View
215
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
1/63
CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
ALL THY CREATURES PRAISE THEE:THE LITURGICAL THEOLOGY OF GENESIS 1-3
SUBMITTED TO THE REV. DR. DEAN O. WENTHEIN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE M.DIV. DEGREE
BYCHARLES LEHMANN
NOVEMBER 5, 2006
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
2/63
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
3/63
INTRODUCTION
Maker of all things, all Thy creatures praise Thee;All for Thy worship were and are created;Now, as we also worship Thee devoutly, Hear Thou ourvoices. 1
Father Most Holy presents us with a view of creation much
maligned in modern biblical criticism. Not many today are
willing to see creation doxologically. To take such an approach
requires one to acknowledge that there is One worthy of . To
much of modern biblical criticism such acknowledgment is
anathema. But it is undeniable that the higher critics have had
some insights. In particular, they have identified Biblical
themes that have shadows in the literature of other ancient near
east cultures.
The critics have established that there is a strong
connection between the creation account in Genesis and the
Babylonian Enma elish as well as the Baal creation account
found at Ugarit. 2 Several generations of Old Testament scholars
1. Father Most Holy, Stanza 3, in Lutheran Service Book .(Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2006), 504.
2. See Moshe Weinfeld. Sabbath, Temple and the Enthronementof the LordThe problem of the Sitz im Leben of Genesis1:1-2:3 in Mlanges bibliques et orientaux en l'honneur deM. Henri Cazelles , ed. A. Caquot and M. Delcor. (Kevelaer :
1
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
4/63
have devoted their careers to exploring these connections. Most
often these scholars postulate a redactor who constructed the
Old Testament accounts by combining several independent (and
sometimes contradictory) streams of thought. This redactor is
often suggested to be a priest at the time of Josiah who
rediscovered these disparate texts and combined them during the
Babylonian exile. In Hummel's survey of Pentateuchal criticism,
he notes:
Wellhausen, of course, readily conceded, too, thatmany components of P may well have been extremelyancient. Yet in its totality he insisted it was aproduct of exilic and postexilic priestly circles, inorder to legitimize and adapt Israel to its newcircumstances as a theocratic community, withoutpolitical self-determination and existing only by thesufferance of the Persian authorities. Its habit ofself-description in literally Mosaic terms, followingthe precedent of the deuteronomists, lacked virtuallyall basis in fact. 3
The approach of Wellhausen and his disciples is consistent,
interesting, and if one does not look too closely, somewhat
compelling. It is also wrong. It illustrates what happens when
one regards the Scriptures as human documents only. In such an
approach, the Scriptures are interesting only because they show
Butzon & Bercker, 1981), 501-512.
3. Horace D. Hummel. The Word Becoming Flesh : An Introductionto the Origin, Purpose, and Meaning of the Old Testament(electronic ed.; St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House,2000, c1979), 51.
2
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
5/63
us how one particular near eastern culture attempted to explain
and understand its universe through the gradual development of a
cultus . The Scriptures are seen as an etiological myth.
This is a decidedly anti-Chalcedonian approach to the
biblical material. The Scriptures become only human documents
utterly divorced from the divine, not incarnational in any
sense. Opposite is the approach of some fundamentalist
theologians who gnosticize the Scriptures by turning them into
spiritual documents whose human authors are nothing more than
typewriters of the Holy Spirit. Francis Pieper describes this
problem aptly:
That in this relationship the writers were notlifeless machines, but living, personal instruments,endowed with intellect and will and equipped withtheir own distinct style ( modus dicendi ), is evidentfrom the very nature of the case. For God did notfirst kill or dehumanize Isaiah, David, and all theProphets in order to speak or write through ( ) them,but He carefully preserved their lives and theirgenuine human way of expressing themselves in orderthat they might in their speaking be understood bymen. 4
Also in Luther, we have a view of the Scriptures that is
grounded very firmly in the material. God makes Himself known
not in a spiritual, gnosticizing way, but according to external,
visible means.
4. Francis Pieper. Christian Dogmatics , electronic ed. (St.Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999, c1950, c1951,c1953), 1:230.
3
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
6/63
When God reveals Himself to us, it is necessary forHim to do so through some such veil or wrapper and tosay: Look! Under this wrapper you will be sure totake hold of Me. When we embrace this wrapper,adoring, praying, and sacrificing to God there, we are
said to be praying to God and sacrificing to Himproperly. Thus there is no doubt that our firstparents worshiped God early in the morning, when thesun was rising, by marveling at the Creator in thecreature or, to express myself more clearly, becausethey were urged on by the creature. 5
For Luther (and, I daresay, Moses), we need not try to
construct a story to describe how God comes to us. For him the
universe is not actually sterile, dead, and without any
spiritual component. We marvel at the Creator in the
creature. In Genesis 1 and 2, the divine/human drama has a
beginning of perfect beauty and joy.
God speaks into the void and creates the universe. He gives
it light. He orders it by giving day and night. He puts all
things in their place in a perfect liturgical order. The earth
gives forth green herbs to feed the cattle, the creeping things,
and man. He sends moisture to sustain the plants. He rules the
day by the sun and the night by the moon. And finally, He
chooses one creature who will be His own dwelling place. So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
5. Martin Luther (1535). Luther's Works, Vol. 1 : Lectures onGenesis: Chapters 1-5 , ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C.Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther's Works (Saint Louis:Concordia Publishing House, 1999, c1958), 1:15. Hereafterabbreviated as LW.
4
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
7/63
him; male and female created he them. 6
The universe has been created as the Lord's own tabernacle
and Eden is the Holy Place. But the Holy of Holies is not a
place. The Most Holy Place is a person whom the Lord has
fashioned in His own image according to His likeness. The image
of God is Christ. 7 And so Adam is placed into the garden to 8
it and ,it. And as Adam sleeps a sleep very close to death 9
Eve is taken from his side and becomes the Lord's very first
member of the laity. By delivering to Adam His own word, He has
already ordained Adam to preach to her and evangelize her.
THE ENM A ELISH AND GENESIS
Though one may easily approach Genesis in a thoughtful and
academically viable manner apart from dealing with the other
near eastern material, such a comparison can bring some aspects
of the theology of Genesis into clarity. Alexander Heidel gives
a good introduction to the content of the Enma elish and its
thematic connection to the biblical text in The Babylonian
Genesis . In Heidel's translation of the Babylonian myth, we are
6. Genesis 1:27, King James Version.
7. Colossians 1:15.
8. 1 Chronicles 28:13.
9. 2 Chronicles 34:9.
5
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
8/63
first introduced to Tiamat, a primordial water monster that
represents the universe before it takes any particular shape or
form. At this time only Tiamat the mother of the gods and Aps,
their father, exist. Together, these form the preexistent,
eternal universe. They give birth to the great gods, and over
time these gods become powerful, having children of their own. 10
Very soon, Tiamat's children become dissatisfied and plot
the overthrow of their parents. It is at this point that the
story's protagonist, Marduk, comes to light. Heidel argues that
the Enma elish is above all a hymn to Marduk, explaining his
supremacy among the gods of the Babylonian pantheon. It has the
secondary purpose of explaining why Babylon is the most
important of all cities. According to Heidel, it was composed
sometime during the first Babylonian dynasty (2057-1758 B.C.). 11
This sets the composition of the epic at least three hundred
years before that of the account in Genesis. Considering that
it could even have been written before Abraham emigrated from
Babylonian territory, it is certainly not out of the question
that Moses could have, by oral tradition, heard the Enma elish .
If influence on the Genesis account from the Enma elish is
10. Alexander Heidel. The Babylonian Genesis . (Chicago: TheUniversity of Chicago Press, 1942) Enma elish , Tablet 1,Lines 1-20, pp 7-8.
11. Heidel, 3, 6.
6
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
9/63
admitted, the question becomes what sort of influence it was and
what insights into the Scriptures we might gain from studying
this influence. Though the points of similarity between the two
accounts are many, focusing on the similarities does very little
to inform us regarding the actual relationship between the texts.
The Enma elish presents a pantheon that, as a result of
internal conflict, kills the mother of the gods and with her
body creates the universe. 12 Eventually men are made to be
slaves to the gods and their primary purpose is to build
sanctuaries, offer sacrifices, and serve the needs of the gods
who created them. 13
Though there is some structural correspondence, the theology
of Genesis could hardly be more distinct from the Enma elish. 14
Though he ultimately fails to confess Mosaic authorship for
Genesis, Nahum Sarna aptly describes the use of mythological
metaphor in the Old Testament.
