Biblical Hebrew Forum

[" Marie Casale" <mjcasale AT earthlink.net>]

Greetings to the members:
I am new to B-Hebrew and have joined you to ask a question.

I have been studying the Gap Theory which says there are billions of years of 
time inserted in between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. At the end of these billions of 
years, the earth suffered a great cataclysm (due to Satan's rebellion and 
fall) that left the earth without form and void.  They say the word WAS in 
verse 2 could be translated BECAME.  Thus the earth BECAME without form and 
void.  It was not originally created that way.

Do you use the same Hebrew word 'hayah' to mean both 'was' and 'became' and 
have to figure out which one should be there by the context of the sentence?  
Or does the word 'hayah' have to have a 'le' with it in order for it to mean 
'became'?  Can we KNOW whether the word in Gen 1:2 is definitely 'was' or 
'became'?

Hope you can shed some light on this because I have read several on-line 
articles and nothing I have read seems give a definite answer either way.

Thanks for your help.
Sincerely,
Marie Casale
>From hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net  Wed Jul 22 23:40:12 2009
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Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:40:11 -0500
From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Question about Gen 1:1-2
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 Marie,
> Greetings to the members:
> I am new to B-Hebrew and have joined you to ask a question.
>
> I have been studying the Gap Theory which says there are billions of years 
> of time inserted in between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. At the end of these 
> billions of years, the earth suffered a great cataclysm (due to Satan's 
> rebellion and fall) that left the earth without form and void.  They say 
> the word WAS in verse 2 could be translated BECAME.  Thus the earth BECAME 
> without form and void.  It was not originally created that way.
>
> Do you use the same Hebrew word 'hayah' to mean both 'was' and 'became' and 
> have to figure out which one should be there by the context of the 
> sentence?  Or does the word 'hayah' have to have a 'le' with it in order 
> for it to mean 'became'?  Can we KNOW whether the word in Gen 1:2 is 
> definitely 'was' or 'became'?
>
> Hope you can shed some light on this because I have read several on-line 
> articles and nothing I have read seems give a definite answer either way.
>

HH: Yes, the verb can mean "was" or "became," but the best current
scholarly thinking discounts the Gap Theory. One reason for this is that
the sentence starts with the noun subject, which suggests that the
statement is giving attendant circumstances. The second clause seems
clearly to be doing this. It is verbless, implying "and darkness was
over the surface of the deep." The third clause is the same way. It,
too, is verbless, except for a participle, saying that "the Spirit of
God was hovering over the surface of the water." In Hebrew when the
clause starts with a noun and is verbless, it often is giving attendant
circumstance. Here the attendant circumstances are to the fact that God
created the heavens and earth. Since the last two clauses seem to be
circumstantial, it is natural if the first clause is also
circumstantial: "the earth was empty and void." This general description
shows the starting point from which God's actions will develop the
world. Other scholars may take a different position, but that is what I
understand it to be saying.

HH: Some people are so far from the Gap Theory that they make verses 1-3
a single sentence. Robert Alter (/The Five Books of Moses/) does this,
starting out, "When God began to create heaven and earth, and the earth
then was welter and waste and darkness over the deep and God's breath
hovering over the waters, God said, "let there be light."

Yours,
Harold Holmyard