Snodderly Biblical Perspective on the Root of Violence

7/25/2019 Snodderly Biblical Perspective on the Root of Violence

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Summary of Ralph D. WintersMissiological Interpretation ofGenesis 1

R

alph Winter sees Genesis 1:1 as a local newbeginning in the Middle East after a major

disaster, such as an asteroidal collision, hadwiped out life in that part of a pre-Genesis 1:1 cre-ation. 1 Tis disaster would have been the result of

judgment, as is the case prior to other biblical newbeginnings such as the Flood, the calling of Abraham,and the coming of Jesus the Messiah. Te origin andFall of Satan (see Ezekiel 28: 12-17) and the exis-tence of the vicious life forms seen in the fossil record(Winter 2005b) all belong to this pre-Genesis 1:1creation in Winters interpretation. Genesis 1 showsGod preparing the land for a new humanity, made in

His image for the purpose of working with Him tobring order out of chaos and to defeat the intentions ofthe adversary. Winters major concern that is addressedin his interpretation of Genesis 1 is to show that thebattle between good and evil has been present frombefore the beginning and humankind was createdto join that battle. Included in that battle is the man-date to ght disease along with other evils in working

with God to restore order to his good creation and torestore His glory and reputation.

In his call to the evangelical world to include ght-ing disease as an aspect of mission, Winter is echoingbiblical themes that have their origin in Genesis 1:2. Itis the thesis of this paper that tohu wabohu is anythingthat is the opposite of creation and order and that it isa description of the root of human problems aroundthe world, including violence found in missions set-tings. It is ghting tohu wabohu to do anything thatbrings order out of chaos. Tis is the origin of a theologyof disease. (Dis-ease is the opposite of ease; the op-posite of order; the opposite of Gods intentions = tohu

wabohu.) What did God do in Genesis 1 to overcometohu wabohu? Te rst few verses show the pattern forthe rest of the chapter and give the key to the entireBible. Something opposite to Gods intentions existsand is described in Genesis 1:2. Te rest of the Bibleexplains how to overcome and/or avoid tohu wabohu at

various levels (physical, personal, family, social, politi-cal) or it shows what happens when tohu wabohu isnot overcome. Te whole theme of Scripture is to ghtback against the opposition to Gods intentions. Tis isthe biblical worldview demonstrated throughout Israelshistory, in the prophets interpretation of that history,in Jesus activity and words, and in Pauls description ofliving in the Kingdom. Where Gods Kingdom doesnot yet exist, tohu wabohu reigns (including disease and

violence) and missionary activity is needed to destroythe works of Gods adversary, the devil.

Abstract: Tis paper takes an exegetical approach to

exploring the implications of the term tohu wabohu and

concludes that Genesis 1:2ff is the theological basis for

ghting evil. As a description of the root of all human

problems, including violence in missions, this gure

of speech also contains within itself the solution to

those problems. Tese verses show that God has evil

under control and patiently counter-acts it with acts of

creativity, including the creation of humans to join Him

in ghting back against tohu wabohu. Believers have the

privilege of allowing Gods Spirit (ruach elohim) to workthrough them to demonstrate His glory, by bringing or-

der out of chaos and by overcoming evil with good (He-

brew, tob, a word play with the similar-sounding tohu).

Believers are called to overcome tohu wabohu at all levels

of existence: personal, family, society, and cross-cultur-

ally through mission activity. ohu wabohuwherever

it is foundis not Gods will. Demonstration of Gods

will and Gods glory is the responsibility of the Body of

Christ, so that all peoples can come to know and obey

Him, in fulllment of the Great Commission.

A Biblical Perspective on the Root ofViolence in the Context of Missions

Beth Snodderly


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Tere is an urgent need for a hermeneutic that allows

culture and experience to play a role in the formulation

of our understanding and theology of spiritual conict.

Te basis and test of such a theology is Scripture.

(Moreau 2002: xxvii)

bereshit bara elohim et hassamayim weet haeretz

wehaeretz

hayeta tohu wabohu

wehosek al-pene tehom

weruach elohim merahepet al-pene hammayim

In the beginning God created the heavens and theearth.

As for the earth,it was destroyed and desolate (tohu wabohu),

with darkness on the face of the deep,

but the Spirit of God stirring over the face of thewaters. (Genesis 1:1, 2; authors translation fromthe Hebrew).

