Archives Evolution/Creation: The Truth 7/5/2004

Recently an acquaintence of mine (Ashby) sent me this response to some of my questions concerning Genesis 1:1 - 2. Many people try to say that there was a time gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. I have never thought that because time doesn't start until later (day 1). However, Ashby's response is an excellent and perhaps the best hermeneutic study of the verse in question.

1. What is the "earth" mentioned in Gen 1:1

The phrase "the heavens and the earth" almost certainly is an expression (known as a merism) signifying the totality of creation. As I note in the paper, this is recognized by scholars across a broad theological spectrum. See, for example, C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament Vol. 1, trans. James Martin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, n.d.), 47; John Skinner, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Genesis, The International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1910), 14; E. J. Young, Studies in Genesis One (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1964), 9; Walther Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament, trans. J. A. Baker (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1967), 2:104; Gerhard von Rad, Genesis: A Commentary, rev. ed., trans. John H. Marks (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1972), 48; R. K. Harrison, "Creation," in The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, ed. M. C. Tenney (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975) 1:1022; Bruce K. Waltke, "The Creation Account in Genesis 1:1-3 - Part III: The Initial Chaos Theory and the Precreation Chaos Theory," Bibliotheca Sacra 132 (July 1975), 218; Claus Westermann, Genesis 1-11, trans. John J. Scullion, A Continental Commentary, (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984), 101; Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1-15, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 1 (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1987), 15; Allen P. Ross, Creation & Blessing (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1988), 106; Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 5; Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis Chapters 1-17, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 103 (n. 2); Johh H. Sailhamer, "Genesis," in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990), 23; John D. Currid, "An Examination of the Egyptian Background of the Genesis Cosmology," Biblische Zeitschrift 35 (1991), 31; Paul K. Jewett, God Creation, and Revelation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 457; Kenneth A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11:26, The New American Commentary, vol. 1a (Nashville: Broadman &Holman, 1996), 129; Douglas F. Kelly, Creation and Change (Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 1997), 45, 79. Others could be added easily.

Thus, 1:1 is a declaration that in the beginning God created everything, the totality of all that exists. This includes both the completed universe and the material from which it was fashioned. Sarna (p. 5) paraphrases the merism as "the totality of cosmic phenomena," Kelly (p. 45) as "everything that exists," von Rad (p. 48) as "absolutely everything," and Wenham (p. 15) simply as "everything." Sailhamer writes in Genesis Unbound (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 1996), 56:

"By linking these two extremes into a single expression - 'sky and land' or 'heavens and earth' - the Hebrew language expresses the totality of all that exists. Unlike English, Hebrew doesn't have a single word to express the concept of 'the universe'; it must do so by means of a merism. The expression 'sky and land' thus stands for the 'entirety of the universe.' It includes not only the two extremes, heaven and earth, but also all that they contain - the sun, the moon, and the stars; every seen and unseen part of the universe; the seas, the dry land, and the plants and animals that inhabit them."

2. What is the "earth" mentioned in Gen 1:2

It is the planet on which we live prior to its having been prepared for our habitation.

3. What is an earth without "form and void"?

Here is the conclusion of David Toshio Tsumura in The Earth and the Waters in Genesis 1 and 2, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 83 (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1989), 41, 43:

Let us summarize what we have concluded in the above discussion: the term tohu‚ means (1) "desert," (2) "a desert-like place," i.e., "a desolate or empty place" or "an uninhabited place" or (3) "emptiness; the phrase tohu wabohu has a similar meaning and refers to a state of "aridness or unproductiveness" (Jer 4:23) or "desolation" (Isa 34:11). . . .

In light of the above, it would be very reasonable to understand the phrase tohu wabohu in Gen. 1:2 as also describing a state of "unproductiveness and emptiness," though the context suggests that this was the initial state of the created earth rather than a state brought about as a result of God's judgment on the earth or land (cf. Jer. 4:23; Isa 34:11). . . .

In conclusion, both the biblical context and extra-biblical parallels suggest that the phrase tohu wabohu in Gen. 1:2 has nothing to do with "chaos" and simply means "emptiness" and refers to the earth which is an empty place, i.e. "an unproductive and uninhabited place." Thus, the main reason for the author's mentioning the earth as tohu wabohu in this setting is to inform the audience that the earth is "not yet" the earth as it was known to them.

Hope that helps.

Ashby