21st Century Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 1:18-19, that "ki-" thingie

Genesis 1:18-19

יח וְלִמְשֹׁל בַּיּוֹם וּבַלַּיְלָה וּלְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחשֶׁךְ וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי־טוֹב:

יט וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר יוֹם רְבִיעִי:

Yes, you either know all the words here or you can probably figure out what they mean.  The only exception is possibly the last word, which means “fourth”.

I’ve done a lot of thinking since the start of this page in the blog and the word כִּי־ with the hyphen seems to be different from the כִּי without the hyphen. It’s not “which was X” as a description. The phrase כִּי־טוּב also shows up in a context which shows that it’s a noun not an adjective.

So I hate to use external linguistics for a clue, especially when it’s part of Greek philosophy, but I suggest that ki with a hyphen is a quasi-noun in every case. When Torah says ki-tov, Gd is manifesting the goodness of the nature of whatever was just created.

In Greek philosophy this was called the essence of something. The alternative was its accidence.

The point is that light being good is not just a matter of the situation. Light is good even if you have a hangover because it grows the food you will eat when you get over it.  The dry land is good even if you are dying of thirst, because there is water flowing over and under the ground, you only need to find it to survive. The heavenly bodies are good even though they will some day be the object of idol worship, because they also identify the seasons of the year when festivals are due, especially the oldest festival, which is coming up.

Now remember that ki-tov is never used of the raqia. Because it is not perceptible and does not contribute to the certainty of the creation story, it is not good in essence. The good it does – separating the waters – will be forgotten as soon as it ceases. Which is kind of a spoiler alert.

There, have I put myself far enough out on a limb? Anybody waiting behind me with a saw?

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