GENESIS 1 & 2, THE ORIGINAL CREATION, OR THE RECREATION OF IT?

 

 

By Hal Dekker

 

Last page update:  2013.11.24

 

 

The translation of the verses quoted in this work are based upon Jay P. Green's and Young's literal translations, with substantiated revisions which more accurately reflect the meanings of the Hebrew words.  Where I have done this I have included the Strong's numbers so that you, with a Strong's concordance and/or any Hebrew or Greek lexicon, can quickly look up the basic definitions of the Hebrew and Greek words, and their grammatical usages.

 

I believe that records in Gen., and elsewhere in holy scripture, adequately inform us of the creation and existence of the prehistoric age by God, which proof of existence of those life forms exists in the fossilized remains we see so abundantly today.  According to a simple retranslation, the correct translation of one occurrence of the verb hayah (to become) in Gen. 1:2, which I believe was phenomenally mistranslated by the so called "authorized" KJV translators in Gen. 1:2, informs us of the cataclysmic event which destroyed God's original creation stated in Gen. 1:1 by Moses.

 

Here's my thesis, based upon abundant scriptural evidence, which I shall now show you:

 

Gen. 1:1 states the creation of the original heavens and the earth, which included the prehistoric life forms. 

 

Gen. 1:2 records the destruction of that original heavens (the deep) and earth. 

 

Gen. 1:3 begins the recreation of the heavens and earth which were destroyed in Gen. 1:2. 

 

Elsewhere in holy scripture, the destruction of the original heavens and earth recorded in Gen. 1:2, is attributed to the fall of Lucifer and one third of the heavenly host who went with him, and came to the earth.

 

Gen. 1:1 In the beginning (reshit) Elohim created (bara) the heavens (shamayim) and the earth (erets).

 

"heavens" - In the Hebrew text heavens is clearly in the plural.  For some unknown reason the translators of the KJV and many other translations ignored the heavens (plural) in the Hebrew text, and made their English translations say heaven (singular)!  Isn't this a form of translating someone's private theological beliefs into a "translation"?  However, Darby's, Young's, Rotherham's and perhaps some others managed to get it right.  The translators for most all other popular translations translated it correctly.  Reading the rest of God's Word while enlightened to the concept that there are heavens (plural) rather than only a heaven, means much toward understanding what's written in many other scriptural passages.

 

"Elohim" - is a name of God, which he uses for himself when he wishes to emphasize his mighty creative ability to bring something into existence from nothing.  This word is plural in the Hebrew.  The plural usage of this word throughout the texts may suggest that its usage includes reference to the Father's use of the Word in his creative acts (John 1:1-10); and possibly to other spirit-based beings the Father created and utilized in the creation, forming, and making of the heavens and earth. 

 

Elohim created two things in verse one, the heavens (plural), and the earth.  Verse 2a is going to tell us what happened, first to the earth, and secondly to the heavens.  

 

Gen. 1:2a And the earth became (hayah) without form (tohuw), and (va) void (bohu).

 

Gen. 1:2b And darkness [became] upon the face (paniym) of the deep (tehom). 

 

Gen. 1:2c And the Spirit (ruwach) of Elohim [became] hovering (rachaph) upon the face (paniym) of the waters (mayim).

 

"And the earth became" - In the KJV and most other versions which basically copied the KJV, the translators make this verse say that the earth was without form and void, as though Elohim created it in a ruined state, in order to make himself turn around and recreate it all over again correctly.  I believe this is error, because translating hayah as was contradicts another scriptural passages which states that Elohim absolutely did not create the earth without form and void, as is stated by the prophet Isaiah in Isa. 45:18 which we shall see. 

 

The Hebrew word for became is the verb hayah (Strong's # 01961), which means to become, or to come to pass.  The second was in Gen. 1:2 of the KJV and most other translations, is in italics, which means it was arbitrarily added by the KJV translators.  They apparently noticed the writer's intended ellipsis.  I believe there are two ellipses of the verb in the text, and show them by placing hayah in brackets in the above translation.

