end that was suggested, what it was made for, that is; secondly its formlessness,
Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis 121
But perhaps it is not inappropriate that it was first called heaven and earth, secondly shapeless earth and abyss without light, thirdly water; so that first of all the material should be called by the name of the whole universe on account of which the material itselfwas made from absolutely nothing, that is, "heaven and earth"; secondly that its formlessness should be suggested by the name of "shapeless earth" and "abyss," because among all the elements earth is more formless and less shiny than the others; thirdly that the material as subject to the work of the craftsman should be signified by the name of "water." Water, after all, is more mobile than earth, and that is why, because it is easier to work and more readily moved about, the material as subject to the craftsman had to be called water rather than earth.
14. And air, to be sure, is more mobile than water, while it may without absur dity be supposed or understood that ether is more mobile even than air. But it would be much less appropriate to call the basic material by the name of "air" or "ether"; for these elements are thought rather to have an active force, while earth and water are more passive. If this is not very obvious, I think that at least it is apparent enough that the wind moves water and some things made ofearth;18 but wind is air that is moving with a kind of wave motion. So then, since air mani festly moves water, while what it is itself moved by to become wind is not apparent, who could doubt that the basic material is more suitably called by the name of water, which is moved, than of air, which does the moving? Now being moved is being passive, causing movement is being active.
To this we can add that the things the earth brings forth are irrigated with water in order to be produced and to grow, in such a way that it almost seems as if the water itself is being turned into this teeming vegetation. For this reason the basic material, when it was being presented as subject to the craftsman's working, would be more suitably indicated by the name of water because of its mobile plasticity and the way it itself turns into any living, growing body, than by the name ofair, in which it is only mobility that can be observed, while it lacks the other qualities which would more accurately signify the basic material.
Thus the sense of the whole passage would be: ln the beginning God made heaven and earth, that is the basic material which would be able to receive the form of heaven and earth. This material was earth, invisible and shapeless, that is, a formless depth also lacking light; which however, since it was subject to the craftsman moving and working it, was also named water precisely because it is so pliable in the hands of the one working it.
15. So in this whole presentation, then, of the basic material, it was first its end that was suggested, what it was made for, that is; secondly its formlessness, thirdly its subjection to the craftsman and its being entirely at his service. And so
18. Trees are the obvious instance. Ancient chemistry was very simple, with its four elements of fire, air, earth and water—and the fifth "celestial" element of ether.