Genesis 1.1-5 (ii)

Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath

¹In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, ²the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ³Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Brother,

... formless and void ... without shape – desolate ... everything was still in a state of chaos, but the work would continue ...

... darkness covered the face of the deep ... Richardson states clearly that we must ‘... not import into the biblical symbolism any modern scientific notions, such as the darkness is only  a negative quality ...’ because God created the darkness as well as the light; rather ‘darkness’ symbolises mystery. For many a Jew, the idea of darkness was associated with the ‘deep’ i.e. the sea which symbolised for them that which was most ‘unknown’. It is with this understanding that we better understand the sea-miracles of Jesus: the stilling of the storm  and the walking on the water, especially.

... a wind from God swept over the face of the waters ... The Hebrew word used here is ruach which can be translated as wind, breath or spirit and it refers to that which in man is the unique element – the life-giving power. But here, the author just seems to be using the image of the presence of God ‘... hovering or brooding ... like a mother-bird over the new-born world ...’ (Richardson)

Let there be ...  Here we encounter the creative word ... ‘Then God said ...’ God calls the world into existence, simply by speaking a word. God also orders the world by his word. The New Testament picks up this image and portrays Jesus as calling into existence the New People of God by his word ...

Light ... In Scripture, this has a wide range of meanings: the presence of God, or the favour of God’s presence and the dwelling-place of God. It also refers to the character of God – that which we must emulate as we live out our lives. Sometimes it symbolises prosperity (and here darkness then symbolises adversity); light can refer to moral purity and darkness, evil deeds. Light in the NT also often refers to the unveiling of truth. It is interesting to note that if Jesus is in fact God then he was present at the moment of Creation and so knows both all that and what it means to live our lives on earth; a lovely thought and something that makes the Letter to the Hebrews even more beautiful.

As it was in the beginning, so will it be at the end: the ‘Day of the Lord’ will be the day of ‘light’ when the secrets of all human hearts will be disclosed, the day of revelation, the day of unveiling.

Blessings,

David