What Does "God Made" Mean? Genesis 1:7-8 Hebrew Breakdown

Continuing our verse-by-verse journey through Genesis 1! Today we're exploring verses 7-8, where God actually makes the רקיע (rakia) and completes day two of creation. These verses introduce a crucial Hebrew verb that's different from what we saw in verse 1.

What we cover in this episode:
• The verb עשה (asah) "to make" - used over 2,600 times in the Bible
• How עשה (asah) differs from ברא (bara) "to create"
• Why God "created" in verse 1 but "made" in verse 7
• The fulfillment of the command: waters below and waters above
• New prepositions: תחת (tachat) "under" and על (al) "above"
• Why God calls the rakia שמים (shamayim) "heaven/sky"
• The completion formula: evening and morning, day two
• Why day two uses שני (sheni) "second" instead of אחד (echad) "one"
• The mysterious absence of "it was good" on day two

Key Hebrew words explored:
✓ עשה (asah) vs. ברא (bara) - making vs. creating
✓ תחת (tachat) - under, beneath
✓ על (al) - above, upon, over
✓ אשר (asher) - which, that (relative pronoun)
✓ כן (chen) - so, thus (fulfillment marker)
✓ שמים (shamayim) - heaven, sky
✓ שני (sheni) - second (ordinal number)

This is pure biblical Hebrew linguistics - no theology, just exploring what the ancient words mean and how they work. We look at how these verbs and prepositions are used throughout the Hebrew Bible and how they function in modern Hebrew today.

Day two of creation is complete - the rakia exists, dividing the cosmos into upper and lower realms. The structure of the universe is taking shape!

Part of our complete verse-by-verse Hebrew study of Genesis 1. Check the playlist for previous episodes!