Bible Geek Word Nerd - Empty

Beginnings: Empty

May 12, 2022

Part 2:

“Now the earth was FORMLESS and EMPTY, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־ פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־ פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃

Genesis 1:2

 

In our previous post, we discussed the Hebrew term TOHU (תֹּהוּ), translated above as “formless”. In this post, we will look at its rhyming partner, BOHU (בֹּהוּ), translated above as “empty”.

 

BOHU is a rarely used Hebrew noun, occurring only three times in the Text, and always paired with TOHU. Apart from Genesis, it is used in Isaiah 34 and Jeremiah 4.

 

In Isaiah 34, it is again paired with TOHU: “G-d will stretch out the measuring line of CHAOS (TOHU) and the plumb line of DESOLATION (BOHU)”. Clearly, the prophet is pointing his audience back to the beginning of creation, to the primordial state before G-d brings order to the creation. In context, he is describing G-d judgment and vengeance on the nations, the consequence of which will be desolation.

 

In Jeremiah 4, G-d’s wrath is not poured out on the nations, but rather on G-d’s people, as He brings disaster from the North. Beginning in verse 22, the LORD says, “My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.” The prophet continues in verse 23: “I looked at the earth, and it was FORMLESS and EMPTY; and at the heavens, and their light was gone. I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying. I looked, and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away. I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger.”

 

To reiterate the point made in the previous post, TOHU and BOHU convey a state in which life cannot exist. Chaos. Disorder. Waste. Devastation. The authors of Isaiah and Jeremiah, as well as the author of Genesis, are trying poetically (using words that rhyme and are therefore more memorable to their audience) to portray a state which represents the absolute opposite of G-d’s creation. 

 

If you want words that describe the Hell of Gehenna from Jesus’ prophetic warnings, perhaps look no further than TOHU and BOHU