creation faith of the psalmists, The

Trinity Journal, Fall 2000 by Obenhaus, Stacy R

Believers intent on discerning the Bible's view on Creation naturally turn to the first three chapters of Genesis, with their striking accounts of creation by the word of God, paradise in the Garden of Eden, and the Fall. This is no doubt in part because of these chapters' position at the beginning of the Hebrew Scriptures and, in part, because the elaborate creation narrative therein has captivated artists and writers from John Milton to Michelangelo. Such a focus on the Genesis narrative as a source of creation theology is unfortunate, however, because outside the book of Genesis-mainly in Job, Proverbs, Isaiah, and the Psalms-there exists a more extensive and varied collection of writing on the significance of creation in Israel's faith.1 The Hebrew Scriptures contain a plurality of theologies that coexist together,2 and a study of the Hebrew Bible's literature on creation outside the Genesis narrative reveals that this plurality exists, to some extent, with respect to the theology of creation.3

Acknowledging the Hebrew Bible's diversity with regard to the theology of creation, this paper focuses on the function of creation theology in the Psalms. I will argue that, although the Hebrew Psalter does not necessarily contain inconsistent views on creation, the Psalms do offer a variety of perspectives on its theological significance. This variety appears not only in the language and rhetoric that the Psalms use to describe the event of creation, but also in the functions that creation serves in the faith of the psalmists. As I hope to explain, creation serves in conjunction with and sometimes in subservience to other theological motifs, but it is nevertheless a fundamental element of the psalmists' faith, appearing in a variety of psalm forms and in conjunction with some basic foundations of Israel's belief.

I. THE RHETORIC OF CREATION

Understanding creation theology in the Psalms begins with a study of the rhetoric-the language and imagery-that the psalmists use when they employ the creation motif. This language is often terse and occasionally quite indirect. Sometimes the terse reference is quite clear, as when the psalmist states: "My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth" (Ps 121:2). Other times the terse reference is rather vague. In Ps 29:3 the statement that "The voice of the LORD is over the waters" is likely a veiled adaptation of the Canaanite/Ugaritic myths describing the creator god's action in stilling the primordial waters of chaos at Creation.4 On some occasions, the reference is ambiguous. When in Ps 149:2 the psalmist says, "Let Israel be glad in its Maker," does this refer to the original creation of the world, or to the creation of the covenant with Israel, or to both? Of course, many psalms contain an extended and straightforward development of the theme of creation, Psalms 19 and 104 being the best examples. Thus, in discerning the psalmists' Creation faith one is often, though not always, relegated to the realm of inference and oblique expression.

Equally significant is the dual imagery the psalmists use in describing God's action in creation. On the one hand are various passages explaining creation as the result of God's nearly effortless workmanship.5 God may be envisioned having created with an act of pure speech: "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth.... For he spoke, and it came to be" (Ps 33:6, 9). This image of creation by the word of God is consistent, of course, with Genesis 1, where the world is formed in response to God's repeated commands, "Let there be . . . ." In the Psalms, God is also imagined as having formed the heavens and the earth by acting upon the matter of the universe like a craftsman. Thus, the psalmist describes creation as "the work of your fingers" (Ps 8:3), notes "the dry land, which his hands have formed" (Ps 95:5), and states that God "gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle" (Ps 33:7). These passages present creation, whether by speech or act, as the work of God on the inanimate matter of the universe.

On the other hand there are several passages explaining creation as the outcome of God's victory in a battle against chaos, usually imagined as a triumph over the primordial waters of the universe and the sea monsters) that inhabited them.6 This battle imagery appears to draw on a vision of creation borrowed from Canaanite and/or Ugaritic mythology? Thus, in Psalm 74 the psalmist states: "You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan" (Ps 74:13-14). Likewise, in Psalm 89 the psalmist states: "You rule the raging of the sea.... You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.... the world and all that is in it-you have founded them" (Ps 89:9-11). Usually, these passages contain only brief allusions to this battle and/or God's victory, as when the psalmist portrays God as sitting "enthroned over the flood" (Ps 29:10) or notes that "the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they flee" (Ps 106:6-7).