Scattered allusions to be found in the prophetic,poetic, and wisdom literature of the Bible testify toa popular belief that prior to the onset of the
12. Heidel, 82.
13. Heidel, 99-100.
14. Walter Eichrodt provides an apt contrast between theworldviews of the pagan cultures around Israel and the viewof the Old Testament in Man in the Old Testament . trans. K.and R. Gregor Smith. (Chicago: Henry Regnery Company,1951.), 28-29.
7
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
10/63
creative process the powers of watery chaos had to besubdued by God. These mythical beings are variouslydesignated Yam (Sea), Nahar (River), Leviathan (CoiledOne), Rahab (Arrogant One) and Tannin (Dragon). . .They have survived in the Bible solely as obscure,
picturesque metaphors and exclusively in the languageof poetry. . . The early Israelite creation myths,with all their color and drama, must have beenparticularly attractive to the masses. But nonebecame the regnant version. It was the austereaccount set forth in the first chapter of Genesis thatwon unrivaled authority. 15
Despite the conceits of higher critics, the Genesis account
is quite unified in presenting a monotheistic Godhead. One
strong evidence of this fact is that ,though plural ,
consistently takes a masculine singular verb form in the Old
Testament material. Much ink has been spilled on how to explain
this grammatical oddity. Though some will argue for some sort
of Hebrew pantheon on the basis of Moses' use of in Genesis
1:2616
, it is noteworthy that the speaker is identified as
but the verb introducing the discourse is again masculine ,
singular. Finally, when God does the creating that He proposes
in verse 26, Moses expresses it again using a singular verb,
15. Nahum Sarna. The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis .(Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 3.
16. Though most will acknowledge that the view of P or theredactor is montheistic, it is often assumed that thePentateuch itself is drawn from sources that are devoted toat least two other gods, and .(J and E)
8
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
11/63
(verse 27).
Far better than to take the critical approach to the plural
form of its use of the masculine singular verb form, and ,
the use of in verse 26 is to joyfully confess what Luther
confesses.
This is a sure indication of the Trinity, that in onedivine essence there are three Persons: the Father,the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Not even so far as Theiractivity is concerned, therefore, is God separated,because all three Persons here co-operate and say:Let Us make. The Father does not make one man and
the Son another, nor the Son one man and the HolySpirit another; but the Father, the Son, and the HolySpirit, one and the same God, is the Author andCreator of the same work. Nor is it possible in thismanner to divide God subjectively, for the Father isnot known except in the Son and through the HolySpirit. Therefore as there is one God objectively, soalso subjectively; nevertheless, within Himself, sofar as His substance or essence is concerned, He isFather, Son, and Holy Spirit, three distinct Personsin one Godhead. These evidences should be precious to
us and welcome.17
Admittedly, Luther's approach to the Scriptures is not
popular in the post-Enlightenment world. To read the Scriptures
with Luther is to begin with the cross and then look backward to
the Old Testament witness seeing the fullness of the Scriptures
only in their Christological focus. It is a particularly
Christian and evangelical 18 way to approach them.
17. Luther. Genesis Lectures (1535), LW 1:58-59.
18. In the 16 th century sense.
9
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
12/63
Fulgentius of Ruspe makes an additional point:
For the essence, that which the Greeks call ousia , ofthe Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is one, inwhich essence the Father is not one thing and the Son
a second thing and the Holy Spirit still a thirdthing, although in person the Father is different, theSon is different, and the Holy Spirit is different.All of this is demonstrated in the strongest fashionat the very beginning of the Holy Scriptures, when Godsays, Let us make human beings in our image andlikeness. When, using the singular number, he saysimage, he shows that the nature is one, in whoseimage the human being was made. 19
Should we place ourselves in the sandals of Moses, the
critics fair no better. Clearly the strong monotheism of
Genesis 1 is a polemic against the muddled polytheism of the
Enma elish . Further, the Lord has no need in Genesis 1 to
create the universe from preexistent matter. 20
THE LITURGICAL CONTEXT OF GENESIS
At the beginning of the book of Joshua, the Lord commissions
Joshua to be the successor of Moses. He says to the son of Nun,
This Book of the Law ( shall not depart from your mouth (
( " but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you ,(
may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. 21
19. Fulgentius of Ruspe in Andrew Louth. Ancient ChristianCommentary on Scripture. (Downers Grove, Illinois:Intervarsity Press, 2001) 1:30.
20. Heidel, 76-82.
21. Joshua 1:8.
10
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
13/63
Later, the Book of the Law is specifically called the Book of
the Law of Moses. 22
Indeed, the Lord's words to Joshua are very Mosaic in tone.
The Lord had said to Moses of Aaron, You shall speak to him and
put the words in his mouth ( ), and I will be with your mouth
and with his mouth and will teach ( ' .you both what to do (
He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your
mouth, and you shall be as God ( ') to him. 23
The Lord places the in Moses's mouth and promises to bewith both Moses's mouth and Aaron's. Further, the Lord makes
the seemingly outrageous claim that Moses will be God to Aaron,
but in a very real sense this statement of the Lord faithfully
confesses what the Lord has promised He is about to do.
The Law is mediated to both Aaron and Joshua through Moses.
The Lord does not give Joshua a new word to speak. He gives to
Joshua the word He has previously given to Moses. Even so, the
teaching comes from the Lord. He promises that He will teach
both Moses and Aaron. The word used of God's teaching in Exodus
4 ( ' ) becomes the noun ( which describes the book that (
will contain Moses's record of it.
22. Joshua 8:31.
23. Exodus 4:15-16.
11
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
14/63
As to the identity of this Book of the Law, modern
commentators are divided. Keil and Delitzsch, however, take the
historic position, namely that it refers to the Pentateuch, and
further, that the Pentateuch is precisely what was read in the
Feast of Tabernacles once every seven years.
And whilst the contents and form of the Thorah bearwitness that it belongs to the Mosaic age, there areexpress statements to the effect that it was writtenby Moses himself. . . When he had delivered his lastaddress to the people, and appointed Joshua to leadthem into their promised inheritance, 'he wrote thisThorah, and delivered it unto the priests, the sons ofLevi, and unto all the elders of Israel' (Deut. 31:9),with a command that it was to be read to the peopleevery seven years at the feast of Tabernacles, whenthey came to appear before the Lord at the sanctuary. 24
Considering the fact that God gave this book to Moses and
gave consistent commands both to Aaron and to Joshua to meditate
on it and be careful to do according to all that is written in
it, 25 we can safely say that the book of Genesis is a liturgical
document. It was given to Moses for a liturgical purpose and
was heard by the people of Israel in a liturgical setting.
The Enma Elish was also used liturgically, being read
publicly on the 4 th of Nisan (which was their New Year's
festival), the 4 th of Chislev, and, very possibly, the fourth day
24. Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch. Commentary on theOld Testament . (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2002), 1:12.
25. Joshua 1:8.
12
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
15/63
of every month. 26 Coming into a context where the pagan creation
myth was heard regularly by the people, a liturgical reading of
the gracious account of the Lord in Genesis takes on a clear
polemical character.
Recognition of the liturgical setting of Genesis is, of
course, key to our discussion of the first three chapters. The
Israelites did not have scrolls of Genesis that they would read
whenever they liked. The Book of the Law was kept in the
tabernacle and read aloud to the Israelites in a liturgical
setting. This liturgical context had a profound influence on
how the Israelites understood what they heard proclaimed to
them. This leads us to the contemplation of an important
question. What were the Israelites seeing, hearing, smelling,
and experiencing when they heard the word, ( ' ?
THE TABERNACLE
The construction of the tabernacle is detailed in Exodus 25
through 32. The tabernacle traveled with Israel during its
wilderness wanderings and remained in use until Solomon built
the temple approximately four hundred years later. Not only did
Moses give plans for the construction of the temple, but his '
detailed how the worship in the tabernacle would take
place.
