creation faith of the psalmists, The

Trinity Journal, Fall 2000 by Obenhaus, Stacy R

However, the Psalms also appear to share a fundamental conviction about the importance of creation in Israel's faith. In particular, creation does not appear to hold central stage.19 Rather, it functions in a subsidiary role, along with or in support of another, more central theological point. For example, a few psalms present creation out of chaos as the first divine act in a chain of God's salvific activity for Israel; God liberated Israel from oppression just as he liberated the world from chaos.20 Thus, in Psalm 136 the psalmists encourage the faithful to thank God for his goodness, noting repeatedly that "his steadfast love endures forever." The evidence for the assurance of this continuing "steadfast love" begins with the acts of Creation ("who spread out the earth on the waters... who made the great lights") and continues with the acts of liberation from oppression in Egypt ("who struck Egypt through their firstborn... and brought Israel out from among them.... who divided the Red Sea in two . . . who led his people through the wilderness"). Similarly, in Psalm 135 the psalmist's praise of God as the one "who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth ... and brings out the wind from his storehouses" continues uninterrupted into the praise of God as the one "who struck down the firstborn of Egypt... struck down many nations... and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people Israel" (Ps 135:7-8, 10, 12).21

The act of Creation in such psalms is thus remembered in conjunction with God's saving action in history, even though the relationship between Creation and salvation is not expressly stated.22 In short, creation and redemption are directly related to each other. "The creation involves making the physical universe and then leading the people into their part of that universe."23 In a sense, the psalmist's praise in these psalms is not just for the goodness of the original creation, but for the goodness of the creation of Israel.24 Thus, in these psalms, Creation faith does not form the sole basis for the believer's relationship with God, but serves in conjunction with God's continuing action in history as evidenced by the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.

On the other hand, Psalms 19 and 104 are sometimes represented as offering "an unadulterated doctrine of Creation which stands on its own ground."25 With respect to Psalm 19, this may be because scholars often divide the poem into two originally unrelated parts. In the first part, creation proclaims God's glory and evidences God's "handiwork" (Ps 19:1-4). In the second part, one finds a more sustained and intense praise of God's Torah (Ps 19:7-14). The first part may well have been based on ancient eulogies of a sun god, apart from any interest in Israelite conceptions of God's Torah.26

However, assuming there was such a joinder of these "unrelated" parts, that joinder shows that creation's praise of God was intended to serve in partnership with the praise of God's law. The important point, however, is that to the extent the two parts of the psalm are related (perhaps in that they both express completeness-of God's creation and of God's law27), the praise of nature appears subordinate to the praise of God's law.28 Thus, "though the vast firmament so high above us declares God's praise, it is the Torah of God alone that reveals to mankind that he has a place in the universal scheme of things."29 On the other hand, Psalm 104 focuses almost solely on creation. It makes no reference to the people or history of Israel, and it has affinities to Genesis 1 that include linguistic parallels and a similar sequence of events.30 Thus, one might indeed describe Psalm 104 as a true "hymn of creation," but as such it is the exception that proves the rule for Creation faith in the Psalms. For the most part, and as discussed below, creation most often serves in a supporting role in the faith of the psalmists.