Light and Darkness

So Lord, I'm picking up my study from where I left off yesterday, which was basically just the first verse of Genesis. I've already explored how You are pure creation and creativity, the genesis of all inspiration. Also, I've looked at the question of what was happening before creation of the earth, and found one rabbi who would say I'm not to speculate on that.

My second thought upon diving into Genesis 1 is about light. Genesis 1, verses 3-4 read:

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.

So, the question is, You saw that the light was good, but what about the dark? Are we to assume that the dark is good because in verse 2 darkness was over the surface of the deep. Maybe a better question, is darkness natural and light simply better? Why does the author of this opening creation poem take the time to say that You saw the light was good, but not to say that the darkness was good as well.

It becomes even more interesting as we look at the images of light throughout the rest of Scripture. Darkness is portrayed as lack of knowledge, evil...while light is certainly a continued metaphor for goodness. Light of the world, the pillar of fire bringing light to the Israelites, that You will dwell with us and be the light, etc. So is darkness evil?

Maybe an even better question is where did darkness come from? Because at the beginning of the story, darkness is already there. What the text in Genesis 1 indicates is that God spoke light into creation, and then separated light and dark. There is no indication that You created the darkness. So was that just something previous to the story that we don't need to speculate about? A creation that came from You, just earlier than this account? Or might there be another creative force in the world creating darkness?

Some rabbis I found discussing this on the net note that darkness is simply the absence of light. It is not created but caused. When there is no light, there is darkness. It's an effect not something that is made ("What Creation and Darkness Have in Common," Believing is Knowing)

What is interesting there is the discussion of language. In Isaiah 45:7, we have this on the creation of light and darkness (You are the speaker):

I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.

The Hebrew word for create in this passage is bara'. This, very interestingly, is the same word used in the creation narrative: In the beginning, God bara' the heavens and the earth. Now this is suddenly disturbing to me Lord. You created darkness, okay I can deal with that. But on the flip side of this passage is that You create disaster, or evil as other translations have it.

The rabbis that I found discussing this language, this usage of bara' say that bara' is used when something comes from nothing. You bara' the heavens and the earth because they were pure creation, they didn't come from anywhere. You bara' darkness and disaster because they suddenly appear when there is nothingness, in other words when there is a lack of light or a lack of goodness.

I don't know. I am certainly intrigued by the lack of light makes darkness, the lack of goodness creates disaster argument. Mainly it is interesting because it puts the emphasis back upon being a light and being a blessing in order to prevent darkness and disaster. But even if this is the case, then light and goodness should have been first, and then when they were gone we would discover darkness and disaster. The nothingness shouldn't come first, should it? And we know that darkness was first over the deep in Scripture.

Well, this has been an interesting study for now. Maybe this is why I'm not supposed to speculate about things before the story starts, it's too hard. I know this must have been a confusing read for anyone trying to. Sorry, that's how my thoughts have gone today. Back to the text tomorrow!