"In the Beginning God(s!) CREATED..." (Genesis 1:1)
The Hebrew word BARA for "created" appears to be a cognate of Polynesian VALA (VĀ ALA) "a space between (was) established". IT IS the Maui Skylifter story and the raising of LAGI high above PĀPĀ, figuratively, the exaltation of the Lagi / Sky Watchers (possibly astronomers / astrologers / navigators) above a high priesthood of a religious order or sacred, foundational chiefly pedigrees. PĀPĀ are sacred and the highest chiefly titles claiming divine descent from the Sā Tagaloa. This is caste division at the elite level--high chiefs and servant chiefs, a theme of Mesopotamian mythology about primeval times as well as the relationship between Ali'i and their talking chiefs. This is also the relationship between Mosheh and his brother 'Aharon. The act of creating space is a creative act of organization and the establishment of some form of order in a disorderly system. Disorder is the state of the world in the opening scene of Genesis--tohu wa bohu (תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָ בֹ֔הוּ) / obscurity and void and it is from this that the 'Elohim (plural) divided up the world:
1. The Hebrew word BARA or VARA (בָּרָ֣א) for "create" according to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance means:
choose, create creator, CUT down, dispatch, do, make fat; A primitive root; (absolutely) to create; (qualified) to CUT down (a wood), select, feed (as formative processes) -- choose, create (creator), CUT down, dispatch, do, make (fat).
2. Brown-Driver-Briggs defines BARA or VARA (בָּרָ֣א) as follows:
verb
shape, create
compare:
Arabic
BADA (بَدَأ)
probably loan-word, form, fashion by CUTTING, shape out, pare a reed for writing, a stick for an arrow, but also , create; to appear; to become evident.
Phoenician:
HA-BARA / HA-VARA (הברא)
CISi. 347 INCISOR, a trade involving CUTTING;
Akkadian / Assyrian:
BARÛ (𒄬𒄩)
make, create, COT Gloss & Hpt KAT2 Gloss 1 but dubious;
Sabean:
BARA / VARA (ברא)
found, build, DHMZMG 1883, 413, synonym BANEH / VANEH (בנה);
BaZA. 1888, 58, compare
Akkadian / Assyrian:
BANÛ
create, beget, with change of liquid;
Aramaic:
BARA / VARA (בְּרָא)
create
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So...
The Assyrian / Akkadian BARÛ (𒄬𒄩) is useful in this understanding of BARA as a word related to division and cutting up the regions of the world as it is written using HAL (𒄬) meaning "to divide, deal out, distribute; to perform an EXTISPICY; to open; a secret; to pour away; to sieve; to slink, crawl away; a qualification of grain". The other cuneiform is ḪA (𒄩) meaning "fish". "Creation" then is metaphorically an act of "carving up a fish". This is absolutely the sense revealed by linking BARÛ and BARA back to exstispicy.
The image above is a model sheep's liver from the late 2nd century BCE found near Piacenza with Etruscan inscriptions on the bronze sheep's Liver of Piacenza. Priests trained with these kinds of objects to learn the craft of reading omens. By comparing a real liver with such models as a reference, priests could make consistent predictions. Whether or not the predictions consistently came true is another matter altogether.
WHAT IS EXTISPICY?
ex·tis·pi·cy (ĕks-tĭs'pĭ-sē) noun. Divination by means of inspecting the entrails of sacrificed animals.
Before our modern, astringent, reason-based, materials-based sciences were born, magic was science and extispicy was a skill sought by ancient rulers to help predict the future and organize their domains accordingly. A sovereign generally kept in his employ a cadre of priests, astrologers, exstispicers, oneiromancers, dream interpreters, and prophets of all kinds.
This form of divination in particular involved carving up a sacrificial animal and inspecting its parts for portents or messages from the gods. Blemishes, tumors, stains, tears, warts, and anomalies of all kinds communicated to the attending priest the will of the gods.
Now, I implore your patience in following my train of thought and hope you will allow me to dissect your childhood religion and cultural identity.
Here we go now:
VALA / WARA / VALAVALA / WARAWARA / VAVALA / WAWARA
Sāmoan:
VALA (from reduplicated VALAVALA)
probably "divide; separate; separated; to be separated"
VALAVALA
"wide apart; to be wide apart"
VALA is potentially a corruption of VĀ "space between" and ALA "a cause; to cause":
From--
VĀ
subject.
1. a space between. 'O lo lā vā.
2. A noise. Pe se soa le va i le faga.
VĀ
verb.
1. to rival.
2. To have a space between.
ALA
subject.
1. a path, way, road, passage.
2. The warp.
3. A CAUSE OR REASON.
4. A DIVISION of a village. All with o. 'O lona ala .
ALA
verb.
to make use of, as a path. Va ala i tua o tagata. Make space behind people.
ALA
verb.
to spring from, to GIVE RISE to, to ARISE; from ala, a road. 'O le à le mea ua ala ai le taua? What is the thing that GAVE RISE to the war?
ALA
verb.
1. to awake; plural ĀLA; reduplicated ALĀLA.
2. To angle in the morning. 'Ou te fa'anau ala i Piu.
ALA
verb.
to scratch; plural FEALA, to scratch with both hands.
ALĀ
subject.
a stone worn smooth by the action of water. 'O ală o le alia.
Genesis is telling us that the 'Elohim, the Mighty Ones, created space between... something. On a subtle, figurative level they "divided a fish" in order to make a future for mankind.
We are not dealing with divinity in Genesis. We have a maritime power, possibly survivors of a great watery cataclysm, re-establishing the divisions of a world in a state of ruin, one wherein the human race had been massively depopulated. These early ancestors in time would be forgotten and exalted through dim memory to the level of cosmic entities.
Indeed, the carving up of a great fish has a precedent in Mesopotamian mythology in the story of the god of waters Enki slaying his ancestor Nammu, a saltwater monstrosity. This story is retold in the Babylonian Marduk cosmogony. The victor splits the vanquished dragon (Tiamat or Tammtu) or fish and half the carcass is hurled aloft to become the vault of the heavens. Meanwhile the other half becomes the land and sea.
This division of fish is not without precedent and may exist in a rudimentary form in the ancient national dish of Iraq known as masgouf (Arabic: المسكوف), carp, roasted on a grill and cooked either rotisserie or suspended on spits near an open flame. Ancient mythology hidden in contemporary material culture.
Incidentally, NAMU is also in Samoan and means "mosquito". As NĀMU it means "odorous". Both are qualities of brackish waters, which is the description preserved for us applied to Nammu / Tiamat - saltwater joining with sweetwater, the Abyss / Absu. Mother and father waters.
As the Hawaiian Kumulipo recounts in the primordial generations of the 3rd Wā / Line 329:
Hānau kāne iā wai ʻololī, ʻo ka wahine iā wai ʻololā Man born for the narrow stream, woman for the broad stream
Furthermore, the motif of a "sacrificial fish" is a central idea in the term "MATA-I'A" or "first fish". I'A / IKA are "fish" in the literal sense, but figuratively among the seafaring, warlike ancestors of the Moāna, an I'A was the most prominent chief of the family. Also, legends relate that the children of Tangaroa / Tagaloa were all fish--the Ali'i chiefly lines.
The world was divided fish...
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