All Their Cosmos
The ancient rabbis at Alexandria, our earliest translators of Holy Scripture, found their first literary challenge at the first verse of Genesis 2. Their task, let us recall, was to take the inherited Hebrew text and make it intelligible in the Greek language, which was, in fact, their own mother tongue. These men, as well as their readers, normally thought in Greek, using concepts, impressions, and a distinct vocabulary from Greek philosophy, literature, and culture.
So what was to be done at the beginning of Genesis 2? The Hebrew text just sat there, as it were, rather obscure, and begging for interpretive attention: “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all their host were finished.” All their what? Something just had to be done with “all their host” (kol-seba’am).
So the rabbis changed it to “all their cosmos” (pas ho kosmos avtón), and that made sense right away. “Cosmos” is a uniquely Greek concept. In fact, as far as I know, kosmos has no adequate equivalent in any other language; even the modern Hebrew word for it is qosmos.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Patrick Henry Reardon is pastor emeritus of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, and the author of numerous books, including, most recently, Out of Step with God: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Numbers (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2019).
subscription options
Order
Print/Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Order
Online Only
Subscription
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
24.3—May/June 2011
The Making & Endurance of the King James Bible, 1611-2011 by Barton Swaim
28.5—Sept/Oct 2015
Remembering Angka & the Idolatry of the Khmer Rouge 40 Years Later by Les Sillars
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
