Before light pierced the darkness, before order emerged from chaos, there was the deep, formless, void, shrouded in primordial darkness. Genesis 1:2 is not a casual description but a theological statement of profound depth: the world awaits God's ordering hand. Here we encounter tohu vavohu, the wilderness of unformed potential, the darkness that covered tehohm, the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovering with exquisite tenderness over the waters. Drawing from Rashi's bewilderment, Ramban's mystical theology, Ibn Ezra's precision, the Talmud's cosmic wisdom, and the Midrash's poetic insight, we explore what existed before creation was shaped, why darkness is not evil but mystery, how tehom differs from Tiamat, and why the Spirit's hovering reveals God's intimate, passionate involvement in every moment of creation. This is the moment before the first command, when chaos trembled beneath the wings of the Divine.

Sources & Further Study:

Rashi on Genesis 1:2

https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Genesis.1.2

Ramban (Nachmanides) on Genesis 1:2

https://www.sefaria.org/Ramban_on_Genesis.1.1.3

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 1:1-2

http://davidblumenthal.org/GenTradIbnEzraRamban.html

Midrash Bereishit Rabbah on the Spirit of Messiah

https://www.sefaria.org/Bereishit_Rabbah.2

Talmud Chagigah 12a on creation and the deep

https://www.sefaria.org/Chagigah.12a

Maharal, Gur Aryeh commentary on Rashi

https://www.sefaria.org/Gur_Aryeh_on_Genesis

Genesis 1:2 with classical commentaries

https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.1.2?with=all

Deuteronomy 32:11 (eagle hovering)

https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.32.11

Isaiah 11:2 (Spirit of Messiah)

https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.11.2

Jeremiah 4:23 (tohu vabohu in judgment context)

https://www.sefaria.org/Jeremiah.4.23

Isaiah 45:18 (God did not create tohu)

https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.45.18

Times of Israel, A Spirit of Creation and Commotion

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-spirit-of-creation-and-commotion/

Questioning Torah, Bereishit: Darkness First

https://mtorah.com/2025/10/13/bereishit-darkness-first/

Hebrew Union College, An Exploration of Tehom in Hebrew Bible

http://library.huc.edu/pdf/theses/Halpert_Rodis_Thalia_N-NY-Rab-2020_rdf.pdf

Merahefet (Genesis 1:2): The Dynamics of the Spirit

https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/38509