Genesis 1:2

1 astonishingly empty: Heb. תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ. The word תֹהוּ is an expression of astonishment and desolation, that a person wonders and is astonished at the emptiness therein.

2astonishingly empty: Astordison in Old French; [étourdissement in modern French], astonishment. בֹהוּ an expression of emptiness and desolation. (This does not appear in all editions.)

3 בֹהוּ: an expression of emptiness and desolation. (This does not appear in all editions.)

4 on the face of the deep: on the face of the waters which were on the earth.

5 and the spirit of God was hovering: The Throne of Glory was suspended in the air and hovered over the face of the water with the breath of the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He and with His word, like a dove, which hovers over the nest, acoveter in Old French, to cover, hover over.

And the earth was vacancy and desolation, solitary of the sons of men, and void of every animal; and darkness was upon the face of the abyss, and the Spirit of mercies from before the Lord breathed upon the face of the waters.

“And the earth” – this word is an unusual [form], since it appears with a kamatz in the alef when [preceded by] the hey [i.e., the definite article] in all places. It is not like “The thousand (ha’elef) for you, Shlomo” Song of Songs 8:12, or “and this stone ha’even” Genesis 28:22.

“Void” (tohu) – The Ga’on [Rav Sa’adiah] said that [this word] is from “deep” (tehom), but that is not possible, since the mem of tehom is a root letter, like the mem of hadom. Now in Sefer Yetzira: “tohu - this [refers to] the green line”, and bohu - this [refers to] MEFULAM stones”. What’s correct is as the Aramaic translator has said, and likewise with “the howling, desolate tohu Deuteronomy 32:10, and likewise, “after tohu” Samuel I 12:21 – without substance.

“And confused” – "The brother of", and the vav in place of the hey, like the vav in [the word] vayishtachu (“and he bowed”) Genesis 18:2, “and they pastured amongst he reeds (achu)” Genesis 41:2. The meaning is [as follows:] The creation of the firmament and the dry land was not in a area to be settled, since it was covered with water, and thus G-d placed its generative power to be beneath the water. Now don’t be surprised by the vav of veha’aretz (“and the earth’), for its meaning is like the feh in Arabic and like “and a mist” v’ed would rise up from the earth” Genesis 2:6, for Moshe did not speak about the World to Come, which is the world of the angels, but rather of this transitory world. And those who explain that the heavens in the first verse are really the heavenly heavens, what will they do [here] with the earth? Behold, complete proofs, for reasonable people, that there is only earth. Now it is expounded that there were seven earths is [actually] that the earth is divided into seven and the Temple was in the center of the settled region, for it was distant from the center of the earth.

והארץ היתה, the earth had preceded and existed in a chaotic form, as elaborated on by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 4,23) והנה ראיתי את הארץ והנה תהו ובוהו ואל השמים ואין אורם...ראיתי ואין אדם מעוף השמים ועד בהמה נדדו הלכו (Jeremiah 9,9)

This verse explains the meaning of “Tohu vavohu” in greater detail, i.e. that there was no kind of life on earth at that stage.

וחושך על פני תהום, this is a reference to the absence of light in the heaven.

ורוח אלוקים מרחפת (מנשבת) על פני המים, we had to be told that G’d’s wind was active at that stage, else verse 9 of this chapter in which G’d issues a directive for the waters to collect in a contiguous area would not make sense, as we could not have understood how the waters were made to assemble all in one area of the globe. We find the role of this רוח of G’d in Exodus 14,21 when it prepared the manifestation of the sea splitting to allow the Israelites to cross it safely and on dry land.

והארץ היתה תהו ובהו, “this very center which was created at that time was composed of a mixture of raw materials, known as tohu, and its original external appearance is what is described as bohu. The reason is that the whole expanse of tohu was comprised of a uniform appearance. This explained that the first raw material was something entirely new. It is described as tohu to indicate that at that point it was merely something which had potential, the potential not yet having materialised, been converted to something actual. When we read in Samuel I 12,21 כי תהו המה, the meaning is that these phenomena did not exist in reality, they existed only in someone’s imagination. [a reference to pagan deities. Ed.] The appearance of this primordial raw material is described as bohu, meaning that as such it came to exist in actual fact, in real terms. Isaiah 34,11 “weights of emptiness.” This describes any phenomenon that does not retain its appearance for any length of time. It constantly changes like a chameleon.

