the foremost of something: what stands at its head, whether first in time, first in rank, or the first and finest portion.
This noun grows out of the word for "head," and it keeps the head's range of meaning. Whatever sits at the head of something is its foremost part: the head of a stretch of time is its beginning, the head of a rank is its chief or best, and the head of a harvest is the first and finest of it. So the same word can open the Bible ("in the beginning"), name the choice cut of an offering, and crown someone as the pick of his people.
The key thing to see is that these are not three unrelated words. They are one idea seen from different angles, and they often blur together on purpose. When Israel is called the first of God's harvest, the word means both earliest and most prized at once. When a tribe takes the first portion of the land, it takes the best portion. Pulling the senses apart can do violence to verses that mean to hold them together.
Because of this width, the word carries unusual weight. It begins the creation account, it names the share owed to God off the top of every crop, and in the wisdom poems it titles wisdom herself as the foremost of God's works. Translators have to choose one English word at a time (beginning, firstfruits, best, chief), but the Hebrew is doing all of it with a single term.
Nuances
Whether the opening word stands alone ("In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth") or leads into the next clause ("When God began to create the heavens and the earth...").
- contestedIt stands alone as a complete sentence and an absolute statement, supported by the ancient translations and the traditional reading.; Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1-15, Word Biblical Commentary 1 (1987); Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17, NICOT (1990); Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Part I (1961)
- contestedIt is a dependent clause leading into the next verse ("When God began to create..."), now widely judged the stronger reading on grammatical grounds.; Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis, JPS Torah Commentary (1989); E. A. Speiser, Genesis, Anchor Bible 1 (1964); Robert D. Holmstedt, "The Restrictive Syntax of Genesis i 1," Vetus Testamentum 58 (2008)
Whether wisdom as the foremost of God's way means first in time, chief in rank, or both at once.
- contestedTemporal: the first thing God brought forth, supported by the cluster of time words in the surrounding verses and the echo of the creation account.; Michael V. Fox, Proverbs 1-9, Anchor Bible 18A (2000); Roland E. Murphy, Proverbs, Word Biblical Commentary 22 (1998)
- contestedQualitative or positional: the chief and most preeminent of God's works, supported by the parallel where Behemoth is the foremost of God's works in rank, not in time.; Bruce K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 1-15, NICOT (2004)
- majorityBoth at once: wisdom is first in sequence and highest in dignity among God's works, now the dominant scholarly reading.; Michael V. Fox, Proverbs 1-9, Anchor Bible 18A (2000); William P. Brown, "Proverbs 8:22-31," Interpretation 63 (2009)