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It is written:
Genesis 1:1-2-In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
The gap theory states that there is an indefinite “gap” of time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. It is often claimed that Genesis 1:1 describes the original creation by God at some point in time before Adam and Eve, and that verse two describes a period where God destroyed the Earth before the creation of humanity. In essence, it is argued that in Genesis 1:2, the main thrust of the passage is that the “Earth had become without form and void,” as a consequence of Divine judgment.
Could there be any truth to this idea?
Let’s study.
Before we look carefully at the gap theory, let’s notice that this is not a new idea. It is often argued that the gap theory was invented only in the last two hundred years by some Christians who were attempting to harmonize the “young Earth” chronology of Genesis 5 with the “old Earth” philosophy proposed by defenders of Darwin’s theory of macroevolution. However, the fact is, many ancient commentators long before Charles Darwin discussed the idea of the gap theory.
“Though it was seldom a point of discussion, the concept of a gap was common among ancient Hebrew rabbis. Akiba ben Joseph, who was executed by the Romans in 135 AD, left a clear witness in what would become known as the Mishna. One of Akiba’s disciples, Simeon ben Jochai, wrote The Book of Light, or Zohar. His commentary on Genesis 2: 4–6 expresses the common view held during the lifetime of the apostles and into the second century. “These are the generations of heaven and earth… Now wherever there is written the word ‘these’ () the previous words are put aside. And these are the generations of the destruction which is signified in verse 2 of chapter 1. The earth was Tohu and Bohu. These indeed are the worlds of which it is said that the blessed God created them and destroyed them, and, on that account, the earth was desolate and empty.” This ancient writer who was contemporaneous with the early church had no agenda other than interpreting the Hebrew Scriptures, a living language in his day. The text itself forces the conclusion that the heaven (not heavens) and earth were created at some point prior to Genesis 1: 3 and became “empty and desolate” (without form and void) through an act of judgment….Arthur C. Custance (MA in Hebrew and Greek and PhD in biblical archeology and anthropology) was a Canadian anthropologist, scientist, and author specializing in science and Christianity. In 1970 he privately published Without Form and Void. “We are in no position at present to determine precisely how the Jewish commentators made the discovery, but their early literature (the Midrash for example) reveals that they had some intimation of an early pre-Adamic catastrophe affecting the whole earth. Similarly, clear evidence appears in the oldest extant Version of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Targum of Onkelos) and some intimation may be seen in the “punctuation marks” of the Masoretic text of Genesis, Chapter One.” (p. 2–3) The Jewish Midrash, originating after the Babylonian captivity, over 500 years before Christ, contains early interpretations and commentaries on the Hebrew Bible. It was the basis of rabbinical teaching at the time of Christ. A copy of it was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, predating the New Testament. There are other preserved copies dating from the second century AD, just decades after the apostles. The Midrash is a highly respected exegesis of the Hebrew Bible from various perspectives by many writers and traditions, providing us with a history of their understanding of the text. How could modern writers dare suggest that Gap Creationism is a new idea designed to accommodate modern evolutionary thinking when we have clear records of its antiquity?” (Michael Pearl, The Gap Fact and Out-of-Whack Creation Scientism, 227-250 (Kindle Edition): No Greater Joy Ministries; Pleasantville TN)
Now, let’s do some in-depth study of Genesis 1:2.
Is there any justification for translating the phrase “the Earth was without form and void” as “the Earth had become without form and void?”
When I first began studying this, I assumed there would not be much evidence to support the translation of the Earth “was without form and void to “the Earth had become without form and void.”
However, there is actually a strong case that can be made for the translation that the Earth had “become” without form and void.