Woe to those who do their work in darkness

You turn things upside down, as if the potter were

thought to be like the clay! (Isaiah 29:16, NIV)

Tese [men] have turned the world upside down. (Acts17:6, KJV)

A Biblical explanation for the originof violence in missions

When a portion of the world is drastically and violent-ly upside down from Gods intentions (which in turnare upside down from human expectations), Scripture

shows that God often decides to shake that worldthrough judgment and start over with a person or peo-ple who are open to His leading. 1An exegetical studyof the Hebrew gure of speech, tohu wabohu, showsthat the term is an integral part of the original descrip-tion of the pattern of judgment and new beginnings inScripture. ohu wabohu describes both the oppositionto Gods purposes and the consequences of that op-position. ohu wabohu, then, describes the root cause of

violence in missions, namely, people and societies oper-ating in opposition to Gods intentions for this world.

Diseases, natural disasters, famines and droughts, ac-cidents, socio-political disorders, economic oppressionsand the like could be either the consequences of divine

judgment, satanic assaults, human sinfulness or somecombination of these factors. (Moreau 2002: 9) Tatis a good assessment of the meaning and connotationsof tohu wabohu. It refers to both the circumstances thatare the cause of judgment and the consequences expe-rienced as a result of judgment, which is often simplya withdrawal of Gods protection of a society from theevil tendencies of humankind.

Since judgment is always associated in Scripture withthe word tohu, 2 it is logical to assume that the rstoccurrence of the word in Genesis 1:2 would have hadthe same connotation. In fact, it could have been theoriginal use of the term that other writers of Scripturehad in mind in their own use of the term. It mightseem natural to ask, what could have been in existencebefore the Genesis 1 creation account that God wouldhave seen a need to judge? Merrill Unger represents aconservative evangelical understanding that the rst

verses of Genesis may speak of a judged earth that isabout to be re-created:

Genesis 1:1, 2 evidently describes not the primeval

creation ex nihilo, but the much later refashioning of

a judgment-ridden earth in preparation for a new order

of creation-man. Te Genesis account deals only with

Gods creative activity as it concerns the human race in

its origin, fall and redemption. (1958: 28)

God did not create the earth in the state of a chaos of

wasteness, emptiness, and darkness (John 38:4, 7; Isa.


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45:18). It was reduced to this condition because it was

the theater where sin began in Gods originally sinless

universe in connection with the revolt of Lucifer (Sa-

tan) and his angels (Isa. 14:12-14; Ezek. 28:13, 15-17;

Rev. 12:4). Te chaos was the result of Gods judgment

upon the originally sinless earth. (Unger 1981: 5)

Te term tohu wabohu is not limited, however, to thephysical condition of the land before the creationevents of Genesis 1. Satan is still active in this worlddeceiving people into ongoing rebellion and violence.ohu wabohu can also describe chaos at a societal level(and other levels of existence), as will be seen in thefollowing studies of the historical and literary contextof the term. Tis exegetical study will highlight impli-cations for other societies as we see that the conditionsdescribed as tohu wabohu are not Gods will and that

He wants to work through His people to correct theseconditions. (Be fruitful and multiply, and subdue theearth [Genesis 1:28].) We will see that overcomingtohu wabohu foreshadows Gods ultimate intentions forthis world and demonstrates His glory.

Historical Context: Originalaudiences understanding of tohuwabohuIn seeking for a biblical perspective on the origin of

violence in missions and its solution, the questionneeds to be asked, what would Moses audience haveunderstood tohu wabohu to mean? Te original audi-ence must have heard Genesis 1 spoken aloud as partof the oral literature of ancient Israel. (Fox 1983: ix)

What would they have envisioned as they heard thedescription in Genesis 1:2 of the condition of the landbefore God made it habitable for humans?

Te earth was destroyed and desolate (tohu wabohu)

with darkness on the face of the deep.

Moses listeners, who had recently escaped from thechaos of slavery and non-entity in Egypt (evidences ofsocietal tohu wabohu) and had experienced deliverancefrom the destructive waters of the Red Sea (physicaltohu wabohu), would have been caught up in the imag-ery evoked by the words and sounds of Genesis 1:1, 2.

