Genesis 1:2b And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
The first chapter of the Bible opens with simple language, but yet, it conveys so much. Let’s consider today, not even a whole verse but just part of a verse from that chapter: Genesis 1:2b. In fact, we are not even going to consider the first part of that sentence, for there is much to be thought on when we comprehend the meaning of the word ‘Spirit’ and by extension, it being attributed to God this early on. Let’s explore a relationship established very early on in the text that continues all the way through to Christianity today and helps establish by example the study principle that ‘The Old Testament is a foundation for the New Testament’.
The background for this sentence is the creation of the world as we know. We’ve opened with the statement that God created the heaven and earth. Now we are about to see some of that creation in more detail. It appears that before the days of creation began, something already existed. It’s described as confusion, emptiness, chaos, turbulence, the abyss, the deep. It’s also described as water. Something was there, but it was beyond description.
The word for ‘deep’ literally translates as ‘abyss’. It comes from a root word that means ‘to make an uproar, agitate greatly’. Perhaps you can envision a scene of oceans. Nothing but water with depths so far down that nothing can be seen. But they are not just waters, they are waters that are stirring, rumbling, moving. Now that you’ve seen the image, imagine it’s night – with no moon or stars. That’s right, a black void so that you cannot see. A darkness so crushing that it can be felt, slowly crushing the soul. Now you can ‘see’ nothing. You can only hear the rumbling of the waters.
There’s one more element that is now added to this picture, yet, you cannot see it nor hear it. That element is the spirit of God, the God of gods, his essence is present, and not just present, but it’s given the curious description of ‘moving’.
To properly understand what is meant by the word moving, let’s consider the two other places the original Hebrew is used and what we translate it to: Deut 32:11 (flutters) and Jer 23:9 (shake in relation to being drunk). It means to brood, to relax, to hover.
In a sense, it’s a personification of God. It’s communicating the idea that while there was darkness and great stirrings in deep waters, God’s presence was hovering just above it all, observing, watching, planning. Despite the chaos, He is unperturbed, undisturbed, unrestricted, dare we say, relaxed.
From that we may learn something about the God of the Bible – in chaos beyond what we can truly fathom, He is still in control. In fact, He’s quite at home. Perhaps we could even stop right there in our thoughts on this passage: the bleakest outlook that we know of, doesn’t disturb Him. That’s why when we find ourselves sinking in the storm, like Simon Peter, the correct thing to do is to look just above the waves where Jesus is standing and call for help. It’s not too much for Him.
However, we shall persist a bit longer to look at some things that relate to this statement.
Consider the pairing of the water and judgement in Noah’s flood. If anything, Noah’s flood was a re-creation of the world. It was a return of the world to it’s previous state as a result of humanity’s failure to hit the mark. Inside this is the idea that even when we fall short, and the waters of judgement and chaos cover us, God hasn’t given up. He’s hovering above the deep preparing to revive life and restore order.
The image of Noah’s flood, indeed the waters, is a picture of baptism saving us. (1 Pe 3:21) In Gensis 1:2’s connection of the Spirit of God and the water is a thread that winds through the sacred pages all the way to the Early Church baptizing people in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins.
Consider these parallels for time fails me to write it all in more detail:
- The Spirit is hovering over the waters
- The waters of Noah’s flood as a result of their connection to baptism
- The water and the Spirit in the Red Sea and the cloud in Exodus as mentioned by Paul (1Co. 10:1-2)
- The washing of the priests with water and anointing with oil
- The brazen laver and the golden candlestick of the Tabernacle
- The crossing of the Jordan River and the ark of the covenant
- The temple of Solomon with the brass sea and the candlesticks
- Elijah’s mantle and the Jordan river (Elijah’s mantle represents the Spirit as it represents his anointing which we see when it comes into Elisha’s possession as a sign of his request being answered)
- Jesus’ declaration that “You must be born of water and the Spirit.”
- Baptism in Jesus’ name accompanied by the infilling of the Holy Ghost
There is a relationship between water and the Spirit of God that is established in Genesis and can be seen moving through Scripture till it accumulates in the Day of Pentecost when 3000 people enter the waters of baptism and receive the promised Comforter.
I realize my writings have been relatively disorganized, but perhaps they may give some food for thought. If they have, then the time spent is well-justified though it already is for the blessing pondering this passage has been for me.
Note: All verses used are from the KJV. Study back to the original words was using Strong’s Concordance and Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon.
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