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The Creation
1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.2Now the earthwasformlessand void,and darknesswas overthe surfaceof the deep.And the Spiritof Godwas hoveringoverthe surfaceof the waters.3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.…

Treasury of Scripture

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters.

without.

Job 26:7
He stretcheth out the north over the empty place,and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

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: Iam the LORD; andthere is none else.

Jeremiah 4:23
I beheld the earth, and, lo,it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and theyhad no light.

Spirit.

Job 26:14
Lo, theseare parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?

Psalm 33:6
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

Psalm 104:30
Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

DarkDarknessDeepEarthEmptyExistedFaceFlutteringFormFormlessGod'sHoveredHoveringMovedMovingSpiritSurfaceUnformedVoidWasteWatersDarkDarknessDeepEarthEmptyExistedFaceFlutteringFormFormlessGod'sHoveredHoveringMovedMovingSpiritSurfaceUnformedVoidWasteWaters1.God creates heaven and earth;
3.the light;
6.the firmament;
9.separates the dry land;
14.forms the sun, moon, and stars;
20.fishes and fowls;
24.cattle, wild beasts, and creeping things;
26.creates man in his own image, blesses him;
29.grants the fruits of the earth for food.

Now the earth was formless and void
This phrase describes the initial state of the earth as chaotic and uninhabitable. The Hebrew words "tohu" (formless) and "bohu" (void) suggest a lack of order and emptiness. This condition sets the stage for God's creative work, emphasizing His power to bring order and life. The concept of chaos is common in ancient Near Eastern creation myths, but the biblical narrative uniquely presents God as sovereign over chaos, not battling it. This pre-creation state can be seen as a type of spiritual barrenness, which God transforms, paralleling how He brings life to spiritually barren hearts.

and darkness was over the surface of the deep
Darkness here symbolizes the absence of God's creative light and order. The "deep" (Hebrew "tehom") refers to the primordial waters, a common motif in ancient creation stories, representing chaos and mystery. In biblical theology, darkness often symbolizes evil or judgment, but here it simply indicates the absence of light. This sets the stage for God’s first act of creation: bringing light. The imagery of darkness and deep is echoed in other scriptures, such asPsalm 104:6-9, which speaks of God's control over the waters, and in the New Testament, where Jesus is the light overcoming darkness (John 1:5).

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters
The "Spirit of God" (Hebrew "Ruach Elohim") is depicted as active and life-giving, preparing to bring order and life. The verb "hovering" suggests a protective and nurturing presence, similar to a bird over its nest, indicating God's intimate involvement in creation. This anticipates the role of the Holy Spirit throughout scripture as the agent of life and renewal, seen in passages likePsalm 104:30 andJohn 3:5-8. The Spirit's presence at creation foreshadows the new creation in Christ, where the Spirit brings spiritual life and transformation.

1.The Earth
At this point in creation, the earth is described as "formless and void," indicating a state of chaos and emptiness before God's creative work begins.

2.The Deep
This term refers to the primordial waters covering the earth, symbolizing chaos and the unknown. In Hebrew, "tehom" is used, which is often associated with the deep, mysterious waters.

3.Darkness
Represents the absence of light and order, a state that precedes God's creative intervention.

4.The Spirit of God
The Hebrew word "ruach" can mean spirit, wind, or breath. Here, it signifies God's active presence and power, preparing to bring order and life.

5.The Waters
The chaotic waters over which the Spirit of God hovers, symbolizing the potential for life and creation that God will soon bring forth.God's Sovereignty Over Chaos
Even in the midst of chaos and emptiness, God's Spirit is present and active. This reminds us that God is sovereign over all circumstances, no matter how chaotic they may seem.

The Role of the Holy Spirit
The Spirit of God is depicted as hovering, indicating a protective and nurturing presence. In our lives, the Holy Spirit is actively involved, guiding and sustaining us.

The Potential for New Creation
Just as the Spirit hovered over the waters, preparing for creation, God is always at work in our lives, ready to bring forth new beginnings and transformation.

The Importance of Light and Order
The initial state of darkness and chaos highlights the importance of God's light and order. In our spiritual journey, we are called to seek God's light to illuminate our paths.1.What is the meaning of Genesis 1:2?

2.How does Genesis 1:2 describe the earth's condition before God's creative work began?

3.What role does the "Spirit of God" play in Genesis 1:2?

4.How can we see God's order from Genesis 1:2 in our lives today?

5.Compare Genesis 1:2 with John 1:1-3. How do they relate?

6.How does Genesis 1:2 inspire trust in God's transformative power in chaos?

7.How does Genesis 1:2 align with scientific theories about the Earth's formation?

8.What does "formless and void" in Genesis 1:2 imply about the initial state of creation?

9.How is the "Spirit of God" moving over the waters interpreted in Genesis 1:2?

10.What are the top 10 Lessons from Genesis 1?

11.What role did the Holy Spirit play in creation?

12.How do I receive the Holy Spirit?

13.Is the Holy Spirit considered to be God?

14.What are marine spirits?Now the earth was formless and void

“Now the earth was formless and void” (Genesis 1:2).