Teir own recent experiences would have caused themto resonate with the word play and meaning of therhyming tohu wabohu and the assonance of ruach/mera-

hepet. (Te consonant and vowel sounds of the rst syl-lables in merahepet[stirring] echo the sound of ruach[spirit]. [Kselman: 1978: 164]) Te juxtaposition ofthese two sets of word plays must have been a reassur-ing sound to the people of Israel as Moses began to

explain to them how their God had prepared a placefor them to live. First God had brought order andgoodness to a land that was tohu wabohudestroyedand desolate, turned upside down (thats like us! they

would have recognized). Ten Moses explained thatGod had never left that land (or the people) withoutthe presence of His ruach merahepet(spirit stirring). 3

In conjunction with this historical background, thewell-known Hebrew literary trait of parallelism furtherillumines the meaning of the term tohu wabohu. In therst two lines of Genesis 1: 2, darkness and deep

are in a parallel construction with tohu wabohu andserve as an elaboration of the meaning of this gureof speech. (Cassuto 1944: 23) Both the words dark-ness/hosek and deep/tehom would no doubt havesent shivers of remembered horror down the spines ofMoses listeners. Tey had just escaped from slavery(societal tohu wabohu) in the land of Egypt where theplague of darkness had helped change Pharaohs mindabout letting them go. It was also in the darkness ofnight that the nal plague of the death of the Egyptianrstborn sons took place. Moses audience had also

just escaped from the deeps of the feared sea by theruach/wind of God (Exodus 15:10, another allusionfrom Genesis 1:2) separating the water and making adry path, followed by the drowning of their enemies(physical tohu wabohu). Tere is no doubt but that theimagery conjured up by the language in the parallelismof Genesis 1:2 would have meant to Moses audiencethat the land at the beginning, before God startedmaking it livable, was a chaotic, ominous, hostile andeven violent place.

Te account of how God shaped the worthless landinto a livable place would also have served as a meta-phor for the people to see how God was making theminto a nation. Te Book of Exodus shows God bring-ing the people out of chaos, a situation most societiesthroughout history and across cultures can identify

with since chaos and violence are often associated witha society that is not yet ordered according to Godsplan. (For example, according to a report at the U.S.Center for World Mission from a missionary withOperation Mobilization, 30,000 prostitutes live and


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work in one street in Nepal. Tese are girls who havebeen kidnapped and sold into slavery.) Te story of theformation of the people of Israel into a nation begins

with emphasis on the negative, chaotic conditions un-der which they were living in slavery in Egypt, just as

Genesis 1:2 begins with emphasis on the negative, cha-otic condition of the earth before God started makingit habitable. Israels deliverance from the tohu wabohuof slavery, with God drying up a path through thesea, echoes the separation of the waters from dry landin creation. Both of these events also foreshadow thefulllment of history when, in a nal new beginning,God will dry even the smallest amounts of salty water,the tears spoken of in Revelation 21:4, representativeof the troubles and chaos the ancient Hebrew peopletraditionally associated with the sea.

Patterns of overcoming tohu wabohuin biblical historyGods acts in history foreshadow His ultimate inten-tions for the earth when He shakes it one last time andstarts over with a new heaven and new earth. Whatresponsibility do believers have to join God in dem-onstrations in the present that foreshadow what it willlook like when His will is being done on earth as itis in heaven? Troughout Scripture we see patterns

that can help answer this question. God never gave uptrying to bring order out of chaos. He never gave uptrying to win a people who would demonstrate Hisglory to the rest of the world.

Movement from a state of chaos and trouble, includingsocial disorganization, to a state of peace in the land,is the pattern Richard Clifford sees in the poetic ac-counts of the Exodus (Psalm 77:15-19; 78:42-55 andExodus 15). (1985: 510, 511) Somehow this patternneeds to be repeated within all cultures and societies,most noticeably those in which violence prevails. A

new creation of these societies is needed, following thepattern found in the Exodus account and in Genesis 1.Can the work of missions be seen as the equivalent ofthe ruach elohim, the wind and Spirit of God (and the

weapon of God, see Zechariah 4:6 4), that prepared theway for Gods new beginning in each of these cre-ationsof a society and of the land?

