Was Without Form and Void…
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 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. (Genesis 1:1-2)
THE WORD: "WAS" IN TODAY'S TEXT is perhaps the most controversial word in the Bible. The earth was without form, and void;…. I have two commentary writers who want to say that it should be “became.”
BEFORE WE LOOK FURTHER, WE NEED THIS VERSE: And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, (2 Timothy 2:24)
I SPENT TIME LOOKING FOR THE BEST MATERIAL in the fewest words to fit into Morning Minute. If we don’t put down a good foundation in building a house, we are going to spend a lot of money propping it up and repairing it. Genesis has been neglected in Christian education in families, churches and schools. Well-taught Jews knew where they came from and how it all came about.
CHRISTIANS LIKE STORIES AND TEND TO TEACH THEIR CHILDREN WITH STORIES. That’s good, really good, but it may not go far enough. They also need to be taught from Genesis all the time they are growing up. Children tend to be easy prey for the world and Satan. The three questions are: 1. Where did I come from? 2. What am I doing here? 3. Where am I going?
IF THE EARTH WAS WITHOUT FORM AND VOID, it means that God was finished with creation up to that point. It has yet to be formed and filled. The rest of the verses tell how God finished creating the earth into a finished state, complete with the many forms of life.
IF THE EARTH BECAME WITHOUT FORM AND VOID, it means that creation had previously been in a finished, perfect state but had then deteriorated into a bad state of “without form and void.” The verses following verse 2 would then depict a re-creation of what had previously been perfect but had become ruined. So, was and became are the difference between a very old earth and a young earth.
JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN TRADITION, held to a young earth for many centuries, based upon “the Genesis historical record.” It changed when Christian scholars began searching for a way to reconcile the views of Jewish and Christian tradition with the views of the promoters of the Enlightenment, Darwin’s evolution in particular. The change in Genesis came from outside the Bible and not from inside the Bible. Commentators began imposing outside ideas onto Genesis and thus corrupted Genesis.
"THE ENLIGHTENMENT, ALSO KNOWN AS THE AGE OF REASON, was a philosophical movement that took place primarily in Europe and, later, in North America, during the late 17thand early 18thcentury (late 1600’s and early 1700’s). Its participants thought they were illuminating human intellect and culture after the "dark" Middle Ages. (Google)
CHARLES DARWIN'S BOOK: The Origin of Species (1859) communicated a practical tool to the masses by which they might get rid of the moral and structural authority of the Bible. Darwin’s system needed billions of years to enable changes to come about in the earth and its life. So, trusted Bible scholars panicked and began looking for a way to accommodate Darwin’s dream of evolution.
WE HAVE THE RESUL OF THAT EFFORT EXPRESSED IN SCOFIELD'S STUDY BIBLE of 1909. Scofield is only one of several Bible scholars who would not allow themselves to be seen as unscholarly and behind the times. But all Bible scholars did not bow to the philosophy of evolution (which has turned out to be philosophical and religious--not scientific).
DR. BROWNLES, MY OLD TESTAMENT PROFESSOR at Tenn. Temple, was known for his matter-of-fact approach to the Old Testament. He had earned his doctor’s degree at Louisville Seminary and had to know Greek and Hebrew to get his degree. Our assignment was to read the Old Testament as it is in the King James Version and our class discussion and testing followed our reading. When it came to Genesis, it was never mentioned that “was” might be translated: “became.” The King James Version of the Bible was used in all Bible classes in the Bible School, College and Seminary. Other versions could be used as complimentary references. We never gave evolution the time of day.
THE TRANSLATION OF THE KING JAMES BIBLE says in Genesis 1:2, “…the earth was without form and void.” The translators could have used “became” but they did not. The translators of this Bible were selected from the most elite Bible mechanics in England to make the translation. Dr. Ian Paisley of Northern Ireland wrote a book: “My Plea for the Old Book” in which he lists the names and scholarship abilities of 54 men who were highly professional in Greek, Hebrew, Latin and several other languages (pages 30-39)
THEY WERE DIVIDED INTO SIX COMPANIES and a part of the Bible was assigned to each of the six companies. Two companies were to meet at Oxford, two at Cambridge, and two at Westminster. They worked for three years to provide a new translation. After finishing their assignment, each company had to defend their work before the entire group of 54 language experts. No other Bible translation has ever endured such scrutiny of process. Certainly not today. The list of men, their qualifications, and the Scriptures assigned to them, is preserved.
THIS BIBLE TRANSLATION SAYS IN GENESIS 1:2, “…the earth was without form and void.” This article is not about the King James Bible. I mention it because it is a trustworthy vehicle to establish “was” in Genesis 1:2. It is estimated that over one billion copies of the King James Bible have been sold.