26. Weinfeld, 510.
13
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
16/63
We will now review in some detail what the experience of an
Israelite in tabernacle worship would have been. We will
particularly note the liturgical context of the reading of the
, .including the book of Genesis ,'
Basic Themes in Exodus
Leviticus 23:34-43 gives us the basic structure for the
Feast of Tabernacles. Here the Lord instructs that beginning on
15 Tishri (just a few days after the Day of Atonement), the
Israelites will live in booths for seven days. On these daysthe people will offer food offerings 27 to the Lord. The reason
for these offerings is that the Israelites might remember God's
gracious provision during the wilderness wanderings. You shall
dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall
dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the
people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the
land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. 28
This feast becomes the context in which the Law of Moses
(=Pentateuch) will be read once every seven years. 29 On how much
of the Law was actually read, there is some controversy. Keil
27. Holocaust offerings in the LXX.
28. Leviticus 23:42-43.
29. Deuteronomy 31:9-13.
14
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
17/63
and Delitzsch assert:
We learn from Neh. 8:18, that in Ezras time they readin the book of the law every day from the first to thelast day of the feast, from which we may see on the
one hand, that the whole of theThorah
(orPentateuch), from beginning to end, was not read; andon the other hand, by comparing the expression in v.18, the book of the law of God, with the law, inv. 14, that the reading was not restricted toDeuteronomy: for, according to v. 14, they had alreadybeen reading in Leviticus (Lev. 23) before the feastwas held, an evident proof that Ezra the scribe didnot regard the book of Deuteronomy like the critics ofour day, as the true national law-book, anacquaintance with which was all that the peoplerequired. 30
However, their assertion is weak at best. Nehemiah 8:18 does
say that they read in the book of the law on every day of the
feast. The claim that this means that they did not read
everything in the Pentateuch simply does not arise from the
actual words of Nehemiah. It could just as simply mean that
they read portions of the text during each day of the feast,
spreading the five books over the days of the feast. If one
reads Nehemiah in the context of Deuteronomy, which commands
that the Book of the Law be read so that the people may do all
the words of this law ( ' ( it becomes clear that (
reading the whole Pentateuch is implied. 31
30. Keil and Delitzsch, 1:979-980.
31. Deuteronomy 31:12.
15
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
18/63
Thus, it is reasonable to suspect that they would have begun
their reading with the the beginning ( ( ' ) and continued until
all the had been read. As the Israelites heard the account
of God's creation of the universe in Genesis 1 and 2, they would
have heard the very space in which they heard it described. As
they moved on to Genesis 3, they would have heard the sacrifices
they were offering as a distant echo of that which was offered
by the Lord after their initial fall into sin and whose skins
covered them. Ezekiel will use this to point to aneschatological hope when the tabernacle will be incarnated and
Eden will be fully restored:
Neither shall they defile themselves any more withtheir idols, nor with their detestable things, norwith any of their transgressions: but I will save themout of all their dwelling places, wherein they havesinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be mypeople, and I will be their God. And David my servantshall be king over them; and they all shall have oneshepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, andobserve my statutes, and do them. And they shalldwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob myservant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and theyshall dwell therein, even they, and their children,and their childrens children for ever: and my servantDavid shall be their prince for ever. Moreover I willmake a covenant of peace with them; it shall be aneverlasting covenant with them: and I will place them,and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in themidst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shallbe with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shallbe my people. And the heathen shall know that I theLORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in
16
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
19/63
the midst of them for evermore. 32
Ezekiel clearly points forward to the Incarnation, when the
tabernacle will be Christ's body and He will dwell with them
forever. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we
have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father,
full of grace and truth. 33
The emphasis is continually on the material, the physical.
God speaks in Genesis and it is created. God speaks in Exodus
and it is built. Further, the liturgical context of Genesis'
reading is seen, heard, and experienced in a very physical way
by the Israelites. They are not called upon to contemplate the
in heaven. Moses does not give the Lord's people to know
Him apart from the physical.
In fact, it will be shown that the of Exodus 25:40
bears a strong relationship to the account of the world's
creation in Genesis 1 to 2. What is less clear is whether the
Lord is telling the story of creation in such a way that he can
reinforce the Israelites' experience in the tabernacle or
whether the of the tabernacle is modeled after Genesis.
Moses suggests an answer in the fact that the receives
32. Ezekiel 37:23-28. See also Zechariah 2:10.
33. John 1:14.
17
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
20/63
only occasional mention in his account of the giving of the
plans for the tabernacle and its later construction. The
corresponds to the word of the Lord in Genesis. He speaks His
word and the tabernacle, the universe, is fashioned according to
it. In Exodus, the Lord speaks His word to Moses, and acting in
accord with Moses' words, the people construct it.
It is commonly suggested that the is a common theme in
near eastern literature of the ancient world and that it should
come as no surprise to us to find this sort of language used inExodus for the construction of the tabernacle. Sarna indicates
that the primary force of this is to show that God approved of
the structure.
A prominent characteristic of the narrative in bothits parts is the repeated reference to divinely giveninstructions and celestial patterns for theterrestrial edifice and for its contents. Such aconception of a sanctuary is not unknown elsewhere inthe ancient world. It is attested as early as about2200 B.C.E. in the narration of a building project bythe Sumerian King Gudea of Lagash. It also occurs inEgyptian texts that treat of similar enterprises.This idea of divine inspiration, initiation, andspecification of a religious institution generallycommunicates the deity's sanction and acceptance ofthe sacred structure, which is thereby endowed withlegitimacy. 34
Such a perfunctory explanation, however, fails to account
34. Nahum Sarna. The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus .(Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1991), 156.
18
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
21/63
for the creation imagery that is tied to the construction of the
tabernacle. Further, the Lord Himself gives direct sanction to
the work by declaring creation good 35 and by filling the
tabernacle. 36 Sarna's explanation is sociologically interesting,
but fails to account for all the data.
More satisfying is the approach of Hummel in which he
introduces the idea of vertical typology to account for Moses'
use of .
Theologically very important for all the followingmaterial is the word pattern ( tabnith or type) atthe beginning of the section (25:9). The referencehere is to vertical typology, not primarily to thehorizontal or eschatological typology, which the termusually implies (although the two can never bestrictly separated). The tabernacle and its ritual area reflection, a miniature, a copy of the heavenlytemple. There is Gods eternal throne (ultimately theentire universe), but God must become incarnate in aspecial dwelling place among mankind because of itsalienation in sin. The same language and conceptualityis applied to the tabernacles successor, the temple(and by extension to the entire holy city, Zion) aswell as to Christ, both His incarnation, and thefulfillment in Him of Gods eternal purpose for thetemple of the entire cosmos (Hebrews, Revelation,etc.). 37
The incarnation that Hummel speaks of is very real. Moses
and the Israelites know the Lord by His dwelling above the
35. Genesis 1:31.
36. Exodus 40:34.
37. Hummel (1979), 76.
19
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
22/63
cherubim, by the cloud and the fire, by his mighty hand and
outstretched arm as he executes judgment on the Israelites. Not
seeing the end of their faith, Moses and the Israelites were
given by faith to see the heavenly in the earthly and physical.
And all these, though commended through their faith, did not
receive what was promised, since God had provided something
better for us, that apart from us they should not be made
perfect. 38
The Court of Israel in Genesis
That all of creation is the Lord's tabernacle, or dwelling
place, is indicated in both thematic and in more explicit ways.
One argument can be drawn from the very structure of the account
in Genesis 1 as it compares to Exodus 25 through 40. 39
Klitsenko notes that the seven instances of in Genesis
1 40 are paralleled by seven instances of a similar phrase, '
' ( when God gives instructions to Moses on the ,
construction of the tabernacle. 41 This is further highlighted by
38. Hebrews 11:39-40.
39. Yurie Klitsenko. Creation of the World; Making of theTabernacle and the Rite of Church Consecration, Orthodox Research Institute , February 22, 2003. [cited 16 Oct 2004].Online: http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/liturgics/klitsenko_creation_world.htm
40. Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 14, 20, 24, 26.
41. Exodus 25:1; 30:11, 17, 22, 34; 31:1, 12.
20
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
23/63
seven instances of ( 4 when the tabernacle is
constructed in chapter 40. 42
There is nothing in the actual narrative of the Exodus
accounts that would demand that these phrases be repeated. If
the Lord has been speaking to Moses for several chapters
already, it is reasonable to assume that in the next sentence it
is the Lord speaking. The dwelling of God in His creation,
however, is an important theme in the books of Moses. The Lord
creates man and woman, places them at the center of His
creation, and makes them his own 43 within creation. This
parallels closely the account of the construction of the
tabernacle in Exodus 40. After the tabernacle's completion, the
fills it and the Lord dwells with His people. 44 Moses
is intentional in giving clues that the attentive hearer would
recognize.
