Unearthing Genesis 1:1 | Part 5

The Sapphire Review Vol. 2 | No. 22 • May 2, 2025

May 02, 2025

Genesis 1:2 in Light of Isaiah 45:18

In this article, we will look at key passages in the Bible that have informed our understanding of “without form, and void” as pertaining to Genesis 1:2.

Let’s begin.

Isaiah 45:18

18 For thus saith [JEHOVAH] that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am [JEHOVAH]; and there is none else.

This verse is significant in a variety of ways. First, we will identify the synonymous parallelisms employed within it.

CREATED

formed, made, established

The word “created” is employed synonymously with formed, made, and established. So what was created, formed, made, and established by JEHOVAH?

JEHOVAH [created] the heaven[s]
JEHOVAH [formed] the earth [and made it… established it… created it…]

What are the heaven[s] and the earth?

“The heaven” is, primarily, the firmament [or expansion] — the heaven “proper”, but secondarily, the open firmament of heaven [margin: the face of the firmament of heaven]; the environment wherein the fowl of the air fly and where the clouds of the skies are spread. However, “sky” is not always necessarily employed in reference to the open expansion (although it is in many contexts),1 for “the sky” is also synonymously paralleled with “the heaven” proper (the firmament).2

“The earth” is the dry-land (ground), and includes the fields (open spaces), the hills, the mountains, as well as the foundations and pillars of the earth.

Tohu (תהו) and Bohu (בהו)

Now what is to be understood by “[JEHOVAH] created [the earth] not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited”? The Hebrew word for the present English phrase “in vain” is tohu (תהו) — the same word that’s translated as “without form” in Genesis 1:2. In Genesis 1:2, “without form” is synthetically paralleled with the Hebrew word bohu (בהו) and is translated into English as “void”. These two words are brought together (or, synthesized) to impart the combined meaning of nothingness3 and emptiness.4

These are not lexical definitions given by man, but are given by the Bible itself. Nearly every use of tohu (תהו) is employed in the context of creation (rather than non-creation as in Genesis 1:2) and must be understood in that context. Aside from “without form”, tohu (תהו) is translated as nothing,5 wilderness (margin, void place),6 waste,7 empty place,8 vanity,9 vain,10 and confusion,11 and is directly paired or closely associated with words like desert12 and desolate,13 and phrases like “broken down”.14

In Isaiah 40:17, wherein tohu (תהו) is translated as “vanity”, it’s synonymously paralleled with “nothing” and “less than nothing”. It is also translated twice in Isaiah as the word “nought”,15 evidencing further the sense of nothingness. This is the common principle which must be discerned throughout its employment. It always retains at least a partial value (both inherently and contextually through synonymous and synthetic parallelisms) of nothingness and emptiness (darkness and vacancy).

See Appendix C | Tohu (תהו) and Bohu (בהו) According to Scripture.

This is perhaps best demonstrated in Jeremiah 4:23, which is the third and final pairing together of tohu (תהו) and bohu (בהו) in all of Scripture after Genesis 1:2 and Isaiah 34:11. In the first and last of these three cases, the English words paired together are “without form, and void”. Understanding these texts will help us to understand the meaning given in Isaiah 45:18.

Isaiah 34:11

11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion (tohu תהו), and the stones of emptiness (bohu בהו).
12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
Isaiah 34:11–12

In our second synthetic pairing of tohu (תהו) and bohu (בהו), tohu as confusion is paralleled with “none [shall be] there” (vacancy), whereas bohu as emptiness is paralleled with “nothing.”

We also have another witness from Isaiah in which tohu (תהו) as “confusion” is synonymously paralleled with “broken down” and “no man”—

The city of confusion (tohu תהו) is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
Isaiah 24:10

Jeremiah 4:23

23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form (tohu תהו), and void (bohu בהו); and the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of [JEHOVAH], and by his fierce anger.
27 For thus hath [JEHOVAH] said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
Jeremiah 4:23–27

Here are the commonalities that Genesis 1:2 and Jeremiah 4:23–27 share:

There is darkness (i.e. “no light”)
There is no man; no birds (i.e. without inhabitants)

But the difference is that the hills and the mountains in Jeremiah 4:24 cannot be said to be “without form, and void” in the same way as in Genesis 1:2, because in Genesis 1:2, the hills and the mountains were, as yet, un-created; un-made; un-formed (without form, and void).

