And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria, 1st King 22:10.
We are faced with a word that is an adjective in most places in the King James Bible, but in two places it is a noun. In the above verse it is an adjective, the kings sat in a void place. They sat where there was nothing to get in their way. They sat in a place empty of any obstructions.
The two places wherein the word "void" can be found as a noun are Genesis 1:2 and Jeremiah 4:23.
1. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, Genesis 1:2.
2. I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light, Jeremiah 4:23.
If we were in a spacecraft above the earth in Genesis 1:2, and if we were trying to discern the earth's structure, we would look up from our sensors and say that the planet had no form to it. There were no mountains or hills. There was no void. There were no deep empty holes. We would note something else; the planet was covered in water and that there was no light.
Here, the new versions trip over themselves to obscure a truth. The word of God says; And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, Genesis 1:2. The ESV for example says; And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters; and ditto for the NIV. Anyone who thinks that the Spirit of God hovered over the deep as our imaginary spaceship is doesn't understand the working of the Spirit of God.
The Apostle Paul compares the moving of the Spirit of God upon the waters to our very salvation experience. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2nd Corinthians 4:6. Just as God moved upon the face of those waters that were shrouded in darkness, God moves upon the heart of a sinner to work a change that no man could ever affect. God does not hover over a sinner's heart. He moves upon it.
We learn from that verse that the light that shone on the mount of transfiguration was the light that shone out of the darkness of Genesis 1:2. And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light, Matthew 17:2. It is the light which will light the New Jerusalem. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof, Revelation 21:23.
We see that Jeremiah also saw the earth of Genesis 1:2. He describes that earth in far greater detail and concludes with this observation; the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger, Jeremiah 4:26. I have friends who cry "foul" here. They in no way see that as a past event; they see it as a future event. Among the many reasons that they disagree is a knee jerk reaction against the Gap theory in which some theologians see a gap in between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2.
To the bible believer, there is absolutely no need for a gap. Your bible doesn't say "at the beginning". It says, "In the beginning". Is there a difference? Is there a difference between "at the beginning of a year" (New Years Day), and "in the beginning of the year" (generally the first part of the year)? Yes, there is a difference. God did not create the heaven and the earth "at the beginning". He created them "in the beginning". The beginning of Genesis 1:1 encompasses the creation of all three heavens, the kingdom of Ezekiel 28, the fall of Lucifer, and wraps up at the end of the Book of Genesis.
The earth of Genesis 1:2 is the earth of Job 12:15; Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth. He destroyed the kingdom of Ezekiel 28 with a flood. The earth was under water. It was dark because the fall of Satan had already taken place. The cities of that world were destroyed. There was no form to that earth because the form was destroyed by being in the water. There was no void, because the deep holes were filled in when the waters flushed through the land.
The Spirit of God moved upon the face of those waters and I am glad thereof. He moved upon the fallen darkness of my heart and I am glad thereof.