The objections which Dr. Tayler Lewis urges against this "chasm theory," as he styles it, and which he regards as "the most difficult as well as the most un- satisfactory" of all the pi'oposed solutions, are still less forcible (Lange's Commentary on Genesis, p. 1(37): 1, The incongruity between the events spoken of before and after the chasm. But on this theory there is no direct connection. 2. Want of natural or moral rea- sons for the alleged catastrophe. But no catastrophe is stated in the narrative ; it is only an inference of modern times. 3. The theory is evidently brought in as an escape from geological difficulties. That is little against it, for all the modern explanations are but in- genious devices to meet some speculative view, except the bald one that holds to the literal creation of the universe in six periods of twenty-four hours each. On the other hind, the intsrpretation under consideration simi'ly allows Moses to say nothing about matters with which he had nothing to do. We protest against mak- ing him M'ise in all the modern scientific ratiocinations. 4. It makes the "heavens" of ver. 1 diftei'ent from those of ver. 8. This is true only as to the e.rtcnsion of the term, which the different character of the two contexts requires lis to vary. Does any reasonable interpreter suppose the mere shy alone to be meant in ver. 1, as in ver. 8 ? 5. The connecting 1, " and," does not admit "so sharp and remote a severance" in the history. We may reply that there was no wide gap. in the imagination of the writer; it exists only in the mind of the modern savant. But, supposing that Mo- ses did know all about the period thus ignored by him, every Bible reader is aware how often such gaps are silently bridged by the conjunction in question, which might almost be described as a "disjunctive" rather than a copulative. The erudite objector himself can- didly admits (p. 130) that such minute grammatical points as the tense of the verb nn^n, "was," instead of "nP^, as well as the question whether the first day is exclusive or inclusive of the "beginning," are in- conclusive.
On the other hand, the sacred text itself discloses several positive indications of such a hiatus as we have supposed between verse 1 and 2 of Gen. i. (1) The term "beginning" implies a sequel or later stage of creation, especially as it stands in so emphatic a posi- tion and absolute a form. (2) The act liere designated Iiy the word " created" is not a general one, of which the details follow, but one totally distinct in kind from them, namely, the abo?-i[/ination of matter itself: lience it is not used again until the bringing; into existence of animal life is specified. (.3) Accordingly, the phrase "heavens and earth," although expressive of the uni- verse, do?s not mean the celestial and terrestrial worlds as such, or as now extant, liut merely their element- ary state or materials. Tliis will be disputed by few if ail}- interpreters. But thus, under any theory, a long interval must have ela])sed between this primor- dial state of matter, and its organization or crystalli-
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zation into the most rudimentary forms to which it is possible to apply the statements of the succeeding verse. (4) For "the earth" is there spoken of sepa- rately as at least a segregated globe, and special prom- inence is given to it bv its emphatic position in the sentence, as well as by the strong disjunctive accent j)laced upon it by the Masoretes, -whereas the reduc- tion of the heavenly bodies to their present oi'der is not spoken of till a much later point — a fact utterly iiTeconcilable with the view that makes the latter phenomena coincide with their astronomical produc- tion. (5) The force of the substantive verb Hr^n, "was," which, as being ejpressed in ver. 2, is not the simple copula, adds intensity to this distinction of the terrene from the aerial sphere, and shows that the writer has descended from the universal creation to our own planet as the immediate abode of man. Now, although the verb in question ought not perhaps, with some, be rendered became, remained, etc., yet as the equivalent of vTrcioxw, in distinction from eifji, it cer- tainly' serves to point out a particular condition of the earth at a definite stage of its history as an actual event in contrast with its later and prior state ; q. d. "The earth, however, still existed as," etc. (6) The peculiar phrase employed to describe the condition in question is even more conclusive of this interpi'eta- tion ; for not only is this not an adjective, which would have expressed simple quality, but the nouns ^liiri *in^% literally wasleness and desolation, or emptiness and vacidtij (for both these ideas are implied, and the two words are almost sj'nonymous), used superlatively by way of reiterated asseveration, are both expressive of a positive rather than a negative fiict, the result of an active cause, and not a mere continuance of disor- der or the absence of organic principles, q. d. " wreck and ruin" (compare Isa. xxxiv, 11, "He shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion [t61ur\, and the stones of emptiness [icl/«y]," speaking of the complete demo- lition of a cit}'). (7) The game picture of devastation is contained in the parallel terms Dlliri, abyss, and D'^"3rt"'^33, surface of the water; hy which the face of the globe (not its interior) is represented as a vast and billowy sea, just such as an arctic deluge or a sudden- ly melted mer de glace would exhibit. (8) Finally, the brooding (rsri'^B) of the divine Spirit over this dark and turbid nest (not chaotic world-egg) does not exclude all previous creative or reductive energy, but rather implies the already' fecundated germ or organ- ized embryo, which only needed incubation to bring it to perfection and manifestation. The semina renim survived the extinction of the parent I'aces, and a fresh brood was to repopulate the globe. Or perhaps the figure may still better be interpreted of the fledg- ling earth, chilled and stunned liv the recent catastro- phe, nestling for warmth and protection beneath the genial wings of its Creator, to gather new vigor for the final essay at independent life and action.