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Creation

The first three chapters have prepared us for the theme of God’s work of creation. The act of God’s speaking (Chapter 1) led to heavenly bodies coming into existence: “he commanded, and they were created” (148:5b). The instructions He gave (Chapter 2) were the means of creation: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made” (33:6a). Two of the twelve wisdom psalms (78 & 119) have something to say about creation. Of course, the book of Psalms connects God’s wisdom (Chapter 3) to His creative acts: “O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all” (104:24a); “To him that by wisdom made the heavens” (136:5a).¹⁰⁰

The Psalms frequently celebrate this theme and praise God for this particular work of His. The doctrine of creation appears in 33 psalms, occurring in 51 different verses. Every one of the five Books in Psalms treats this subject in at least three psalms, with dominance in the last two Books (17 verses in Book IV, 15 in Book V). Since the Bible itself begins with creation and because creation is the first of God’s awesome works, it is a fitting topic in praising the Lord and appears in four of the five concluding hallelujah psalms (146:6; 147:8; 148:5; 149:2).

Vocabulary of Creation

The normal Hebrew verb for “create” (ברא, bara’) occurs six times in Psalms (see Table 4.1 below). By noting parallels to this word, we discover additional terms for this theme. The poetry of Isaiah 45:18a gives us three synonyms: “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it …” (my emphasis). The verb עשׂה (‘asah, “to make”) is a very general term that occurs over 2500 times in the Old Testament, over 100 times in Psalms, where it specifically refers to creation 17 times. Parallel to it in 95:5 is the verb יצר (yatsar, “to form”), used for God’s creative activity in five out of its seven occurrences in Psalms. It can designate the activity of a potter with his clay. In 74:17b English versions (KJV, ASV, NASB, ESV, HCSB, and NIV)¹⁰¹ usually translate it as “made.” In this same context the third synonym from Isaiah 45:18 appears: “The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun” (74:16). This verb כון (kuwn, “to establish”) indicates founding or setting up something firmly, for example, of a man setting up a city (Hab. 2:12) or of establishing an altar (Ezra 3:3).

The psalmists make use of four additional verbs for creation (listed in Table 4.1 below). Parallel to כון (kuwn) in 24:2 is the term יסד (yasad, “to found”): “For he has founded [the earth] upon the seas, and established it upon the floods” (my emphasis). Six out its ten occurrences in Psalms refer to creative action. Parallel to עשׂה (‘asah) in 95:5 is יצר (yatsar, “to form”): “The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.” This verb refers to creation an additional four times in Psalms. When David asks the Lord to “create … a clean heart” in him, the parallel is “renew a right spirit within me” (51:10). The verb חדשׁ (khadash) could be translated “make anew” or “create something new.”¹⁰² The same verbs are parallel in 104:30. The verb קנה (qanah), which normally means “to buy” or “to acquire” can rarely mean “to create,”¹⁰³ as it does in 139:13.¹⁰⁴ An additional verse counted in the totals but not noted in the table is 90:2, which uses the verbs ילד (yalad) and חיל (khiyl ): “Before the mountains were brought forth [literally, “were born”], or ever thou hadst formed [literally, “brought forth by labor pains”] the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” Additionally, there are five verbs not included in the table but used in contexts of creation and in parallel with verbs in the table: (1) נטע (nata‘), “planted the ear” (94:9); (2) נטה (natah), “stretchest out the heavens” (104:2); (3) רקע (raqa‘), “stretched out the earth” (136:6); (4) סכך (sakak), “wove me in my mother’s womb” (139:13); (5) עמד (hiphil of ‘amad), “stablished them for ever” (148:6). These provide us with pictures of the ease of God’s creative work: like planting a shoot, spreading a piece of cloth, hammering a piece of metal, weaving cloth, or hanging a door.

Table 4.1 Terminology in Psalms for Creation

Hebrew	English	#	References	Totals: Ps./all OT
ברא	create	6	51:10; 89:12, 47; 102:18; 104:30; 148:5	6/54
עשׂה	make	17	33:6; 86:9; 95:5, 6; 96:5; 100:3; 104:19, 24; 115:15; 119:73; 121:2; 124:8; 134:3; 136:5, 7; 146:6; 149:2	110/2640
כון	establish	11	8:3; 24:2; 65:6, 9; 74:16; 89:37; 93:1; 96:10; 119:73, 90; 147:8	53/218
יסד	found	6	24:2; 78:69; 89:11; 102:25; 104:5, 8	10/44
יצר	form	5	33:15; 74:17; 94:9; 95:5; 104:26	7/45
חדשׁ	renew	2	51:10; 104:30	3/10
קנה	create	1	139:13	3/85
מַעֲשֶׂה	work	8	8:3, 6; 19:1; 28:5; 33:4; 103:22; 111:2; 143:5	39/235
פֹּעַל	work	2	111:3; 143:5	11/37
פְּעֻלָּה	work	1	28:5	3/14

Table 4.1 also lists three additional terms. The cognate noun to the verb עשׂה (‘asah) is מַעֲשֶׂה (ma‘eseh; “work”), a word that occurs over 235 times in the Old Testament, 39 times in Psalms. In at least eight passages the reference is to God’s creative deeds.¹⁰⁵ In 28:5 מַעֲשֶׂה is parallel to the noun פְּעֻלָּה (pe‘ullah) and in 143:5 to the noun פֹּעַל (pow‘al ). The latter refers to creation also in 111:3.¹⁰⁶

Propositions

The many verses in Table 4.1 provide us with at least seven propositions, some of them rather obvious but nevertheless important. (1) God’s work of creation is still active and ongoing. In various of the passages it is difficult to discern between what God did in the original creation and what He is still doing in His work of preservation.¹⁰⁷ The psalmist describes the ongoing growth of plant life as creation: “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth” (104:30). Procreation becomes labeled as creation: “For you created my inmost being” (139:13, NIV).¹⁰⁸ The close connection between creation and preservation appears also in 102:18b and 149:2a.

