I am doing a Bible study with some of the physics graduate students. Today we read the first chapter of Genesis, and Hiromichi (a Japanese student) had a question about vs. 2 which reads, “The earth was without from, and void; and darkness was on othe face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
Hiromichi wanted to know what the ‘waters’ refers to. Is it physical waters, a symbol for something else, or both? I could not give a definite answer. I remember a professor at Covenant College in a doctrine course going through some OT passages that refer to this verse, but I don’t remember the point he was trying to make. Any insight?
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Dr. Grant mentioned this briefly at a lecture at the beginning of the year. He said ‘waters’ is more literally translated ‘roiling torrent.’ He explained how this demonstrated the formless and uncultivated nature of the earth in the very beginning. I would assume this refers to physical waters, but he didn’t say specifically…
John Gill (1697-1771) in his lengthy “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments” seems to think these ‘waters’ physical, and further explains, “This abyss is explained by waters in the next clause, which seem to be uppermost… the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower, and the waters being lighter rose up above the others.” He then makes a reference to 2 Peter 3:5, which states, “For this they willingly know not, that the heavens were of old, and the earth that was of the water, and by the water, and by the word of God.” Also, in the footnotes of this Geneva Bible (translated and footnotes by such as Miles Coverdale and John Knox), it says of this word ‘earth,’ “Which appeared when the waters were gathered together into one place.” So, these texts seem to imply that the waters were physical, but nothing comes right out and says it…
Lol, I probably confused things for you, huh? Sorry if I did… I was interested to find out too!
Cool, thanks! When you wrote ‘roiling torrent’ it rung a bell (I got lots of bells, but they don’t always ring). I think the professor from Covenant used this interpretation.
I’m very excited you are doing a Bible Study with this group of students!
I spoke with a guy who goes to International Friends (he is a Christian from Jamaica) about his interpretation of this verse. He wasn’t sure exactly what the water could be, but he said that the Hebrew word translated ‘hovering’ gives the idea of a hen brooding over her eggs. The significance behind this idea is that the Spirit of God was not only present at creation, but also an essential part of the process.
That’s a very interesting idea… I think John Gill also used those same words, (a hen brooding over her eggs).
In his very interesting book “Images of the Spirit,” Meredith Kline says the Spirit hovering over the waters was not only the creative power but also the paradigm of creation. He says it’s the first appearance of the Glory Cloud that also appeared in the journey to the promised land (see Dt. 32:11 for the reference to “hovering.”) and which was spoken of by the prophets.