Ibn Ezra

“And the earth” – this word is an unusual [form], since it appears with a kamatz in the alef when [preceded by] the hey [i.e., the definite article] in all places. It is not like “The thousand (ha’elef) for you, Shlomo” Song of Songs 8:12, or “and this stone ha’even” Genesis 28:22. “Void” (tohu) – The Ga’on [Rav Sa’adiah] said that [this word] is from “deep” (tehom), but that is not possible, since the mem of tehom is a root letter, like the mem of hadom. Now in Sefer Yetzira: “tohu - this [refers to] the green line”, and bohu - this [refers to] MEFULAM stones”. What’s correct is as the Aramaic translator has said, and likewise with “the howling, desolate tohu Deuteronomy 32:10, and likewise, “after tohu” Samuel I 12:21 – without substance. “And confused” – "The brother of", and the vav in place of the hey, like the vav in [the word] vayishtachu (“and he bowed”) Genesis 18:2, “and they pastured amongst he reeds (achu)” Genesis 41:2. The meaning is [as follows:] The creation of the firmament and the dry land was not in a area to be settled, since it was covered with water, and thus G-d placed its generative power to be beneath the water. Now don’t be surprised by the vav of veha’aretz (“and the earth’), for its meaning is like the feh in Arabic and like “and a mist” v’ed would rise up from the earth” Genesis 2:6, for Moshe did not speak about the World to Come, which is the world of the angels, but rather of this transitory world. And those who explain that the heavens in the first verse are really the heavenly heavens, what will they do [here] with the earth? Behold, complete proofs, for reasonable people, that there is only earth. Now it is expounded that there were seven earths is [actually] that the earth is divided into seven and the Temple was in the center of the settled region, for it was distant from the center of the earth. “And a spirit of G-d” – It juxtaposed “spirit” with the Name [of G-d] since it was an agent regarding the Divine will to dry the land. Water is plural form, with no singular, and both of them are in the dual construction, for they are both masculine and feminine. Yet it is found with a singular [verb] – “was not thrown zorak upon him” Numbers 19:13. The meaning of “hovering” – blowing above the water, and likewise, “over its hatchlings does it hover” Deuteronomy 32:11 And the meaning of "hovers". Blows above the waters, like "hovers over its chicks".