Te pattern we are examining for applicability to mis-sions today begins with the description of the unin-habitable condition of the earth or land in Genesis

1:2. Te violent, hopeless nature of the land is impliedby its description as tohu wabohu. What was needed toturn it upside down so that it could be described as theopposite of tohu wabohutob/good? God gives a pat-tern in Genesis 1 for overcoming evil. In making the

land ready for humans to live in, the rst thing Goddid was to correct the darkness associated with tohuwabohu by calling for light to appear. He called thelight good/tob. John Sailhamer calls attention to the

word play with similar sounds: tohudescribes the landbefore God made it tob/good. (1996: 63) obcouldeven possibly be seen as an ellipsis of tohu wabohu. Inthis sense, the gure of speech, tohu wabohu, shortenedto tob, contains within itself the solution to anti-creational chaos and violenceovercoming evil withgood. 5

After light appeared, in a series of unhurried creativeacts, God prepared the land as a place for humans tolive peacefully. Te next thing He did was to makesome basic structural divisions (between the watersabove and the waters beneath, then separating the dryland from the water) to be followed later by lling inthe details. He wasnt in a hurry to get everything readyat once. Instead He worked within the framework ofevenings and mornings toward His goal of making aland habitable for humans, who could then continue

working with Him according to His example of how

to work and live well in the land.

Trough reection on the pattern of the six days ofcreation, the Israelites could learn important lessonsabout God and their relationship to him. Is it pos-sible that principles from the Creation account mayalso serve as a pattern for missiologists in constructingcreative strategies for reaching a violent society withthe shalom of the Gospel; or for the society itself to re-pattern itself after the principles of Gods Word?

One of the lessons Moses audience would have learned

from the Creation account comes from the emphasison the word land/eretz in verse 2. By placing this

word in an emphatic position at the beginning of theverse, Moses called attention to the covenant that Godwas making with the people, of which the land was avisible representation. In his covenant with Israel atSinai, God promised to give them a good land wherethey could enjoy his blessing and have fellowship

with Him. Tey had to remain faithful and obedient,however. (Sailhamer 1996: 73) Te lesson learned bythe link between land and covenant is that obedience


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is necessary, otherwise judgment on the land and loss

of the land will follow. Te rest of the Old estamentcan be seen as a commentary on this relationship

between the land and obedience to the covenant. ohelp emphasize the importance of not incurring Gods

judgment through disobedience, the tohu wabohu con-dition of the land prior to the creation events serves as

advance warning.

Historical Context: Otheroccurrences of the term tohu wabohu

Te warning in Genesis 1:2 was not enough, however,

to prevent the recurrence of tohu wabohu. Among manyother judgments, two particular examples describe the

condition of land as tohu wabohu. In each of these oc-

currences (Isaiah 34:11 and Jeremiah 4:23), the termindicates that something is opposite or upside down

from Gods intended order. (A transliterated Frenchexpression, tohu bohu, still carries this meaning that is

equivalent to the English phrase, topsy turvey. [Barn-house 1965: 15])

In Isaiah 34:11, the prophet refers to the measuringline of chaos/confusion (tohu) and the plumb line of

desolation (bohu), using imagery of building construc-

tion to indicate just the opposite: the tearing down ofa civilization and the resulting emptiness of a howl-

ing desert. David Stacey points out that the immedi-ate context (vs. 9, 10) sounds like a description of the

results of volcanic activity: Edoms streams will beturned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her

land will become blazing pitch! It will not be quenched

night and day; its smoke will rise forever (Isaiah34:9, 10). He suggests this description could also be

an allusion to the judgment on Sodom and Gomor-rah. (Ten the Lord rained down burning sulfur on

Sodom and Gomorrah and [Abraham] saw densesmoke rising from the land, like smoke from a fur-

nace [Genesis 19:24, 28].) Christopher Seitz sees in

this chapter, in which a variety of wild animals matesare mentioned three times, an allusion to the chaos of

Noahs ood. (1993: 237) Isaiah seems to pile up asmuch imagery in chapter 34 as he can think of, includ-

ing the allusion to the chaos preceding creation (tohuwabohu), to make his point that Edom will be judged!

