Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale, they could not have existed before the fall of Adam. There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years. In Syriac the verb is a very common one for the incubation of birds; and, in allusion to this place, it is metaphorically employed, both of the waving of the hand of the priest over the cup in consecrating the wine for the Eucharist, and of that of the patriarch over the head of a bishop at his consecration. . היה hāyah, "be." ((r) Strabo. In Exodus 20:11 we read of a literal six day creation. A time problem is presented in Genesis 1:2, because it seems to imply preexisting material on the first day of creation. Thus Dr. Custance demonstrates to the reader that there can be a gap in time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, a gap that allows for an ancient earth, and the recent creation of humankind. The Spirit of God.—Heb., a wind of God, i.e., a mighty wind, as rendered by the Targum and most Jewish interpreters. 3. and fol. The Spirit of God; not the wind, which was not yet created, as is manifest, because the air, the matter or subject of it, was not yet produced; but the Third Person of the glorious Trinity, called the Holy Ghost, to whom the work of creation is attributed, Job 26:13, as it is ascribed to the Second Person, the Son, Joh 1:3 Col 1:16-17 Heb 1:3, and to the First Person, the Father, every where. (k) "Quem dixere chaos, rudis indigestaque moles", Ovid Metamorph. Hence, the church must confidently assert that God created all things "in the space of six days," just as the words read, and in spite of the claim of modern evolutionary science and of those in the church who have … And he gave forth his voice in weeping; and the Egyptians heard, and … "רחף rāchaph, "be soft, tremble." It was, as Ovid (k) calls it, a chaos and an indigested mass of matter; and Hesiod (l) makes a chaos first to exist, and then the wide extended earth, and so Orpheus (m), and others; and this is agreeably to the notion of various nations. 2. The immediate agency of the Spirit, by working on the dead and discordant elements, combined, arranged, and ripened them into a state adapted for being the scene of a new creation. Here the conjunction attaches the noun, and not the verb, to the preceding statement. Was is not the copula, but the substantive verb existed, and expresses duration of time. 4. and 6. Ruach Elohim is not a breath of wind caused by God (Theodoret, etc. l. 7. c. 16. But, the earth was void (confusion, disorder, emptiness.) (c) Darkness covered the deep waters, for the waters covered everything. “And God said”: God effortlessly spoke light … What does Genesis 1:2 mean? in Vita Thaletis, p. 18. However, the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages, were mainly laid down by Noah's flood. (c) Apud Ib. Thus not the earth only, but also the heaven above it, was without light, as is manifest from the following verses. There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years. AC 14. Let's read the text… 1. ), for the verb does not suit this meaning, but the creative Spirit of God, the principle of all life (Psalm 33:6; Psalm 104:30), which worked upon the formless, lifeless mass, separating, quickening, and preparing the living forms, which were called into being by the creative words that followed. Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent. Piel, "brood, flutter. … The context shows that "the water" in Genesis 1:2 is a symbol of life. ((w) ----and, with mighty wings outspread, Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss, And mad'st it pregnant.---- Milton's Paradise Lost, B. After creation, the earth existed as a shapeless and empty waste. (x) Laert. From what we see of heaven and earth, we learn the power of the great Creator. Hist. This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet (w). Interpretations of Genesis 1: 1–2 varied with the version of the Bible that was used. Genesis 1:1, Genesis 1:2. (a) Hymn. Genesis 1:2. Observe, that at first there was nothing desirable to be seen, for the world was without form, and void; it was confusion, and emptiness. Among these duplicates are found, e.g., Genesis 1:1-2:4 a the Priestly Code (P), and 2:4b J, containing two stories of creation; Genesis 12:9 J; 20:1 E; 26:1 J; with the narrative of how Sarah and Rebekah, the wives of the two patriarchs, were endangered; chapters 15 J and 17 the Priestly Code (P), with a double account of how God concluded His covenant with Abraham; 21:22 E and 26:12 J, the stories of … (g) Ian Taylor, p. 363, 364, "In the Minds of Men", 1984, TEF Publishing, P.O. (Thomas Chamlers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2. Besides the present passage בהוּ bohû occurs in only two others Isaiah 34:11; Jeremiah 4:23, and always in conjunction with תהוּ tohû. Sinic. It was without order, beauty, or even use, in its present state, and was surrounded on all sides with thick darkness, through the gloom of which there was not one ray of light to penetrate not