17. Verse 2 And the earth was a void and an emptiness, and there was thick darkness over the face ¹ of the deep; and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face ¹ of the waters. The person who has yet to be regenerated is called 'a void and an empty earth', and also 'ground', in which no good or truth at all has been sown - 'void' where there is no good, and 'empty' where there is no truth. Consequently there is 'thick darkness', or stupidity and lack of knowledge about anything that has to do with faith in the Lord and so anything that has to do with spiritual and celestial life. This kind of person is described by the Lord through Jeremiah,

My people are foolish, they know Me not; they are stupid children, having no understanding; they are wise to do evil, and know not how to do good. I looked to the earth, and, behold, a void and an emptiness; and towards the heavens, and they had no light. Jeremiah 4:22-23, 25.

Footnotes:

4621. 'And Esau and Jacob his sons buried him' means that it rose again within the good of the Natural and within the good of truth in the Natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'being buried' as resurrection, dealt with in 2916, 2917, and as the state of representation that has been raised up in someone else, 3256; from the representation of 'Esau' as the Lord's Divine Natural as regards good, dealt with in 3302, 3576, 4241; and from the representation of 'Jacob' as the Lord's Divine Natural as regards the good of truth, dealt with in 4273, 4337, 4538. From these considerations and those stated above in 4618 it is evident that 'Esau and Jacob his sons buried him' means that it rose again within the good of the Natural and within the good of truth in the Natural. The reason 'being buried' in the internal sense means rising again is that once the body has died the soul rises again. Consequently when burial is referred to in the Word angels do not think of the body which is cast aside but of the soul which rises again; for angels possess spiritual ideas, and so ones that are ideas of life. Therefore anything to do with death in the natural world means something to do with life in the spiritual world.