 

In Gen. 1:2 is the first occurrence of hayah in the Hebrew texts of the old testament.  Scholars have identified about 75 occurrences of hayah in those texts.  With the phenomenal exception of Gen. 1:2, the KJV translators correctly translated the verb hayah as to become in almost every other place it's used!  Why not here?  There's no grammatical reason not to, whatsoever!  If the translators wouldn't have made a huge mistranslation on this particularly important verse concerning the history of our planet, God's Word would much more evidently accommodate the prehistoric age, and many other related verses in scripture would suddenly fall into place, and we may not have the massive argument between evolutionists and creationists which we do now!

 

The second and third occurrences of hayah are in verse 3.

 

Gen. 1:3  And God (Elohim) said, "Let become (hayah) light"; and became (hayah) light.

 

Here, and in about 72 other occurrences, the KJV translators managed to let the Hebrew meaning of hayah come through in their English translation, which meaning is to become, or to come to pass.

 

Now let's look closely at the remaining words in Gen. 1:2a.

 

"without form (tohuw), and (va) void (bohu)" - Tohuw occurs at least 19 times in scripture, and represents the ideas of featureless wasteland, a place of desolation, a wilderness.  Bohu occurs at least 3 times, and represents the idea of a void, an emptiness of habitation, an emptiness of life.  These two words used together, because they sound alike when spoken in Hebrew, form a figure of speech called Paronomasia; or, Rhyming Words, and together reiterate and emphasize the fact that the world Elohim created in Gen. 1:1 became an uninhabitable wasteland.  God uses figures of speech often in his Word to draw our attention to concepts and ideas he wishes to emphasize.  Figures of speech should not be overlooked when studying the scriptures.  Tohuw va bohu is an emphatic phrase meaning, a lifeless, uninhabitable wasteland, a place in utter ruin.

 

Anyone who can think logically may now be asking themselves, if the correct translation is was tohuw va bohu instead of became tohuw va bohu, then why would God almighty create a heaven and earth in utter ruin?  The idea is of course absurd.  Do you or anyone you know, make something first into a pile of junk, to then turn around and remake it into something useful?  I believe God did it right the first time, as the prophet Isaiah says.  The KJV was tohuw va bohu translation in Gen. 1:2a clearly contradicts Isa. 45:18, which I believe verifies, along with all the other correct translations of hayah, the mistranslation of the verb hayah in Gen. 1:2a:

 

Here's Isaiah's record of the creation of the heavens and the earth in the beginning, which contradicts the KJV translators' translation of the verb hayah as was in Gen. 1:2a.  Isaiah states that God absolutely did not create the heavens and earth without form (tohuw), and (va) void (bohu), in a state of ruin, thusly causing him to turn right around and recreate it to be inhabited.  This shows that the translation of hayah as a to be verb, was, as the KJV translators have done, is an error.  Translating hayah as became, showing its true inherent meaning as a verb describing a transition of some kind, eliminates any apparent contradiction between Gen. 1:2 and Isa. 45:18.

 

Isa. 45:18 (Darby) For thus saith Jehovah (YHWH) who created the heavens, God himself who formed (yasar) the earth and made (asa) it, he who established (kuwn) it - not (loh) as waste (tohu) did he create (bara) it: he formed (yasar) it to be inhabited (yashab): —I am Jehovah (YHWH), and there is none else.

 

And so now the reader is confronted with the issue of whether it is Moses lying in Gen. 1:2 about the state in which God created the original heavens and earth, or whether it is the prophet Isaiah who has it wrong, or whether the apparent contradiction is simply a matter of accurate translation, an occurrence of mortal-made theological theory being deliberately fudged into the English KJV translation.

 

"he who established (kuwn) it" - I believe it's by divine perfection that this word kuwn is used in this verse.  Its first usage is in Gen. 41:32 about how Elohim gave a dream twice to Pharaoh of Egypt, repeating himself to make certain Pharaoh received every minute detail of the dream.  When Elohim created, formed, and made the first heavens and earth in Gen. 1:1, it was complete and perfect in every minute detail, because he established it according to Isaiah 45:18!  That's what kuwn means, complete and perfect in every minute detail. 

