The Mysterious Waters of Genesis 1:2
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Written by Timeout Taumua, Award-Winning Author
On behalf of Brainz Magazine, let us introduce Timeout A. Taumua, a multi-award-winning author of The Magnificence of the 3, an expository book about the scientific nature of the Bible. The book and the author had been dubbed by some prominent editorial reviewers as "a rare work constructed by a rare being" and "a rare book by a rare person".
The presence of “waters” in the universe before the seven days of biblical creation may offer intriguing probabilities and mysteries that are beyond the scope of a faith-based belief system. Genesis 1:2 describes the Earth as “without form, and void,” with darkness over “the deep,” while the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.
That has been one of my unresolved quests since my youth, as it is the only ordinary matter in Genesis that God did not claim He created.
Debates are normally about what these “waters” were, but not where they came from. I believe this could be one of the most important clues in the entire biblical creation narrative.
The presence of these “waters” raises questions under the universal causation theory in that, for the universe to be, it must follow the Law of Cause and Effect.[1] Therefore, the “waters” of Genesis had to be a byproduct of a cause. The exact cause needs to be determined, but cosmologists might have revealed the reasons behind the out-of-sequence biblical creation.
Under the “cause and effect” law, “waters” had to be produced by an event. That event could have been the Big Bang, as generally accepted today, or something similar. I explored the idea that once the “waters” of Genesis are placed alongside modern discoveries about cosmic water and planetary formation, a series of biblical stories appear to parallel and complement these discoveries.
The question is no longer, “What were the waters?” It is, "Why were the waters there before the Earth was formed?" Modern science may offer new insights into this mystery. Here are some points for review.[2]
Where did the waters of Genesis 1:2 come from before creation began?
First: The universal law of causation and the mystery of the waters in Genesis
I propose that the presence of “waters” before biblical creation was deliberate. It was meant to convey the idea that when God appeared, an event had occurred that produced these “waters.”
To explore the mystery, I had to consider the Big Bang theory. However, I am not sure whether this theory is the correct version of creation, but based on the presentation, it is reasonable to assume that the reason God did not specifically claim that He created the “waters” was because they were the result of an event that He had nothing to do with.
With modern discoveries, the biblical creation sequence no longer appears to violate the universal Law of Cause and Effect.[1] The mystery left, however, was the nature of that cause. How it got there may have a foundation for seekers, based on recent discoveries discussed below.
Second: Why are the “waters” of Genesis in plural form?
This clue defines biblical deliberateness. Recent discoveries identified dust particles in the heavens about 600 million years after the Big Bang.[3] Hydrogen gas also appeared as a result, and oxygen was produced later through stellar processes. Both elements can combine to form water molecules. These water molecules can exist as vapor, but under freezing conditions in the cosmos, they can form ice.[4] Water molecules can also freeze onto trillions of dust particles floating in the cosmos.[5]
These trillions of icy dust particles may offer one interpretation of why Genesis uses the plural “waters.” It is my claim that God was hovering over trillions of these icy particles, accounting for the presence of “waters” before Earth was formed.
Third: The orderly design of creation and the “waters” as divine superglue
As it turned out, icy dust particles eventually became part of the building materials of stars, planets, moons, asteroids, and other celestial bodies. Drifting through the cosmos, these materials met and began sticking together. Tiny dust particles turned into larger grains, then pebbles, which became rocks and eventually grew large enough to contribute to the formation of planets.[6]
These icy coatings can act like glue, helping dust particles stick together.[4] So the timing of the appearance of “waters” in biblical creation is important in both biblical and scientific design. A reasonable deduction can be made that God introduced two materials for the later creation of Earth, dust and water, by simply citing “waters” in plural form. It adds another piece of evidence denoting the orderly sequence of creation.
Fourth: The discovery of a 12 billion year old water reservoir in the cosmos
Researchers also discovered a water vapor reservoir more than 12 billion light years away in the cosmos that contains roughly 140 trillion times the amount of water in Earth's oceans (Staff, 2011).
The age and distance of this reservoir are important, as they demonstrate that water existed in the cosmos billions of years before Earth formed. I believe this parallels the placement of the biblical “waters” before the formation of Earth and denotes God’s full awareness of the universe thousands of years before mankind understood it.
Fifth: Water as the magnificence of three, H2O
As I proposed, water was the very first ordinary matter of the biblical universe. Water, as you may know, is a compound made of two separate elements: two atoms of hydrogen (H) and one of oxygen (O), for a total of three atoms (H2O).