THE COMMENTARY OF THE KING JAMES STUDY BIBLE: has been my main reading and first-source study Bible for many years. It was commissioned by Liberty University and has a list of 13 contributing editors. On page 5 there is an entry for Genesis 1:2:
“Without form, and void (Hebrew: tohu wabohu, “unformed and unfilled”) describes the condition of earth after the initial act of creation. It does not describe a chaotic condition as a result of judgment. Thus was (Hebrew hayetah) is correct and SHOULD NOT (emphasis added) be translated became. How the earth became formed and filled is described in verses 3-31.”
THE COMMENTARY OF THE SCOFIELD REFERENCE BIBLE (p.3) “The first creative act refers to the dateless past and gives scope for all the geologic ages.” “Jeremiah 4:23-26, Isaiah 24:1 and 45:18 clearly indicate that the earth had undergone a cataclysmic change as the result of divine judgment. The face of the earth bears everywhere the marks of such a catastrophe. There are not wanting intimations which connect it with a previous testing and falling of angels. See Ezekiel 28:12-15 and Isaiah 14:9-14, which certainly go beyond the kings of Tyre and Babylon.”
(NOTE: I USED A COPY OF THE SCOFIELD BIBLE SEVERAL YEARS before I found the above quotes. I retired my “trusty Scofield” to my bookshelf and used it occasionally for other studies. I no longer respected the objectivity of the footnotes on the book of Genesis. To me, Scofield was engaging in fiction in order to reconcile the Bible with the 18th Century Enlightenment and Darwin’s Origin of Species.” That was in 1909. Why did they do it?
SOME RESPECTED MEN ARE LISTED AS HIS SUPPORTING EDITORS, such as James Gray, Arthur T. Pierson Arno C. Gaebelein, and William I. Pettingill. They surrendered to Darwin without firing a shot.)
THE MAC-ARTHUR Study Bible: Genesis:1:2 “Without form and void.” This means ‘not finished in its shape and not yet inhabited by creatures. (Cf. Isaiah 45:18,19; Jeremiah 4:23) God would quickly (in six days) decorate His creation. (1:2-2:3)
THE WYCLIFFE BIBLE COMMENTARY (1962), edited by Pfeiffer and Harrison, published by Moody Press, comments on Genesis 1:2, (I highlighted this in pink fifty years ago) “He describes the earth in its unfinished state. There was plenty of material on hand for every work God planned to create, though in chaotic state---waste, void, dark. Six full creative days were to make phenomenal changes. God’s purpose could not be satisfied until his miraculous touch had made something of this chaos.”
THE NEW DEFENDER'S BIBLE (Dr. Henry Morris – former chairman of the Hydraulics Dept. of University of Virginia.) Genesis 1:2 – was without form and void. The verb “was” in Genesis 1:2 is the regular Hebrew verb of being (hayeha) and does not denote a change of state unless the context so requires. It only rarely is translated “became,” as the gap theory postulates here. Neither does the phrase tohu waw bohu need to mean “ruined and desolated,” as the gap theory requires. The King James translation “without form and void” is the proper meaning. (page 8)
I’VE BEEN OPENING BOOKS AND CHASING LINKS ONLINE FOR SEVERAL DAYS, preparing for this article. Almost all the commentators I have access to, believe that creation is well-explained to us in the Bible in, normal, everyday terms; that Genesis is history, rightly stated and is not allegory. Adam and Eve were real people, not allegorical figures.
JESUS SAID THAT GOD MADE MAN AS MALE AND FEMALE AT THE BEGINNING of creation.But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; (Mark 10:6-7) Adam and Eve were made on the sixth day of creation; at the beginning of creation. They were historical figures and not allegorical, made-up story characters.
GENESIS IS A BOOK OF HISTORY. There was no evolution! The earth is not billions of years old. If you want to believe the earth is billions of years old, you will have to do it by faith. There is no science to back up an old earth. The earth is only a few days older than Adam and Eve. We could say that Adam and Eve were almost as old as dirt. Ω
THIS ARTICLE MAY TEST YOUR FAITHT. By faith you can believe the Word of God about creation; or by faith you can believe what some people believe who say they are scientists and need billions of years to accomplish their beliefs.
Read Through the Bible in a Year
JULY 22, 2019 - MONDAY
A.M. Psalm 7-9 P.M. Acts 17:1-15
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
Good Verses to Memorize:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 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. (Genesis 1:1-2)
Song for Today:
Praise Him, Praise Him (3:15)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_nIRLD_5gE&list=RDBB27OjUFZjs&index=4
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