“And in truncated, staccato form, Ethelbert, W. Bullinger—of The Companion Bible: Being the Authorized Version of 1611 with the Structures and Notes, Critical, Explanatory and Suggestive and with 198 Appendixes—looks at more than just tohu and bohu. He zeroes in on what happens just before these terms to when Genesis 1: 2 states Earth “was” (Hebrew haya) tohu and bohu, and compares what “was” means in relation to tohu and bohu throughout the rest of Scripture: was = became. See Gen. 2: 7; 4: 3; 9: 15; 19: 26; Ex. 32: 1; Deut. 27: 9; 2 Sam. 7: 24, &c. Also rendered came to pass, Gen. 4: 14; 22: 1; 23: 1; 27: 1; Josh. 4: 1; 5: 1; 1 Kings 13: 32; Isa. 14: 24, &c…. Hence, Ex. 3: 1, kept = became keeper, quit = become men, &c. [The bottom line here is that “was” is better rendered “became.”] without form = waste. Heb. tohu va bohu…. Not created tohu (Isa. 45: 18), but became tohu (Gen. 1: 2; 2 Pet. 3: 5, 6). “An enemy hath done this” (Matt. 13: 25, 28, 39. Cp. 1 Cor. 14: 33). 196 Wait a second… what was that? The Hebrew allows “the earth became” instead of “the earth was”? Actually, yes. The Hebrew word haya often conveys “became” over its “was” alternative; it’s surprising how many English Bibles prefer “was” in this location, when it’s clear that God would not have created an Earth that “was” a place of pure chaos. Recall that the diacritical marks in Hebrew didn’t exist at the time Genesis was written, so we cannot rely on any help in that area. If we take the base root word back to its foundational concept, as The Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon has done, we see the following: [ haya] vb [verb]. fall out, come to pass, become, be—Qal I. 1. a. fall out, happen. b. occur, take place, come about, come to pass. 2. esp. & very oft., come about, come to pass sq. substantive (subj.) cl. almost alw. + modifying (usu. temporal) cl. or phr.: a. (1)… and it came to pass that197 It isn’t that haya must mean “become”/“ became”; it’s it can mean “become”/“ became,” and once we look at all the evidence—especially considering God’s nature, character, and creative power throughout the rest of the Creation epic—that’s the more reasonable interpretation of the word. Consider this example from Genesis 19: 26: “But his [Lot’s] wife looked back from behind him, and she became [ haya] a pillar of salt.” The respected Blue Letter Bible Online—well known for its “Outline of Biblical Usage” section that, as the title implies, gives a general understanding of how certain words are used in the Bible—shows that “become”/“ became” is actually the first definition of haya: “Outline of Biblical Usage: I. to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.” 198 Just under that, the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon agrees: “fall out, come to pass, become, be.” 199 In Bullinger’s aforementioned treatment of “without form,” the last thing he does before moving on to another word is link the concept of “became” to the working of an enemy: “‘ An enemy hath done this’ (Matt. 13: 25, 28, 39. Cp. 1 Cor. 14: 33).” 200 An “enemy,” huh? That’s a fascinating cross-reference for this study, indeed. It implies that when Earth “became” (or “was reduced to”) this chaotic state, it was because of the workings of an enemy of God. But just before Bullinger says this, he states something quite telling about what else was on Earth in those days as a result of this enemy. The first words of the entire Companion Bible work—in relation to Genesis 1: 1 and the ancient state of our planet—are: “1: ‘The world that then was’ (2 Pet. 3: 5, 6).… Creation in eternity past, to which all Fossils and ‘Remains’ belong.” 201”. (Donna Howell, Dr. Thomas Horn, BEFORE GENESIS: The Unauthorized History of Tohu, Bohu, and the Chaos Dragon in the Land Before Time, 343-345 (Kindle Edition): Crane, MO: Defender Publishing)
Furthermore, when we look more carefully at the phrase “without form and void,” we find some other startling facts.
“The words “without form, and void” are the Hebrew words TOHUW WA-BOHUW, and “darkness” is CHOSHEK. Whatever these words mean, we can certainly tell the earth wasn’t a very nice place. Strong’s Dictionary of the Hebrew Language30 defines them as: TOHUW (Strong’s Number H8414) “to-hoo; from an unused root mean. to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), i.e. desert; fig. a worthless thing; adv. in vain:—confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness.” BOHUW (Strong’s Number H922) “bo-hoo; from an unused root (mean. to be empty); a vacuity, i.e. (superficially) an undistinguishable ruin:—emptiness, void.” CHOSHEK (Strong’s Number H2822) “kho-shek;… lit. darkness; fig. misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness:—dark (-ness), night, obscurity…BOHUW means void or empty. The Bible always uses the literal meaning of BOHUW. TOHUW, on the other hand, can be either literal or figurative. In its literal meaning, TOHUW describes a desolation, a barren wasteland, or a bleak wilderness. TOHUW figuratively describes purposelessness, non-productiveness, worthlessness, meaninglessness, vanity, or uselessness.” (Steven E. Dill, In The Beginnings: A Defense of the Biblical Gap Theory of Creation, 7160-7236 (Kindle Edition): Louisville, KY)
What is especially relevant to our study, however, is that the phrases “‘without form” and “void” are found joined together in only two other passages of Scripture.
Isaiah 34:11-But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, Also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness.
Jeremiah 4:23-I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; And the heavens, they had no light.
There are some interesting things to notice about these passages.
