The Original Binary

As a part of my independent reading, I turned to the Old Testament’s first story, known as the “Creation Story” in the Book of Genesis. The very first line of the Bible begins with a binary: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Heaven and Earth are in a dance with each other, as are light and darkness. In terms of this essay, I will focus on the binary of light and dark introduced in the following few lines; yet, I believe light is synonymous with Heaven and darkness is synonymous with Earth. The interplay of these two binaries is evidence of how complicated a binary allows us as readers to “discover evidence that unsettles it and formulate alternatively worded binaries that more accurately describe what is at issue in the evidence” (Writing Analytically, 60). I will not dive into the nature of the relationship of the two binaries in this essay; however, binaries as a literary mechanism is at play in establishing the framework for the book of Genesis, and arguably- the entirety of the Bible.

“The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters./ Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness,” (Genesis 1:2-5).

The narrative introduces darkness as being primary. Earth is “formless and empty” until God introduces light, revealing the structure of nature. A few lines later, the speaker says that the orchestrator saw the light as good, separating light from the darkness. In these lines, the introduction of the binary of good and evil takes place. The text does not explicitly state darkness as being evil. However, its separation from something good implies that it is, if not anything else, not that which is good. The OED defines darkness as “a condition or environment which conceals from sight, observation, or knowledge; obscurity; concealment, secrecy,” and the darkness has several associations with death throughout other books of the Old Testament (OED). 

Once there is light, it follows that God perceived the light to be “good” (Genesis 1:4). Initially, I read this as the light itself is good; however, another interpretation can be proper. I assert that that which is brought to light as the lights come on is good. For God see’s what the light presents. The OED defines light as “that natural agent or influence which evokes the functional activity of the organ of sight” (OED). Light enables the revelation of what one visual cortex can see. Light and whatever it reveals are dependent on each other. Thus, the light is good in itself, and that which it illuminates is also good. 

The story of Genesis is instrumental in establishing many general motifs that are ubiquitous in both the Old and New Testaments. Binaries such as good and evil; light and darkness; life and death; Heaven and Earth; are all present in the first six lines of the story. Therefore, it is essential to identify these binaries and establish their origin. Within these six lines, a more general and potentially obvious binary of light and darkness led me to discover Heaven and Earth acting as a binary. Equipping myself with the presupposition that Heaven and Earth could be working in direct opposition to one another will allow me to reinterpret many important stories in the Bible and potentially reveal insight that I could not see prior.