Genesis Study: Week 2 - 1:2

The Ordering of All Things

The words of v 2: “And the earth was formless and void…” work very well in a motif about how God, the Creator and Authority over all things, takes “chaos”, which may be too strong of a word, and forms it or orders it.

One thing is certain which is that the focus of this creative act is “the earth” or at least “the land” which Men know as “the earth”. this does not seem to directly just mean “matter” or “material” generally, but seems to be a creative act of “land” in the way that Men know it. it could be more sweeping than this, but the easiest, face value statement, would come off as “the land we are about to discuss in detail.” (ie: the earth).

Genesis 1:2 LSB

And the earth was formless and void…

in the Hebrew, the phrase “formless and void” is more poetic than a raw translation to English allows. It is read as roughly “tohu wa bohu” which seems like it is most likely some kind of “idiom” rather than strictly intended to just offer “exactly this precise kind of thing.” sort of like: “middle of nowhere” which if treated strictly literally would mean: “in the center of a place that isn’t anywhere”, but we all know basically means “far from anything that people have built or normally dwell in”.

the translation in the Stone Edition of the Torah says, “astonishingly empty,” which seems to capture that the point of this is like saying, “this place is not just empty or useless, but this is a barren wasteland of nothing”. So God takes this completely unusable “mass” and begins to order it from utter nothingness.

Genesis 1:2 LSB

…and darkness was over the surface of the deep…

the word here for “darkness” is used often for all sorts of things from regular “lack of light” to “evil” and “terror” in a more metaphorical sense. but in a couple verses we will see God create light and separate the light from the dark. Darkness seems to be an intrinsic part of chaos or at least disordered existence in its natural state.

“over/on the surface/face of the deep” is a very interesting choice of phrasing. Darkness is till, to this day, a powerful and all-consuming feature of the true depths of the “world” beneath the unstoppable forces of the ocean and the primary layers of land which Men inhabit. Caves, mines, graves, etc are places where no light comes unless it is effectively brought by Men. in “the depths”, darkness really is about all there is in the dichotomy of light vs dark.

so to state that “darkness is over the surface of the deep” would feel almost obvious to Men who have seen the ocean or the depths of caverns, but since this is the Revelation of God creating, it is very interesting to know this is actually the “primordial” state of the world. darkness is native to disordered existence, and was already present on all of the vastness of what God had yet to give shape.

— HAVE SOMEONE READ PSALM 71:20 —

Psalm 71:20 LSB

You, who have shown me many troubles and evils, Will revive me again, And will bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

the phrase “the depths of the earth” is also an explicit euphemism for the land of the dead: Sheol which is still a place where Men are sent as a consequence of sin which now causes mortality to spread to all Men. Men are mortal for the sin of Adam and are now subject to the dominion of the “depths of the earth” which is where Darkness was still reigning. This is also part of the Curse given to Men that they must return to where they have come from: The dust of the earth.

— HAVE SOMEONE READ GENESIS 3:19 —

Genesis 3:19 LSB

By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

— Let people chat about this if they so choose —

Genesis 1:2 LSB

…and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

The distinction in this phrasing is very interesting because Jesus later reveals that “God is Spirit”. So to state “The Spirit of God” — which might be better translated to be “the Breath of God” which pairs nicely with His creative acts through speaking — is noteworthy and we should try to notice absolutely any patterns where “The Spirit/Breath of God” is ever explicitly referenced.

— ASK: Does anyone notice anything about “The Spirit of God” here? What do you think we could try and do to see who this is about? —

the word “was hovering”, which is conjugated into its feminine form because “spirit” is a feminine noun like in Spanish, is both a seemingly physical representation of something potentially spiritual. that’s not to say that the Spiritual is not “real”, but most of us view “the spiritual realm” as non-physical and separate/distinct from the realm we naturally inhabit.

it also is a pretty direct correlation to the nurturing act that especially the mothers of Men, as well as most other species, duplicate for their own “creations” — their children. The image of the Parent nurturing, protecting, “hovering/brooding over” their children is still phrasing that we use today. there is absolutely no doubt this is directly foreshadowed as the ultimate act that ALL creation is accidentally or purposefully replicating when they do their duty to God by participating in the creation of new life and then nurturing it like God did “in the beginning.”

there is no doubt that the use of the word for “waters” here which is where God’s presence starts considering His first creative act in the narrative is intentionally the beginning. all life is basically dependent upon water for being sustained. God demonstrating His absolute control and ability to give form and substance to the main element all life becomes dependent upon is a wonderful use of words.

also, many many religions of the times of the writing of Genesis had gods of rain, rivers, seas, etc so showing that The God was The God of not just the small “leftovers” of water Men could see now, but of the entire primordial depths in its original, dark, mysterious, deep and unformed state, would have been a huge blow to basically every other religion which believed their demi-gods ruled various seas and rivers.