וחשך, a reference to the air (atmosphere, totally dark which emanated at that time from the original raw material. על פני תהום, over the expanse of the two basic foundations which also emanated from the same origin and surrounded one another.

ורוח אלוקים, the energy propelling the planet is called ruach,” as we know from Psalms 104,4 עושה מלאכיו רוחות, “He energises His messengers.”

מרחפת על פני המים, they activated the atmosphere above the waters which at that time surrounded the earth. This is the reason why the part which was closer to the spherical planet became incandescent through its motion [friction. Ed.] This phenomenon is what we know as the original fire. On the other hand, the part of the energy which remained closer to the waters acquired a degree of frigidity from the proximity to the waters, so that only a small part of the atmosphere really became hot through revolving and giving off sparks of fiery light.

והארץ היתה תהו ובהו וחשך על פני תהום ורוח אלוקים מרחפת על פני המים. Having first mentioned in verse 1 that G’d had created heaven and earth, and that the word ארץ included the 4 basic elements which earth consists of, the Torah now says that the creation of the earth had originally been lumped together with the creation of the heaven, seeing both were created in their final complete state. All the 9 planets were called into existence at one and the same moment. The author views the “9” planets, גלגלים, “orbiting planets” as consisting of the 7 fixed stars whose orbit was well known to astronomers in antiquity; he views as the 8th “planet” the stars in the sky known as the signs of the zodiac, the mazzalot, as well as other celestial phenomena. The 9th is considered by him as a kind of “super-star” which provides the impetus for the motion of all the other phenomena in the celestial regions. This super-star is presumed to orbit earth once every 24 hours. In its original state the earth was not complete, i.e. there was chaos, seeing that the earth was completely submerged in water. Whereas heaven had been created in a perfected state, symbolising life, earth, in its original state, being chaotic, symbolised death, as pointed out by Bereshit Rabbah, 2,2 describing heaven as “life,” death being unknown in those regions, whereas “earth” is described as תהו ובהו, meaning that “death” is a basic phenomenon in these “lower regions.” According to our author, we learn from this Midrash that the four basic elements of which earth consists are basically “dead, inert” substances. They possess no will or intelligence of their own as distinct from the creatures in the celestial regions. They have been equipped with certain natural functions and they cannot vary them. If any one of them for some reason left its natural place in the universe it will be returned there in due course.

Chaos and void (tohu vabohu): [This phrase appears] two [times]. Here, and the other one is (Jeremiah 4:23) "I have seen the earth and behold, it is chaos and void." [This] teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, foresaw the destruction of the Temple when He created the world, [and] that it would be in the year tohu (the letters that are equal to the number, 411); since, behold the first Temple stood for 410 years and was destroyed in the 411th year. And the second Temple stood the numerical equivalent of [the word,] hayita (420), and this is [why it states] "vehaarets haita" ("and the earth was;" which is the phrase that precedes tohu in this verse). And afterwards, [it is written], "darkness," a hint to the exiles. And so is it expounded in Bereishit Rabbah 2:4. Another explanation: "and the earth was chaos and void" has a numerical equivalent (gematria) of 'two thousand years without Torah.'

And the spirit of God was hovering: has a numerical equivalent (gematria) of 'this is the spirit of messiah.'

And darkness was upon the depths: There are two [places this appears] according to the tradition: here and the other is (Job 38:19) "and darkness, where is its place?" This [refers to] what they stated (Chagigah 11b), that one should not ask, "What is before, what is after?" The explanation of "and darkness, where is its place?" is that one should not ask, "what was the place of darkness [at] first.

And the spirit of God: [This phrase appears] two [times] as a relational [or possessive phrase]. Here, and the other one is (II Chronicles 24:20) "and the spirit of God clothed Zecharya." One could here too read [as if it was written], "and the spirit of God clothed;" the explanation [of which] is that because of His clothing, He said, "let there be light," after which is written, "and there was light." This is what our Rabbis, of blessed memory, expounded (Bereishit Rabbah 3:4), "from a little of his clothing, He created light."