The Gap Theory

The Gap Theory claims that after God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1, there was a gap of time during which Satan rebelled against God and fell. Gap Theorists insist that in Genesis 1:2, the Hebrew verb hāyāh (הָיָה) indicates a process of becoming: “And the earth became formless and empty”—as a result of Satan’s rebellion and fall.

It is certainly true that in some passages, hāyāh can denote a process of becoming. For example, in Genesis 19:26, it is written that Lot’s wife “became [hāyāh] a pillar of salt.” However, like any other word in any other language, hāyāh has different meanings in different contexts. Hence, there are some factors that need to be considered.

Verse 2 begins with the expression wəhāʾāreṣ, “And the earth”. This introduces a disjunctive clause. This means that the whole of verse 2 is actually a parenthetical portion which provides background information about the state of the earth after God had created it in verse 1. In order for the verb hāyāh in verse 2 to denote a process of becoming, then either one of these conditions must be met:

1. Hāyāh must be in the Yiqtol tense.
2. Otherwise, if hāyāh is in the Qatal tense, then the expression describing the state which the earth became—i.e. “formless and empty”—must have the lə- prefix.

However, neither of these conditions are met. In Genesis 1:2, hāyāh is in the Qatal tense, but the expression “formless and empty” does not have the lə- prefix.

Therefore, according to Hebrew grammar, the verb hāyāh indicates a state of being rather than a process of becoming: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth—at that time, before anything else happened—was formless and empty.”