The Existential Sense of the Verb Hayah
APPENDIX IX (Reference: p. 51)
The existential sense might be argued here as an explanation for the introduction of the verb, making the sense to read, "And the earth existed chaotically". But the existential use requires not a simple predicate but a clause such as would be introduced by the preposition "in" or "as", as when Joseph lived (Authorized Version: "was") in his master's house (Gen. 39. 2) or when we are told "that there lived (Authorized Version "was") a man in the land of Uz whose name (was) Job" (Job 1. 1). In the purest existential sense the verb will have no predicate at all nor any other clause following. The paramount example is to be found in the title of the Almighty, the great "I am", the One Who always exists.
It might also be argued that Gen. 2. 25 is a parallel of the use of the verb  in its existential sense ("They lived, naked ....") and that here we do have a predicate in the presence of the word "naked". But this word is an adjective, not a noun like tohu ( ) in Gen. 1. 2. The sentence reads "They lived naked" not "were a nakedness".
It is true that a noun can upon occasion be used adverbially so that the translation of Isa. 45. 18 has been rendered, "He created it not in vain", the words "in vain" being for the Hebrew tohu ( ) which is therefore treated as an adverb just as it seems to be also in Isa.45.19. The latter reads (correctly, I feel sure), "I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye Me IN VAIN. . . . " Since tohu is here rendered as an adverb, why should it not also be read as an adverb in Gen. 1. 2 ? Thus verse 2 is taken to read, "And the earth existed formlessly or chaotically". In which case the rendering might justly account for the introduction of  into the sentence on the grounds that this is a parallel to Gen. 2. 25 which could then be rendered, "And they both existed (lived) nakedly and were not ashamed, etc. ". In this case a noun (in verse 2) and an adjective (in verse 25) are similarly treated as adverbs and the verb  is allowed its existential meaning. By this method one might justify the traditional translation of Gen. 1. 2.
That an adjective can be treated as an adverb is a well established fact in Hebrew, though normally only in poetry. Yet it is still to
be noted that while tohu does appear elsewhere in probably at least one passage and possibly in two as an adverb, this cannot actually be said of the second descriptive term in Gen. 1. 2, namely, bohu ( ) rendered "void". It is further to be admitted that the copulative sense of the verb "to be" might allow one to interpolate it before bohu so that the sentence would then read, "And the earth existed chaotically and (was) a void". This, however, requires some rather special manoeuvering. Yet such an alternative must be allowed as a possibility pending further investigation and we shall not progress towards the truth unless we test out all possibilities. It is not yet time to assert or deny either alternative dogmatically.
Although such a possibility must therefore be admitted, it must be underscored that the alternative can only be justified by a process of "special pleading" which is far less substantiated from Hebrew literature than the alternative we are proposing. And indeed, in the present state of my knowledge, it cannot actually be substantiated at all. Thus if it is once agreed, on the basis of the information brought to light in this volume, that the verb  is not used copulatively and that therefore the rendering was in Gen. 1. 2 is not strictly correct so that it should be revised to read "became", the alternative requires no special pleading, for there is plenty of substantiating support from the rest of the Old Testament.
It has been customary to say that those who argue for the translation, "And the earth became a chaos", can only press their point by appealing to exceptional Hebrew usage. The fact is really quite otherwise as the evidence shows. And the case becomes even stronger when the unusual word order involved here is given due recognition.
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