Can we miss the larger picture by dwellling too much on fine points of grammar, when comparing Scripture to Scripture and doing word studies may give different results? Here are two translations of the same two verses -
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Gen 1:1-2, American Standard Version)
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now, the earth, had become waste and wild, and, darkness, was on the face of the roaring deep,––but, the Spirit of God, was brooding on the face of the waters. (Gen 1:1-2, Rotherham's Emphasized Bible)
Albert Barnes Notes on the Whole Bible, on v2 -
After a long discussion on the Hebrew writes "This sentence, therefore, does not necessarily describe the state of the land when first created, but merely intimates a change that may have taken place since it was called into existence. What its previous condition was, or what interval of time elapsed, between the absolute creation and the present state of things, is not revealed. How many transformations it may have undergone, and what purpose it may have heretofore served, are questions that did not essentially concern the moral well-being of man, and are therefore to be asked of some other interpreter of nature than the written word.
This state of things is finished in reference to the event about to be narrated. Hence, the settled condition of the land, expressed by the predicates “a waste and a void,” is in studied contrast with the order and fullness which are about to be introduced. The present verse is therefore to be regarded as a statement of the needs that have to be supplied in order to render the land a region of beauty and life.
The second clause of the verse points out another striking characteristic of the scene. “And darkness was upon the face of the deep”: Here again the conjunction is connected with the noun. The time is the indefinite past, and the circumstance recorded is merely appended to that contained in the previous clause. The darkness, therefore, is connected with the disorder and solitude which then prevailed on the land. It forms a part of the physical derangement which had taken place on this part at least of the surface of our globe."
Is there a gap of undetermined time between the 1st and 2nd verse of Genesis one? Most modern interpreters use grammar arguments to deny this. Yet, how can v2 reflect the creation of v1 when compared to the following statement?
"For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, that established it and created it not a waste, that formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else." (Isa 45:18)
If the traditional translation of Gen. 1:1 is not a certainty, seeing there are other ways to translate, as shown in the NRSV - "In the beginning when God created", or "Or when God began to create", or "In the beginning God created" ... Even the Young's Literal Translation differs "In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth-- (Gen 1:1, YLT)
In the lamentation of the king of Tyre, there seems to be striking allusion to the fall of Satan as well, so could it account for any gap between vs1 and 2, if a gap and a judgment there exists?
"Thou wast in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was in thee; in the day that thou wast created they were prepared. Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth: and I set thee, so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee." (Ezek 28:13-15 ASV)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Gen 1:1-2, American Standard Version)
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now, the earth, had become waste and wild, and, darkness, was on the face of the roaring deep,––but, the Spirit of God, was brooding on the face of the waters. (Gen 1:1-2, Rotherham's Emphasized Bible)
Albert Barnes Notes on the Whole Bible, on v2 -
After a long discussion on the Hebrew writes "This sentence, therefore, does not necessarily describe the state of the land when first created, but merely intimates a change that may have taken place since it was called into existence. What its previous condition was, or what interval of time elapsed, between the absolute creation and the present state of things, is not revealed. How many transformations it may have undergone, and what purpose it may have heretofore served, are questions that did not essentially concern the moral well-being of man, and are therefore to be asked of some other interpreter of nature than the written word.
This state of things is finished in reference to the event about to be narrated. Hence, the settled condition of the land, expressed by the predicates “a waste and a void,” is in studied contrast with the order and fullness which are about to be introduced. The present verse is therefore to be regarded as a statement of the needs that have to be supplied in order to render the land a region of beauty and life.
The second clause of the verse points out another striking characteristic of the scene. “And darkness was upon the face of the deep”: Here again the conjunction is connected with the noun. The time is the indefinite past, and the circumstance recorded is merely appended to that contained in the previous clause. The darkness, therefore, is connected with the disorder and solitude which then prevailed on the land. It forms a part of the physical derangement which had taken place on this part at least of the surface of our globe."
Is there a gap of undetermined time between the 1st and 2nd verse of Genesis one? Most modern interpreters use grammar arguments to deny this. Yet, how can v2 reflect the creation of v1 when compared to the following statement?
"For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, that established it and created it not a waste, that formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else." (Isa 45:18)
If the traditional translation of Gen. 1:1 is not a certainty, seeing there are other ways to translate, as shown in the NRSV - "In the beginning when God created", or "Or when God began to create", or "In the beginning God created" ... Even the Young's Literal Translation differs "In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth-- (Gen 1:1, YLT)
In the lamentation of the king of Tyre, there seems to be striking allusion to the fall of Satan as well, so could it account for any gap between vs1 and 2, if a gap and a judgment there exists?
"Thou wast in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was in thee; in the day that thou wast created they were prepared. Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth: and I set thee, so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee." (Ezek 28:13-15 ASV)