The first thing is this: both the Isaiah and the Jeremiah passages refer to places becoming “the line of confusion and the stones of empties” and “without form and void” as a result of Divine punishment. Isaiah is referring to God’s judgments on the land of Babylon, and Jeremiah mentions God’s punishment on the Earth (or perhaps Jerusalem in strict context).
“BOHUW unquestionably refers to Divine judgment in Isaiah 34: 11. BOHUW unquestionably refers to Divine judgment in Jeremiah 4: 23. If there were no other arguments for the Gap Theory, I think my interpretation of Genesis 1: 2 stands on this evidence: I have God telling me in two other places in Scripture that TOHUW and BOHUW are physical descriptions of His judgments. I have men telling me my interpretation is wrong because it contradicts their interpretations. Until someone can prove there is a passage in Scripture that uses TOHUW and BOHUW together in a non-Divine judgmental setting, then I’m going to believe God and not men. The combination of TOHUW and BOHUW describes a Divine judgment in space and time. In Genesis 1: 2, that space is the earth. In Genesis 1: 2, that time is before Adam. The Pre-Adamic earth was judged and made desolate and dead by God’s judgment. Genesis 1: 3-31 describe how God restored the desolate and dead earth He had judged. The earth has had two beginnings.” (Steven E. Dill, In The Beginnings: A Defense of the Biblical Gap Theory of Creation, 7160-7236 (Kindle Edition): Louisville, KY)
But there is a second thing to notice about these passages, especially that one in Isaiah. Please notice that Isaiah 34:11 has a primary reference not only to Babylon, but to the non-human spiritual and demonic forces at work in the land!
How do I get to that conclusion, you ask?
Look closely at the context of Isaiah 34:11.
Isaiah 34:14-The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, And the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; Also the night creature shall rest there, And find for herself a place of rest.
Isaiah 34:14 (Brenton’s LXX)-The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, And the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; Also the night creature shall rest there, And find for herself a place of rest.
Consider how the translators of the Greek Old Testament (LXX) associate these animals of the desert with demonic creatures (“monsters,” “devils,” “the night creature”). The reason for this is due to the usage of these words in the ancient world. The Bible writers often used words from the animal world to describe certain demonic forces, since those demonic forces sometimes emulate the characteristics of those creatures. John himself shows us further validation of this interpretation when he references Isaiah 34 in Revelation:
Revelation 18:2-And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!
Notice the way that John stays with the Greek Old Testament (LXX) rendering of Isaiah 13:21 and 34:14.
So the Divine judgment of God that left the land “without form and void” was especially involving His punishment of the supernatural forces.
When we interpret the phrase “without form and void” in Genesis 1:2 with the two other identical phrases in the Old Testament, it seems that a good case can be made that the Earth of Genesis 1 was “without form and void” as a result of Divine punishment; and that this punishment was directed against non-human beings who had rebelled against the Almighty.
Yet there is more that should be considered.
Notice something that the Psalmist says:
Psalm 74:13-17-You divided the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters. 14 You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, And gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness. 15 You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up mighty rivers. 16 The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun. 17 You have set all the borders of the earth; You have made summer and winter.
Please notice the many references here in Psalm 74 to Genesis 1. You have the dividing of the seas (Psalm 74:13; Genesis 1:10), and the references to the day and the night and the light and the sun (Psalm 74:16-17; Genesis 1:3-4, 16-10). So this passage in Psalms seems to be a Divine commentary on the events of Genesis 1.