• God’s creative work is introduced with a scene of total emptiness—no structure, no life.Isaiah 45:18 reminds us that God “formed the earth… He did not create it to be empty,” hinting that the void is temporary and about to be filled by His purposeful design.

•Jeremiah 4:23 echoes the same phrase to describe judgment, underscoring how the absence of God’s order leaves only chaos.

• The Spirit-inspired writer places us at the very moment before God’s shaping begins, emphasizing that everything existing soon afterwards—light, land, life—comes solely from Him.

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and darkness was over the surface of the deep

“and darkness was over the surface of the deep” (Genesis 1:2).

• Darkness signals the absence of light, still unspoken until verse 3.Psalm 104:6 paints a parallel picture: “You covered it with the deep like a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.”

• The “deep” conveys the vast, primeval waters.Job 38:9 describes God covering the sea “with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness,” reinforcing that the darkness is real, not symbolic.

• This line highlights the total inability of creation to illuminate itself. Only divine intervention will break the darkness (John 1:4-5).

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And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters

“And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:2).

• God is not distant; His Spirit is actively present, “hovering” like a bird ready to nurture life (Deuteronomy 32:11).

• This movement indicates anticipation. Just asRomans 8:26 says the Spirit “helps us in our weakness,” here He presides over a powerless creation, poised to bring order.

• The Spirit’s role links directly to the life-giving breath inGenesis 2:7 and to the new-creation work inJohn 3:5-8. From the first chapter onward, Scripture shows God’s Spirit energizing both the universe and human hearts.

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summary

Genesis 1:2 records the universe before God began shaping it: empty, dark, and submerged. Yet even in that emptiness, God’s Spirit was moving, guaranteeing that chaos would soon yield to order, darkness to light, and barrenness to life. The verse sets the stage for every creative act that follows, testifying that the Lord alone brings form, fullness, and flourishing.

(2)And the earth.--The conjunction "and" negatives the well-meant attempt to harmonise geology and Scripture by takingGenesis 1:1 as a mere heading; the two verses go together, and form a general summary of creation, which is afterwards divided into its several stages.

Was is not the copula, but the substantive verbexisted, and expresses duration of time. After creation, the earth existed as a shapeless and empty waste.

Without form, and void.--Literally,tohu andbohu, which words are both substantives, and signifywasteness andemptiness. The similarity of their forms, joined with the harshness of their sound, made them pass almost into a proverb for everything that was dreary and desolate (Isaiah 34:11;Jeremiah 4:23). It expresses here the state of primaeval matter immediately after creation, when as yet there was no cohesion between the separate particles.

Darkness.--As light is the result either of the condensation of matter or of vibrations caused by chemical action, this exactly agrees with the previous representation of the chaos out of which the earth was to be shaped. It existed at present only as an incoherent waste of emptiness.

The deep.--T?hom. This word, from a root signifying confusion or disturbance, is poetically applied to the ocean, as inPsalm 42:7, from the restless motion of its waves, but is used here to describe the chaos as a surging mass of shapeless matter. In the Babylonian legend, Tiamat, the Hebrewt?hom, is represented as overcome by Merodach, who out of the primaeval anarchy brings order and beauty (Sayce,Chaldean Genesis, pp. 59, 109, 113). . . .

