"Verse 2 describes the condition of the land before God prepared it for human beings."31
"Deep"(tahom) describes the world. In the Old Testament tahomrefers to the ocean, which the ancient world regarded as symbolic of chaos and evil that needed overcoming and which Yahweh overcame. However its use in the Pentateuch helps us understand the writer's intent in using this term here.
". . . he calls the global ocean (the deep') in 1:2 a desert.' This is not apparent in the English translation formless,' but the NASB notes it in the margin as a wasteland.' . . . Moses uses this term (Deut 32:10) to describe the desert wasteland where Israel wandered for forty years. Why call an ocean a desert? What better way to teach the people that the God who will lead them out of the wildernessand give them the promised landis the same God who once prepared the landfor them by dividing the watersand producing the dry land'? The God of the Pentateuch is One who leads his people from the wasteland to the promised land."32
"Waters"is also capable of being interpreted the same way as "deep."It probably refers to what covered the earth, but it also suggests chaos.
Here we learn that the earth was "formless and empty"(a hendiadys meaning thoroughly disorganized) before God graciously prepared it for human habitation.33Moses pictured the Spirit as a wind--the words are identical in Hebrew--moving over the unorganized creation. As God did His work of creating by means of His Spirit, so believers are to do our work by His Spirit.34
"Hitherto all is static, lifeless, immobile. Motion, which is the essential element in change, originates with God's dynamic presence."35
Verse 2 seems to me to describe conditions that existed on earth whenGod created it originally. Whereas verse 1 explains the origin of the universe, verse 2 pictures its original condition. Verses 3-31 describe this original condition in more detail and explain the process of creation by which God formed what was formless and filled what was void.
There are two basic theories of the creation process that have grown out of the interpretations of verse 2.
The gap theory
Statement: The classicstatement of this theory contains the following ideas, though there have been many variations on this theory.
1. There is an indefinite time gap (hence the name of the theory) between 1:1 and 1:2.
2. Verse 1 reveals the creation of a perfect heaven and earth very different from what we see around us now.
3. A preadamic race of humans inhabited this original creation.
4. Lucifer (unfallen Satan), whose "headquarters"was in the Garden of Eden, ruled over this race of people.
5. When Lucifer rebelled--many advocates see this in Isaiah 14--sin entered the world.
6. Part of God's judgment of this rebellion was the destruction of the earth with a flood (in Noah's day) followed by a global ice age, which accounts for the fossils.36
History:This is a very old theory that certain early Jewish writers and some church fathers held. Thomas Chalmers propelled it into prominence in 1814.37Chalmers' purpose was to harmonize Scripture with Scripture, not Scripture with science.38Darwin's Origin of Speciesfirst appeared in 1859, but Chalmers published his theory in 1814. Franz Delitzsch supported it in 1899.39G. H. Pember's book Earth's Ancient Ages(1907) gave further impetus to this view. Many Christian geologists favored the view because they saw in it "an easy explanation for the fossil strata."40Harry Rimmer supported it41as did Arthur W. Pink.42L. S. Chafer held it43but did not emphasize it. Arthur Custance is one writer who has defended it fairly recently.44
Arguments and Responses:
1. The first word in verse 2 (waw, "and") is a conjunction that indicates consecutive occurrences. It introduces something that happened after what precedes. Response. The verb tense and word order in this sentence do not permit this use of this conjunction (vv. 1-2). Rather here, as is normal, the conjunction indicates a break in the consecutive order of events and introduces a circumstantial (independent) clause (v. 2) that describes something in a preceding clause (v. 1). A better translation of the wawwould be "now."In short, the Hebrew grammar does not allow for a chronological gap between verses 1 and 2.
2. The verb (hayata, "was") can and should read "became."The translators have rendered it this way in many other places in the Old Testament. Response. This is a legitimate translation, but "became"is not always the best translation (cf. Jonah 3:3; Zech. 3:3). Here the translation should be "was."
3. The chaos (tohu wa bohu, "waste and void,"perhaps another hendiadys) describes an evil condition (cf. Isa. 24:1; 45:18; Jer. 4:23). Response. This is usually the case, but not always (cf. Deut. 32:10; Job 6:18; 12:24; 26:7; Ps. 107:40). It is not so here.
