Genesis 1:24
And elohim is saying, the Earth is causing to go out a breath of a living-one to-from-herself, a behemah,41 and a crawling-one and his living-one42 of the earth to-from-herself, and he is becoming an upright.
| 42 | His [feminine] life of the Earth. Strong’s #2416, חַֽיְתוֹ chayat-ow. The suffix וֹ makes this feminine noun a possessive one—his life. Gesenius reasoned that this was some special “termination” used to emphasize but states, “its exact explanation is difficult…It is also remarkable that so archaic a form should have been preserved only in two words and those in quite late passages” (See Gesenius Real and Supposed remains of Early Case Endings). The same exact word construct, חַֽיְתוֹ, is translated as his life in Job 33:20 and Ezekiel 7:13. This word chayat is the feminine singular for life. It is the counterpart to the masculine chay which also means life. It is like the Hebrew construct of other masculine-feminine pairings (Man/Woman - Ish-Eshet, Uniter/United - achad-achat, Owner/Owned - Baal-Beulat, Fish - Dag-Dagat, Ruiner/Ruined-one - Ra-Ra’at, Builder(Builder)/Built(Built-one) – ben/bat, etc.) which seem to signify a sense of ownership or headship or cause/effect. See note on Genesis 20:3. This is the Hebrew word for life and is apparently answered by the Greek word zoe in the New Testament. It is translated as “beast” because of certain contexts but this is incorrect. For example, the prophet Isaiah spoke the same word construct chayat-ow, “And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor his Life sufficient for a burnt-offering.” Most translate “life” as plural beasts because animals were offered as part of the burnt-offering sacrifices but translators failed to see the prophetic nature of the verse and so changed it. The same error occurs everywhere you read “beast of the field” or “beast of the earth” which should read “Life of the field” or “Life of the earth.” “For to me is the whole of his life of a forest, Behemoth in mountains of a thousand [aleph].” (Psalm 50:10 RBT) |