In Jeremiah 4:23 the prophet warns that God is send-ing an agent from the north to destroy the people of

Israel. As in Isaiah 34, the towns will be ruined and

will become desert again. All this would happen be-cause Gods people foolishly refused to know and obeyHim. Teir moral values were completely reversed (up-side down). Tey are skilled in doing evil; they knownot how to do good (v. 22). In this passage we see that

the earth has become empty, shaken, ruined and shat-tered because of the Lords anger against evil. Creationis being reversed and undone in a sense. Elliott Binnsremarks, Te trembling of the mountains representsthe overturning of all that is stable and trustworthy.(1919: 45)

Literary context for the meaning oftohu wabohu

Tese historical contexts for the phrase tohu wabohumake it clear that this term is related to the causes andconsequences of Gods judgment on the land, and thatthe negative physical conditions can serve as a meta-phor for societal and other levels of disorder. Whatfurther insights can be gained from a literary analysisof the biblical text that would be useful for cross-cul-tural workers trying to help a particular society escapefrom the chaos and violence of tohu wabohu?

Te gure of speech in the Hebrew, tohu wabohu,startles the listener or reader with its rhyming qualityand calls attention to the fact that something surpris-

ing and signicant is being said, possibly somethingunexpected that will throw the reader and listener offbalance. Perhaps the rhyme gave a playful, as well asmemorable, twist to the depiction of anti-creationalchaos. Job seems to do something similar in his de-scription of the feared sea monster, Leviathan, in Job41:5: Can you pull in the leviathan with a shhook? Can you make a pet of him?

Perhaps by the whimsical sound of the words he wasinspired to choose, tohu wabohu, Moses was reassuring

the people that God has chaos under control and thateven conditions contrary to Gods will can be turnedto His good purposes. Tis larger perspective can alsobe reassuring to cross-cultural workers who at timesmight become so focused on current severe problemsthat they could lose sight of Gods long-term planto bring all peoples to himselfa plan that is being

worked out within the context of a world still lledwith tohu wabohu. (A current example of this would bethe boy soldiers of Uganda who are trained to kill.)

In addition to this whimsical quality of the term, its


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etymology may contain an allusion to a state of beingjumbled, mixed up or upside down. Although theword tohuoccurs 17 times in Scripture (three timesas part of the term tohu wabohu), the word bohuneveroccurs alone. Tis could be because, as Robert Alter

speculates, it may have been invented for the purposeof rhyming with tohu. (2004: 17) Te short etymologyof bohuproposed here illuminates the signicance ofthe combined term. For the purposes of this etymol-ogy, we consider the possibility suggested by MichaelFishbane that tohu wabohu falls within the categoryof the gure of speech known as paronomasia. (1971:161) Te Oxford English Dictionary denes parono-masia as, to alter slightly in naming; a playing on

words that sound alike; a word-play; a pun. If thisproposal is accepted, the mixed-up origin of the phrase

already hints at the meaning of the term tohu wabohu,communicating by its sound a mixed up, disorderedstate of being. Te original word that was mixed upin creating the new term may have been one used in2 Kings 17:15. In this passage the people fell under

judgment for going after the vain or worthless thing/hahahval(idols) (Strongs # 1891) and they themselvesbecame vain, worthless/wahebalu(Strongs # 1891). If

we consider the phrase tohu wabohu (a variation of tohuwehabalu) to be a pun, we could speculate that formerinhabitants of the earth or land (prior to Genesis 1:1,

2; cf. Ezekiel 28: 15-17) had similarly followed vainand worthless things and had themselves becomeworthless (wehabalu). (As a side note, compare this toMatthew 5:13: You are the salt of the earth. But ifthe salt loses its saltiness, it is no longer good foranything [it is worthless], except to be thrown out andtrampled under by men.)

Describing the condition of the earth with the mock-ing rhyme, tohu wabohu, would have communicatedto Moses listeners that something had gone wrong,

was out of order, contrary to Gods intentions, before

He began setting things back in order through Cre-ation. Te value of rhyme for bringing out this upsidedown connotation of tohu wabohu can also be seen inIsaiah 45:18, one of the passages in which tohu oc-curs alone. Because of the close links to Genesis 1:2, 6the rhyme in Isaiah 45:18 may indirectly be giving usanother example of the meaning of the full phrase, tohuwabohu. In the Hebrew it can be seen that Isaiah 45:18contains a poem that both rhymes and has the samenumber of syllables, something that is not necessary or

usual in Hebrew poetry:

Lo tohu beraa

Lasebet yesara

He did not create it to be [tohu]

