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Wednesday April 22 2026
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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.
Did you know the Bible talks about two worldwide Floods?
Most are familiar with the one recorded in Genesis 6-10, the one involving Noah. But there is another one recorded earlier in Genesis, right in Genesis 1. As we delve into this subject, I should warn you that this study may answer some fascinating questions, but it will raise many others.
Let’s study.
Genesis 1:2 tells us that the Earth “was without form, and void” even as it informs us that it was covered by “the deep” and “the waters.” That word translated “was” is a Hebrew word (hayah) that often denoted something which had changed from its prior form and “became” something else.
For example:
Genesis 2:7-And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became (hayah) a living being.
Genesis 19:26-But his wife looked back behind him, and she became (hayah) a pillar of salt.
Writing of the translation of hayah throughout the Old Testament, Howell and Horn note:
“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)
So Genesis 1:2 could suggest that the Earth had “become” “without form, and void,” implying a change in the gap of time between Genesis 1:1 and 2. This “gap theory” was commented on and noted by Jewish rabbis (and others).
“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)
So if the Earth of Genesis 1:2 had been devastated by a Flood, then what was the cause of the Flood? The answer is found in the words “without form and void.”
“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)
Long ago, brother George DeHoff discussed this:
“Some verses of scriptures indicate that the earth was created fair and beautiful beyond our highest imagination. Isa. 45:18 says, “Thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth, He created it not in vain.” The word translated “in vain” is exactly the same as that translated “without form” in Genesis 1:2 and the Revised Version translates it “waste” in both places; hence God created the earth “not in vain,” “not waste,” “not void.” Job 38:4-7 tells us that when God first laid “the foundations of the earth” conditions were such that “the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy” indicating the perfection and completeness of the work of creation. Some have suggested that the Hebrew word for creation “implies that the creation was a perfect work, in perfect and beautiful order.” The words translated “The earth was without form and void” (Gen. 1:2) might equally well be translated “The earth became waste and void” implying as stated in Isaiah 45:18 that it had not always been that way, just as we read in Genesis 19:26 Lot’s wife “became a pillar of salt”. The words are the same in the original. Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible translates the passage “Now the earth had become waste…” The Authorized Version says, “without form and void”; the American Revised, “waste and void”; the Chaldee Version, “But the earth had become desert and empty”; the Aramaic, “And the earth had become ruined and uninhabited”; and the Vulgate says, “dreary and empty.”” (George DeHoff, Why We Believe the Bible, 24-25 (Kindle Edition): McLoud, OK: Cobb Publishing)
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.
Both the Isaiah and the Jeremiah passages refer to places becoming “the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness” 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). When we interpret Genesis 1:2 in light of the other uses of this phrase, it strongly implies that the Earth was flooded due to the sin of its’ inhabitants.
“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)
So it would seem that the Flood of Genesis 1 was the result of Divine judgment against the sin of whoever lived on Earth before Adam and Eve. Since Adam and Eve were the first humans (Acts 17:26-28), that raises lots of other questions.
Who (or what) lived on Earth before humanity?
Could it have been fallen angels?
Something else?
What did they do in order to bring about such Divine wrath?
What happened to those beings?
What this reminds us of especially is the fact of God’s holiness and wrath against sin. There is a Day of Judgment approaching and we need to be ready (2 Peter 3:10-13; Acts 2:37-47; 1 John 1:7-2:2).
Lord, thank You for Your Word that answers so many questions, and raises still more. The depths of Your wisdom and love astonishes us! We praise You. Amen.