The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
2. And the earth was without form and void. I shall not be very solicitous about the exposition of these two epithets, תוהו, ( tohu, ) and בוהו, ( bohu. ) The Hebrews use them when they designate anything empty and confused, or vain, and nothing worth.
In these verses we have the work of creation in its epitome and in its embryo. I. In its epitome, Gen 1:1, where we find, to our comfort, the first article of our creed, that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of heaven and earth, and as such we believe in him. 1.
Commenting on Genesis 1:1-2
And the earth was without form, and void,.... It was not in the form it now is, otherwise it must have a form, as all matter has; it was a fluid matter, the watery parts were not separated from the earthy ones; it was not put into the form of a terraqueous globe it is now, the sea apart, and the earth by itself, but...