 

We can see that Gen. 1:2 tells us that something happened between verses 1 and 2 of Gen. 1 to make the original heavens and earth become tohuw va bohu, without form and void, an uninhabitable ruin!  If you wish to know more about what established (kuwn) specifically means, read the second and third usages of kuwn in Gen. 43:16 and 43:25. 

 

Elohim prepared the heavens and earth in Gen. 1:1 complete in every detail (perfection!), and inhabited.  In Gen. 43, we can see the inherent meaning of the word kuwn, when Joseph, by revelation, told Pharaoh what his dreams were, Joseph established back to the Pharaoh every minute detail correctly that God had established in the mind of the Pharaoh in his dreams!  And in the same way, with the same minute detail, complete and perfect, Elohim formed, made and created the heavens and earth to be inhabitable, according to Isaiah. This is the importance of Isaiah's usage of kuwn in Isa. 45:18.  This is yet another reason why the KJV translation of hayah in Gen. 1:2a as was is wrong.

 

Why is God's name Elohim in Gen. 1:1-3, and YHWH in Isa. 45:18?

 

When God uses his Elohim name, he refers to the characteristic about himself in his creative capacity as the Creator.  When God uses his YHWH name, the tetragrammaton, often translated as Yehovah or Jehovah in English, he refers to the characteristic about himself in his dealings with mortalkind as a Father with his children, as the source of supply for any and all our needs.  Isa. 45:18 refers to what YHWH, the Father, says he as Elohim the Creator did in Gen. 1:1.  In Gen. 1:1-3 God speaks to us as a God over us.  In Isa. 45:18 God speaks to us as a Father with his children.

 

YHWH says to us that Elohim created the earth NOT empty (tohuw), as a wasteland!  That he as Elohim formed the earth to be inhabited!  And, since YHWH was speaking to Israel, and now to us as YHWH in Isa. 45:18, he is speaking to us as a Father instructing his children.  Throughout the holy scriptures Elohim has given to us about two dozen names or more, each one of them in particular representing a description of a kind of need of mortalkind, which category of specific need he promises to supply for us in his covenants.  In Gen. 1:1-3 there were not yet any of mortalkind formed, made and created, to which God could treat as sons, as there were by the time Isaiah gave us his prophetic word from God.

 

In Gen. 1:1, the earth that Elohim created (bara), that he formed (yatsar) and made (asah) (Isa. 45:18), was absolutely NOT put together as an utter ruin, it was not empty, but inhabited!  Gen. 1:2 tells us that the greatness of what Elohim did in Gen. 1:1, became (hayah) without form (tohuw), and (va) void (bohu), an uninhabitable wasteland void of the life which originally inhabited it.  Something caused it to become tohuw va bohu.  This is what I see and believe the ancient texts tell us. 

 

Through Jesus' own words we can see the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew verb hayah in Mat. 21:42, where Jesus quotes an old covenant verse "The stone... this one became into (Gk., egenethe eis) a head of a angle",  quoted from Psalm 118:22 where the verb for become is hayah.  Taking the meaning from a Greek point of view, egenethe means to become, and is in the third person singular, aorist of the indicative mood, passive voice; i.e., became.  Together with eis, into, the phrase literally means the stone became into something other than what it was before, describing a transition from one state or function into another state or function, which is what Moses tells us occurred in the book of Genesis between Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:2:

 

Gen. 1:1  In the beginning (reshit) Elohim created (bara) the heavens (shamayim) and the earth (erets).

 

Gen. 1:2a And the earth became (hayah) without form (tohuw), and (va) void (bohu).

 

Gen. 1:2b And darkness [became] upon the face (paniym) of the deep (tehom). 

 

Gen. 1:2c And the Spirit (ruwach) of Elohim [became] hovering (rachaph) upon the face (paniym) of the waters (mayim).

 

The stone, Jesus Christ, to some a stumbling stone, has transitioned from being considered unimportant, into "became into (egenethe eis) a head of an angle!", which I believe is a reference to a plumb bob stone.  No mortal comes to the Father if not through him (John 14:6)!  The earth that Elohim created (bara) in Gen. 1:1 and established (kuwn) according to Isa. 45:18, became (hayah) without form (tohuw) and (va) void (bohu) of habitation in Gen. 1:2a!  Therefore, something had to occur in a space of time between Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:2a, to cause the earth to hayah tohuw va bohu.