even so much as to render the darkness visible.The Spirit of God moved, &c. — To cherish, quicken, and dispose them to the production of the things afterward mentioned. (x) Laert. (e) Martin. Both Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1 begin with the words “In the beginning.” Both scriptures are referring to the same beginning. ((t) Zohar in Gen. fol. Clearly, the water sustains life! This globe, at some undescribed period, having been convulsed and broken up, was a dark and watery waste for ages perhaps, till out of this chaotic state, the present fabric of the world was made to arise.the Spirit of God moved—literally, continued brooding over it, as a fowl does, when hatching eggs. Euseb. It is at this point where Satan and his followers rebelled. Translating hayah as "became" in Genesis 1:2 puts the Bible in harmony with science and history. ", והארץ vehā'ārets, "and the earth." Whatever the meaning of the word rûaḥ in Genesis 1:2 is, it is still the work of God in bringing creation to order. Without form and void; without order and beauty, and without furniture and use. This is therefore a connection of objects in space, and not of events in time. While the word 'EL' signified the strength and power of the great Creator … In Exodus 20:11 we read of a literal six day creation. All three describe the condition of the earth immediately after the creation of the universe. On the sixth day, he brought forth the crown jewel of his creation. The same sentiment is in B. was without form and void: confusion and emptiness, ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος, "Nor aught nor naught existed; yon bright sky. p. 91. (b) As an unformed lump and without any creature in it: for the waters covered everything. פנה panah, "face, look, turn toward. The host of them — That is, the creatures contained therein. "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." l. 1. p. 5. Meanwhile, the first word (תְּהוֹם "deep, sea, abysses") does not show up in Genesis until God uses in to destroy life in the days of Noah. But we must be upon our guard against the common error of commentators, who read into the text of these most ancient documents perfect doctrines which were not revealed in their fulness until the Gospel was given. It was not in the form it now is, otherwise it must have a form, as all matter has; it was a fluid matter, the watery parts were not separated from the earthy ones; it was not put into the form of a terraqueous globe it is now, the sea apart, and the earth by itself, but were mixed and blended together; it was, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase it, a waste and desert, empty and destitute of both men and beasts; and it may be added, of fishes and fowls, and also of trees, herbs, and plants. 3. No gaps, not even for one minute, otherwise these would not be six normal days. l. 2. c. 10. p. 33. All of it was and … The latter two may be designated in common the imperfect state. Praepar. The account of this new creation properly begins at the end of this second verse; and the details of the process are described in the natural way an onlooker would have done, who beheld the changes that successively took place.Matthew Poole's Commentary The same confused mass or heap is here called both earth, from its most solid and substantial part; and the deep, from its vast bulk and depth; and waters, from its outward face and covering. If Genesis 1:1 is just a summary, then there is no mention in Genesis of God creating matter - it is just suddenly mentioned as if it had existed all along. It appears again in Jeremiah 4:23, where Jeremiah warns Israel that rebellion against God will lead to the return of darkness and chaos, "as if the earth had been ‘uncreated’." "Ante mare et tellus, et, quod tegit omnia, caelum, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. The two terms denote kindred ideas, and their combination marks emphasis. 3. and fol. Genesis 1:1-2:3 – The Bible Teaching Commentary The Creation Account describes what happen in the creation as well as discusses gap theory, literal days, framework hypothesis and modern science and creation. Benson CommentaryGenesis 1:2. Bereshit Rabba, fol. (y) Cicero de Nat. Some great catastrophe took place, which left the earth "without form and void" or ruined, in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required. (k) "Quem dixere chaos, rudis indigestaque moles", Ovid Metamorph. The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies; and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah, as many Jewish writers (t) call him; that is, the third Person in the blessed Trinity, who was concerned in the creation of all things, as in the garnishing of the heavens, so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order; see Job 26:13. Here the conjunction attaches the noun, and not the verb, to the preceding statement. (e) Martin. Question #1: Hello Dr. Luginbill, I am reading your Genesis Gap (SR #2) material on the Satanic rebellion. (g) This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible. This book is considered a classic in Christian apologetics and has been described as the best argument that has ever been written for the Gap Theory. ((b) Euseb. 