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“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†(Is. 45.18). How clear God’s word is. The word “waste†here is “tohu†in Hebrew, which signifies “desolation†or “that which is desolate.†It says here that the earth which God created was not a waste. Why then does Genesis 1.2 state that “the earth was waste� This may be easily resolved. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1.1). At that time, the earth which God had created was not a waste; but later on, in passing through a great catastrophe, the earth did become waste and void. So that all which is mentioned from verse 3 onward does not refer to the original creation but to the restoration of the earth. God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning; but He subsequently used the Six Days to remake the earth habitable. Genesis 1.1 was the original world; Genesis 1.3 onward is our present world; while Genesis 1.2 describes the desolate condition which was the earth’s during the transitional period following its original creation and before our present world.
The conjunctive word “and†in verse 2 can also be translated as “butâ€Â: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but the earth was waste and void.†G. H. Pember, in his book Earth’s Earliest Ages, wrote that the “and†according to Hebrew usageâ€â€as well as that of most other languagesâ€â€proves that the first verse is not a compendium of what follows, but a statement of the first event in the record. For if it were a mere summary, the second verse would be the actual commencement of the history, and certainly would not begin with a copulative. A good illustration of this may be found in the fifth chapter of Genesis (Gen. 5.1). There the opening words, “This is the book of the generations of Adam,†are a compendium of the chapter, and, consequently, the next sentence begins without a copulative. We have, therefore, in the second verse of Genesis no first detail of a general statement in the preceding sentence, but the record of an altogether distinct and subsequent event, which did not affect the sidereal [starry] heaven, but only the earth and its immediate surroundings. And what that event was we must now endeavour to discover.*
* G. H. Pember, Earth's Earliest Ages, New Edition, edited with additions by G. H. Lang (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1975), p. 31. (The original work of Pember, under the same title, was initially published in 1876 by Hodder and Stoughton. Later editions were issued by Pickering and Inglis and the Fleming H. Revell Co.)
Over a hundred years ago, Dr. Chalmers pointed out that the words “the earth was waste†might equally be translated “the earth became waste.†Dr. I. M. Haldeman, G. H. Pember, and others showed that the Hebrew word for “was†here has been translated “became†in Genesis 19.26: “His wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.†If this same Hebrew word can be translated in 19.26 as “became,†why can it not be translated as “became†in 1.2? Furthermore, the word “became†in 2.7 (“and man became a living soulâ€Â) is the same word as is found Genesis 1.2. So that it is not at all arbitrary for anyone to translate “was†as “became†here: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, [but] the earth became waste and void.†The earth which God created originally was not waste, it only later became waste.
“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†(Is. 45.18). How clear God’s word is. The word “waste†here is “tohu†in Hebrew, which signifies “desolation†or “that which is desolate.†It says here that the earth which God created was not a waste. Why then does Genesis 1.2 state that “the earth was waste� This may be easily resolved. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1.1). At that time, the earth which God had created was not a waste; but later on, in passing through a great catastrophe, the earth did become waste and void. So that all which is mentioned from verse 3 onward does not refer to the original creation but to the restoration of the earth. God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning; but He subsequently used the Six Days to remake the earth habitable. Genesis 1.1 was the original world; Genesis 1.3 onward is our present world; while Genesis 1.2 describes the desolate condition which was the earth’s during the transitional period following its original creation and before our present world.
The conjunctive word “and†in verse 2 can also be translated as “butâ€Â: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but the earth was waste and void.†G. H. Pember, in his book Earth’s Earliest Ages, wrote that the “and†according to Hebrew usageâ€â€as well as that of most other languagesâ€â€proves that the first verse is not a compendium of what follows, but a statement of the first event in the record. For if it were a mere summary, the second verse would be the actual commencement of the history, and certainly would not begin with a copulative. A good illustration of this may be found in the fifth chapter of Genesis (Gen. 5.1). There the opening words, “This is the book of the generations of Adam,†are a compendium of the chapter, and, consequently, the next sentence begins without a copulative. We have, therefore, in the second verse of Genesis no first detail of a general statement in the preceding sentence, but the record of an altogether distinct and subsequent event, which did not affect the sidereal [starry] heaven, but only the earth and its immediate surroundings. And what that event was we must now endeavour to discover.*
* G. H. Pember, Earth's Earliest Ages, New Edition, edited with additions by G. H. Lang (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1975), p. 31. (The original work of Pember, under the same title, was initially published in 1876 by Hodder and Stoughton. Later editions were issued by Pickering and Inglis and the Fleming H. Revell Co.)
Over a hundred years ago, Dr. Chalmers pointed out that the words “the earth was waste†might equally be translated “the earth became waste.†Dr. I. M. Haldeman, G. H. Pember, and others showed that the Hebrew word for “was†here has been translated “became†in Genesis 19.26: “His wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.†If this same Hebrew word can be translated in 19.26 as “became,†why can it not be translated as “became†in 1.2? Furthermore, the word “became†in 2.7 (“and man became a living soulâ€Â) is the same word as is found Genesis 1.2. So that it is not at all arbitrary for anyone to translate “was†as “became†here: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, [but] the earth became waste and void.†The earth which God created originally was not waste, it only later became waste.