“Here, we have two very different-sounding accounts. In Genesis, we learn that God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was without form and void, there was darkness over the face of the deep, the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters, and that God began His creation by creating light. The account in Genesis establishes the conflict between God and primordial chaos, represented by the sea and a sea monster, in the very second verse of the Bible. The word translated “deep” is the Hebrew tehom. That’s a cognate—same word, different language—to the Akkadian têmtum, which in turn is a variant form of Tiamat, the Sumerian name for the chaos monster of the sea. Why did the Spirit of God hover over the waters? Although there is no record here of the conflict between YHWH and “the deep,” it seems as though the intent is to restrain something—chaos itself. Psalm 74 is a bit different. We learn that God is from old, working salvation in the midst of the earth (which again, at the beginning would have been only water). Then we learn God divides the seas (which, in Genesis, occurs in Genesis 1: 6) and breaks the heads of the sea monsters, along with crushing the heads of Leviathan. Later, we learn that God establishes the heavenly lights and the sun (which, in Genesis, doesn’t occur until the fourth day, described in Genesis 1: 14–19). It is generally believed among biblical scholars that Psalm 74 and Genesis 1 are likely polemics of the Baal Cycle. That is to say, they are attempts to take credit away from Baal for subduing chaos (Leviathan) and giving proper credit to YHWH for this and for creation itself. It is known from tablets found in Syria over the last 150 years that the Semites of western Mesopotamia, the Amorites and Canaanites, believed that it was their storm-god Baal who had subdued the chaos monster. Thus says Adad, I brought you back to the throne of your father, I brought you back. The weapons with which I fought Tiamat I gave to you. With the oil of my bitter victory I anointed you, and no one before you could stand.[ 236] Adad is the actual name of the west Semitic storm god we know in the Bible as Baal. (“ Baal” is actually a title: “lord”). The excerpt above is from a letter from Adad through his prophet, Abiya, to the king of Mari, Zimrī-Līm. The god was apparently reminding Zimrī-Līm that the king had been restored to power by his divine favor, which included sending to Zimrī-Līm the clubs he’d used to defeat Tiamat! Another tablet found at Mari, which was located on the Euphrates River near the modern border between Syria and Iraq, confirms that the clubs had been sent from Aleppo, which was known as the “city of Adad,” to the temple of Dagan (the earlier spelling of the Philistine god Dagon) at the town of Terqa, south of Mari. While that’s a fascinating bit of history—think about that: the divine clubs of Baal were literal, physical objects!—the point here is that Zimrī-Līm ruled at the same time as Hammurabi the Great of Babylon, which is about the time scholars believe the Enuma Elish was composed, and at least four hundred years before the Baal Cycle. So it appears that even between Baal and Marduk there was some competition over who actually defeated the monstrous god of chaos.” (Derek P. Gilbert, Josh Peck, The Day the Earth Stands Still: Unmasking the Old Gods Behind ETs, UFOs, and the Official Disclosure Movement, 263-265 (Kindle Edition): Crane, MO: Defender)
Consider further that Leviathan (an animal created by God-see Psalm 104:26) was sometimes used as a symbol or Satan himself. Notice what the Prophet Isaiah declared:
Isaiah 27:1–In that day the LORD with His severe sword, great and strong, Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea.
This “serpent” is referenced in Revelation as a descriptive name for Satan:
Revelation 12:9-So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
In describing the evidence that “Leviathan” is symbolic for Satan in the Book of Job, one scholar notes:
“The evidence is much stronger when it comes to Leviathan, since the monster is mentioned (with a different spelling) in the Baal Epic and serpentine sea monsters are common elsewhere in ANE literature. With regard to the Baal Epic, Mot, the god of death, makes reference to a prior victory of Baal over Lotan (claiming it will not help Baal when he fights with Death). 118 Mot describes Lotan, the ‘fleeing’ and ‘twisting’ serpent (brḥ and ʿqltn); the identical description of yhwh’s eschatological enemy in Isaiah 27: 1 prevents any confusion about the identity of Leviathan in the Old Testament. Further afield, the Mesopotamian gods Ninurta and Tishpak defeat dragons that live in the sea; in the case of Ninurta, his opponent is even said to have seven heads (cf. Ps. 74: 14). 119 A seal from Tell Asmar, from the city of Eshnunna, also portrays a deity piercing a seven-headed monster. 120 And of course mention should be made of Marduk’s defeat of Tiamat in Enuma Elish, the latter sometimes being portrayed as a serpent or dragon. 121 All of this is to say that there is significant evidence from the ANE that ancient Semites, when hearing about a serpentine, sea-dwelling creature of the name ‘Leviathan’, would have understood it as a symbol for cosmic chaos. Modern Westerners do not think about evil and chaos this way, of course, but ancient Semites did not turn to abstract or analytical categories when addressing the problem of evil, and yhwh is addressing one such Semite in the book of Job. Although not decisive for how we read the end of the book, ancient Israelites would arguably have understood Behemoth and Leviathan in the same way they are presented elsewhere in the ANE unless it were clearly signalled that these creatures were only ordinary animals.” (Eric Ortlund, Piercing Leviathan: God’s Defeat of Evil in the Book of Job (New Studies in Biblical Theology 56), 137-138 (Kindle Edition): Downers Grove, IL; InterVarsity Press)
Leviathan was imprisoned by God in the beginning (Genesis 1:1-3), and when Jesus died on the cross, his power was crushed (Colossians 2:14-15). While Satan increases in power during the Christian Age (Ephesians 6:10-12), he will be finally defeated and destroyed when Jesus comes again (Matthew 25:41-46).
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.