Bara and Yatsar

This is one of the coolest concepts I have ever read. In Beth Moore's Believing God bible study Beth gives us a glimpse into how we were made.

"Two different Hebrew words are used in the Genesis account for the means by which God caused things to exist: bara and yatsar. The Hebrew word bara represents an act only God can accomplish. It is the solely divine act by which God creates something from nothing. The Hebrew word yatsar, often translated formed, can represent a thing formed from previously existing materials. Interestingly, both bara and yatsar are used in reference to the process by which God brought forth man." (Moore, Beth, Believing God, Week 2, Day 4, pg. 42)

So with this in mind let's take a look at the two places she is referring to:

1. Genesis 1:27 AMP- "So God created (bara) man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created (bara) him; male and female He created (bara) them." (emphasis mine)
2. Genesis 2:7 AMP- "Then the Lord formed (yatsar) man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being. (emphasis mine)

There are a couple of things that excite me about this.

1. There is more than just our outward appearance (our bodies) that make us male or female ("male and female He created (bara) them"). In the image of God He created male and female--out of...in the Strong's Concordance the word has several descriptive definitions, but one of them is "of birth, of something new, of miracles." It is miraculous- and only something God can do!
2. God is eternal. To be created (bara) in His image would mean that this created piece is eternal. The formed (yatsar) piece fades away. "Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is (progressively) decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being (progressively) renewed day after day. For our light, momentary afflictions (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory (beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!) Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

I believe that this is saying that the yatsar is what is fading, but what was bara is being renewed day after day. What do you think?

The word of God is so amazing to me. While there is simplicity in so many things, I find day by day that our God is incredibly intricate. When I think "Oh yea, I've got a handle on You and Your heart now..." then He blows me away with something brilliantly deep and complex and beautiful about His nature- His heart.

Seriously, what do you think?