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1 1. CREATION A N D T H E NOACHIC C O V E N A N T The first segment of the periodized history of God's covenants (Genesis 1-11) sets before us the spacious vista of creation. The story extends from the creation of heaven and earth (the universe) to the near return of the earth to primeval chaos in the time of the flood, then on to the new beginning afterward, signalized by God's universal covenant with humankind, nonhuman creatures, and the earth itself (Genesis 9). In its present form this primeval history—better, primeval story—is a preface to the special history/story that begins with Abraham and Sarah. That the God whom Israel worships is the creator of heaven and earth is the fundamental doctrine that Christianity received from Judaism and that both communities of faith announce to the world. The doctrine received its classical formulation in the so-called Priestly creation story (Gen. 1:1—2:3), and is elab­ orated in hymns of praise (Psalms 33, 104), prophetic doxologies (Amos 5:8-9,Isa . 40:21-26, 28), and wisdom reflection (Prov. 8:22-31). Creatio ex Chaos According to the Genesis creation story, God created the universe by executive command, without any resistance or struggle. Moreover, God created out of chaos. The earth was once tobu wabobu, a "vast waste" (REB) or "formless void" (NJB). The expression in Gen. 1:2 refers to primeval disorder, which persists even after God's creative work wrought order and harmony (a matter to which we shall return later). The view of creation tx nibilo, set forth in late Jewish writings (e.g., 2 Mace. 7.28) and early Christian doctrine, is not supported explicitly by the bibli­ cal text. The formulation "creation out of chaos" is influenced by the mythopoetic view of creation, found in ancient myths.' In my judgment, the use of the chaos motif in the biblical story does not justify the view that originally the Creator had "mas­ tery" only over chaos and that God will not have complete sovereignty until the eschatological consummation.2 That view may be supported by a putative early version of the biblical story that was influenced by the Babylonian myth of the cre­ ator's battle with the powers of chaos. In the final biblical form of the creation 1. See the classic work of Hermann Gunkel, "The Influence of Babylonian Mythology Upon the Biblical Creation Story," translated and abridged in Creation in the Old Testament, ed. B. W. Anderson, IRT 6 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1984), chap. 1. Also my work, Creation versus Chaos. The Reinterpretation ofMythical Symbolism in the Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1987). 2 This view is advocated by Jon Levenson, Creation and the Persistence oj Evil (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988). See, however, my essay, 'The Persistence of Chaos in God's Creation," BR 12, no. 1 (1996) 19, 44, which is used in part in this discussion. 87 8 8 Contours of Old Testament Theology story, however, despite vestigial remains of the old myth, the prevailing view is that God creates in absolute sovereignty. One should note that at no point does the biblical narrator equate chaos with evil. Rather, chaos is primeval disorder symbolized by turbulent waters and uncre­ ated darkness. Order and chaos belong to the creation that, as a whole, the Creator perceives to be "very good" (Gen. 1:31). Since chaos persists, it is proper to say that God continues to create, inviting human beings, made in the divine image, into the ongoing creative process. The Genesis portrayal is compatible with a new revolution in science in which the Newtonian view of a static, ordered cosmos is superseded by that of a complex, dynamic universe in which order and chaos belong together.3 Furthermore, in the mythopoetic view the triumphant Creator establishes boundaries for the chaos that continues. According to the magnificent creation poem, Psalm 104, which in some respects parallels the Genesis creation story, the poet uses the mythical language rather freely to portray God "rebuking" and driv­ ing back the restive, insurgent waters of chaos and assigning them their place in the orderly scheme of creation. In Genesis 1, by contrast, there is no resistance,the chaotic element is completely in God's control. Creation by the word, indi­ cated by the command execution formulae ("God said .. . and it was so"), expresses God's absolute sovereignty (see Psalm 33). Israel's witness to the sole...

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