his deeds, without a need for special mercy, but God knew that man could not survive without mercy and forbearance. Therefore, He added the Name signifying mercy, to teach that He would temper justice with compassion [Rashi 1.1]. The Name י–ה–ו–ה also signifies the eternity of God, because it's letters are also those of היה–הוה–ויהיה, He was, He is, and will be. In the words of Rambam's fourth principle of faith, God is the very first [א] and the very last [ת]. Everything in the created universe must have a moment when it came into existence, but God is