 

 

 

In Gen. 1:2a the earth transitioned into a wasteland that was uninhabitable, it became (hayah) that way.  For other examples of the Hebrew verb hayah, we find it in:

 

Gen. 2:7, "and breathed into his nostrils breath life, and man became a living soul";

 

Gen. 4:14, "it shall come to pass";

 

Gen. 9:15, "the waters shall no more become a flood";

 

Gen. 19:26, Lot's wife "became a pillar of salt". 

 

In most occurrences it is translated correctly, as a form of to become, preserving the transitional quality in the meaning of the word.

 

With all of this clear evidence in God's Word concerning the transitional meaning use of the verb hayah in Gen. 1:2, telling us that what Elohim did in Gen. 1:1 became a wasteland and uninhabitable, especially including the verse in Isa. 45:18 substantiating that the verb hayah in Gen. 1:2 means became also, plus further corroborating scriptural evidence of the meaning of hayah as became, through what Jesus Christ said in Mat. 21:42 quoting Psalm 118:22, we now know by scriptural evidence and common logic that something cataclysmic must have happened between Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:2 to cause the heavens and earth to become tohuw va bohu. 

 

How could anyone think that Elohim, who is perfect, would purposely create the heavens and earth in utter ruin in Gen. 1:1-2, just to make more work for himself to fix it, starting in Gen. 1:3?  I just don't get that logic.  BUT, The holy scriptures say in Isa. 45:18, that when Elohim created the heavens and the earth in Gen. 1:1 that while he was creating them, he was NOT creating a formless wasteland.  And that when he was forming the earth he was forming it to be inhabited!  Then, Gen. 1:2 tells us what happened to the earth, that it "became (hayah) without form (tohuw), and (va) void (bohu)." after Elohim established (kuwn) the earth in perfect detail and to be inhabited, as the prophets Moses and Isaiah witness to us that God did in Gen. 1:1. 

It must have been, and still is, very, very important to Satan to try and obliterate the truth Moses gave us in Gen. 1:2 in that verb hayah, so that he could continue to maintain the plausibility of his great lie that it is God who is responsible for all of the meaningless death, devastation and destruction in the world, that it is the one true God who steals, kills and destroys us, instead of he, the devil, as Jesus Christ truthfully states in John 10:10!  Gen. 1:2 is a verse in scripture which is the key to understanding so many other verses and concepts throughout God's Word concerning what happened to the prehistoric life forms, from which abundant fossilized evidence which we know existed upon earth so long ago.  This key verse of scripture in the Father's Word, Gen. 1:2, related to the following questions, can now be understood, and can be a starting point in the holy scriptures to begin to explain these questions:

• How do the scriptures account for the fossilized pre-historic evidence on earth?  

• How is the destruction of the pre-historic heaven and earth related to Satan?

• What/Who caused the destruction of the pre-historic heaven and earth?  

• What part, if any, did some of the heavenly messengers play in that destruction?  

2 Pet. 2:4 (LIT/UBS4) Because (gar) if (ei) the (ho) God (theos) absolutely did not cause himself to be sparing (ouk epheisato) of messengers (angelōn) having sinned (hamartēsantōn), BUT (alla), he passed [them] aside (paredōken) to chains (seirais) of gloom (zophou), he having sent [them] to Tartarus (Tartarōsas), they being watchfully kept (tēroumenous) into (eis) judgment (krisin),

 

God's Word is still intact, Satan can't get rid of God's Word, just like Satan couldn't get rid of Jesus Christ!  Satan tries to twist and change what God has said, as he tries to destroy what God has said and done, because Satan's mission is simple, he comes only to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:9).  God's Word blows Satan's cover, and so Satan has to attack the written Word of God to change it, make it appear to be full of contradictions, errors, and confusion, to the end of hiding his own treachery, and discrediting God's truthfulness, integrity and righteousness.  

