“The earth was without form, and void.” (Genesis 1:2)
The Revised Version rendering of this verse is: “The earth was waste and void” (i.e., waste and empty). And because it is not easy to believe that when God created the earth it was “waste” (desolated), there are many Bible students who think that in pre-Adamic times the earth (with its inhabitants, if any) was overwhelmed by some kind of desolation. From this it is argued that God probably destroyed a pre-Adamic world of sentient beings, and that this was probably due to the sinfulness of the people of that primitive era. Some of these students go further, and maintain that the angels of whom we read in the Scriptures are probably the immortalised righteous ones of that era.
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Author: P. H. Adams
Keywords: Beginning, Earth, Without form, Void, Earth void, Empty earth, Geological record, Geology, Creation, Creation earth, Earth created, pre-Adamic, before Adam, prehistoric
Bible reference(s): Genesis 1:2, Jer 4:23-26
Source: “Difficulties in the Daily Readings,” The Testimony, Vol. 22, No. 253, January 1952, pg. 25.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.