One may also see other thematic and structural relationships
between Genesis 1-2 and Exodus 39-40. In Exodus 39:4, Moses
saw that they had performed all the tasks as the Lord had
commanded. In Genesis 1:31, the Lord sees all that He had
42. Exodus 40:19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 32.
43. Genesis 1:26, LXX.
44. Exodus 40:34.
21
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
24/63
made. In Exodus 39:32, all the work is completed; in Genesis
2:1, all the work of creation is completed. In Exodus 40:33,
Moses finishes his work; in Genesis 2:2, God finishes his work.
Moses blesses in Exodus 39:43; God blesses in Genesis 2:3. The
tabernacle and all the furnishings are sanctified in Exodus
40:9; God sanctifies creation in Genesis 2:3. 45
But it is not merely by structural allusion that the
Scriptures confess all of creation as the Lord's dwelling place.
That creation is the tabernacle of the Lord is also indicated
more explicitly in the Old Testament. Stephen refers to this
Old Testament teaching in the sermon he gave on the day of his
martyrdom. Quoting Isaiah 66, he proclaims, Heaven is my
throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will
you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my
rest? Did not my hand make all these things? 46
Stephen refuses to locate the Lord in one place, to
circumscribe him in heaven or on earth. For Stephen, the
filling that is spoken of in Exodus 40 is of all creation, not
just the visible dwelling of the in the tabernacle and
later, the temple.
45. See also Sarna (1991), 156.
46. Acts 7:49-50.
22
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
25/63
Perhaps the most explicit confession of the universe as the
Lord's dwelling place may be found in Psalm 104. The Psalm
begins:
Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are verygreat! You are clothed with splendor and majesty,covering yourself with light as with a garment,stretching out the heavens like a tent ( He lays .( the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes theclouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind;he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flamingfire. He set the earth on its foundations, so that itshould never be moved. 47
Though the imagery of the psalm is clear without it, some of the
specific language used in the text makes the connection between
creation and tabernacle especially strong. The Lord stretches
out the heavens like a This very word is used 38 times .
in the Pentateuch in reference to the curtains that form the
outer and inner walls of the tabernacle. 48
The imagery enhances what we learn from the lexical clue of
The light of creation, which fills the universe, is the .
Lord's garment. His influence throughout the earth is indicated
by the fact that the waters (sky) become His roof 49 , the winds
47. Psalm 104:1-5.
48. Francis Brown et al. Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Strong's, TWOT, and GK referencesCopyright 2000 by Logos Research Systems, Inc.; electroniced.; Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 2000), xiii.
49. A reference to the dividing of the firmaments in Genesis1:6-7.
23
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
26/63
his messengers, and flames his servants. All His creatures
praise Him.
In fact, this is the image of the rest of the psalm. Going
day by day through the six days of creation, the psalmist
describes how all of God's works praise Him. The first half of
verse two hearkens to the light of the first day of creation.
The second half of verse two through verse four bring to mind
the separation of the waters above and the waters below on the
second day. Beginning with verse five we see the appearance of
dry land and a little later, vegetation.
Here the distinction of days is not as distinct, because the
psalmist extols the Lord for what He creates the grass and trees
for. The grass (third day) feeds the cattle (sixth day) and the
trees (third day) provide shelter for the birds (fifth day). It
almost appears that as the psalmist continues his doxology, the
careful structure that he appears to have in the beginning of
the hymn gives way to a gushing river of one cause for praise
upon another as the song rages on.
Modern liturgical use of Psalm 104 often excludes verse 35.
To some, it breaks the flow of the doxology. The curse simply
seems out of place. Consider, however, the idyllic tone of the
Psalm. Leviathan frolics in the sea. The birds sing. Wine
24
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
27/63
gladdens the heart of man. Though some post-fall ideas are
introduced--lions roaring for their prey--even these are
presented in a positive praiseworthy way.
The psalmist desires nothing more than a restoration of the
perfect praise that flowed spontaneously from all of creation
before the fall. Thus verse 35 is properly read
eschatologically. Finally, the wicked will be consumed from the
earth, and Eden will be restored. Until then, our communion
with the Lord is imperfect, even when we are in His tabernacle.
It breaks the posture of man that is most prevalent in the Old
Testament, that of joy. 50
Psalm 104 is not the only place that the psalms confess the
continual doxology of creation.
Psalms 148 and 149 suggest a kind of liturgy for suchthanksgiving, where the sun, the moon, the stars, thefish, and the dragons are commanded to praise theLord. Yet every one of us could have composed a betterand more perfect psalm than any of these if we hadbeen begotten by Adam in innocence. 51
The enthronement psalms, particularly 97 through 99, call upon
all of creation to praise the Lord. The earth shakes. The sea
roars. The rivers clap their hands. Even so, Psalm 99:1 notes
that the Lord is enthroned between the cherubim, a fact that
50. Eichrodt (1951), 33-34.
51. Luther. Genesis Lectures (1535), LW 1:105.
25
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
28/63
will be noted again later.
Another important text that reveals what was in the mind of
the Israelites regarding creation as tabernacle is the Song of
the Three Children. Just before the beginning of the liturgical
canticle 52 , the song gives us these gems, confessing both the
temple and all of creation as the Lord's dwelling place:
Blessed art thou that beholdest the depths, andsittest upon the cherubims: and to be praised andexalted above all for ever. Blessed art thou on theglorious throne of thy kingdom: and to be praised and
glorified above all for ever.
Blessed art thou in thefirmament of heaven: and above all to be praised andglorified for ever. 53
Though the preface to the canticle certainly sets a scene
reminiscent of Isaiah 66, Psalm 104, and above all Genesis 1, it
is in the section that the church uses liturgically that the
Song of the Three Children shines as a confession of the true
of creation. The canticle names all of creation, bit by
bit, and after naming it gives the command,
. 54
Within the Song of the Three Children we have no hint of the
fall. It is as if Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego do not even
52. Benedicte Omnia Opera.
53. The Apocrypha : King James Version. (Bellingham WA: LogosResearch Systems, Inc., 1995), Song Thr 13:32-34.
54. Praise and exalt Him into the age.
26
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
29/63
know that the fall has taken place. They have been delivered
from death by the Lord and know full well that the world now is
not as it should be. They sing because of what the world was
and will be.
A few centuries later, in first century Palestinian Judaism,
Flavius Josephus explicitly confesses a strong connection
between the tabernacle and creation, albeit one highly grounded
in the Hellenistic context in which he lived.
When Moses distinguished the tabernacle into threeparts, and allowed two of them to the priests, as aplace accessible and common, he denoted the land andthe sea, these being of general access to all; but heset apart the third division for God, because heavenis inaccessible to men. And when he ordered twelveloaves to be set on the table, he denoted the year, asdistinguished into so many months. By branching outthe candlestick into seventy parts, he secretlyintimated the Decani, or seventy divisions of theplanets; and as to the seven lamps upon thecandlesticks, they referred to the course of theplanets, of which that is the number. The vails, too,which were composed of four things, they declared thefour elements; for the fine linen was proper tosignify the earth, because the flax grows out of theearth; the purple signified the sea, because thatcolor is dyed by the blood of a sea shell fish; theblue is fit to signify the air; and the scarlet willnaturally be an indication of fire. 55
Before the fall there is perfect communion of God and man.
Thus, one might say that before the fall, there is no court of
55. Flavius Josephus and William Whiston. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged , Includes Index.(Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996, c1987), Ant 3.181.
27
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
30/63
the Gentiles. God has not chosen for Himself a special people
out of all nations because there are none who are outside His
faithful. All are of Israel. There is, as of yet, no need for
the nations to be drawn to Zion.
Genesis 3 gives a shadow of this perfect communion even when
the Lord discovers the sin of Adam and Eve. He is walking in
the garden in the cool of the day. 56 Why should He not? The
garden and all of creation is the Lord's tabernacle. Here,
however, the Lord's tabernacling with His people becomes a cause
of fear and shame for Adam and Eve.
They have separated themselves from Him and placed
themselves under a curse. This separation is confessed by the
distinct sections of the Lord's tabernacle. These separate
precincts would definitely have been in the mind of the
Israelites as they heard Genesis 3.