We've only scratched the surface concerning the amount of details which are in the Father's Word concerning what happened to the earth in Gen. 1:2a, who was responsible, and why it occurred.  What about what happened to the heavens?  Gen. 1:2b says:

 

Gen. 1:2b  (KJV) and darkness (choshek) [was] upon the face (paniym) of the deep (tehom).

 

The was in this phrase is in brackets, indicating the absence of the Hebrew word hayah in the text, and that the translators added the word on their own initiative.  If the translators wanted to indicate the figure of speech Ellipsis, the conspicuous omission of a word in a sentence, here the Ellipsis of hayah, then they should have added became, so that the reader could pick up on the idea that as the earth became a wasteland, so likewise the heavens became dark.  I believe the figure of speech Ellipsis is used here, and the conspicuous word omitted is hayah, to emphasize the extent of the damage done.

 

"the deep" - refers to the heavens, the vast expanse of the universe, of which we can see the face of it with our naked eyes, by observing the sun, moon, and stars and other heavenly objects.

 

The darkness that became upon the face of the deep, means that all the lights in the heavens went out!  How convenient for Satan, for all the celestial lights to go out?  This means the heat of the sun discontinued also (Gen. 1:14-19), which must have caused the entire earth to freeze over, destroying and killing all life!

 

A being standing upon the earth at the time of the cataclysmic convulsion (if still alive!), would have looked up into the sky and saw nothing, no sun, no moon, no stars, nothing, total darkness.  On day four, recorded in Gen. 1:14-19, Elohim had to set the sun, moon, and stars back in order, which indicates that whatever it was that happened in the time between Gen. 1:1 and 1:2, it must have racked and ruined at least all the visible universe which can be seen from planet earth.  This must have been a truly cataclysmic event.

 

Who knows how much time passed between what Elohim did in Gen. 1:1 and what God's Word says happened in Gen. 1:2?  It could have been thousands and thousands of years.  It must have been a long time, for fossils to form from the inhabitants of the original earth, and for pools of oil to develop in the crust of the earth from the biological life that then existed on the face of the earth. The Word says that whatever the cataclysmic convulsion was that occurred between Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:2, was enough to turn the earth into a "wasteland (tohuw)", and cause it to become "empty (bohu)" of any inhabitants.

 

Starting in Gen. 1:3, God begins giving his Word instructions to put back together the heavens and earth, in preparation for his mortal to whom Western Christian traditional religion refers to as Adam, but the Hebrew text refers to as the red man.  

 

Gen. 1:3  And Elohim said, "Let there become (hayah) light": and became (hayah) light.

 

Light had to become into existence from non-existence so that the stars could shine again, and tell the story in their celestial storybook of the coming redeemer, Jesus Christ, who would conquer the destroyer of the heavens and earth and restore all things to perfection again.

 

The generations and life span of Adam and his descendants can be traced back through the Word, and the mathematical calculations can be done concerning who were contemporaries of each other, all their approximate birth dates, and how long they lived. The results indicate the posterity of mankind which began with Adam, began a little more than 4,000 BC.

 

This means that the fossil remains of any life forms which through carbon dating and other techniques indicate an age much earlier than about 6,000 years ago, must belong to the life forms which inhabited the original earth of Gen. 1:1.  Depending on the accuracy of the best dating techniques, we may be able to guesstimate the approximate length of time between the ruin of the first heavens and earth of Gen. 1:1, and the appearance of mortalkind on the second recreated earth, recorded on "day 6" in Gen. 1:24-31.

 

No one knows how long ago Elohim created the heavens and the earth.  The important point is that no matter how long ago it occurred, it didn't happen by accident, but Elohim established (kuwn) the earth in perfect detail!

 

The argument which now exists between evolutionists and so-called believers, over when and how the earth and all things therein came into being, I believe is a contrivance of Satan himself.  All those believers who do not have the knowledge of the mistranslation of hayah in Gen. 1:2, or who have the knowledge but refuse to believe it, turn out to inadvertently assist Satan greatly in his continuing effort to obliterate parts of God's Word, hide his own destructive history, and continue to cause division among mortakind over the history of our own origination.

 

 

Brother Hal Dekker