Comentario citado sobre Jeremías 4:23

Chaos and void (tohu vabohu): [This phrase appears] two [times]. Here, and the other one is (Jeremiah 4:23) "I have seen the earth and behold, it is chaos and void." [This] teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, foresaw the destruction of the Temple when He created the world, [and] that it would be in the year tohu (the letters that are equal to the number, 411); since, behold the first Temple stood for 410 years and was destroyed in the 411th year. And the second Temple stood the numerical equivalent of [the word,] hayita (420), and this is [why it states] "vehaarets haita" ("and the earth was;" which is the phrase that precedes tohu in this verse). And afterwards, [it is written], "darkness," a hint to the exiles. And so is it expounded in Bereishit Rabbah 2:4. Another explanation: "and the earth was chaos and void" has a numerical equivalent (gematria) of 'two thousand years without Torah.'

And the earth was unformed and void. What was, was — so what is the need for this information? It seems appropriate to say that from the six days of Creation onwards, the Holy One, blessed be He, does not change anything from how it was. The Holy One foresaw that through the actions of the wicked, the world would return to being unformed and void, as in the generation of the Flood. Similarly, regarding the destruction of the Temple, it is written I saw the earth, and behold it was unformed (Jeremiah 4:23). The verse informs us that if it happens at some point that through the actions of the wicked the world returns to being unformed, it would not be considered a change in Creation, but rather the world returning to how it was — for its natural state is to be unformed, void, and dark. Through the actions of the righteous, the Holy One made it contrary to its nature and created light for the righteous. Through the corruption of deeds, the world will return to how it was, and this will not be called a change in Creation, for the Holy One made a condition with all of Creation. For this reason, He diminished the light and stored it away for the righteous, not because He, blessed be He, is like a human who changes His mind, but because when the wicked are in darkness due to their corrupted actions, it will not be considered a change in Creation. This is the view of the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 2:5): “And the earth was unformed — these are the actions of the wicked; And God said, ‘Let there be light’ — these are the actions of the righteous.” Why did the author of this Midrash see fit to remove these verses from their simple meaning? According to what we have explained, the words of this Midrash are clear, for the simple meaning remains in its place while the interpretation can also be derived from the simple meaning. As for what is concluded there, “And still I do not know which of them He desires, whether the actions of the wicked…” — you will find this explained in my small work called Orach LeChayim in the sermon for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, see there.

והארץ היתה, the earth had preceded and existed in a chaotic form, as elaborated on by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 4,23) והנה ראיתי את הארץ והנה תהו ובוהו ואל השמים ואין אורם...ראיתי ואין אדם מעוף השמים ועד בהמה נדדו הלכו (Jeremiah 9,9)