Sunday, March 21, 2021

Genesis 1 SERIES - Verse 2

 Commentary of Charles Spurgeon, Adam Clarke & Matthew Henry
 
And the earth was without form, and void; 
and darkness was upon the face of the deep. 
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Vs.2 
 
When God began to arrange this world in order, it was shrouded in darkness, and it had been reduced to what we call, for want of a better name, “chaos.” 
---This is just the condition of every soul of man when God begins to deal with him in his grace; it is formless, and empty of all good things.....There was nothing in it desirable to be seen, for it was without form and void. Toho and Bohu, confusion and emptiness;
 
The earth was without form and void - The original term תהו tohu and בהו bohu, which we translate without form and void, are of uncertain etymology; but in this place, and wherever else they are used, they convey the idea of confusion and disorder. 
*God seems at first to have created the elementary principles of all things; and this formed the grand mass of matter, which in this state must be without arrangement, or any distinction of parts: a vast collection of indescribably confused materials.
 
The spirit of God - This has been variously and strangely understood. Some think a violent wind is meant, because רוח , ruach often signifies wind, as well as spirit, as πνευμα, does in Greek; and the term God is connected with it merely, as they think, to express
the superlative degree. .... But it is sufficiently evident from the use of the word in other places, that the Holy Spirit of God is intended; which our blessed Lord represents under the notion of wind, John 3:8; and which, as a mighty rushing wind on the day of Pentecost, filled the house where the disciples were sitting, Acts 2:2, which was immediately followed by their speaking with other tongues, because they were filled with the Holy Ghost, Acts 2:4. 
These scriptures sufficiently ascertain the sense in which the word is used by Moses.....The Spirit of God was the first mover: He moved upon the face of the waters. When we consider the earth without form and void, methinks it is like the valley full of dead and dry bones. Can these live? Can this confused mass of matter be formed into a beautiful world? Yes, if a spirit of life from God enter into it, Eze. 37:9.

Moved - מרחפת merachepheth, was brooding over. 
 
That atheism is folly, and atheists are the greatest fools in nature; for they see there is a world that could not make itself, and yet they will not own there is a God that made it. Doubtless, they are without excuse, but the god of this world has blinded their minds.