(2) The means of creation is God’s spoken word. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth” (33:6). I believe that God the Father gave commands like “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3), and God the Son implemented the orders: “for he commanded, and they were created” (148:5b). In the next verse the psalmist also calls the command a “decree” (חָק, khoq).

(3) Creation clearly displays God’s attributes of wisdom and power. The psalmists explicitly state that what God made He did by wisdom and understanding (104:24; 136:5). David affirms to God that “You created [כון, kuwn] the mountains by your power” (65:6, NET). John Calvin noted that “When a man, from beholding and contemplating the heavens, has been brought to acknowledge God, he will learn also to reflect upon and to admire his wisdom and power as displayed on the face of the earth, not only in general, but even in the minutest plants.”¹⁰⁹ God’s creation power is in contrast to “the idols of the heathen” (135:15): “to him who alone doeth great wonders” (136:4). “For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens” (96:5). Does not this verse express the same concept found in Jeremiah 10:11–12? “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth …. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion” (my emphasis).

(4) As the Creator, God acts as a beneficent Father. Just as a loving father gives good gifts to his children (Matt. 7:11), so God in His creative work has blessed His human and animal creation. The creation verse 65:9 proclaims, “Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest [כון, kuwn] them corn, when thou hast so provided [כון, kuwn] for it.” This term for “establishing” by creation or preservation occurs again in 68:9 in reference to God’s sending His rain to restore parched land (see ESV). The psalmist uses the term again as he praises God, “who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food …” (147:8b–9a). It is most significant that when 33:5 says that “the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord,” it is in the context of creation (vv. 6–7).¹¹⁰

(5) The work of creation is a key subject in the practice of glorifying God. Psalm 104, often called the great creation psalm, begins and ends with an exhortation to praise Yahweh (see Geneva and NET). In the 32 psalms that mention God’s creative work (Table 4.1), we find words of praise in 24 of them (Table 25:1). If the expression “his mighty acts” (גְבוּרֹתָ֑יו, gevuwrowthayw) in 150:2 refers to creative acts, then each of the closing hallelujah psalms glorify God for creation (146:6; 147:8; 148:5; 149:2). The righteous praise God for His work of creation (33:1–6), but the Lord will judge the wicked “because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands” (28:5a). If they do not acknowledge that He is the Creator, then certainly there is no praise for Him on their lips!

(6) The work of creation involves an order which is continuing. This proposition is similar to the first, but differs since here we are not speaking about an ongoing work (preservation) but just the original acts that maintain stability. The key word for this proposition is כון (kuwn; “establish”). Semantically, this term specifies preparation, arrangement, and permanence. The verb indicates the setting up of something so that it will be steady (fixed) and lasting.¹¹¹ In creation God “set in place” or “established” (HCSB) the sun (74:16), the moon (8:3; 89:37), and the stars (8:3; 74:16). He put these heavenly bodies into a particular fixed orbit where they continue “forever, a faithful witness in the sky” (89:37b, HCSB). Furthermore, God has founded (יסד, yasad) and established the earth (אֶרֶץ, erets) (24:1–2; 65:9; 104:5; 119:90), also called “the world” (תֵּבֵל, teyveyl ) in 24:1; 93:1; and 96:10; therefore, “it cannot be moved” (93:1; 96:10, ASV). At creation God put our world in a stable orbit, where it has neither accelerated or decelerated for thousands of years; therefore, we are not tossed about. David noted that God “by his strength setteth fast the mountains” (65:6), and there they have stood for millennia. The Lord has instituted weather patterns: He “prepares rain for the earth” (147:8). Biologically, there is stability¹¹² in man’s bodily nature because of creation (119:73). In the beginning God programmed mankind’s DNA, and that structure is still determining our natural formation.

(7) The Psalms emphasize that God is the Creator of mankind. At least forty of the creation verses identify God as the agent of creation. This is one of those obvious points. In eleven of these cases mankind is the object of that act (33:15; 51:10; 86:9; 89:47; 94:9; 95:6; 100:3; 102:18; 119:73; 139:13; and 149:2): God created man. This is important because the book of Psalms has accentuated it. A portion of 89:47 is actually the explicit statement of this fact: literally, “You created all the sons of mankind.” As our Creator, God rightfully owns us: “Acknowledge that Yahweh is God. He made us, and we are His” (100:3a, HCSB).

New Testament Echoes

By using the Greek equivalents of the three key Hebrew verbs for God’s creative activity, the New Testament reaffirms the doctrine of creation. Revelation uses κτίζω (ktizō) in three significant statements: “for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (4:11b); “And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein …” (10:6); and “worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (14:7b). We find this same verb in a verse proclaiming God’s goodness in His creation: “… meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth” (1 Tim. 4:6), and Colossians 1:16 identifies Christ as this Creator. The Greek verb for “make” (ποιέω, poieō) occurs in reference to creation in two important passages: “the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein” (Acts 14:15b); “worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Rev. 14:7b). The Greek verb that matches the Hebrew term “establish” is καταρτίζω (katartizō):¹¹³ “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God” (Heb. 11:3a).

In the fifth book of Psalms David and other psalmists proclaim five times that Yahweh is עֹשֶׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ, literally “Maker of heaven and earth” (115:15; 121:2; 124:8; 134:3; and 146:6). This is a fitting summary statement of the book’s creation theme.