Ps. 33.7 (creation ever-new)

“He gathers together / the waters of the sea – he puts the deep waters / in his storehouses.” There seem to be at least two things at work here. First, as a development of the hymn to Yhwh as Creator we stand, perhaps, at the second day of creation, where Yhwh divided the waters. Alternatively, this is similar to Yhwh’s separating the land from the water. The second point is this: this is an almost direct quotation of the Song of the Sea, that ‘exultation’ that Moses and the Israelites sang immediately after the sinking of Pharaoh’s army. This Song will continue to resonate throughout the rest of the hymn. In fact, it may have already been signaled by the call to ‘exult’ in Yhwh—the Song likewise begins with Moses ‘exulting’ in Yhwh. These two strands, however, come together in the fact that Israel, as a nation was born/created, at this point of deliverance. Just as the waters ‘congeal’ and are separated (as in the Genesis creation) so too are they, in the exodus, divided. Creation is full of ‘new creations’. To employ this language, then, is quite natural. And, as we have seen, creation itself is “full of Yhwh’s lovingkindness.” And now a light is cast back over the psalm: are we to now detect throughout the fact that this is not merely a hymn to ‘creation’ but a hymn to the power of Yhwh to make new ‘creations’ in the midst of forces opposed to him? Is this why it is emphasized that Yhwh’s works/words are ‘right’ and ‘true’ and why he loves ‘justice and righteousness’, implying that there are (many) who do not? If that is the case then I think we see something different within the nature of creation itself: in the face of forces opposed to Yhwh, creation works for him. Or, better: that creation is always-already as responsive to Yhwh as it was when it was originally spoken into existence. That creation is not a word spoken and then lost by Yhwh; it remains an ever-spoken word and expression of Yhwh’s will (it remains and is “right” and “true”). This is why the full import of ‘creation’ could have emerged long after the telling of the exodus story—that this act of deliverance by Yhwh shed light on the nature of creation itself (on the fact that this god, Yhwh, was also the creator god).