paniym

[Anne]

I'm now onto the second verse of Genesis, and have come upon a word which I am having difficulty understanding, and wondered if some of our Hebrew scholars could help me out!

the word "face," when I look it up in my concordance, is described as an unused noun. It is connected with the word "paneh," which is described "as the face that turns."

I'm a bit stuck with this one.

Your Sister in Jesus Christ

Anne

[other one]

Anne, this is what my study Bible says about the word from three differene lexicons....

OT:6440

panim OT:6440, "face." This noun appears in biblical Hebrew about 2,100 times and in all periods, except when it occurs with the names of persons and places, it always appears in the plural. It is also attested in Ugaritic, Akkadian, Phoenician, Moabite, and Ethiopic.

In its most basic meaning, this noun refers to the "face" of something. First, it refers to the "face" of a human being: "And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him..." Gen 17:3. In a more specific application, the word represents the look on one's face, or one's "countenance": "And Cain was very [angry], and his countenance fell" Gen 4:5. To pay something to someone's "face" is to pay it to him personally Deut 7:10; in such contexts, the word connotes the person himself. Panim can also be used of the surface or visible side of a thing, as in Gen 1:2: "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." In other contexts, the word represents the "front side" of something: "And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tabernacle" Ex 26:9. When applied to time, the word (preceded by the preposition le) means "formerly": "The Horim also dwelt in Seir [formerly]... Deut. 2:12>.

This noun is sometimes used anthropomorphically of God; the Bible speaks of God as though He had a "face": "...for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God" Gen 33:10. The Bible clearly teaches that God is a spiritual being and ought not to be depicted by an image or any likeness whatever Ex 20:4. Therefore, there was no image or likeness of God in the innermost sanctuary

[Anne]

Thank you

I'll print that.

[Anne]

I must be completely dense, because i cannot figure how this word, or best i can understand this "situation" can come down to one word. Paniym "the face that turns", it's a whole book, not one word. Do you know I just cannot figure how this word, maybe it is because i am english but I really am finding it difficult to understand Paniym.

I have read the same translations as others who have understood the Hebrew concordenance, but my mind is not satisfied with the explannations given thus far.

So still I ask what does my OP mean?

[Guest shiloh357]

It seems you are trying to make more than what is there, and are focusing on the wrong word. Paniym as it is used here, simply means surface. Verse 2 tells us that the earth was formless and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. From Hebrew, it is telling us that earth was empty and chaotic. The word for darkness is choshek which means "a twisting away." It is used for "perverse." Darkness is a perversion of light. Hate is a perversion of love. We see in this verse, the three fold state of man without God. This is how the sinner looks to God. He is empty and devoid of true purpose, is life is out of order, and enveloped in perverseness. In verse three, notice that God deals with the darkness first. The story of creation is a picture of the New Testment believer as New Creations in Messiah.