In their flesh Adam and Eve know the consequences of their
sin before the Lord even tells them. Their shame needs a
covering, and the Lord has made the penalty for their sin
perfectly clear. In the day that you eat of it, you will
surely die. 57 But the Lord does not kill Adam and Eve in the
day that they eat of the tree. Adam, at least, lives to the age
56. Genesis 3:8.
57. Genesis 2:17.
28
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
31/63
of 930. 58 Rather than executing the punishment that the Lord has
mandated, He acts in mercy and kills animals in their place. 59
Even in Eden, without the shedding of blood there is no
forgiveness. 60
The sacrificial system is given by the Lord in order to
provide for an orderly means by which He may again dwell with
His people in such a way that they will be able to endure His
presence. This requires continual, substitutionary blood
sacrifice. And because the Lord does not want to be separated
from His people, He Himself provides that which is necessary for
the wall to be broken down.
One episode that illustrates this well is the sacrifice that
Moses performs after receiving the Book of the Law and before
ascending Sinai to receive the plans for the tabernacle. 61 In
this scene, Moses builds an altar of twelve pillars, one for
each of the tribes of Israel. After building these, sacrifices
of oxen (peace offerings and holocaust offerings) are performed.
Moses throws half the blood against the altar and sprinkles half
of it on the people while saying, Behold the blood of the
58. Genesis 5:5.
59. Genesis 3:21.
60. Hebrews 9:22.
61. Exodus 24:4-11.
29
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
32/63
covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all
these words. 62
The consequence of the blood being on the elders is made
absolutely explicit in verse 11. And he [the Lord] did not lay
his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld
God, and ate and drank. It is only the elders of Israel, who
have blood on them, that are given to ascend the mountain and
behold God. It is a rather rare theophany. It is said that the
elders saw the God of Israel. ( ' ' ' ( 6 ( 63 What precisely
is meant by is not completely clear. The word can have the
sense of seeing with a sense other than sight. 64 The
Septuagint's use of (root: ) is similarly ambiguous.
Nevertheless, verse 11 strongly favors a physical seeing, which
is why Moses notes that God did not lay his hand on the elders.
Even here, though, we must understand that God is showing
Himself through a mask. Very likely this mask is the Son
62. Exodus 24:8.
63. Exodus 24:10.
64. Wilhelm Gesenius and Samuel Prideaux Tregelles. Gesenius'Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures(Translation of the author's Lexicon manuale Hebraicum etChaldaicum in Veteris Testamenti libros, a Latin version ofthe work first published in 1810-1812 under title:
Includes index.; Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems,Inc, 2003), 748.
30
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
33/63
Himself. Consider John 1:18. No one ( ) has ever seen
( ) God at any time ( ). The only begotten God
( ) who is in the bosom of the Father--that one has
exegeted [Him].
When Luther cites this text in his Genesis lectures, he
explicitly ties the problem of seeing God with the consequences
of the fall. As he does this, Luther recognizes a need in man
to have a visible image of God. For Luther, this image is
Christ.Thus God reveals His will to us through Christ and theGospel. But we loathe it and, in accordance withAdams example, take delight in the forbidden treeabove all the others. This fault has been implanted inus by nature. When Paradise and heaven have beenclosed and the angel has been placed on guard there(cf. Gen. 3:24), we try in vain to enter. For Christhas truthfully said: No one has ever seen God (John1:18). Nevertheless, God, in His boundless goodness,has revealed Himself to us in order to satisfy ourdesire. He has shown us a visible image. Behold, youhave My Son; he who hears Him and is baptized iswritten in the book of life. This I reveal through MySon, whom you can touch with your hands and look atwith your eyes. 65
John 1 argues that the Son who is makes the
Father known. There is no reason to argue that this is not the
case in the Old Testament. Much of the work recently done on
the phrase, suggests the very possibility. Luther in ,
65. Luther. Genesis Lectures (1540), LW 5:49-50.
31
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
34/63
The Three Symbols or Creeds of the Christian Faith (1538)
applied his wrapper language (later used in the Genesis
lectures) explicitly to John 1:18.
For God dwells in a light to which no one can come;but he must come to us, though hidden in a lantern. Asit is written in John 1, No one has ever seen God;the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, hehas made him known. And before that Moses says, Forman shall not see me and live. 66
The implication of this for our discussion of the
sacrificial system is clear. God desires to come to us and He
does. He does so in a hidden way, wearing a mask. In this way
we can grasp Him. In the Old Testament he masks Himself in
fire, in cloud, in a still small voice, in a bush that does not
burn up, and in the Luther suggests that in all of .
these things we have Christ, the one who in John 1:18 is the
exegete of the Father.
In the fall the image of God is lost, the glory of the Lord
departing from the persons who bore his very image. In order
for Him to return, there must be blood. The blood of the
sacrifice allows God to be present with His people once more,
and Christ, the true image of God 67 , dwells between the cherubim
66. Luther. The Three Symbols or Creeds of the ChristianFaith (1538), LW 34:216.
67. Colossians 1:15.
32
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
35/63
on the ark of the covenant. 68
The Holy Place in Genesis
We have shown a strong relationship between Moses'
description of God's creation of the universe in Genesis 1 and
the construction of the tabernacle in Exodus 25 through 40.
Though we cannot speculate on whether all of the structural and
thematic similarities between the accounts would have been
noticed by the Israelites, this does not change the fact that
they are woven into the text.
Whereas Genesis 1 paints the picture in broad strokes, we
come to something a bit different in Genesis 2. Here Moses
gives the lay of the land. Not only do we learn where the
rivers were and what they were named, but we learn what sort of
precious minerals could be found and what sort of vegetation
grew.
The Lord's cosmic tabernacle takes on a specific form with a
specific man with specific work to do. The text moves from the
broad to the specific, but in both the broad and the specific,
the content of the discourse is concrete. The text that they
heard was the text that they saw all around them.
The instructions for the construction of the tabernacle
structure begin with the command to embroider the curtains with
68. Exodus 25:22.
33
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
36/63
depictions of cherubim . Within the books of Moses, the cherubim
have extreme significance both in the cult of the Israelites and
in creation itself. The only mention of them in Genesis is
after the exile from the garden, when the Lord places two
cherubim with swords of flame to keep Adam and Eve from entering
and eating from the tree of life. 69
Cherubim do not appear again in the books of Moses until he
gives the instructions for the making of the ark of the
covenant. Here they are mentioned seven times. 70 It is at the
beginning of the very next chapter 71 , that the cherubim make an
appearance that mirrors their place in Genesis 3.
That the cherubim are woven into the very fabric of the
Tabernacle identifies the tabernacle as Eden recreated, the way
to life, guarded by angels. To be in the tabernacle is to have
access to the tree of life which has, since the beginning, been
inaccessible to the Israelites.
Luther sees the connection between Eden and the tabernacle
in his Genesis Lectures.
Moses implies that Paradise had a road or gate towardthe east through which there was an access to thisgarden. Likewise, in connection with the temple
69. Genesis 3:24.
70. Exodus 25:18-22.
71. Exodus 26:1.
34
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
37/63
structure in Ezekiel mention is made of the gate ofthe sanctuary which faced toward the east, obviouslyto have us realize that the temple was a figure ofParadise; for if nature had remained perfect, Paradisewould have been the temple of the entire world. 72
The cultic use of the cherubim is consistent also throughout
the rest of the Scriptures. They are mentioned primarily in
relation to a creedal confession of who the Lord is as the one
who sits enthroned above the cherubim . Never are the cherubim
mentioned apart from a context that is concretely grounded in
either the tabernacle or the temple.
In Genesis, the cherubim are associated with a hard word of
law. Adam and Eve, expelled from the garden, know the
permanence of their exile by the fact that two members of the
Lord's army have been permanently stationed at the entrance of
Eden. They cannot pass. They cannot eat the food of
immortality. They will die.
The tabernacle is the reversal of this word of Law. The
cherubim welcome the people to receive the mercy that comes from
the Lord who once more dwells among His people. He again walks
in the garden in the cool of the day. The glory that dwells
between the cherubim is an undeniable confession of this fact.
The command given the people to listen to the reading of the
Law every seven years would have brought some into the
72. Luther. Genesis Lectures (1536), LW 1:230.
35
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
38/63
tabernacle, and all near it. Here they would have seen the
cherubim guarding the way to life and would have heard, and
perhaps seen, the high priest.
When Moses commands the Levites to read the Law before the
people on every seventh Feast of Tabernacles, he commands them
in the masculine singular ( 8 .( 73 It is likely, therefore, that
the was read by the High Priest himself. When the people
listened to the High Priest's voice, they would have had an
interesting experience when he intoned the words of Genesis2:11-12:
The name of the first [river] is the Pishon. It is theone that flowed around the whole land of Havilah,where there is gold. And the gold ( of that land ( is good; bdellium and onyx stone ( .are there (
They heard what they saw. The priest was vested in the
beauty of the region that surrounded Eden.74
The cloth of thehigh priest's ephod was made from gold, scarlet, and purple
yarns ( < 75). Rings that bound pieces of the ephod together were
made of pure gold. On the front of the ephod were two onyx
stones ) ' 76 ). These stones had engraved on them the names of
73. Deuteronomy 31:11.
74. Exodus 28:2-9.
75. Exodus 28:6.
76. Exodus 28:9.
36
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
39/63
the twelve tribes of Israel.
Even if it were not established that there are structural
and thematic similarities between Moses' accounts of creation
and the construction of the tabernacle, we would still have to
acknowledge that as the people heard about < , they saw
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
40/63
with which God is pleased. 77
In Josephus' remarks, the impression is given that when the
high priest enters the tabernacle, the whole world is present.
It is interesting that Josephus in certain places actually has
the high priestly vestments confessing something other than what
the Lord gave them for. 78 Nevertheless, the link between
creation and the vestments in Josephus does actually reflect the
allusions that we see Moses making in his accounts of the
creation of the world and the construction of the vestments.
Josephus may be hellenizing an older tradition that existed
in apocryphal literature that he was familiar with. The link
between the vestments and creation is also attested earlier (190
B.C.) by Sirach:
He was as the morning star in the midst of a cloud,and as the moon at the full / As the sun shining uponthe temple of the most High, and as the rainbow givinglight in the bright clouds / And as the flower ofroses in the spring of the year, as lilies by therivers of waters, and as the branches of thefrankincense tree in the time of summer / As fire andincense in the censer, and as a vessel of beaten goldset with all manner of precious stones / And as a fairolive tree budding forth fruit, and as a cypress treewhich groweth up to the clouds. / When he put on therobe of honour, and was clothed with the perfection ofglory, when he went up to the holy altar, he made the
77. Josephus and Whiston, Ant 3.184-187.
78. In Exodus 28:21, Moses notes that the twelve stonesrepresent the tribes of Israel.
38
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
41/63
garment of holiness honourable. 79
The correlations between creation and what the people would
have experienced in the tabernacle do not end with the priest's
ephod. Indeed, they would not have seen the ephod at all were
it not for the light of the lampstand, or menorah .
The function of the lampstand was to illumine the Holy
Place. However, if that were the only purpose for the menorah ,
then any sort of torch would have served well. One would not
have needed the elaborate sort of lampstand that is described by
Moses. 80 Exodus describes a lampstand that is very botanical in
its look and arrangement.
The shape of the lampstand--the trunk with itsbranches extending on either side--unmistakably evokesthe image of a tree. Quite possibly, it representsthe tree of life. The inflorescence of the almondtree most certainly bears symbolic value, for thattree is the earliest spring-flowering plant in theLand of Israel, often even before the end of February.The stem sh-k-d means to be watchful, wakeful,vigilant; thus, the almond flower is a symbol of liferenewed and sustained. The number seven, the totalityof the lamps, is the outstanding symbolic number inthe Bible, an expression of completeness andperfection. Finally, the lights constitute the mostpowerful symbol of all, for light intimates both lifeitself and the presence of the Giver of all life. 81
For Luther, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge
79. Sirach 50:6-11, KJV.
80. Exodus 25:31-40.
81. Sarna (1991), 165.
39
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
42/63
of good and evil together formed the sanctuary at which the
church first conducted its worship. Bringing in themes from the
psalms, Luther moves on from a discussion of the very first
sermon 82 to discuss the nature of the Divine Service in the
garden.
So, then, this tree of the knowledge of good and evil,or the place where trees of this kind were planted inlarge number, would have been the church at whichAdam, together with his descendants, would havegathered on the Sabbath day. And after refreshingthemselves from the tree of life he would have praisedGod and lauded Him for the dominion over all thecreatures on the earth which had been given tomankind. . . Adam would have extolled the greatestgift, namely, that he, together with his descendants,was created according to the likeness of God. He wouldhave admonished his descendants to live a holy andsinless life, to work faithfully in the garden, towatch it carefully, and to beware with the greatestcare of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.This outward place, ceremonial, word, and worship manwould have had. 83
The final connection between the tabernacle's holy place and
creation can be seen in the liturgy that would take place there.
Atonement is the center of the Old Testament sacrificial system.
Absolutely key in recognizing this purpose is the prohibition
against eating blood.
If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers
who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set myface against that person who eats blood and will cut
82. Genesis 2:16-17.
83. Luther. Genesis Lectures (1535), LW 1:105-106.
40
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
43/63
him off from among his people. For the life of theflesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you onthe altar to make atonement for your souls, for it isthe blood that makes atonement by the life. 84
God does not prohibit the eating of blood by way of somearbitrary regulation that has no basis in the theology of the
Old Testament. Rather, the prohibition is designed to bring
into focus and highlight the reality of the atonement.
The Lord wishes to spare His people of the punishment they
have merited. For this reason, He gives it on the altar to make
atonement for their souls.
Those translations of the Old Testament that constantly
render as offering and the hiphil of as offer 85 may go
further than the Lord intends in His usage of the words. The
person who brings the offering is doing just that, bringing it.
The simple Qal meaning of is to draw near.To cause to draw near is most simply expressed to bring
near. The person who brings the sacrifice is an instrument.
They provide the necessary animal. The sacrifice is given,
however, by God. 86 The way of atonement is in this way the same
in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
84. Leviticus 17:10-11.
85. See Brown, Driver, Briggs.
86. Leviticus 17:11.
41
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
44/63
In the Old Testament, the sinner brings forth an animal
which God gives to Himself on the altar and expiates His own
wrath.
Key to understanding this expiation is to also keep in focus
the true role of propitiation in the Old Testament.
Propitiation must be included in the concept andtranslation of k-ph-r as well as expiation . . .Outside of the Bible, of course, propitiation oftenapplies to mans attempt to appease an angry god byhis sacrifices. The solution is not to eliminate theBiblical themes of the wrath of God and of divineretribution from our theology, which is evidentlyoften the liberal hidden agenda in this connection.Rather we must give full weight to the Biblicalemphasis that the true God Himself graciously providesthe means by which His righteous wrath may be allayed.In a way, this was the point of the entire covenant,old as well as new. Thus seen, expiation and propitiation become virtual synonyms, but both arelikely to be misunderstood without the correctiveemphasis supplied by the other. 87
The very concept of the divine wrath is often distasteful in
modern approaches to theology. They use the idea of propitiation
to lay at the feet of God a retributive nature. This nature
looks on the surface like a father who joys in abusing his
children and needs to be offered the blood of a dead animal so
that his bloodlust can be satisfied.
The Scriptures, however, present us with a loving God who,
though roused to anger by sin, in His grace and mercy provides
87. Hummel (1979), 85.
42
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
45/63
all that is necessary for both propitiation and expiation. In
the New Testament, Judas hands Christ over to Pilate. Jesus
puts it this way: It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of
Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 88 And further,
though sinners brought Jesus to the hands of Pilate, it was not
they who offered Him.
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purifiedwith blood, and without the shedding of blood there isno forgiveness of sins. Thus it was necessary for thecopies of the heavenly things to be purified withthese rites, but the heavenly things themselves withbetter sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered,not into holy places made with hands, which are copiesof the true things, but into heaven itself, now toappear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor wasit to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priestenters the holy places every year with blood not hisown, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedlysince the foundation of the world. But as it is, hehas appeared once for all at the end of the ages toput away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 89
The importance of understanding that the sacrifice of the
Old Testament is offered to God by God is emphasized well by
Hummel when he describes the connection between the sacrificial
system and the cross. The typological connection would be
impossible if Old Testament worship were informed by any
fundamentally different type of theology, that is, works rather
88. Mark 14:41.
89. Hebrews 9:22-26.
43
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
46/63
than grace. 90
Contrast this with Eichrodt's view of the selfsame matter:
Forgiveness cannot be thought of as God's personal
dealing with men for the restoration of fellowshipunless Man is personally committed to this action onthe part of his God. What might be possible in thecase of magical purification or legalisticallyconceived remission of punishment is unthinkable whenit is a matter of the return of the God who has beeninjured by Man. Here Man must be involved in his mostinward self, if there is to be a real renewal offellowship. 91
To stop with Hummel's observation regarding the theology of
the Old Testament, however, is to stop a bit too soon. Jesus
fulfills the entire Old Testament sacrificial system on the
cross, but He delivers the benefits of his suffering, death, and
resurrection in the Lord's Supper.
