Genesis 1:1-2

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 1:1-2

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. Observe, in this verse, four things:? (1.) The effect produced?the heaven and the earth, that is, the world, including the whole frame and furniture of the universe, the world and all things therein, Acts 17:24. The world is a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. By the heaven some understand the supreme heaven, the heaven of heavens, the habitation of God, and of the holy angels; and this being made perfect at once, no mention is after made of it, as of the earth; and it is supposed that the angels were at this time created, since they were present at the laying of the foundation of the earth, Job 38:6 but rather the lower and visible heavens are meant, at least are not excluded, that is, the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 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 were mixed and blended together; it was, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase it, a waste and desert, empty and destitute of both men and beasts; and it may... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 1:1

God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth - הארץ ואת השמים את אלהים ברא בראשית Bereshith bara Elohim eth hashshamayim veeth haarets ; God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth. Many attempts have been made to define the term God: as to the word itself, it is pure Anglo-Saxon, and among our ancestors signified, not only the Divine Being, now commonly designated by the word, but also good; as in their apprehensions it appeared that God and good were correlative... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 1:2

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. From these terms it is probable that the ancient Syrians and Egyptians borrowed their gods, Theuth and Bau, and the Greeks their Chaos. God seems at first to have created the elementary principles of all things; and this formed the grand... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 1:1

Verse 1 1.In the beginning. To expound the term “beginning,” of Christ, is altogether frivolous. For Moses simply intends to assert that the world was not perfected at its very commencement, in the manner in which it is now seen, but that it was created an empty chaos of heaven and earth. His language therefore may be thus explained. When God in the beginning created the heaven and the earth, the earth was empty and waste. (35) He moreover teaches by the word “created,” that what before did not... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 1:2

Verse 2 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. Undoubtedly Moses placed them both in opposition to all those created objects which pertain to the form, the ornament and the perfection of the world. Were we now to take away, I say, from the earth all that God added after the time here... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:1

In the beginning , Bereshith , is neither "from eternity," as in John 1:1 ; nor "in wisdom" (Chaldee paraphrase), as if parallel with Proverbs 3:19 and Psalms 104:24 ; nor "by Christ," who, in Colossians 1:18 , is denominated ἀρχὴ ; but "at the commencement of time." Without indicating when the beginning was, the expression intimates that the beginning was. Exodus 20:11 seems to imply that this was the initiation of the first day's work. The formula, "And God said,"... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:1

The visible universe. I. ONE , yet NOT SIMPLE . 1. One . In age, origin, and nature one, "the heavens and the earth" also constitute one vast system. Cohering physically through the force of gravitation, which, in its ultimate analysis, is simply an expression of the Divine power, they are unified spiritually by Christ, who is the impersonation of the Divine wisdom and love ( John 1:3 , John 1:9 ; Colossians 1:15 , Colossians 1:17 ). Hence, as constituting one... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:1-2

II. As to the precise manner in which it was imparted to its author, THE VISION THEORY of Kurtz, though declared by Kalisch to be "a complicated tissue of conjectures and assumptions utterly destitute of every , the faintest and remotest , Biblical foundation ," is perhaps, with certain modifications, the best. Rejecting the idea of a series of creative tableaux without any solid substratum of actual fact, there is clearly nothing in the nature of the case to discredit the... read more

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