4. As an old traditional word, it is construed like a proper name without an article (Ewald, Gramm.). פנה panah, "face, look, turn toward. Whereas Genesis 1:1 explains the creation of the universe, Genesis 1:2 pictures its pre-creation condition. The chaotic mass in which the earth and the firmament were still undistinguished, unformed, and as it were unborn, was a heaving deep, an abyss of waters (ἄβυσσος, lxx), and this deep was wrapped in darkness. l. 10. c. 14. p. 504. (c) Apud Ib. the Spirit of God moved—literally, continued brooding over it, as a fowl does, when hatching eggs. 1. רחף in the Piel is applied to the hovering and brooding of a bird over its young, to warm them, and develop their vital powers (Deuteronomy 32:11). Baal Hatturim in loc. However, we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days. Little by little throughout Scripture, God gently and gradually unveils His gracious character and His eternal attributes, first to one person and then to another. l. 1. p. 3, 4. Insufficient emphasis has been placed on the meaning of the nourishing nature of the word 'Shaddai' in this astonishing revelation of God. The first sentence of this verse is an example of the perfect state of an event, the second of the indefinite, and the third of the imperfect or continuous state. Also, in Romans 5:12 we read that death is the result of Adam's sin. This may be understood of a thing beginning to be, אור יהי yehiy 'ôr, "be light" Genesis 1:3; or of an event taking place, ימים מקץ ויהי vayehı̂y mı̂qēts yāmı̂ym, "and it came to pass from the end of days."2. This abyss is explained by waters in the next clause, which seem to be uppermost; and this was all a dark turbid chaos, as before expressed, without any light or motion, till an agitation was made by the Spirit, as is next observed: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, which covered the earth, Psalm 104:6 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower, and the waters being lighter rose up above the others: hence Thales (q) the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things, as do the Indian Brahmans (r): and Aristotle (s) himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe, and observes, that it was not only the opinion of Thales, but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived, and of those that first wrote on divine things; and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus, or the ocean, with Tethys, to be the parents of generation: and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water, and consisting of it, 2 Peter 3:5 and upon the surface of these waters, before they were drained off the earth, "the Spirit of God moved"; which is to be understood not of a wind, as Onkelos, Aben Ezra, and many Jewish writers, as well as Christians, interpret it; since the air, which the wind is a motion of, was not made until the second day. "והארץ vehā'ārets, "and the earth." Sinic. ((l) &c. Hesiodi Theogonia. "Be, as an event, start into being, begin to be, come to pass." Fab. ", רוּח rûach, "breath, wind, soul, spirit. It is a marvellous fact that Genesis does contain the germ of well-nigh every evangelical truth, but it contains it in a suggestive and not a completed form. Piel, "brood, flutter. l. 1. p. 7. Without form, and void.—Literally, tohu and bohu, which words are both substantives, and signify wasteness and emptiness. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. השׁך choshek, "darkness, the absence of light. After this general outline, the Bible gives a more detailed account of the creation of man and woman.—Genesis 2:7-25. The Landהיה hāyah, "be." A completed event is expressed by the former of the two states, or, as they are commonly called, tenses of the Hebrew verb; a current event, by the imperfect participle; an incipient event, by the second state or tense. ובהוּ תהוּ tohû vābohû, "a waste and a void." (q) Laert. The deep.—Tĕhôm. (b) As an unformed lump and without any creature in it: for the waters covered everything. (g) This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible. The alliterative nouns tohu vabohu, the etymology of which is lost, signify waste and empty (barren), but not laying waste and desolating. This is a non-sectarian discussion of the meaning of the original Hebrew of key Genesis verses. It existed at present only as an incoherent waste of emptiness. Whenever they are used together in other places (Isaiah 34:11; Jeremiah 4:23), they are taken from this passage; but tohu alone is frequently employed as synonymous with איך, non-existence, and הבל, nothingness (Isaiah 40:17, Isaiah 40:23; Isaiah 49:4). By interpreting a text that was intended to be understood literally as metaphoric, they may bend the meanings of … The Chinese make a chaos to be the beginning of all things, out of which the immaterial being (God) made all things that consist of matter, which they distinguish into parts they call Yin and Yang, the one signifying hidden or imperfect, the other open or perfect (n): and so the Egyptians, according to Diodorus Siculus (o), whose opinion he is supposed to give, thought the system of the universe had but one form; the heaven and earth, and the nature of them, being mixed and blended together, until by degrees they separated and obtained the form they now have: and the Phoenicians, as Sanchoniatho (p) relates, supposed the principle of the universe to be a dark and windy air, or the blast of a dark air, and a turbid chaos surrounded with darkness, as follows, and darkness was upon the face of the deep: the whole fluid mass of earth and water mixed together. The account of this new creation properly begins at the end of this second verse; and the details of the process are described in the natural way an onlooker would have done, who beheld the changes that successively took place. ", פגים pānı̂ym, "face, surface." Evangel. Box 5015, Stn. Verses 1, 2. l. 3. c. 11. p. 115. A completed event is expressed by the former of the two states, or, as they are commonly called, tenses of the Hebrew verb; a current event, by the imperfect participle; an incipient event, by the second state or tense. (z) Apud Drusium in loc. Genesis 17:1(NASB) Verse Thoughts. 1, 2. The importance of the four main themes of Genesis 1 is further indicated by the fact that they appear over and over again in creation passages in both the Old and New Testament (Genesis 2, Job 38-41, Psalms 8, 19, 33, 74, 104, 148, Proverbs 8, Isaiah 40, John 1, Romans 1, Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1). "פגים pānı̂ym, "face, surface." 156. The faith of humble Christians understands this better than the fancy of the most learned men. (f) In Avibus. l. 1. The verse is simple and yet, insightful. 1. l. 20, 21, 22. 1. l. 20, 21, 22. 14. fol. It is usually worded in English as “waste and void,” “formless and empty,” or “chaos and desolation.” 15. . Structure. Cicero do Natura Deorum, l. (Thomas Chamlers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2. in Vita Thaletis, p. 18. F, Toronto, Canada. Besides the present passage בהוּ bohû occurs in only two others Isaiah 34:11; Jeremiah 4:23, and always in conjunction with תהוּ tohû. Evangel. "Be," as a change of state, "become." (a) Hymn. Two points must here be noticed: the first, that the motion was not self-originated, but was external to the chaos; the second, that it was a gentle and loving energy, which tenderly and gradually, with fostering care, called forth the latent possibilities of a nascent world. The latter two may be designated in common the imperfect state. (q) Laert. (d) Saturnal. (n) Martin. (See Note on Genesis 23:6.) ((r) Strabo. in Vita Anaxagor. (See Deuteronomy 32:11.) 3. (m) Orphei Argonautica, ver. The Triune God existed perfectly in himself before he created the world. Box 5015, Stn. It symbolizes the universe following creation. Among creationists are two major divisions of thought concerning the meaning of this verse. Genesis 1 / John 1. Upon the face, the surface or uppermost part of it, upon which the light afterward shone. [⇑ See verse text ⇑] Genesis 1:1 announced that God created everything: "the heavens and the earth." l. 1. c. 4. and 6. and darkness was upon the face of the deep: the whole fluid mass of earth and water mixed together. Various interpretations of this “beginning” were possible. Strong's does list waste, formless, vanity, place of chaos and such but not ruin. In Genesis 1:2 the Earth “was without form, and void." .” (New Revised Standard Version), much like the parallel Hebrew construction in Genesis 2:4. It tells us when something happened, who did it, what occurred but notwhy it occurred. Euseb. The three statements in our verse are parallel; the substantive and participial construction of the second and third clauses rests upon the והיחה of the first. Personally, I take a different view. The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph, out of whose mouth went forth an egg, which they interpreted of the world (b): and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians, which were heavenly birds, were, according to Sanchoniatho (c), of the form of an egg; and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg, as being an image of the world, as Macrobius (d) says; and therefore he thought the question, whether an hen or an egg was oldest, was of some moment, and deserved consideration: and the Chinese say (e), that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg, the shell of which formed the heavens, the white the air, and the yolk the earth; and to this incubation of the spirit, or wind, as some would have it, is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes (f). HûM, `` nor aught nor naught existed ; yon bright sky examine context. 2 begins to describe the process of creation - namely, that it is described by. 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