Page 32 - Genesis: Book of Beginnings and Science Behind it

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mean “was” in 98% of its occurrences. This is why the King James Version and all other standard
translations always use “was” and never translate to “became.”

2. Without form and void – The Hebrew phrase here is tohu wa-bohu or tohu va-vohu. The Gap
theory suggests this should be translated as “ruined and desolate.” They justify this by claiming that
God would never create the universe in a chaotic state. They cite Isaiah 45:18 specifically saying that
God created not the earth “in vain (tohu), He formed it to be inhabited.” The word tohu can carry
various meanings, yet this translation is forced. It is used 20 different times in the Old Testament with
no fewer than ten different translations. They vary from nothing to space, to confusion, to vanity. In
the context of Genesis 1:2, the best translation of the word is “without form.” Likewise, the word bohu
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best translates to “void.”

So, the essential meaning is, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and earth [or space and matter],
and the matter as it was created was at first unformed and uninhabited.”

3. Darkness was upon the face of the deep – In Isaiah 45:7, God himself says, “I form the light and
create darkness…”. The fact that everything was dark doesn’t run contrary to God’s essence; rather, it
points to the fact that God had not energized the new system that He was bringing into existence.
There is no implication of evil, just darkness, not spiritual darkness, just physical darkness. Also, the
word translated face is the Hebrew word panim, which typically means “presence.” It probably means
that wherever the deep was, there was also darkness. The word for deep is tehom, and later refers to
the oceans. However, initially, the earth and the deep had no shape. The connotation is that of a
watery matrix containing all the basic elements suspended throughout the darkness of space.

There is an important reference to the formless condition of this watery suspension in Proverbs 8:24, 27,
“When there were no depths (tehom), I was brought forth…when he set a compass upon the face of the
depth (tehom).” This summarizes the Second Person of the Godhead on each of the first three days of
creation. The Hebrew word for compass is the word chug, which also occurs in Isaiah 40:42 and Job
22:14. It is a striking reference to the spherical shape of the earth and the oceans. The physical
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universe had come into existence, but everything was still and dark – no form, motion, or light.

4. Upon the face of the waters – The term is a synonym for the face of the deep. Face again means
presence. Although the universe had been called into existence, it needed the energizing of the Holy
Spirit and the activating power of the Word of God.

5. The Spirit of God moved – The Hebrew word for spirit is ruach, which means “breath or wind.” xviii
The context requires that the meaning here is that the breath of God is moving upon or throughout the
presence of the waters. The word “moved” (rachaph) occurs only 3 times in the Old Testament, and the
other two are translated as “shake” (Jer. 23:9) and “fluttereth”
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(Deut. 32:11). The connotation is the same as a hen does over her
chicks. A more accurate modern scientific term would be “to
vibrate.” All forms of energy except nuclear exist as waves or
vibrations. It is interesting to note that it seems to be what was
going on in that the Spirit of God was energizing the entire system of
the new universe. The universe was created out of nothing (bara)
by the second person of the Trinity and is now being energized by
the third person of the Trinity.

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