Moses' description of blood sacrifice in Leviticus certainly
brings to mind in the Christian the very words that our Lord
used as He instituted the supper by which He delivers to us the
gifts He won on the cross.
A brief exploration of the relationship between these two
texts will illumine just what the Old Testament sacrificial
system was given to accomplish.
90. Hummel (1979), 80.
91. Walter Eichrodt. The Theology of the Old Testament , trans.J.A. Baker, (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1967).1:465.
44
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
47/63
The life of the flesh isin the blood, and I havegiven it for you on thealtar to make atonementfor your souls. 92
This is my blood of thecovenant, which is pouredout for many for theforgiveness of sins. 93
In both Leviticus and Matthew, the passage begins with a
confession regarding the blood of the sacrifice. Moses
highlights the importance of the blood. It is where the life is
located. The Lord tells us that the blood of the new covenant,
as opposed to the old one, is His own. What is implicit in the
Matthew text, just as it is explicit in the Leviticus one, isthe language of sacrifice.
It is not difficult to see how the language of sacrifice
became so prominent in the medieval Roman church. For this
reason, it is important that we note the language of Hebrews
when we look at these texts. Jesus offered Himself as a
sacrifice once for all. 94 There is no need for a repeated
unbloody sacrifice of the mass. The Lord delivers through the
Lord's Supper the same thing that was accomplished by the Lord
giving the blood on the altar to Himself, atonement for our
souls, the forgiveness of our sins.
92. Leviticus 17:11.
93. Matthew 26:28.
94. Hebrews 9:26.
45
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
48/63
The Holy of Holies in Genesis
If the world is the tabernacle, and Eden is the Holy Place,
then Adam and Eve themselves are the Holy of Holies. Though
Genesis does not make this theme as explicit as some of the ones
that we have previously explored, it is certainly there.
The Lord's word in the creation of Adam and Eve 95 gives to
them dominion over all of creation. As we have noted, the Lord
has placed in them His . From Paul's letter to the
Colossians we know this to be Christ.
This dominion is described by Moses in two ways. First, man
is to be fruitful and multiply, fill ( the earth and subdue (
it. 96 This command is inextricably bound up in the imago Dei .
It is the Lord who fills creation, and more explicitly, the
tabernacle ( ' ( 97 ).
It is only by the Lord's gracious giving of His image to
Adam and Eve in their creation that they can image Him in any
way including procreation.
The second way in which Moses describes the rule of Adam and
Eve is that they are to have dominion over every living thing in
95. Genesis 1:26-28.
96. Genesis 1:28.
97. Exodus 40:34.
46
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
49/63
creation. This dominion is expressed by Adam in a particular
way as he names the creatures in the Garden. 98
At first glance, the naming of the animals in Genesis 2 does
not seem that significant. The theology of name, however, is an
important theme in the Scriptures. This theme has been
recognized for quite some time.
In Luther's Genesis lectures, he notes that Adam's perfect
righteousness and innocence allow him to see the true nature of
the animals and to have dominion over them not as some external
despot but as one who graciously commands them to do exactly
what they have been created to do.
Without any new enlightenment, solely because of theexcellence of his nature, [Adam] views all the animalsand thus arrives at such a knowledge of their naturethat he can give each one a suitable name thatharmonizes with its nature. . . Therefore by onesingle word he was able to compel lions, bears, boars,tigers, and whatever else there is among the moreoutstanding animals to carry out whatever suited theirnature. 99
Modern biblical scholarship has arrived at similar
conclusions as can be seen in Eichrodt, who identifies the view
of name discussed by Luther as the prevailing view of the
ancient world.
The naming of the animals by Adam is not only an
98. Genesis 2:19-20.
99. Luther. Genesis Lectures (1535), LW 1:119-120.
47
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
50/63
assertion of sovereignty over them, it expresses theirnatures. In the context of human names this belieffinds expression in the giving of new names to vassalsby their overlords or to disciples by their masters;the new name stamps a new pattern of life, so to
speak, on the recipient.100
Eichrodt's last observation can be seen in the Scriptures
themselves as the Lord renames Jacob, 101 and after He became
incarnate of the Virgin Mary, Peter. 102 Further, it is seen in
the placing of the name on Israel in the Aaronic benediction. 103
Such name theology inexorably binds creation to the cultic
experience of Israel in the tabernacle, and later the temple.
Gieschen notes this very clearly.
There is significant evidence that during a period ofIsrael's history an extensive Name theology developedin which God's presence with his people was describedthrough expressions involving the dwelling of his ,especially in the sanctuary. 104
In Luther, Adam's naming of the animals is speaking on them
the blessing for which God created them in the first place. A
dog praises God by being a dog, a bird by being a bird. In his
100. Eichrodt (1967), 2:40.
101. Genesis 32:28.
102. Matthew 16:18.
103. Numbers 6:22-27. Particularly verse 27. So shall they putmy Name on the people of Israel, and I will bless them.
104. Charles A. Gieschen. Angelomorphic Christology: Antecedentsand Early Evidence . (Boston: Brill, 1998), 71-72.
48
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
51/63
naming of the dog as dog and the bird as bird, Adam calls the
creatures under his dominion and care into an unending rejoicing
in their dogness and their birdness.
Adam is able to do this not because it is in his nature to
do so but because it is in God's nature to do so, and He has
created Adam in His image, to be his very icon within Eden.
Perhaps most indicative of Adam and Eve as the Holy of
Holies within Eden is their relationship as husband and wife.
Luther delights to confess this, though, he only ties it to
Paul's use of Genesis 2 105 when he discusses the expulsion of Adam
and Eve from the garden.
Adam and Eve, or marriage itself, is a type of Christand the church (Eph. 5:32). This allegory is ingeniousand full of comfort, for what more delightfulstatement can be made than that the Church is thebride and Christ the Bridegroom? It expresses thatmost happy association and bestowal of all the giftswhich the Bridegroom possesses, as well as theobliteration of the sins and all the misfortunes withwhich the poor bride is burdened. Therefore it is amost delightful saying when St. Paul states (2 Cor.11:2): I have espoused you to one husband that I maypresent you to Christ as a chaste virgin. 106
Luther's reason for a late confession of this truth may be
that he sees in Paul a confession of the atonement, an atonement
that is not in any way necessary in Genesis 2. Though
105. Ephesians 5:31-32.
106. Luther. Genesis Lectures (1536), LW 1:233.
49
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
52/63
understandable, it would seem that Paul does not find it
unnatural to speak of Genesis 2 in light of the later reality of
fallen humanity.
In the usage of the church, Genesis 2 has often been tied
not only to Ephesians 5, but also to the Gospel of John. As Eve
is created from the side of Adam, so is the Church created by
the water and nourished by the blood that flows from the side of
Christ as He dies on the cross. 107 For Leo the Great, the
incarnation itself is announced by the institution of marriage
in Genesis 2.
From the very commencement of the human race, Christis announced to all men as coming in the flesh. Inwhich, as was said, there shall be two in one flesh,there are undoubtedly two, God and man, Christ and theChurch, which issued from the Bridegrooms flesh, whenit received the mystery of redemption andregeneration, water and blood flowing from the side ofthe Crucified. 108
In the Holy of Holies, the high priest entered, representing
Israel, and brought the blood of the sacrifice which the Lord
gave on His ark for the atonement of His people. The blood came
from an animal that the Lord Himself had given to His people.
The priest receives from the Lord the forgiveness that He freely
107. John 19:24-25, 1 John 5:6-9.
108. Leo the Great. Letter LIX in Philip Schaff, The Niceneand Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol. XII , Leo theGreat, Gregory the Great. (Oak Harbor: Logos ResearchSystems, 1997), 60.
50
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
53/63
gives.
When Adam, as husband, serves Eve, his wife, he is bestowing
on her the gifts that he himself has already received from the
Lord. Though the gifts he gives in Eden are not the forgiveness
of sins, they are, in their pre-fall context, every bit as
precious.
Adam is the first preacher of God's word of Law and Gospel
that He has heard from the Lord Himself. 109 Striking in the word
that the Lord speaks to Adam is that even before the fall, the
Lord speaks in such a way that Law and Gospel are distinct.
