Ps. 98.7-9 (Pt. 2; Israel and the re-Adamizing of the world)

The most common theme we have traced thus far is the fact that what-happens-to-Israel will happen to the entire world. What began in her will, when “Yhwh comes”, be established worldwide. The effect of that ‘establishment’ causes the world (from seas, to rivers, to mountains) to enter into the praise-of-Israel. In other words, the joy that begins in Israel, at her redemption and at Yhwh’s remembering of her, will be one that floods the entire created realm. A question that lurks behind all of this is how what happens to one nation, Israel, and is brought about by her god, Yhwh, is now something that happens to the entire cosmos. 

I think there are two answers to this, both of which are intimately associated with each other. The first, is that Yhwh is not simply Israel’s god, but the Creator-King. As such, his ‘realm’ is not merely Israel and the promised land, but all of Creation. Importantly, however, his 'rescue' of his realm begins with this people, in this land, and shaped according to his liturgical time. Along these lines, Yhwh is not, also, a god among other gods. He is not a ‘particular god’. This has dramatic implications when it comes to Israel because when Yhwh elects Israel as his ‘first born’ or as his ‘bride’ he expropriates them into his sphere of activity. As such, Israel is not simply a nation among the nations. Rather, Israel is lifted into the ‘realm of Adam’. In other words, Israel is humanity (redeemed), not merely a self-contained ‘nation’. This is why, when she is elected, she becomes a “nation of priests” to the world as Adam was a priest to all creation.  Israel is, in this regard, a representative of all people. 

This reality is what enables us to see how what happens within Israel is, upon Yhwh’s coming, established throughout the world. We can say it this way—in Israel Adam/Eve-and-Eden (Israel and the Temple) are reborn. From that ‘ground zero’ will flow the redemption of “all the living” because “all the living” are represented by her, as ‘all the living’ were in Adam/Eve. She is not a nation-among-the-nations but, rather, by being brought within the sphere of Yhwh-Creator, she is expanded to the contours of all creation. 

This, of course has profound implications for the Church. The Church, as the realization of Yhwh’s coming, is not simply a group of people—the Church is the realization of this psalm. With the nations now incorporated into Israel, humanity has been brought back into (the Second) Adam. Christ Adam-izes the world, and that is what the Church is. That is why it is ‘catholic’ (universal). We might say, Israel has ‘blossomed’ in the Church, through Christ and his tearing down of the dividing wall.