4. "Darkness"is a symbol of evil in Scripture (cf. 1 John 1:5). This supports the badness of the condition that resulted from Satan's rebellion. Response. This is true in some cases, but not always (cf. Ps. 104:19-24). Consider too that evening was part of the days God declared good.
5. The two primary words for "create"(baraand asahused respectively in 1:1 and 1:25) refer to two different kinds of creativity. Barausually refers to primary creative activity. Since Moses used barain 1:1 this was the original creation and not just a general description of the process that follows (in 1:3-5 or 1:3-31). If 1:1 was a general description he would have used asahsince some of what God created in the six days He formed out of previously existing material (e.g., man and woman). Response. These two words are not so distinct. For example, Moses used baraof the creation of man out of previously existing material (1:27), and he used asahof the whole creation as the primary creative activity of God (Exod. 20:11). Furthermore, he used baraof the creation of some animals (1:21) and asahof the creation of other animals (1:25). The real difference between these two words is that Moses used baraonly of divine activity and he used asahof both divine and human activities.45Thus, baraand asahare very close together in meaning. We cannot distinguish them on the basis of baradescribing primary creative activity and asahreferring to the reforming of previously existing material.
6. Adam was to "replenish"the earth (1:28, AV) implying a previous race. Response. The Hebrew word used means "fill,"not "refill."Many modern translations so render it.
Summary:Though many evangelicals still hold the gap theory, very few Hebrew scholars do because the Hebrew grammar does not favor a chronologically sequential reading of verses 1 and 2. Rather, verse 2 in some way describes verse 1.46
The no-gap theory
The crux of the 1:2 interpretive problem lies in the identification of the chaos (tohu wa bohu, "formless and void") mentioned. There have been three primary views concerning the chaos referred to in this verse.
1. The chaos was a condition that resulted afterGod judged the universe that He had originally created.47
Explanation: 1:1 refers to God's original creation of the universe. 1:2 is a reference to the form He gave it thereafter. 1:3 refers to the beginning of the process of reforming the judged universe into the form in which we know it.
Vocabulary: We should translate the first word in the verse (waw) "and"or "then"(not preferable grammatically) and the verb (hayeta) "became"(possible but not preferable). We should interpret the chaos (tohu wa bohu) as an evil condition (not necessarily so).
Sequence: This interpretation permits but does not require a gap in time between 1:1 and 1:2.
2. The chaos was the condition that characterized the universe whenGod created it.48
Explanation: 1:1 states the creation of the universe as we know it, and it is a general statement of some kind. 1:2 describes the universe at the time of its creation. 1:3 describes God's bringing order out of chaos that continued through the six creative days.
Vocabulary: We should translate waw"now"(better) and hayeta"was"(also better). We should also take tohu wa bohuto mean either unformed or evil.
Sequence: This interpretation involves no gap in time between 1:1 and 1:2.
3. The chaos existed beforeGod began creating.49
Explanation: We should take 1:1 the same as in view 2. 1:2 describes conditions as they existed before creation. We should also take 1:3 the same as in view 2.
Vocabulary: Advocates translate and interpret the key Hebrew words the same as in view 2.
Sequence: This interpretation involves no gap in time between 1:1 and 1:2.
". . . the disjuncture at v 2 is employed by the author to focus his creation account upon the land."50
The more popular theory among evangelicals now is the no-gap theory in either one of the last two forms described above. Let me restate these last two views.
1. View 2 above: God created the universe in a formless and void state. He then proceeded to give it form and to fill it.51
"We would affirm that the first verse serves as a broad comprehensive statement of the fact of creation. Verse two describes the earth as it came from the hands of the Creator and as it existed at the time when God commanded the light to shine forth. The first recorded step in the process of fashioning the earth into the form in which it now appears was God's remarkable utterance, Let there be light' [verse 3]."52
Problem: It seems unusual that God would create the universe formless and then form it. It seems more likely and consistent with His activity in 1:3-31 that He would create it fully formed.
Answer: The whole process of creation in 1:3-31 is a movement from a more primitive to a more advanced stage of existence.
2. View 3 above: Before God created the universe there was nothing where it now exists, and verse 2 describes that nothingness.53
Problem: Some terms in verse 2 (darkness, surface, deep, waters) imply that something existed at this time suggesting some creative activity before verse 3.
Answers: Verse 1 may be part of the first day of creation. Moses may have used these terms to describe in terms we can begin to understand (i.e., figurative terms) a condition that is entirely foreign and incomprehensible to us.
