In Genesis 1:1-2 why is the earth chaotic and barren?

Question

What happened in the book of Genesis 1:1 and 1:2:

..and the earth was without form

In verse 1 Bible said: in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Verse 2 the earth was without from

Answer 1

In its simplest form, Gen 1:1-2:3 creation account can be seen as follows:

(A): Gen 1:1 - Prelude/summary – God created the heavens and earth

(B): Gen 1:2 - Introduction - Earth formless and worthless (God inactive)

(C): Gen 1:3-31 - 6 days of creation week

(B'): Gen 2:1 - Postlude/summary – God created the heavens and the earth

(A'): Gen 2:2, 3 - God sanctifies the seventh day and blesses it (God resting)

Thus, the prelude and postlude are integral parts of this account by providing an introductory overview and a conclusion. That Gen 1:1 is an overview can be readily seen from the content of what follows - the heavens were created on day 2 (v8) and the earth was created on day 3 (v10) using identical words as in v1. Specifically, the first 3 days' activities consisted of separation and the second 3 days consisted of population.

Day 1: Separates light from darkness

Day 2: Separates waters above from waters below (and thus creates heavens [ie, atmosphere between] - Heb: Shamayim as per v1)

Day3: Separates: seas from dry land (and thus creates earth - Heb: erets as per v1)

Day 4: Populates the heavens (ie, in vault between the waters above and the waters below, ie, the atmosphere) with lights. [Note, the text does not use the common Hebrew words for sun and moon here at all.]

Day 5: Populates the waters (below) with fish and sea creatures and the air (actually Shamayim, heavens) with birds

Day 6: Populates land (erets - same words as v1) with land creatures and man.

Thus, at the beginning of creation week (Gen 1:2) we have an earth that is covered in water and formless and worthless, BUT by the end of the week (v31) we have something that is "very good". Thus, we see that in addition to creating and forming, the account is set forth as a type of salvation story (like us) of taking something worthless and making it very good. (There is a similar use in Jer 4:23.)

While God created all things (Ps 33:6, 9, John 1:1-3, Col 1:16, Isa 45:1), Gen 1 is NOT concerned with the creation of what we call the entire universe. Gen 1 is only concerned with the creation of our world (not even our planet) which presumably had been created at some previous time. Then about 6000 years ago, (if the chronology in Gen is to be believed) we have this world's creation week as recorded in Gen 1:1-2:3.

Thus, Gen 1:1-2;3 is an integral account that contains no time gaps or any other literary contrivance. It simply concerns the creation of our world (not the whole universe). Most of the difficulty with this passage arises because some want to make Gen 1:1 about the creation of the whole universe - but the word for heaven (shamayim) is used exclusively of "atmosphere" in Genesis (eg, Gen 2:19, 20, 6:7, 17, 7:3, 11, etc) and, the word for earth (erets) is used exclusively for "dry land" throughout Genesis (ie, never with the meaning of "planet earth").

Answer 2

The author is not drawing attention to the unformed nature of the primordial creation per se, but from the start simply indicating that what follows is a description of that creation, i.e., rather than a distinct one; "made heaven and earth" is apposed with its elaboration contained in the following narrative, which is denoted by this parenthetical remark.

Answer 3

In Gen 1:2, the Hebrew word translated "was" is hayah, which could have been translated "became", as in, the earth became "without form, and void". Would God have created the earth in such a state? I guess that works for some folks, but not me. A better guess might be, Gen 1:1 relates God's original creation, perhaps untold eons ago. Then, something happened between verses 1 and 2, possibly over a long span of time, which threw the creation into a condition of chaos. Verse 2, in that scenario, would be God's "reworking" the surface of the earth, in preparation for the creation of man.

Answer 4

While I have not come to a firm conclusion about all the things presented in this video I do think it does an excellent job of presenting the case that prior to the Genesis 1 origin there was another iteration of the creation. You may or may not find it convincing. In general I think that Genesis 1:1 at least leaves open or suggests a pre-existing world but, this video only represents one view and should be taken somewhat critically:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CIIqYOvwK0Q

Here's another one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOutmIFhFLo