Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Ian Hutchesson" <mc2499 AT mclink.it>]

>But this passage is not necessarily saying that God did not create "tohu"
>(and I do not have the original message, so I am not sure if Jason is
>correctly citing Liz). The NRSV offers a legitimate reading that does not
>require one to read the passage as denying that God created tohu, but rather
>than what he created was not intended to *remain* tohu.
>
>For thus says the LORD,
>    who created the heavens
>        (he is God!),
>    who formed the earth and made it
>        (he established it;
>    he did not create it a chaos,
>        he formed it to be inhabited!):
>    I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Christian,

As I read the text it seems to me to preclude the creation 
of tohu by God. l'-thw br'h, I would think, is rather 
unequivocal. It says that he didn't create [the earth] 
chaotic. There is no notion of "remain" in the text. (It 
would make no sense to create it in a chaotic state if the 
intention is to populate it.) The passage is referring to 
the thw wbhw of Gen 1:2 and negating both as the scope of 
creation.


Ian