But formed it to be inhabited

Since most Hebrew poetry does not rhyme, the factthat this is the second occurrence of rhyme in associa-tion with the word tohuindicates something signicantis being said that needs extra thought. Could it be thatIsaiah introduced this word play because he had therhyming sound of tohu wabohu in mind when he choseto use the word tohuin this context? In that case then,

we would have a fourth (implied) context for the term

tohu wabohu. Tis playful rhyme in Isaiah 45:18 showsthat God wants to turn the original conditions upsidedown that are described by the rhyming words tohuwabohu. He wants to reverse the judged state of theland (described earlier in Isaiah 45), to make it inhab-ited and life-giving. Te context shows that Cyrus,as Gods servant, is going to rebuild what God hadallowed to be destroyed (conrmation of the fact thatGod works through humans to accomplish his pur-poses in the world).

Translations of tohu wabohuTe synonymous parallelism of Isaiah 45:18 showsthat tohu, in this case, specically means uninhabited,empty, or purposeless. God did not create the world tobe purposeless or meaningless, as it would be if there

were no inhabitants. Te mission and purpose of Godspeople is specied a few verses later: urn to me andbe saved, all you ends of the earth Before me everyknee will bow; by me every tongue will swear (Isaiah45: 22, 23). God wants all nations to be included inthis rebuilding, another reassurance for those working

with societies still trapped in dysfunctional and violentpatterns of existence (tohu wabohu).

ranslations for tohu wabohu by various commentatorsrange from topsy turvey, extremely empty, unproduc-tive and uninhabitable, to desert-like, not producing orsupporting life, wreck and ruin, destroyed and desolate,the opposite of creation. Tese layers of meaning (from

whimsical to deadly and anti-creational) can apply inthe cultural, societal and personal (mental or physical)realms as well as to the negative, mixed-up state of the


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physical creation. Jon Levenson, in Creation and thePersistence of Evil, extends the meaning of tohu wabohuin Genesis 1:2 beyond the merely physical conditionsof the earth to take it as an affi rmation that God asthe Creator of the world is directed against the forces

that oppose him and his acts of creationthe forces ofdisorder, injustice, affl iction, and chaos, which are, inthe Israelite worldview, one. (1988: xix) Tis is a keyinsight with implications for cross-cultural workers.ohu wabohu emcompasses all forces of disorder.

Conclusions and applications tocross-cultural workOnce they were settled in their land, the disorder theIsraelites feared most was represented by the concreteimagery of the desert, the tohu wabohu that was always

waiting in the wings to take over if they didnt care fortheir land or if their enemies destroyed it. Von Radpoints out that people have always known that evillurks in the background of their experience. Man hasalways suspected that behind all creation lies the abyssof formlessness; that the chaos, therefore, signiessimply the threat to everything created. (1972: 52)

What represents the lurking evil and chaos for othersocieties? If a society does not have righteous leadersand godly vision (see Proverbs 29:18) what form of

chaos takes over? Senseless violence is one of the char-acteristics of a society that has fallen into the conditionof tohu wabohu. Where Gods Kingdom does not yetexist, tohu wabohu reigns (including disease and vio-lence) and missionary activity is needed to destroy the

works of Gods adversary, the devil. Until the chaoticconditions that are caused by the works of the devil areovercome, the people cannot understand or respond tothe gospel.

ohu wabohu is a metaphor for the root of the prob-lems of human existence that must be addressed by

cross-cultural workers, bringing order out of chaoswherever they go as representatives of the kingdomof God. Te extremely negative imagery associated

with tohu wabohu indicates that, wherever it is found,it is not Gods will. In each occurrence of this termit describes a judged and destroyed state of the earthand this emptiness and meaninglessness comes aboutbecause it is deserved. (Motyer 1993: 271) It impliesthe existence of evil and the need to overcome that evilin order for Gods will to be done (on earth as it is inheaven). Te whole earth is under judgment because

the whole world is under the control of the evil one(1 John 5:19).

Te context in which the concept of tohu wabohu isintroduced right at the beginning of Scripture, showsGods purpose is to correct conditions on this earth

that are contrary to his will. Te opening verses ofGenesis give the theological basis for ghting evil andthe way to ght it--patiently overcoming evil withgood. By describing the opposite of Gods intentionsin the context of the Creation account, tohu wabohupoints toward the goal of that creationa place thatcan be inhabited by humans in fellowship with God.

