Thursday, July 28, 2011

Good טוב-tov

“G-d saw all that he had made, and it was very good”. –Genesis 1:31

In the opening verses of Genesis, G-d begins the monumental task of creation. Starting with the heavens and the earth, He creates the sun, moon and stars as well as all existing vegetation and living creatures. In the end, as the apex of His creation, He creates man. Upon completion, he looks over everything that He has made and pronounces it "good".

The Hebrew word for good is “tov” and in its pure literal sense it means functional, something that works the way it is supposed to. Hence, during from when G-d had completed the works of His creation up until the time sin entered this world, the earth and everything in it was working perfectly! There was no death or destructive natural catastrophes. The lion lay down to sleep with the lamb. Everything was in perfect harmony. G-d’s apex of creation, Adam was placed in a perfect environment.

However, he was given one important admonition.

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of tov (good) and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”-Genesis 2:16-17

As you can see, the word “tov” is also used in this verse in contrast with the word evil. As is famously known, in spite of G-d’s warning, Adam and Eve were duped by the crafty serpent and ended up eating the fruit of the forbidden tree resulting in sin entering into the world and the chaotic mess we find ourselves in today.

Nevertheless, an important point that can be drawn from the Scriptures is that the work of G-D’s creation was good, very good. The Apostle Paul states that those who do not yet know G-d can recognize his glory and power by simply beholding the things he has made in all of their wonderful complexity. It is no accident, that some of history’s greatest scientists including Einstein were fervent theists.

The word “tov” is used frequently in the Bible. For example, when Eve gazed upon the fruit of the forbidden tree, she saw that it was “tov” to eat or when Moses was born; his mother saw how “tov” he was. However, in terms of daily conversation, it is also used in many common Hebrew expressions such as “Boker Tov (good morning)” or “Mazel Tov (Good luck)”.

Let us daily thank G-d for all of the tov things he has brought into our life.

Amen.

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