TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE CREATION IN THE WISDOM LITERATURE AND PROPHETIC WRITINGS
1.0 Introduction.........................................................................................................................................1
1.1 CREATION IN THE WISDOM LITERATURE..............................................................................1
1.1.1 God is the Creator............................................................................................................................1
1.1.2 Creation by Word.............................................................................................................................2
1.1.3 God and Chaos..................................................................................................................................2
1.1.4 Order in Creation.............................................................................................................................2
1.1.5 God and Wisdom..............................................................................................................................2
1.1.6 God’s Delight in Creation................................................................................................................3
1.1.7 Creation’s Praise..............................................................................................................................3
1.1.8 Paradise Restored.............................................................................................................................3
1.2 CREATION IN THE PROPHETIC WRITINGS.............................................................................4
1.2.1 Creation as a Covenant....................................................................................................................4
1.2.2 God’s Care to His Creature.............................................................................................................4
1.2.3 Re-creation........................................................................................................................................4
1.2.4 Yahweh a Creator and Protector....................................................................................................5
1.2. 5 God’s Knowledge’s and Plan for His Creatures............................................................................5
1.3 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................5
BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................................................................................................6
i
THE CREATION IN THE WISDOM LITERATURE AND PROPHETIC WRITINGS
1.0 Introduction
The term creation expresses the way in which the world and everything pertaining to the world
have their origin, ground and final goal in God. It can also mean, actively, the creative action of
God, and passively the totality of the world. Creation is not a sort of neutral setting for the
drama of a salvation, it is part of the “Magnalia Dei” (Great works of God) and a salvific act of
Gods who sustains the whole history of salvation.
Biblical Wisdom Literature speaks of God primarily in terms of God’s role as a creator than in
terms of God’s covenant relationship with Israel or God’s involvement in history, which is
expressed in the prophetic writings .In this line we are going to see how creation is reflected in
wisdom literature and prophetic writings. This implies that the Old Testament literature derive
their understanding of creation basing on the creation content of Genesis 1-3.
1.1 CREATION IN THE WISDOM LITERATURE
The Biblical Wisdom books such as Job, Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth), Wisdom, Psalms, Proverbs,
and Song of Songs do not speak of history or of God’s specific revelation to Israel. They rather
speak of the world as we know it; its pleasures, hardships, paradoxes, its beauty- the world of
human society and of God’s cosmic creation. Therefore, below is how they portray creation
1.1.1 God is the Creator
The fact that God is totally and completely transcendent over all being apart from himself .the
omnipotence of God implies his activity as a Creator Who created out of nothing.1 Wisdom
literature and psalms proclaim that God created the word, established order in it and continues to
sustain it. However given this unified biblical witness to God as the creator, there are different
emphases in different texts on God’s role in creation various theological claims of God as creator
are given.2
1
Johannes B. Bauer, Encyclopedia of the Biblical Theology( London: Sheed and Ward ),p.143
2
Dictionary of the Old Testament , Wisdom , Poetry & Writings , (USA : Inter Varsity Press, 2008),p.63
1
1.1.2 Creation by Word
The scriptures do unquestionably contain images ultimately based on anthropomorphic
conception. God utters His word and things exist. It is here that the Biblical accounts of creation
are, theologically speaking, at their most profound: God creates by word. ‘By the word of the
Lord the heavens were made, and their host by breathe of His mouth’ (Ps. 333:6). He has created
all things by His word, and fashioned man by His wisdom (Wis.9:1). He spoke, and it came to
be, He commanded and it stood forth. (Ps. 33:9)
1.1.3 God and Chaos
The ancient Near East motif of the Chaoskampf – “the battle between the creator god and the
forces of chaos’’ is referenced in the Wisdom Literature and Psalms. The book of Job refers to
myth a number of times in the character of Job, in reference to God’s absolute power (Job
3:8;7:12) .The sea (a symbol of chaos in the ancient Near East ) and the sea monster leviathan
also occupy the prominent places in the speeches of God at the end of the book ( Job 38:8-11,
41:1-23) .In remarkable image, God attends the birth of the sea and uses clouds and thick
darkness to swaddle the rambunctious new born infant (Job 38:8-11).3
1.1.4 Order in Creation
The sages of the book of Proverbs observed a certain order to the world, an order that could be
discerned by human beings seeking wisdom through observation of the natural world. The ant,
the badger, the locust and lizards are extolled as small but very wise .The ants provides a lesson
hard work and planning (Prov. 30:24-28). Qoheleth ( the teacher ) also spends a lot of time
observing the world around him but mostly what he see is hebel; all is hebel ( all is vanity) . He
says there is nothing new under the sun (Eccl.1:9), for the fate of human beings and the fate of
animals is one fate, all die and there is one breathe far all. (Eccles. 3:9).
