HEAVEN AND EARTH

MODULE 2: SESSION 11: Genesis 1 Imagery in Jeremiah 4

The words used to describe the pre-creation state in Genesis—tohu va-vohu—mean “wild and waste” (e.g., Jer. 4:23). Wild and waste, darkness, and the deep waters are images for the pre-creation state of non-order. Jeremiah is activating day one of Genesis but reversing it. He’s talking about the ruin of their city and calling it an undoing of creation—a lack of order and of human flourishing. Using these Genesis 1 images heightens the sense of disaster. God is allowing humans to de-create Jerusalem.