The Lost World of Genesis One: Chapter 4

Chapter 4 of the book 'The Lost of Genesis One'  is titled The Beginning State in Genesis 1 is Nonfunctional. This chapter is a reinforcement of Chapter 3, which argues that the word 'create' concerns functioning. In this chapter, the words 'tohu' and 'bohu' are examined. The words are translated as 'formless and void' (KJV), 'formless and empty' (NIV/NLT), 'formless void' (RSV)... Genesis 1:1-2 read, 'In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters' (RSV).

The word 'tohu' occurs twenty ones times and 'bohu' thrice. Whenever 'bohu' occurs, it appears with 'tohu' and therefore 'tohu' is the word that requires a more detail analysis. Prof. Walton examines the texts where 'tohu' appears and then concludes that this word is never used to denote material creation. . The argument is supported by the fact that there is already 'the face of the waters'. With further textual support, the author argues that 'creation account in Genesis 1 can then be seen to begin with no function rather than with no material'. Moreover, the phrase 'it was good' supports the proposition... because 'good' here was used in the sense that it befits the corresponding function it is to perform. Here I am reminded of a point I read in the book of Dr. Ernest Lucas Can We Believe Genesis Today? Dr. Lucas says something to this effect that when we say 'this wood is good', it is not about the moral perfection of the wood; it is more to do with the fact that the wood is suitable for making, say, a table. So, coming back to Walton's book, the phrase 'it is good' is not about moral nature, but about the functioning that it is to perform. The Genesis account of creation... and the earth being a formless void is about bringing functionality from nonfunctional state.