Verse 2. -And the earth. Clearly the earth referred to in the preceding verse, the present terrestrial globe with its atmospheric firmament, and not simply "the land" as opposed to "the skies" (Murphy); certainly not "the heavens" of ver. 1 as well as the earth (Delitzsch); and least of all "a section of the dry land in Central Asia" (Buckland, Pye Smith). It is a sound principle of exegesis that a word shall retain the meaning it at first possesses till either intimation is made by the writer of a change in its significance, or such change is imperatively demanded by the necessities of the context, neither of which is the case here.Was. Not "had become."Without form and void. Literally, wasteness and emptiness,tohu vabohu. The words are employed inIsaiah 34:11 andJeremiah 4:23 to depict the desolation and desertion of a ruined and depopulated land, and by many have been pressed into service to support the idea of a preceding cosmos, of which the chaotic condition of our planet was the wreck (Murphy, Wordsworth, Bush, &c). Delitzsch argues, on the ground thattohu vabohu implies the ruin of a previous cosmos, that ver. 2 does not state specifically that God created the earth in this desolate and waste condition; and that death, which is inconceivable out of connection with sin, was in the world prior to the fall; that ver. 2 presupposes the fall of the angels, and adduces in support of his viewJob 38:4-7 ('Bib. Psychology,' sect. 1, p. 76; Clark's 'For. Theol. Lib.') - a notion which Kalisch contemptuously classes among "the aberrations of profound minds," and "the endless reveries" of "far-sighted thinkers." Bush is confident thatIsaiah 45:18, in which Jehovah declares that he created not the earthroan,is conclusive against a primeval chaos. The parallel clause, however, shows that not the original state, but the ultimate design of the globe, was contemplated in Jehovah's language: "He created it nottohu, he formed it to be inhabited;"i.e. the Creator did not intend the earth to be a desolate region, but an inhabited planet. There can scarcely be a doubt, then, that the expression portrays the condition in which the new-created earth was, not innumerable ages, but very shortly, after it was summoned into existence. It was formless and lifeless; a huge, shapeless, objectless, tenantless mass of matter, the gaseous and solid elements commingled, in which neither organized structure, nor animated form, nor even distinctly-traced outline of any kind appeared.And darkness (was)upon the face of the deep. The "deep," from a root signifying to disturb, is frequently applied to the sea (Psalm 42:8), and here probably intimates that the primordial matter of our globe existed in a fluid, or liquid, or molten form. Dawson distinguishes between "the deep" and the "waters," making the latter refer to the liquid condition of the globe, and the former apply to "the atmospheric waters,"i.e. the vaporous or aeriform mass mantling the surface of our nascent planet, and containing the materials out of which the atmosphere was afterwards elaborated ('Origin of the World,' p. 105). As yet the whole was shrouded in the thick folds of Cimmerian gloom, giving not the slightest promise of that fair world of light, order, and life into which it was about to be transformed. Only one spark of hope might have been detected in the circumstance thatthe Spirit of God moved (literally, brooding)upon the face of the waters. That theRuach Elohim, or breath of God, was not "a great wind," or "a wind of God," is determined by the non-existence of the air at this particular stage in the earth's development. In accordance with Biblical usage generally, it must be regarded as a designation not simply "of the Divine power, which, like the wind and the breath, cannot be perceived" (Gesenius), but of the Holy Spirit, who is uniformly represented as the source or formative cause of all life and order in the world, whether physical, intellectual, or spiritual (cf.Job 26:13;Job 27:3;Psalm 33:6;Psalm 104:29;Psalm 143:10;Isaiah 34:16;Isaiah 61:1;Isaiah 63:11). As it were, the mention of theRuach Elohim is the first out-blossoming of the latent fullness of the Divine personality, the initial movement in that sublime revelation of the nature of the Godhead, which, advancing slowly, and at the best but indistinctly, throughout Old Testament times, culminated in the clear and ample disclosures of the gospel The special form of this Divine agent's activity is described as that of" brooding" (merachepheth, fromraehaph,to be tremulous, as with love; hence, in Piel, to cherish young -Deuteronomy 32:11) or fluttering over the liquid elements of the shapeless and tenantless globe, communicating to them, doubtless, those formative powers of life and order which were to burst forth into operation in answer to the six words of the six ensuing days. As might have been anticipated, traces of this primeval chaos are to be detected in various heathen cosmogonies, as the following brief extracts will show: -

1. TheChaldean legend, deciphered from the creation tablet discovered in the palace of Assurbanipal, King of Assyria, 2. c. 885, depicts the desolate and void condition of the earth thus: -

"When above were not raised the heavens,
And below on the earth a plant had not grown up;
The abyss also had not broken up their boundaries; The chaos (or water) tiamat (the sea) was the producing-mother of the whole of them," etc. ('Chaldean Genesis,' p. 62.)

2.The Babylonian cosmogony, according to Berosus (B.C. 330-260), commences with a time "in which there existed nothing but darkness" and an abyss of waters, wherein resided most hideous beings, which were produced of a twofold principle... The person who presided over them was a woman named Omoroea, which in the Chaldean language is Thalatth, in Greek Thalassa, the sea, but which might equally be interpreted the moon" ('Chaldean Genesis,' pp. 40, 41). . . .

Parallel Commentaries ...

Now the earth
וְהָאָ֗רֶץ(wə·hā·’ā·reṣ)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776:Earth, land

was
הָיְתָ֥ה(hā·yə·ṯāh)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 1961:To fall out, come to pass, become, be

formless
תֹ֙הוּ֙(ṯō·hū)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 8414:A desolation, desert, a worthless thing, in vain

and void,
וָבֹ֔הוּ(wā·ḇō·hū)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 922:A vacuity, an undistinguishable ruin

and darkness
וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ(wə·ḥō·šeḵ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2822:The dark, darkness, misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness

was over
עַל־(‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921:Above, over, upon, against

the surface
פְּנֵ֣י(pə·nê)
Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 6440:The face

of the deep.
תְה֑וֹם(ṯə·hō·wm)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 8415:An abyss, the deep

And the Spirit
וְר֣וּחַ(wə·rū·aḥ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - common singular construct
Strong's 7307:Wind, breath, exhalation, life, anger, unsubstantiality, a region of the sky, spirit

of God
אֱלֹהִ֔ים(’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430:gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

was hovering
מְרַחֶ֖פֶת(mə·ra·ḥe·p̄eṯ)
Verb - Piel - Participle - feminine singular
Strong's 7363:To brood, to be relaxed

over
עַל־(‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921:Above, over, upon, against

the surface
פְּנֵ֥י(pə·nê)
Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 6440:The face

of the waters.
הַמָּֽיִם׃(ham·mā·yim)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4325:Water, juice, urine, semen


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OT Law: Genesis 1:2 Now the earth was formless and empty (Gen. Ge Gn)