1. Claus Westermann, Genesis 1-11: A Commentary, tr. by John J. Scullion, (Minneapolis: Ausburg Publishing House, 1984), 94.
2. The Bible has no interest in what God was doing before this beginning. On what God was doing before creation, Augustine of Hippo had a not so polite answer, "Devising Hell for people who ask impertinent questions like that" (Confessions, 11:12).
3. For a recent discussion about creatio ex nihilo in Gen 1, see Nathan J. Chambers, Reconsidering Creation Ex Nihilo in Genesis 1 (University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns, 2021).
4. Derek Kidner, Genesis (TOTC; London: Tyndale Press, 1971), 43.
5. James McKeown, Genesis (THOTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 19
6. John Goldingay, Old Testament Theology. Volume One: Israel's Gospel (Downers Grove, Ill.:InterVarsity Press, 2003), 76.