Genesis 1:2b has recently become a very fascinating verse to me of the Hebrew perspective of God. Using parallelism, it says something truly interesting about God and how they viewed him, especially in comparison of "darkness." Boman says that the Hebrews saw inactivity basically as evil or non-existence and that they saw a positiveness to the dynamic activity of God in the world. He says they didn't really have a word for non-movement, such as "standing" or "sitting" or "resting," but that there was always something dynamic suggested in the word, like "standing up" or "sitting down" or "resting from." If he's right, then Gen 1:2b is really interesting.Darkness was over the face of the "deep"
Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the "water"
The changes in the parallelism is a Hebrew way of refining or further defining the idea of what they're trying to say, or further contrasting the two subjects to better see their qualities. The writer did not say that the "Spirit of God was over the face of the deep" because, I believe, the writer could not, based on his dynamic worldview. To suggest that God was inactively above the abyss/deep would say that God was almost doing something evil by (a) not being active and (b) just watching chaotic, destructive waters (which is what the abyss/deep is always seen as in Hebrew writings/poetry). Instead, to clarify God's character, he adds an active word (hovering/nurturing - in the same way a hen hovers/nurtures her offspring under her wing) and changes the "evil/abyss" in calm, life supporting "water," almost as if to say that God was actively involved in taming the destructive chaos and his presence tames it into something useful.
What a powerful image and what a deep commitment to God's character. It makes me wonder about how I describe God's character and what I might be missing/adding when I do.
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