Tis term gives the key to the Old estament, and tothe entire Bible. An adversary that is hostile to life andopposite to Gods intentions exists. Te whole themeof existence is to ght back against the disorder andchaos orchestrated by the adversary to oppose God,

which in extreme cases explodes in violence at bothpersonal and societal levels. Te Creation account ofGenesis 1 points the way to ght back in showingthat it is possible to restore order with creativity andpatience, showing how to overcome evil with good.

At the end of Scripture, in the Book of Revelation, wesee the fulllment of Gods purposes in history de-scribed in terms showing that the state of tohu wabohuhas nally been fully reversed: there is no more death,

crying or pain. Darkness and night have been perma-nently replaced with light (see Revelation 21: 3, 4; 22:5). In between this beginning and ending of Scripture,the rest of the Bible explains how to overcome and/or avoid tohu wabohu at various levels or it shows whathappens when tohu wabohu is not overcome.

All societies have to answer the question, How shallwe bring order out of chaos? People trying to be sub-mitted to God in any culture need to nd their ownparticular implications for how to live in right relation-ship with God within that culture, including over-

coming tohu wabohu/evil, with good (Romans 12:13).Humans allowing Gods Spirit to work through themto defeat the adversary in this way can turn their worldupside down, as was said of the disciples in the bookof Acts. Or perhaps we should say, they can help turnthe world right side up, restoring it in some ways toGods original intentions and bringing Him glory inthe process.

and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you

(Genesis 12:3).


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End Notes1. John Sailhamer, the most outspoken contemporary pro-

ponent of the local earth theory, cautions in his book, Genesis

Unbound, that today the word earth too easily calls up images of

the whole planet on which we live. (1996: 58) Te modern view

of the universe should not be allowed to control our understanding

of what the author of Genesis would have meant by earth. One

of Sailhamers sources, John Pye Smith, stated, a most important

inquiry is the meaning of the word [eretz] which we render earth.

(1854: 249) He goes on to point out that the ancient Hebrews

could not have had any conception of the planet as we know it

(the spheroidal gure of the earth), so we must base our under-

standing of the earth in conformity with the ideas of the people

who used it. Frequently it stands for the land of Palestine, and

indeed for any country or district that is mentioned or referred to.

Sometimes [eretz] denotes a mere plot of ground; and sometimes

the soil, clay, and sand, or any earthy matter. (1854: 250)

2. Examples of Gods new beginnings in Scripture include theGenesis 1 Creation account, Flood, the calling of Abraham, the

Exodus, the return from Exile, the coming of Jesus the Messiah,

and the nal new beginning described in the Book of Revelation,

the new heaven and the new earth.

3. A detailed chart tracking the key themes associated with the

word tohu in the Old estament is included in the Appendix. Tis

chart shows that apart from Genesis 1:2, each of the occurrences of

tohuis specically in the context of judgment.

4. Does the presence of the Spirit of God in Genesis 1:2 point

not only to Gods presence and care, but also to the need for clean-

ing up after a battle? Tough the enemies of God are numerousand their tactics and their strategies vary, Gods weapon is singular:

my Spirit. (Moreau 2002: 62) Not by might, nor by power, but by

my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty (Zechariah 4:6, NIV).

5. Te concept of overcoming evil with good is foreign to

human cultures. Te means by which [North American heroes

such as cowboys, Superman, Spiderman] overcome their enemies

are violent onesthey never seek to redeem the enemy, only to

destroy him. (Moreau 2002: 122) Walter Wink calls the idea that

good violence may be used to overcome evil violence, the myth of

redemptive violence. Jesus response was to submit to the violence

by going to the cross. (Moreau 2002: 123) While Jesus did not

repay evil for evil, neither was He passive in the face of evil. He

repeatedly demonstrated Gods desire to overcome evil with good

by casting out demons and healing the sick.

6. Tere are at least three links between Genesis 1:2 and Isaiah

45:18:

(a) Both are about the creation of the heavens and the earth.

(b) Both contain the word tohuin a description of the opposite

of Gods intention for creation.

(c) Both verses use rhyme.

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Documents

Snodderly Biblical Perspective on the Root of Violence