Nearly two and a half years ago I answered this discussion question, “Discuss the possibilities (and problems) with the conjectures of a gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2.” I originally selected this discussion question as a reaction to a post in the eBay Soapbox chat room, “Is Satan more powerful than God?” Timing is everything so back then as today the debate is on. The only argument I would have against the gap theory is that, I really don’t have one. Even to a novice such as myself, digging deeper into the Word seems to indicate that there was/ is merit to the gap theory.
Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:2, “And the earth was without form (H8414), and void (H922); and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
With thanks to Strong’s:
H8414 – “A masculine noun meaning formlessness, confusion. The exact meaning of this term is difficult at best since its study is limited to its relatively few Old Testament occurrences. It is used to describe primeval earth before the seven creative days”
H922 – “A masculine noun indicating void or emptiness. It depicts the state of matter after God had created it but before He had fashioned it for habitation”
H922 also describes the state of the land or earth after God judges it (Isaiah 34:11 and Jeremiah 4:23). It is used in combination with tōhû, without form, each time. So could these two verses be analogous to a judgment on the earth that occurred after Genesis 1:2?
What makes this interesting is that the original Hebrew reads “And the earth became without form” implying that when Satan fell and took a third of the angels with him, he caused disorder on God’s creation. So “the earth became without form” so the Spirit of God once more had to move upon the face of the waters. Another use of the word “became” that Dr. Missler pointed out is Genesis 19:26, “But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became (H1961) a pillar of salt.”
H1961 – “A verb meaning to exist, to be, to become, to happen, to come to pass, to be done. It is used over 3,500 times in the Old Testament. In the simple stem, the verb often means to become, to take place, to happen….”
The English translation of Greek Septuagint that I have reads “1:1 in the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. 2 But the earth was unsightly and unfurnished, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the water.” God would not create a mess so this also suggests that Satan rendered it “unsightly and unfurnished.”
As an aside, Satan and his minions were not satisfied with nearly destroying God’s original handiwork, they sired Nephilim which brought on the flood. Even after the flood the fallen ones were still bringing God’s judgment onto the earth.
The Gap theory came up in my course "Learn The Bible in 24 Hours" by Koinonia House. I have seen the arguments and I remain unconvinced of a gap or interval between G 1:1 and G 1:2 as often claimed. I have learned over the years that scriptures are often presented in a non chronological fashion. In the case of Genesis 1, I believe verse one is the topic line of the paragraph (remember there weren't originally verses just sentences) and does not construe that it was an event and that the verses after it were chronological from it.
ReplyDeleteParaphrasing I would say it like this:
verse 1: here is the result.
verse 2: here is what was there to use to get the result.
verse 3: here is my first action to get the result.
verses 4 and 5: declaring some names for what arose.
verses 6-10: and probably the most mysterious a description of the beginning actions that created the 3D world we inhabit. The waters could be construed as the matter stream from the so-called big bang. The formation of planets etc. Remember time and space are linked to the speed of light and it is now widely recognized it is NOT a constant, but rather steadily slowing. This leads to theories it was perhaps thousands of times faster in the distant past.
This is how I try to put it in laymen's terms.