1.1.5 God and Wisdom
The Book of Proverbs describe creation through the eye of “Woman Wisdom” (Prov.8:22-31).
The Lord creates (or begets) wisdom the “first of His ways” (Prov.8:22). Before God brings forth
mountains, hills and springs of water, wisdom is created, she is the instrument which God used
to establish the heavens and the foundation of the earth. Thus, the book of Wisdom describes it
3
Ibid.
2
as the “master Craftsman”. (Wisdom 7:21; 8:6).4 Woman wisdom is the first of Gods ways,
created before anything else in the world and she is God’s constant companion during the whole5
process of creation from the foundation of the earth to the fashioning of humanity. She is quite
possibly God’s skilled assistant in the creation of the cosmos.
1.1.6 God’s Delight in Creation
The playfulness of woman wisdom in Proverbs 8 points to God’s delight in creation. God created
the world, including and especially humanity for the sake of God’s own pleasure as the twofold
mention of delights in Proverbs (8:30-31). Similarly, Psalm 104 evokes the image of a Creator
God who delights in what is created. This shows a God who creates not out of necessity, but out
of freedom and gratuitousness; values and take delight in what is created. The same delight is
seen in the Divine speech of Job (Job 38-41). God describes the foundation of the earth, “when
the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted with joy” (Job 38:7). 6
1.1.7 Creation’s Praise
The ultimate purpose of creation is the glory of God. Creation praises its Creator over and over
again in the Old Testament. The morning stars sing and together at the dawn of creation (Job
38:7) the heavens tell of the glory of God, and the firmament proclaim his handiwork (Ps. 19:1-
2). The writer of Psalms 148 calls on everyone and everything in creation to sing a “hallelujah”
chorus: sun, moon, stars, sea monsters, deeps, fire, wild animals, mountain and hills birds and
people of every age! (Ps. 148:13a, 14b).
1.1.8 Paradise Restored
Song of Songs is filled with image of creation, flowers, vineyard, world and domestic animals,
and human lovers. It clearly shows the created world, with all its abundant fertility and life. In
reference to the story of the Garden of Eden, the Song of Song redeems a love story gone awry.
Plant and animals, created in Genesis are names in Songs of Songs as metaphors for love: the fig
tree (Song 2:13), the woman herself is called a garden (Songs 4; 12, 16; 5:1, 6:2), like the Garden
4
Pleter Smulder, Enyclopedia of Theology, (Great Britain: Hazell Watson& Villey Ltd, 1975), p.315.
5
Dictionary of the Old Testament , Wisdom , Poetry & Writings, Op. cit., p.63
6
The New African Bible (2011), Nairobi Kenya: St. Paul Communications / Daughters of St. Paul
3
of Eden. Song of Songs uses the imagery of the natural world to depict the restoration of the
original goodness and mutuality of human love first described in Genesis 2. 7
1.2 CREATION IN THE PROPHETIC WRITINGS
Creation in the Prophetic literature of the Old Testament, such as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah,
Hosea, Amos, Micah Jonah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah and others, is employed as a constant literally
theological reference which connects to the historical, motivates the interpretation of the present,
and moves towards the future by continuous contextualization of creation, pointing to the
creation account of genesis 1 through 3. Below is how prophetic writings understand creation;
1.2.1 Creation as a Covenant
Creation is a sort of Covenant given to man by God. The very existence of the world is to some
degree a salvific work, since it is the theatre of the power and fidelity of God, Who entrusted
upon a covenant with Israel and the human race ( Jer. 33:20-25). The doctrine of creation also
serves to confirm God’s sovereign power in the history of salvation and loyalty to His Covenant
(Jer. 31:35-37). Creation like deliverance from Egypt testifies the power, the goodness and
fidelity of God.8
1.2.2 God’s Care to His Creature
The prophets considered creation as a continuous activity which is renewed day by day. The
Israelites similarly looked at nature as constantly regulated and governed by the will of Yahweh.
