Job 38:7 Archives - Word of Grace Studies

Without Form and Void (תֹ֨הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ)

The insistence among some Christian teachers that the universe was created in six days raises a few issues when examining Scripture. It is Scripturally accurate that the earth we currently know was made in six days; however, made and created are two different concepts.

In a beginning God created the heavens and the earth, Genesis 1:1. Although in verse one many English translations add a definite article (the) before “Beginning”, implying that it is the first act or start of creation, in the original Hebrew, “Beginning” is not definite. Therefore, Genesis 1:1 is not referring to the beginning of God’s acts of creation. God’s first step in creation was creating the spirit beings, who witnessed the creation of the universe, Job 38:7. In verse Two of Genesis chapter One, the Hebrew verse starts with a conjunction vav (ו). Vav is used to indicate the progression of the story; however, it is not connected to time, only to order. Many events could have happened between the two episodes, but the first event occurs before the second one. Therefore, God created the heavens and the earth, and then something happened that caused the earth to be in a state of ruin. What occurred between the creation of the universe and the earth being found as a wasteland, void of life, in Genesis 1:2 is not discussed in Genesis, for the focus is on the renovation of the earth and the creation of humans, not the creation of the universe. Before we look at what happened between the creation of the universe and the condition of the earth in Genesis chapter One verse Two, let us examine the words “without form” and “void” to ensure we are […]

These are the Histories of the Earth and the Heavens

In the first chapter of the book of Genesis, two histories are given concerning the heavens and the earth. The first history was the creation of the universe, followed by an earth that is in ruin due to judgment. The second history is the renovation of the earth for biological life and the creation of humans.

These are the histories of the heavens and the earth when He created them, in the day the Lord God made the earth and the heavens – Genesis 2:4.

Some of our English translations make the histories singular; however, there is no issue with what we know of the original Hebrew, which is plural. Likely this translation error was influenced by theology rather than using proper hermeneutics, for there are some that claim God created the universe and all that is in it in six days, contrary to what is recorded in Genesis chapter 1, where the six days are describing the renovation of the earth for biological life.

Genesis chapter 1 is not the history of the first time God created something and the rule of Lucifer, it is the story of the renovation of the earth and the creation of humans. Therefore, the creation of the universe was summarized in verse one where God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing after creating the spirit beings, who saw God create it ( Job 38:7 ). Then in verse two we see the earth is in ruin; however, it was not originally in this state and it had to be in an orderly state before it could come to be found a wasteland covered in water ( Isaiah 45:18 ). This is the first history, for to tell of […]