Genesis 1:2
From Bible Study - Sufficed.com
Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Now look at verse 2
The earth was nonfunctional. It was primordial, watery darkness. But a supernatural wind permeated with the power of God was circulating over the surface of the waters. God was hovering over this formless world like a great artist hovering over a canvas on which a portrait will be painted.
Preached on 1/1/2006 by Bill Bouknight
In any understanding of God's revelation, we are dependent upon words, upon the words in the original language -- and in their most literal sense. This is particularly true of any account of Creation.
Should Genesis 1:2 be rendered (as in the King James Version) "And the earth was without form and void" OR "But the earth had become without form and void"? The question is whether to translate the Hebrew conjunction waw as 'and' or 'but' and whether to translate the verb hayah simply as 'was' or by the pluperfect 'had become'.
If the translation of 'and' and 'was' is correct, then verse 2 appears to be merely a continuation of verse 1, signifying that its formless condition was proper to the initial stages of God's creative activity. In this translation we must either take 'days' to mean not literal days but geological ages, or treat the whole chapter as poetry or allegory. These 'solutions' are not supported by the rules of linguistics.
If the translation of 'but' and 'had become' is correct, the implication is far different. For then verse 2 is a picture of the earth, not as it came from the hand of God in creation, but after some intervening event had reduced it to a state of ruin. This alternative translation allows between verse 1 and 2 a hiatus of unknown duration (a view held in earliest times) which can accommodate geological ages. Opponents object to this 'Gap Theory' as simply an attempt to 'rescue' modern Geology.
WITHOUT FORM AND VOID Arthur C. Custance