He brings forth the heavens by number and calls them by name (Is.40:26). He also sustains the
life which he has given; and spirit to those who walk in it, for He is their Creator (Is 42:5).
1.2.3 Re-creation
Prophet Ezekiel’s Vision of the dry bones Ez.37:1-14) employs the terminology of recreation of
the house of Israel. The valley was full of bones; they were fleshless and completely dry; that is
in a situation of impossibility to live again. All the same the prophet is asked to transmit to the
bones the life-giving will of God Who wills that they have the vital breath in them again ( Gen
7
Peter F. Ellis, The Men and the Message of the Old Testament,( USA: North Central Publishing Company
,1976), p.319
8
Pleter Smulder, Enyclopedia of Theology, (Great Britain: Hazell Watson& Villey Ltd, 1975), p.
4
6:17) with the ‘ruah’ ( breath , spirit ) and the ‘basar’ ( flesh ). The role of Yahweh’s Spirit in
this visionary experience suggestively replicates the role of the Spirit at creation (Gen.1:2). 9
1.2.4 Yahweh a Creator and Protector
Hosea 11:1 expresses Yahweh as the Creator and protector of Israel. “When Israel was a child, I
loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” this verse also connects to Hosea 1:10, ‘they will
be called children of the living God’ and to Exodus which is described in the creation
terminology. 10Thus the creation of Israel as a nation during the historical events connected with
Exodus from Egypt becomes part of God’s creation. Who God creates, He also creates, and with
that an intimate bond is created like that of the father and his son.
1.2. 5 God’s Knowledge’s and Plan for His Creatures
The calling of prophet Jeremiah included these life-altering words from the Lord: “Before I
formed you in your mother’s womb I knew you, before you were born I set you a part”. The
Hebrew word translated formed in Jeremiah (1:5) as the same verb used in (Genesis 2:7) as part
of God’s creative act in forming Adam, from the dust of the ground. Just as a master potter
knows the creation He plans to form. He had set His sights on Him with plans to create him
uniquely to be a spokesperson for the word of God even before his conception and birth.11
1.3 Conclusion
Creation theology is a vital topic in the study of the Biblical Wisdom Literature and in the
Prophetic writings. It occupies a key place in the study of the Book of Psalms, where the concern
for salvation history and creation theology is expressed. The Lord, the God of Israel, is
acclaimed as the Creator of the world, and Israel, along with the whole creation, is called on to
praise the Lord.
9
Galambush. J ,Castle in the Air : Creation as Property in Ezekiel, extracted from SBL Seminar Paper,
(Atlanta: Scholar’s Press,1999),p.14
10
Raynond B.Dillard , An introduction to the Old Tesament,(Micigan:Zondrven Publishing
House,1994),p.363
11
www. Catholic Encyclopedia, New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved on 22 May 2022 from
New Advent.
5
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dictionary of the Old Testament, Wisdom, Poetry & Writings, USA: Inter Varsity Press, 2008.
Galambush. J, Castle in the Air: Creation as Property in Ezekiel extracted from SBL Seminar
Paper, Atlanta: Scholar’s Press, 1999.
Peter F. Ellis, The Men and the Message of the Old Testament, USA: North Central Publishing
Company, 1976.
Pleter Smulder, Enyclopedia of Theology, Great Britain: Hazell Watson& Villey Ltd, 1975.
Raynond B.Dillard, An introduction to the Old Tesament, Micigan:Zondrven Publishing.
House,1994.www. Catholic Encyclopedia, New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved on
22 May 2022 from New Advent.
Smulder Pleter, Enyclopedia of Theology, Great Britain: Hazell Watson& Villey Ltd, 1975.
The New African Bible (2011), Nairobi Kenya: St. Paul Communications / Daughters of St. Paul.
