Hi Paul, I might be misremembering, but I am pretty sure I recall you saying somewhere that the Hebrew word "bara" בְּרָא־ (2nd word in Genesis) means 'divided' rather than 'created'.
This makes a lot of sense to me in the context, as Genesis 1:1 seems to be discussing the dividing of two races, the Elohim and Shemim.
Q1. Can you remind me in which of your books that is discussed? (or if you can supply any further references)
Q2. I have come across another Hebrew word which ostensibly means 'separated'. The word is "hibdil" הִבְדִּ֤יל
I'm wondering if you had a chance to compare the two words?

Hi Ken,

That piqued my interest, so I looked into it.

Mauro Biglino recommends the Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon, which says that bara is a verb that means 'shape, create'. It suggests it could be an Arabic loan word meaning 'form, fashion by cutting, shape out, pare a reed for writing, a stick for an arrow'. SOURCE: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h1254/nkjv/wlc/0-1/

At the same URL, the Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon says bara means 'to cut, to carve out, to form by cutting'.

Where is the word hibdil used?

Regards,
Adam