That's an incorrect understanding of the text. Genesis indeed does describe creation ex materia, not ex nihilo. Sorry if this upsets you.
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
God doesn't say "Let there be" until verse 3. But prior to verse 3, the deep was already present, along with the formless earth before God began creating with the spoken word.
Additionally, consider passages such as verse 9:
9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth,[
d] and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
God said, and yet, look at what actually happens. Waters were gathered. They did not appear out of nothing.
Or verse 6:
6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse[
a] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made[
b] the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven.[
c] And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
God said Let there be an expanse. But an expanse isn't actually a thing. Its just empty space.
Or verse 11:
11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants[
e] yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
God said, let the earth sprout vegetation. Well, then the text says :the earth brought forth vegetation. It didn't appear out of nothing, rather the earth brought it forth.
The text is in fact describing ex materia creation. And that's why some Bible translations such as the NRSV, NRSVue, and CEB say "When God created the heavens and the earth" or "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth"
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. NRSV
1 When God began to create[a] the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God[
b] swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. NRSVue
1When God began to create the heavens and the earth— 2the earth was without shape or form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God’s wind swept over the waters— 3God said, “Let there be light.” And so light appeared. CEB
Also, Genesis chapter 1 begins with the same literary introduction as Genesis chapter 2, which is also ex materia.
Genesis 1:
verse 1: introduction
verse 2: background conditions
verse 3: God begins creating ex materia
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Chapter 2:
verse 4: introduction
verse 5-6: background conditions
verse 7: God begins creating ex materia.
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[a] and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams[b] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man[c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
And this is a common 3 step literary introduction of ancient Isrealite texts. We see it in extrabiblical texts as well.
And there are other ways that we know that it is ex materia as well. The text of Genesis closely follows the same creation order of the Egyptian memphite theology which is also ex materia. It also closely follows parallels of Enuma Elish and the Baal Cycle which are both also ex materia creation events, the Baal Cycle is also 7 days.
In Genesis 1 God creates with the spoken word. That doesn't occur until verse 3.
If you do a simple word study of "Bara" in the old testament, you can see very clear examples of the text referring to ex materia creation, but never clearly identifying any ex nihilo creation events.
And if you look at Genesis 1 closely, you'll find numerous examples, such as those noted above, in which God speaks and creates, but in reality nothing is actually coming into existance ex materia. Such as when God creates the earth:
9And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
God created here in verse 9 and 10, and yet we know that the earth was already there beforehand. God simply gathered the waters to reveal the earth, and that is the creative act of day 3.
Among other things.
Genesis 1 also follows the same syntax of Jeremiah 26:1 and 27:1 among others. Which define the beginning of God's reign, not so much the beginning of material existence.
And many passages throughout the old testament describe God's creation as ex materia, such as Proverbs 8 and Job 38
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