Ps. 79.10 (how a question reveals creation)

I want to pause over the previous reflection for a moment. In particular I want to suggest that the ‘question within the question’ actual provides us a window into creation itself (it is, in a sense, a question that emerges from Genesis 1). It may seem like an odd claim. Let me lay some of the foundation. In most (actually, all I am aware of, except perhaps in some Egyptian stories), the act of creation is an original act of violence, of gods warring with each other and, in fact, in some stories, of creation actually emerging from the torn carcass of conquered god. In Genesis, however, there is absolutely nothing like this. Even the ‘chaos waters’ do not present any obstacle to God and, in fact, become a medium for his creative power. There is, in other words, a total lack of violence. Creation is the moment of divine peace, benevolence and grace. It does not emerge from a prior destruction. And, with this, I think we begin to see a glimmer of how this question, containing the question of the nations, contains a ray of that primal, peaceful light. Note: the question the nations pose is a question that, without the story we just recounted, is, in a very deep sense, coincides with their view of creation. The nation’s question to Israel, in effect, asserts the conquered death of their god. Like creation itself, their actions toward Israel partake of the violence of creation, of their gods conquering of Yhwh. In other words, for them, peace arrives after violence, and requires it, in some way. This is why the destruction of Yhwh’s Temple, to them, is manifestly a defeat; it is a moment within the violent pacifying of their gods. Violence and its consequent shame is creative, a  theophany in fact of the divine realm and its strife. Israel, though, does not agree. More primal than the violence that is obvious on the face of the earth is the creative peaceful power of Yhwh. This is (one of) the lessons of Genesis. Violence does not precede peace; peace precedes violence. And, when violence does emerge, it does not arrive through a divine strife but a human eruption, a human stain, a human breach within the creative peacefulness of God’s grace. Israel, then, and unlike the nations, can’t see in violence a necessary moment within creation. It is not a theophany of the divine realm. It is, if anything, a manifestation of man; it is defilement. This is why the nation’s question is contained within Israel’s question to God. Israel sees a primal peace and its question, then, enfolds the nation’s question as not an assertion of creation, but an assertion of defilement. There is more to be said. The nations, as we have said, equate violence (of divine conquering) with a moment in creation. For them, the ‘death of (a) god’ is the precedent for life. Now, this vision of creation (of the nature of the cosmos) is, to those who do not ‘call upon Yhwh’ or ‘know him’ (vs. 6; i.e., the ‘nations’), obvious. It is apparent. It is manifest. It is common and clear. Israel was ‘delivered’ from this vision through, importantly, the divine name; in fact, Israel was very much ‘created’ by the divine name. We have said this time-and-time again: the exodus revealed creation and creation reveals the exodus. We need not pursue this here. The point is that the ‘drama of the divine name’s power’ (the exodus) initiated Israel into the vision of Genesis. Through God’s election of Israel and through his delivering power Israel was brought into genesis-creation. It is through this dramatic election and salvation that Israel came to perceive that the nations’ question is enfolded within the power of the divine name. In other words, that there is, in fact, a peace prior to the divine violence and death; a question prior to theirs. By enfolding the nation’s question within theirs, Israel is calling upon the divine name to (re)enact his creative, peaceful power. Finally, and this is absolutely key, there is a tantalizing hint here that, for all the reasons we have given, death cannot overcome Yhwh. By divorcing violence from creation, by refusing to see in it a ‘moment’ in creation, Israel has been ushered into Yhwh’s presence such that they “see” the creative, resurrection power of God. To put this another way: within Yhwh Israel perceives the prior gracefulness of creation, the ‘stain’ of violence and (and this is huge), the already-conquering of that stain by and through resurrection. The nations’ question is not only enfolded by a prior vision of creation but a future certainty of resurrection, vindication and redemption. This is why the question posed to God is forward looking; it looks toward revelation of the divine name to the nations in act of blood-vindication.