Genesis 1:1-2 Tohu V'bohu
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So this week we pick in our second session, after getting all the way through the first word in the Hebrew Torah. Does anybody remember what that word was? Beresheet. We learned Beresheet means in the beginning. We saw a pretty cool video that gave us a deeper meaning that demonstrates the Gospel message even in the first word of the Bible.
As we began to discover last time, the whole of scripture is all about Jesus; both the OT and the NT.
Jesus said,
39 “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;
Of course Jesus is speaking of the OT.
Last time we began a close look at the first three words. “Beresheet bara Elohim” translated “In the beginning God created...”
The second Hebrew word is “Bara.” Bara means to create, but not just create. It means to create from nothing. We call this ex-nihilo creation. This word is only attributed to God. Only God can create from nothing.
As a quick aside, in David’s Psalm of repentance, Ps 51 when Davis prays
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
The word create is “bara” something only God can do. Give you a new heart!
Now there are two other words used for create, Asah and Yatsar. Asah is the most common and means to create from existing matter, and is sometimes translated “make.”
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Make is Asah. We know from 2:7 that God made man from the dust of the Earth. Existing matter.
The third word, YATSAR, is not too common, and is usually translated FORMED, e.g. Gen 2:7, Psa 95:5, Isa 29:16b. The sense of this word is to make or shape something out of existing material, like a potter uses clay to form a pot. In fact the word occurs in certain forms and is translated, POTTER, cf.
16 You turn things around!
Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay,
That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;
Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
Here yatsar is used for the Potter and asah is used as made. Yatsar is again used for the thing that is
framed. NKJV.
The third word from Gen 1:1, is Elohim. We translate this word as God.
The basic meaning behind the name Elohim is one of strength or power of effect. Elohim is the infinite, all-powerful God who shows by His works that He is the creator, sustainer, and supreme judge of the world. “Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure—you, the righteous [Elohim] who probes minds and hearts” (Psalm 7:9).
Sometimes the word Elohim is shortened to El and used as part of a longer name. El Shaddai, for example, means “God Almighty” (Genesis 49:24); El Elyon means “God Most High” (Deuteronomy 26:19); and El Roi means “God Who Sees” (Genesis 16:13). Personal names of people can include the name of God: Daniel (“El Is My Judge”), Nathanael (“Gift of El”), Samuel (“Heard by El”), Elijah (“El Is Yahweh”), and Ariel (“Lioness of El”) are examples. Place names, too, can contain the shortened form of Elohim: Bethel (“House of El”), Jezreel (“El Will Sow”), and, of course, Israel (“Prince of El”) are examples.
Interestingly, the word Elohim is grammatically plural rather than singular (the -im suffix in Hebrew indicates the plural form). The singular form of Elohim is probably Eloah. But what are we to make of the plural? Does the plural form of Elohim imply polytheism? No, the Torah makes clear that God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4). Polytheism is expressly forbidden in the Old Testament.
So here we get our first hint of the Trinity, the triune nature of God. We owe much to the Ancient Hebrews who preserved Gods word as it is; even though in there understanding it didn’t seem to add up.
There are several other hints of the trinity in the OT including when God made man. Notice the verse;
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Again, we see the use of the plural with “Us and Our.”
So here the first step to faith “In the beginning God” everything else falls into place after accepting this truth. If this is not true we are simply an accident and nothing has meaning. We have two choices either we are an intentional creation by an intelligence outside of our domain of time and space or we are the result of a random accident.
Lets look at the rest of verses 1 & 2.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
The heavens are the Hebrew šāmayim. Again we see the “im” ending meaning plural or multiple heavens. Very simply they are,
(1) Our Immediate Atmosphere
(2) Outer Space (The Sun, Moon, And Stars)
(3) The Home Of God
It is my belief that the 3rd Heaven is a different dimension. You might remember the Apostle Paul speaking of it;
1 Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven.
3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows—
4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.
Suffice to say we will not find the 3rd heaven on Mars or in outer space, but it is no less a real place that we will see one day.
