Part three of: "In the Beginning. . ."

            So I have discussed two of the most popular creation accounts in scripture in my last two posts on this series (Part One and Part Two). Now I want to discuss two lesser known accounts, one in Psalm 74 and the other in Job 38. These two accounts are similar in the fact that they are both part of a greater narrative. They are also alike in the fact that they both ascribe glory to God within their respective narratives. Despite their similarities we are presented these two accounts for differing reasons; Psalm 74 is presented in order to reminds us that salvation comes from God, whereas Job 38 is delivered to is in the hopes that we are reminded that God is God, and we are not.

First let’s look at Psalm 74. Here we are given a creation account that recalls how God created order in the midst of chaos rather than God creating ex nihilo (out of nothing). This whole creation/ordering of the earth begins with God subduing both sea creatures and Leviathan (some rather large sea creature). Now, last I knew, when God the creatures that dwell in the sea, that He described them as being good. So how could these evil creatures have been created by God? If they were created by God, why would God have to subdue both of these creatures if they were described as being good?

Now some could make two claims. The first these events occurred between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, which is called the Gap Theory. Now, it’s a plausible theory, but I have yet to be convinced of its truth. Mainly because I don’t believe that the bible was dictated word for word by God, which means I do not have to struggle and find ways to reconcile the different creation accounts. Another possibility could be that it occurred sometime after the fall. Once again, possible, but it seems odd to include an account that occurred after the fall with events that are concerned with the creation/ordering of the earth.

What I find more plausible is that our psalmist really wasn’t taking care to be literal, after all we are talking about poetry. So instead of trying to put the event in the context of creation, we need to put it into a different context, which is the context of the psalmist, which in turn is utter chaos. In short the psalmist is reminding his readers that God has re-ordered chaos once before, and He can do so again.

Now, let’s fast forward Isaiah for a second. Here we are told God has control over the nations, even without the nations realizing that He has control over them. To the Israelites, God literally controlled all of creation, both the elements of the earth and the people of the earth. So if the psalmist views God as being in control of both of the nations as well as the elements of creation (which I think he does) our defeated friend is saying this, “God, we are in a time of chaos, please do not leave us in this situation. I know how great you are through the fact that you once ordered chaos at the beginning of time. Please God, don’t forget us and order chaos once again.” In short, the psalmist is saying, God you were once were gracious enough to be great for us before, please be great for us again by delivering us from our enemies.

Moving onto Job, we have a situation where God rather plants land and sets it into the waters. But as we know, in Genesis, land is created by separating water. So which is it? Or better yet, does it matter?

When we put the passage in context, it does not matter. The context in the book of Job is that Job feels as if God has abandoned him despite being upright. But rather than asking God to vindicate him, Job ultimately asks, "why me?" Now, the whole book of Job consists of Job turning back to the fact that he is sinless, while his friends tell him that he must have sinned against God and beg of him to repent of his sins. But finally after thirty plus chapters of this, our hero finally gets a response from God, which is essentially this, “Job I am greater than you, and although you may not understand everything I do, the fact is this: I have done things you could never do, I have been places that you have never been and I know things you could never know.” In short, our creation account here is once again not about how God created, but rather that God is great, partly due to the fact that only God created.

Both of these creation accounts are about the fact that God is great. In one account a psalmist acknowledges God’s greatness by recalling the fact that God has controlled chaos in the past and then asks for God to do it again. In Job we are reminded (by God Himself), that there are just some things we can never understand (perhaps one of the things we could never fully understand is how God created), and also that we need to remember to trust God because God knows what He is doing.

In the next installment, I will discuss why it is not important to reconcile the creation accounts and what we can miss out on if we do.