In Jeremiah 4:23–27, “without form, and void” is defined in-context as:

no light (4:23)
no man (4:25)
all the birds of the heavens were fled (4:25)
wilderness; broken down (4:26)
desolate (4:27)

These definitions are conveying the sense of DARKNESS and EMPTINESS.

We also have a supporting verse in Isaiah 6:11, which reads:

Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
Isaiah 6:11

The context here, which is comparable to that of Jeremiah 4:23, defines the word DESOLATE as:

“wasted”
“without inhabitant”
“without man”

The definitions given in Isaiah 6:11 support our definitions in Jeremiah 4:23-27 of “no man” and “all the birds of the heavens were fled”—both denoting vacancy. Furthermore, “no light”, “without inhabitant”, and “without man” also align with Genesis 1:2. That being said, Genesis 1:2 has a FULLER,—in fact, the fullest meaning of “without form, and void”. In Jeremiah 4:23-27, the prophet beholds the uninhabitable plain of a dark, empty, broken down, and desolate earth that has been nearly but not fully destroyed. But in Genesis 1:2, the earth is totally absent from the scene.

In Genesis 1:2, the waters called “the deep” are not merely without inhabitant, but there was NOTHING upon them; there was only DARKNESS—absence of light and creation. At the beginning of the first day, DARKNESS was upon the face of the deep, watery abyss; there was NO LIGHT, for God had not [as yet] spoken and commanded the light to shine out of darkness, and OVERCOME it.

Genesis 1:2, then, is speaking from the context of NON-CREATION (at the start of the beginning/six days) whereas Jeremiah 4:23 is speaking from the context of CREATION, specifically in the time of the end in which the heaven and the earth have nearly been fully destroyed before the re-creation of the new heaven and the new earth.

At that time, the whole land shall be desolate, yet will JEHOVAH NOT make a FULL END,—the earth will be almost, but not fully without form, and void; nearly, but not totally nothing. The two are different contexts with the common features of darkness (total absence of light) and emptiness (vacancy). Thus, Jeremiah 4:27 qualifies that earth will be not wholly without form, and not totally void before the recreation of the new heaven[s] and the new earth. So then, verse 27 qualifies “without form, and void” in Jeremiah 4:23 as a TYPE of tohu (תהו) and bohu (בהו) in Genesis 1:2.

Genesis 1:2

Now with these things in mind, let us compare Isaiah 45:18 and Genesis 1:2:

God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain (תהו), he formed it to be inhabited:
Isaiah 45:18

And the earth was without form (תהו), and void (בהו); and darkness was upon the face of the deep…
Genesis 1:2

God created the earth not tohu (תהו), and formed it to be inhabited (NOT vacant and void). That is to say, God DID NOT create the earth without form, and void. Now even if one should ignore these definitions and define tohu (תהו) and bohu (בהו) differently, NO MATTER HOW they are taken to mean, Isaiah tells us that the earth was NOT created tohu (תהו) and was NOT formed to be vacant and void [not bohu (בהו) implied]. Compare Isaiah 34:11–12.

So even if one takes tohu (תהו) and bohu (בהו) in Genesis 1:2 to instead mean, say, “waste, and destitute”, “shapeless, and empty”, “confused, and disordered” etc.,—Isaiah tells us that God did NOT create the earth tohu (תהו); it was NOT created without form.

Isaiah 45:18 unequivocally refutes any and every definition forcibly applied to “without form, and void” so as to prove the earth’s existence in Genesis 1:2. Therefore, when the earth was “without form” (תהו), it was NOT YET created, and NOT YET formed. Genesis 1:2, then, cannot be describing the earth as existent at that time. It must be, as yet, nonexistent and vacant until “without form, and void” meets its antithesis (“appear”) when it’s formed by the word of God on the third day.16

Remember, brethren, “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace,”17 for God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.18 He has not spoken in secret,19 for JEHOVAH spoke not until He said, “Let there be light:” and overcame the darkness.20 JEHOVAH speaks righteousness, and declares things that are right.21 For these reasons, we are persuaded by Scripture that Genesis 1:1 can neither be the first event (creative act) nor a part of the first day.