Before the atom was discovered, “waters” appeared as the first ordinary matter in biblical creation. I claim that its placement in Genesis was intentional, preserving circumstantial evidence of God’s awareness of atomic structure and the three atoms within a water molecule. Though the atom was invisible, water was visible, and its molecule contains three atoms. This makes “waters” the first example of what I interpret as a scientific parable presented in a biblical story, as its structural design evolved around the magnificence of three. “Waters” acted as a witness for the invisible atom.[2]
Sixth: Water hidden in Earth’s mantle
Another fascinating scientific discovery involves water deep beneath Earth's surface. Researchers have found evidence of enormous quantities of water stored within minerals hundreds of miles into Earth’s mantle. This water is not found in underground oceans or liquid reservoirs. Instead, hydrogen and oxygen can be chemically bound within minerals under the extreme pressures and temperatures found deep inside Earth.[7]
This discovery adds another dimension to the biblical association between “waters” and dust. If planets began forming from icy cosmic dust and water acted as glue, it is reasonable to consider whether this could help explain why water has been incorporated into rocks in Earth’s mantle. These rocks ultimately developed from materials that once existed in the cosmos.
Seventh: The Rock of Horeb
In Exodus 17:1 to 7, the Israelites complained to Moses about their thirst in the wilderness. God instructed Moses to strike a rock, and water came forth.
Since the discovery of water related compounds within rocks and minerals, this biblical account has gained another layer of interest. What appears to be solid rock can contain chemical components associated with water. If God was the Creator, then He would have been fully aware of these hidden “waters” within the rocks, the “waters” of Genesis.
Eighth: Water baptism for survival purposes
One of the coincidental parallels between God and science is the conclusion by our experts that “water means life”.[8] God presented water in the same way throughout the scriptures, culminating in its final purpose in the New Testament. Here are three events that linked the “waters” of Genesis to “water as life” for the developing modern world.
First, it is my claim that God returned as the Son, Jesus, in human form. He adopted a new culture of “water baptism” as a means for violators of the laws to publicly display remorse and reconnect with God for survival purposes.
When Jesus was asked how a man could be born again to enter heaven, Jesus said: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” John 3:5 (NKJV).
Second, one day, Jesus warned His disciples of the upcoming destruction of Israel’s Second Temple, Matthew 24:2 to 4 (NKJV). The Romans burned it in 70 AD.
Under the Old Covenant, the Temple provided a place for those who violated God's laws to offer burnt sacrifices and peace offerings as expressions of remorse and repentance, restoring their relationship with God through atonement and reconciliation. Since the Temple would eventually be destroyed, I believe this helps explain why water baptism was adopted as an alternative to the blood sacrifices of the past.
Third was the Great Commission. Jesus reassigned the task of priests, which was once assigned to Israel exclusively, to include Gentiles.
As I interpret it, Israel did not understand its priestly task of blessing “all families of the earth” by teaching Gentiles about God and the Commandments (Genesis 12:3). The Temple was destroyed twice, and the Jewish people experienced repeated displacement from the land. The plan, in my interpretation, was always to expand God’s tribe beyond the once promised land to include all of mankind. Israel was chosen to learn about God and the law, then go out and “bless all families of the earth” by teaching them about God. This, I believe, was why they were chosen.
So God returned as the Son for this very purpose. For the Garden of Eden to be fully developed, God’s tribe had to expand, tied together by the Commandments. So Jesus reassigned the task of priests to include Gentiles with the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18 to 20 (NKJV). Instead of temples and sacrifices to sustain relationships with God, the apostles were commanded to “go out and expand the tribe” by making “disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” using water.
Water first appears in Genesis as a fundamental tool of creation. It gave life to the universe and is now classified as essential to life for humans. Developing water baptism to expand God’s tribe is consistent with the role water played in creation and continues to play in sustaining life.
To use water as a means of spiritual renewal and tribal expansion suggests a deeper continuity with the biblical creation story. Water served as “glue” in the birth of the universe and, symbolically, serves the same purpose for the modern world, rebuilding sinners and gluing Gentiles to His tribe.
"Taumua's insights are as bold as they are thought-provoking, revealing a divine blueprint that seems to hum beneath the surface of science and spirituality alike, a reminder that these two worlds, so often seen as opposing forces, might actually be pieces of the same puzzle…" – Literary Global Book Review (2025)
Read more from Timeout Taumua
Timeout Taumua, Award-Winning Author
Timeout decided to join our community to share the scientific meaning of biblical stories that God revealed to him, such as the identities of the Ark of the Covenant, the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge, and the Tree of Life, including parabolic tales depicting the splitting of the atom. In light of the 26 book awards, a Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award, and the nature of our community, these discoveries should be of interest to some of us, if not all.
References:
[1] (Miller, 2011)
[2] Taumua (2023), ppg. 290-314
[3] (Clery, 2017)
[4] (Water Vapor in Space, 2011)
[5] (Friedreich Schiller, 2020)
[6] (How Do Planets Form?, n.d.)
[7] (Walsh & Genzer, 2014)
[8] (Choi, 2016)
