The idea of God creating from
formless matter was first entertained in late Jewish tradition (e.g., Wis
11:17) and has become more common in modern interpreters and translations. . .
. Creatio ex nihilo is first explicitly attested in the scriptural tradition
in 2 Macc 7:28 . . . (James R. Edwards, In the Beginning: A Commentary on
Genesis and Its Reception in the New Testament [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Pillar
Books, 2026], 29 n. 7)
