Untitled Sermon (3)
Tohu vabohu
The sombre terms of 2a throw into relief the mounting glory of the seven days; and if God alone brings form out of formlessness, he alone sustains it. In visions of judgment (Jer. 4:23; Isa. 34:11), chaos comes back, termed tōhû and bōhû as here. Tōhû (without form) is used elsewhere to mean, in physical terms, a trackless waste (e.g. Deut. 32:10; Job 6:18), emptiness (Job 26:7), chaos (Isa. 24:10; 34:11; 45:18); and metaphorically, what is baseless or futile (e.g. 1 Sam. 12:21; Isa. 29:21). The rhyming bōhû (void) is found only twice elsewhere (see above), each time paired with tōhû.
In the Old Testament the Spirit is a term for God’s outgoing energy, creative and sustaining (cf. Job 33:4; Ps. 104:30). Any impression of Olympian detachment which the rest of the chapter might have conveyed is forestalled by the simile of the mother-bird ‘hovering’ (Moffatt) or fluttering over her brood. The verb reappears in Deuteronomy 32:11 to describe the eagle’s movements in stirring its young into flight; this aspect of intimate contact must be kept in mind throughout.