Genesis 1:2

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.

a. In this verse the whole earth is covered with water. This is revealed just a few verses further.

1). Genesis 1:6-8 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

a). In these verses it is shown some of the water is taken off the face of the earth and contained in a ‘canopy’ above the earth, so that there was a space of heaven between the earth which is covered with water and the canopy.

2). This is the context of the passage in 2 Peter that some mistakenly equate with Noah’s flood.

a). 2 Peter 3:5, 6 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

b). The flood in 2 Peter 3:5, 6 is referring to a flood before the creation of man, the Luciferic flood brought on by Lucifer’s rebellion.

b. It is not until the next two verses that the dry land appears on the earth.

1). Genesis 1:9, 10 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

a). Some of this water no doubt formed the great reservoirs of water under the earth referred to as “the fountains of the great deep” in Genesis 7:11 that were broken up to help re-flood the earth during Noah’s flood. 

1. “And the earth was without form, and void;…”

a. was [1961 * hayah] [Strongs: to exist, i.e. be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary):--beacon, X altogether, be(-come), accomplished, committed, like), break, cause, come (to pass), do, faint, fall, + follow, happen, X have, last, pertain, quit (one-)self, require, X use.][Gesenius: a. to be, to exist, to become, to be made or done, to come to pass.]

1). Dake: This word is translated ‘became’ 67 times, Example: Genesis 2:7; ‘becamest’, ‘came’, and ‘came to pass’, 505 times, Example: Genesis 4:3; ‘become’, 66 times, Example: Genesis 3:22; ‘come’ and ‘come to pass’ 131 times, Example: Genesis 4:14.

a). Genesis 4:3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.

b).  Genesis 4:8  And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

b. without form [8414 * tohuw] [Gesenius: formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness,  formlessness (of primeval earth), nothingness, empty space, that which is empty or unreal (of idols) (fig), wasteland, wilderness (of solitary places), place of chaos, vanity.] [Strong: from an unused root meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), i.e. desert; figuratively, a worthless thing; adverbially, in vain:--confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness.]

1). The Bible says in Genesis 1:2, the earth was “without form”, i.e., tohuw, yet in Isaiah 45, it says the opposite.

a). Isaiah 45:18  For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

c. void [922 * bohuw] [Strong: from an unused root (meaning to be empty); a vacuity, i.e. (superficially) an undistinguishable ruin:--emptiness, void.

1). Used only three time in Scripture, Genesis 1:2, Jeremiah 4:23 and Isaiah 34:11. The usages in Jeremiah and Isaiah were because of judgment. The line of thought is the earth “became without form and void” because of the rebellion and flood brought on because of Lucifer’s rebellion.