Finally, we are told God created the Earth. I will have a lot to say about this but consider God created and designed the Earth to be a perfect habitation for man.
Article- What is it about Earth that makes it just right for life?
Article- What is it about Earth that makes it just right for life?
Verse 1 done already!
Now if it already wasn’t interesting enough, verse 2 will bring up a bunch issues. Lets read it and discuss.
2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
It seems innocuous enough but our interpretation of the first few words will add a world of meaning. The issue begins with the word “was;” “The Earth was formless and void...” Many scholars, not all, believe that the word “was” should translated, “became” or “had become.” They argue this because of the verb tense and how the word is translated elsewhere. Without getting to technical on the reasons, this interpretation opens up a very interesting hypothesis. The Gap theory.
In other words the Earth was in a another state prior to becoming formless and void, thus the “Gap.” Secondly, when we compare other passages that use the phrase “formless and void” we learn some interesting things. First the phrase is in Hebrew Tohu v’bohu.
11 But pelican and hedgehog will possess it,
And owl and raven will dwell in it;
And He will stretch over it the line of desolation
And the plumb line of emptiness.
Desolation also translated confusion. So Tohu v’bohu is confusion and emptiness.
Again in Isaiah he uses this phrase again.. Here in His prophetic message to King Cyrus.
18 For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited),
“I am the Lord, and there is none else.
Waste place is the Hebrew Tohu or as we just saw “confused,” God is saying through Isaiah that He did not create the earth to be “tohu” or wasted or confused. Based on this verse the interpretation of “was” being “became” makes a lot of sense as God does not create confusion.
Paul even wrote,
33 for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
We see this phrase also used again by Jeremiah.
23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was formless and void;
And to the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
And all the hills moved to and fro.
25 I looked, and behold, there was no man,
And all the birds of the heavens had fled.
26 I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness,
And all its cities were pulled down
Before the Lord, before His fierce anger.
So here it appears that some type of cataclysm has occured. The phrase, tohu v’bohu, seems to always comes after divine judgement. This may be looking forward but the use of “tohu v’bohu” is very curious and shines the light clearly back to Gen 1 in my opinion.
So why is this so important. Well it would certainly answer or add understanding to how old the earth is. BTW - this does not allow for billions of years prior to Adam either. For now suffice it to say that death began at the fall not before. we will have much more on this in Chapter 3.
For now lets look at the rest of verse 2.
2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
The words darkness and the deep are interesting. Darkness, the word is used of the extraordinary darkness as in Egypt at the Exodus. It is also used of the darkness in mines. If you have ever experienced the darkness in a mine you know what I’m talking about. Darkness you can feel.
“The deep “ is the Hebrew word “te-home” it is used of the abyss or in Greek the Abusso. Those of you who were with us in the Revelation study will recall that the Abusso is where the demonic locust hoard comes out from. Rev 9. We are also told that the angel of the Abusso is Abaddon or Apollyon. (the destroyer). Now the deep could simply be referring to the deep oceans but it would seem that based on all this other stuff we are learning it would seem to have a spiritual edge to it.
It is believed by many that in ages past, prior to Adam, between verses 1 & 2, there was a great war in the Spirit realm. Some postulate that perhaps Lucifer was in control of the Earth or another planet, prior to his fall and then afterward was relegated to the deep.
Later, when Adam is created in God’s image and given dominion over the Earth, it stoked Lucifer’s hatred of mankind. I am reading a very interesting book on this topic called “Birthright” by Tim Alberino.
Verse 2 then introduces the Holy Spirit;
and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
It is important that we realize that the HS is not just the “force” or some energy we can use. The HS is a person, like Jesus, and the Father, a individual part of the one Triune God. BTW - its amazing how much Christian Theology is found in just these 2 verses.
The word “moving” in the NASB is also understood as “hovering or brooding.” The term has a sense of tenderness and affection as in preparing it for life. Of course at this beginning time, the earth is completely covered by water as God would separated the land and the water in Day 3.
Nest time we will look at Gods first command, “Let there be light.” We will be exploring what is light? This is super interesting. Don’t miss it..
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