Ps. 46.7 (Yhwh Sabaoth is with us)

“Yhwh of Hosts / is with us, - the God of Jacob / is our stronghold.” We find here a confirmation of our final reflection yesterday: that when God harnesses the power of chaos in order to ‘perfect’ the destruction already enacted by the nations, he simultaneously engages in a form of protection: just as Noah was preserved within the arc, the Israelites during the plague, Moses was preserved with the ‘cleft of the rock’ when God ‘passed by him’. So too does this ‘city of God’ (Jerusalem) become the place of firm protection precisely because within its confines “Yhwh of Hosts” (Yhwh Sabaoth) is “with us” (again, not God, but God’s presence). This seems like a crucial insight, and something we have stressed before: that judgment (god’s use of chaos as an agent of judgment) is both protective and deployed for the purpose of re-creation. Here, the ‘nations’ and ‘kingdoms’ (with their armies) are subjected to the ‘melting’ voice of God while “Yhwh of Hosts” (God’s army) stands within Jerusalem protecting its inhabitants. In this way Noah’s ark (as well as Israel’s protection within the devastation of the plagues) becomes a foreshadowing of Jerusalem, when God will be present within his home (and establish his king (image)).