The Creative Process in Genesis 1:2-2:3 / God [Bara]s a [Tohu] Earth

I have a problem. I want to create a Thanksgiving dinner. Shall Joyce and I rise early to bake biscuits and cornbread, break them into pieces to combine with onions, celery, and seasonings. Stuff that into a plump turkey to bake 3 hours and make gravy from the drippings and giblets. Serve turkey, dressing and mashed potatoes and gravy and Joy’s green bean casserole. Is that good or shall I simply buy a “Tofurkey” and forget that messy work?

Two questions: 1) Did we create that dinner? Or did we take existing materials to separate, combine and form into a delicious dinner by a process that has been in our family for many years. 2) Is tofu good for you? According to an eminent physician at the Cleveland Heart Clinic it is very good for you. But in the above scenario I am not sure it is “good.”

Whoops, I made a pun. I substituted tofu for [tohu], the Hebrew word that occurs in Gn.1:2 – “The earth was a formless void (tohu) and darkness covered the face of the deep (bohu). [Bohu] occurs 3 times; [tohu] 20 times. Read 1 Samuel 12:21; Isaiah 34:11; 45:18-19. [Tohu] describes something that is nonfunctional and unproductive rather than something without physical form or shape.

The word [bara]/create occurs 48 times in the Bible. Only God creates, humans do not. He is Creator. While to create can mean to bring something into existence (Gn.1:1), it often means making existing things function properly. See Ps. 51:10; 102:18; Is. 4:5; 45:18; 65:18.

As one reads Genesis 1:2-2:3 literally, it reveals that God works on something already existing. It is chaotic and nonfunctional. A [tohu] earth is not good. God makes it very good, a place where he can dwell in his temple with humans and all that he creates.

—Tom Yoakum