Tehom

Short description: Primordial waters of creation in the Bible

Illustration by Wenceslas Hollar: the spirit of God (with Tetragrammaton) moves over the face of the deep.

Tehom (Hebrew: תְּהוֹם‎ təhôm) is a Northwest Semitic and Biblical Hebrew word meaning "the deep” or “abyss” (literally “the deeps”).^[1] It is used to describe the primeval ocean and the post-creation waters of the earth. Tiamat, a Mesopotamian primordial goddess of the sea, may be cognate with tehom in the Book of Genesis 1:2.^[2] According to a theological dictionary, it derives from a Semitic root which denoted the sea as an unpersonified entity with mythological import.^[3]

Genesis

Tehom is mentioned in Genesis 1:2, where it is translated as "deep":

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
—King James Version

The same word is used for the origin of Noah's flood in Genesis 7:11:

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

Gnosticism

Gnostics used Genesis 1 to propose that the original creator deity, called the Pléroma "Totality" or Bythós "Deep" preexisted Elohim and gave rise to such later divinities and spirits by way of emanations, progressively more distant and removed from the original form.

In Mandaean cosmology, the Sea of Suf is a primordial sea in the World of Darkness.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Kabbalah

Tehom is also mentioned as the first of seven "Infernal Habitations" that correspond to the ten qlippoth (literally "peels") of Jewish Kabbalistic tradition, often in place of Sheol.

Sanchuniathon

Robert R. Stieglitz stated that Eblaitic texts demonstrate the equation of the goddess Berouth in the mythology of Sanchuniathon with Ugaritic thmt and Akkadian Tiâmat, as the sea was called tihamatum, and also buʾrâtum = Canaanite beʾerôt ("fountains").^[7]

References

↑ Yahuda, A. (1933). The Language of the Pentateuch in its Relation to Egyptian. Oxford.
↑ Yahuda, A. (1933). The Language of the Pentateuch in its Relation to Egyptian. Oxford.
↑ Ringgren 1990, pp. 91–92
↑ Aldihisi, Sabah (2008). The story of creation in the Mandaean holy book in the Ginza Rba (PhD). University College London.
↑ Al-Saadi, Qais Mughashghash; Al-Saadi, Hamed Mughashghash (2012). Ginza Rabba: The Great Treasure. An equivalent translation of the Mandaean Holy Book. Drabsha. https://www.amazon.de/Ginza-Rabba-English-Translation-Drabsha/dp/B00A3GO458.
↑ Gelbert, Carlos (2011). Ginza Rba. Sydney: Living Water Books. ISBN 9780958034630. https://livingwaterbooks.com.au/product/ginza-rba/.
↑ Stieglitz, Robert R. (1990). "Ebla and the Gods of Canaan". Eblaitica: essays on the Ebla archives and Eblaite language. Eisenbrauns. pp. 79–90 (p.88). ISBN 978-0-931464-49-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=_MVtAAAAMAAJ&q=Berouth.

Sources

Ringgren, Helmer (1990). "Yam". in Botterweck, G. Johannes; Ringgren, Helmer. Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802823304. https://books.google.com/books?id=MCOd-uAEQy0C&q=cosmic+ocean&pg=PA92.

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[1] Yahuda, A. (1933). The Language of the Pentateuch in its Relation to Egyptian. Oxford.

[2] Yahuda, A. (1933). The Language of the Pentateuch in its Relation to Egyptian. Oxford.

[3] Ringgren 1990, pp. 91–92

[Aldihisi_2008-4] Aldihisi, Sabah (2008). The story of creation in the Mandaean holy book in the Ginza Rba (PhD). University College London.

[GR_Saadi-5] Al-Saadi, Qais Mughashghash; Al-Saadi, Hamed Mughashghash (2012). Ginza Rabba: The Great Treasure. An equivalent translation of the Mandaean Holy Book. Drabsha. https://www.amazon.de/Ginza-Rabba-English-Translation-Drabsha/dp/B00A3GO458.

[GR_Gelbert-6] Gelbert, Carlos (2011). Ginza Rba. Sydney: Living Water Books. ISBN 9780958034630. https://livingwaterbooks.com.au/product/ginza-rba/.

[GordonRendsburg1990-7] Stieglitz, Robert R. (1990). "Ebla and the Gods of Canaan". Eblaitica: essays on the Ebla archives and Eblaite language. Eisenbrauns. pp. 79–90 (p.88). ISBN 978-0-931464-49-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=_MVtAAAAMAAJ&q=Berouth.

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