Genesis 1:2

Gen 1:2 "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."

"Without Form and Void" - A Hebrew phrase used only one other time in the bible. Jer 4:23 "I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void." God uses this phrase in an interesting way in Jeremiah. Certainly the context in Jeremiah is Israel's sin and the coming judgement of God upon the land. Jeremiah describes the destruction he prophetically sees in Israel's future. There are a few possibilites for describing this prophetic destruction with the phrase "Without form and void."

1. The destruction was so complete that the land would look like it did prior to the creation of the world.
2. The phrase has a moral connotation to it, describing not just a physical destruction, but a moral depravity of the land.

However complete the destruction of the land of Israel during the Babylonian invasion, this phrase seems unlikely to simply describe the extent of destruction. Rather, it is very possible there is a moral connection to this phrase. In Gen 1:2, we have a description of a dark "world" which has yet to experience the light of God. The figurative uses of "light" and "dark" do not need to be described, because they have the same connotation across culture and language. Could it be then that Israel was to experience a moral destruction and "darkness" consistent with the dark, formless earth prior to God's creative action bringing order to the chaos.

"...Darkness was over the face of the deep..." - Contrasted with the work God is about to perform... Gen 1:3 "Let there be light."

"deep" - Heb: tehom. Deep, deep ocean, etc. Liberal scholars have attempted to syncretize the bible with the Mesopotamian creation story Enuma Elish. They claim the word tehom has a connection with the Mesoptamian god "Tiamat". I bring it up here to illustrate some of the attempts scholars have made to descredit the word of God. I do not believe inspiration of scripture even needs to be defended from this ridiculous theory.

"...And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

"Spirit of God" - The third person in the Trinity is in view here. This is significant because we have seen God the Father, credited in the overall act of creation in Gen 1:1. Now, in the second verse of the bible, is the Spirit. Will the Son appear in our text? Keep reading... let's explore the next few verses together! Now this brings up a very good question posed by someone who commented on this blog:

Q: How was the Holy Spirit viewed by Israel in the Old Testament?

A: To answer this question is not an easy task. In fact, I must begin with the disappointment that there is no way to positively answer the question. When attempting to reconstruct the collective mind of a people who lived long ago, we can make a hardy attempt, but in the end, it will only be conjecture.

With that said, let's break down the issue and discuss how we will attempt to bring light to it.

We will want to concern ourselves with three main groups and attempt to understand their frame of mind:

1. The Old Testament writers.
2. The subsequent, Jewish commentators on the Old Testament.
3. The people living during the Old Testament, (Ancient Israelites).

#3 Let us begin by saying that #3 is silent. They would have been hopefully swayed by the writers of the Old Testament, who in turn wrote with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But that is like saying "Christians today believe and follow what the bible says about the Holy Spirit." Certainly, there is a percentage today of those who understand some deep things about the Spirit, but for the most part, the church today is ignorant of the word of God regarding the Holy Spirit. How could we say, then, that the common Israelite understood what the word of God was saying about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament? Therefore, #3 is silent and we have no other sources from them.

#2 What did the Rabbis say about the Holy Spirit after the Old Testament was written? (Now, you may ask, "Was there anyone commenting on the Old Testament during the time it was written?" The answer is, if there was, we don't have it today.) The works of the rabbis come in several sources; the most notable being the Talmud. Let us take a look at what the rabbis had to say about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Get ready to dig in to some linguistics for this one!

We will divide #2 into two separate sections. One (a) will discuss the word "Spirit" in Hebrew and how the rabbis viewed it. The other (b) will be concerned with the "Spirit of God" or "Spirit of the Lord". The rabbis viewed these as distinct and separate.

(a) As a general principal, most rabbi's believed, and still do, that the Hebrew word for "Spirit" - Ru-ach - simply meant "breath." This breath is what is required for living beings to be created. So, in Gen 1:2, the "breath" of was present for the work of creating life that was about to take place. Therefore, the Spirit of God is not a personal Being and member of the Trinity. Rather, it is a created force used in giving life to God's creation. According to the rabbis, each person has ru-ach in them. When the ru-ach leaves, they die.

The rabbis also had to come to grips with the fact that sometimes the word ru-ach was used as more than simply a life-giving force. For instance, the ru-ach came upon Samson and gave him incredible strength (Jdg 14:6). In my studies so far, I have come across no explanation for this by the rabbis. They simply say it is sometimes life-giving, and sometimes power-giving.

In conslusion, one rabbi wrote in the Talmud, (Hag. 12a, b) "The Spirit was among the ten things that were created on the first day." The overall view is of this ru-ach being a created force rather than uncreated and eternal God.

(b) The terms "Spirit of God" or "Spirit of the Lord" (Ru-ach Elohim or Ru-ach Yahweh) were believed to be separate than simply ru-ach on most instances. In the Talmud, they changed these terms to Shekinah, which can be translated "presence." They believed Ru-ach Elohim or Ru-ach Yahweh were phrases which referred to the physical manifestation of God on earth. For instance, the Shekinah is the presence of God which dwelt in the Holy of Holies in the temple.

(Section #2 is from http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/ Search: "Holy Spirit")

#1 The Old Testament writers, whether they knew it or not, portrayed a completely different understanding of the Holy Spirit. I would like to study the Shema, a famous text that was used frequently during Israelite worship:

Deut 6:4 "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!" (Italics mine)

As a quick note, the Shema is so called because it is the first word in the phrase, translated "Hear." But what I would like us to see is the final clause, "The Lord is one.!" The Hebrew for the word "one" is Echad. This word surely means "one", but it is a bit more complicated than that. The word describes compound unity, in other words, when two things become one. For instance, in Gen2:24 it says, "And they shall be one [achad] flesh." This verse is describing that the man and woman are to be united into one in God's eyes. Though they are distinctly two, they are one before the Lord. Therefore, the word achad describes compound unity. There is a different Hebrew word that describes singular unity. It is the word yachad. It is fascinating that yachad is not the word used in Deut 6:4.

The plurality of God is further emphasized by the fact that one of the names for God here is Elohim. See The post for Gen 1:1 for further on that word.

(Section #1 is partially from "Living Water" by Chuck Smith, pages 25 and 26)

Andrew Murray - Self-will rules in the life of every natural man. He says, "I do what I like and I have a right to do what I like." But I find that among Christians there are hundreds who, if you should ask, "Did you ever understand that when you became a Christian it was on the condition that you promise never to seek your own will?" would tell you they never understood that. But that is just what Christ demands. You are to do nothing but what God wills. You are to give up your will; self is to have no say in your life. That is the whole secret of salvation.