What the Bible says about Tohu and Bohu
(From Forerunner Commentary)
God originally created the earth with such perfection and beauty that the angels shouted with joy! Our Creator does all things in an organized manner and completes all His works in exquisite splendor. But the earth had somehow become formless and chaotic so that God had to refashion it before man could be created.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Basic Doctrines: Satan's Origin and DestinyRelated Topics: Chaos | Creation | Creation of Earth | Creation, Physical | Recreation of Earth | Tohu and Bohu
Verse 2 pictures the earth as a cold, dark, uninhabitable place covered with water: "The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep." Why would this be? Other scriptures indicate that God originally created the earth perfect and beautiful and ready to be inhabited (Job 38:4-7; Isaiah 45:18). And since the sun had already been created, why would the earth be dark?
The best explanation for this condition is that a great destruction had occurred when, sometime in prehistory, Helel (who became Satan) and his angels rebelled against God's authority and tried to overthrow Him (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:12-16). This great war (Revelation 12:7-8) apparently caused an enormous amount of destruction to occur in the solar system. The resultant interplanetary debris and dust, some of which descended into earth's atmosphere, prevented the light from the sun and moon from reaching the earth.
Earl L. Henn
Genesis 1: Fact or Fiction?Related Topics: Creation of Earth | Rebellion of Satan and Angels | Recreation of Earth | Satan's Rebellion | Tohu and Bohu