This is true even though the chief use of the Law 110 does not
yet exist and the Gospel does not yet proclaim the atonement.
Both the accusing office of the Law and the redeeming office of
the Gospel are consequent to the fall into sin. In the pre-fall
context, Law is simply command, and Gospel is simply promise, or
gift.
GOTTESDIENST IN GENESIS
In our discussion of the relationship between creation and
the tabernacle, we have discussed all of the puzzle pieces
necessary for us to map out the nature of Gottesdienst in
Genesis.
109. Genesis 2:16-18.
110. Luther. Great Galatians (1535), LW 26:335.
51
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
54/63
Gottesdienst is Luther's preferred word for what is normally
called in English, worship. Its meaning, however, is far
richer than the English equivalent. Gottesdienst is divine
service, a back-and-forth dynamic in which the Lord gives out
His gifts and the given-to ones respond with praise and
thanksgiving. The emphasis in Luther is clearly on the Giver
known by the gift.
The Apology to the Augsburg Confession indicates the proper
focus of Gottesdienst as receiving the gifts God offers.
Aus diesem ist leicht zu merken Unterscheid zwischendem Glauben und zwischen der Frommkeit, die durchGesetz kommt. Denn der Glaub ist ein solcherGottesdienst und latria, da ich mir schenken und gebenlasse. Die Gerechtigkeit aber des Gesetzs ist einsolcher Gottesdienst, der da Gott anbeutet unserWerke. So will Gott nun durch den Glauben alsogeehret sein, das wir von ihm empsahen, was erverheisset und anbeutet. 111
The receiving of the Lord's gifts does not take place in an
otherworldly, spiritual manner, but rather concretely within the
Lord's own creation. In this way, it is no different in Eden
than it is today.
The Gottesdienst of Genesis begins with the Lord's gracious
creating of the universe and giving it all into the care and
dominion of the human beings He has placed there. At the very
111. Philipp Melanchthon, Apology IV:49 trans. Justas Jonas inDie Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischenKirche . (Gttingen: Vandenhoed & Ruprecht, 1967), 170.
52
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
55/63
center of this creation is a grove in which grows two types of
tree: the tree of Life, and the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil.
Luther highlights the fact that both trees are good
creations of God. In Luther's understanding, man was given to
care for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as a good
gift of God, just not one from which man was given to eat. 112
Most importantly, the trees mark the locatedness of the
Lord's speaking. It is here that He gave his promise and
command. It is here that He located His Word. For Luther, all
things are sanctified by the Word and prayer. In Genesis 2,
therefore, there is no more sacred place than the grove of trees
that have God's command attached to them.
We know also that Eve was aware of the importance of these
trees, and thus we have her already in the grove when the
serpent comes to her. 113 For Luther there is no doubt that the
word concerning the eating of the fruit came to Eve by way of
Adam's preaching. 114 What is not completely clear is whether Adam
preached the Lord's word incorrectly or whether Eve
misunderstood it under the influence of the serpent. What is
112. Luther. Genesis Lectures (1535), LW 1:105-106.
113. Genesis 3:1ff.
114. Luther. Genesis Lectures (1535), LW 1:144.
53
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
56/63
absolutely clear in Luther is that when Eve misquotes the words
of the Lord she has already moved from faith to unbelief. 115
With the sin of Adam, 116 the Gottesdienst of Genesis sees a
significant change. The angel who speaks the word of the Lord's
curse and promise addresses Adam first because Adam is the one
who had been entrusted with the word in the first place. 117
Thus, when the dew of creation is still wet upon the ground,
sin enters the world, and even at this moment the Lord preaches
a strong word of Gospel. I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall
bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. 118
The Lord seals His promise with a sacrifice. Blood is shed
and Adam and Eve are spared. 119 It is by no accident that Moses
notes that the Lord makes garments of skin with which to clothe
them. In order for these garments to be given, blood must be115. Ibid, 155.
116. It is worth remembering that in the New Testament(particularly Paul), it is Adam who is held accountable forthe coming of sin into the world. He was with his wifewhen she ate and did nothing to save her. Further, Christis the new Adam, not the new Eve. By being obedient untothe cross, He washes away the sin of Adam and of the wholeworld.
117. Ibid, 173.
118. Genesis 3:15.
119. Genesis 3:21.
54
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
57/63
shed. Death enters the world in an immediate way when Adam and
Eve fall from grace. But due to the Lord's rich love and care
for them, it is not their blood that He immediately demands, but
He takes the blood of another, pointing forward to the blood
that He would finally shed in their place.
The messianic hope is real and concrete for Eve from the
beginning. When Cain is born, Eve rejoices in her belief that
the promise of Genesis 3:15 has been fulfilled. She says, I
have gotten a man, YHWH. ( ( ( 120 Through her hearing
of the promise, Eve has gone from the unbelief of Genesis 3 to
faith in Genesis 4. Although this was a false hope, it
nevertheless is clear that Eve was a saintly woman and that she
believed the promise concerning the future salvation through the
blessed Seed. 121
What has been noted by Hummel about the theology of the Old
Testament is proven in the text itself. The Old Testament
presents a theology of grace. The Lord graciously provides for
the needs of His people both before sin and after.
Initially this gracious calling comes through a Word that
ratifies the gifts that He has already bestowed in creation.
120. Genesis 4:1, author's translation.
121. Luther. Genesis Lectures (1536), 242.
55
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
58/63
After the fall, this word turns into a promise that the sin they
have brought into the world will be destroyed when the Lord
Himself prepares a sacrifice that will be sufficient for the
sins of all the children of Adam and Eve.
THE FULLFILLMENT OF ALL THINGS IN CHRIST
The or tabernacle word group has a rich history of
usage in the New Testament. 122 Normative for its usage, however,
is the Johannine application of it to Christ. The Lord takes on
flesh and tabernacles among us. 123
The Gospel of John continues this theme as Jesus identifies
his body as the temple. 124 We know from the New Testament
approach to the tabernacle in the Gospel of John, Hebrews, and
elsewhere that it is only in Christ that the Old Testament
tabernacle has any meaning.
When the incarnation itself occurred in Jesus' birththe tabernacle found its fulfillment there. One of thekey passages in making the connection is John 1:14,"The Word (Christ) was made flesh and dwelt among us..." We might also translate "tabernacled among us" tomake the connection even more obvious. St. John usesthe usual Greek translation for the Hebrew for
122. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament , Vols. 5-9Edited by Gerhard Friedrich. Vol. 10 Compiled by RonaldPitkin., ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey William Bromiley andGerhard Friedrich, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids, MI:Eerdmans, 1964-c1976), 7:375-381.
123. John 1:14.
124. John 2:19, see also Matthew 26:61.
56
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
59/63
"indwell" and by a happy coincidence the words in thetwo languages even happen to sound somewhat alike. 125
It may not be out of line to suggest that Christ is the
very after which the tabernacle is modeled. Surely we maysay that it is only in Him that the tabernacle receives its
fullness. In the Old Testament, the Lord dwelt between the
cherubim. In Christ, all the fullness of the deity dwells
bodily. 126
It is Christ who will finally bring His bride into heaven,
where the fullness of our experience will be Himself, and we
will tabernacle with Him forever.
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, highmountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem comingdown out of heaven from God, having the glory of God,its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper,clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, withtwelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and onthe gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sonsof Israel were inscribed--on the east three gates, onthe north three gates, on the south three gates, andon the west three gates. And the wall of the city hadtwelve foundations, and on them were the twelve namesof the twelve apostles of the Lamb. . . And I saw notemple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God theAlmighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need ofsun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God givesit light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light willthe nations walk, and the kings of the earth will
125. Horace D. Hummel. Christ in the Old Testament, For theLife of the World , 1998, 3:2.
126. Colossians 2:9.
57
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
60/63
bring their glory into it, and its gates will never beshut by day--and there will be no night there. Theywill bring into it the glory and the honor of thenations. 127
All things in creation will receive their fullness in theLamb who was slain from before the foundation of the world. It
is He that created the universe for us, and it is in Him that
the world receives all that it has. Let us tabernacle in Him
forever. Amen.
127. Revelation 21:10-14, 22-26. Emphasis added.
58
8/14/2019 All Thy Creatures Praise Thee
61/63
WORKS CITED
Barbara Aland, Kurt Aland, Matthew Black et al. The Greek New Testament , 4th ed. (Federal Republic of Germany: UnitedBible Societies, 1993, c1979).
The Apocrypha : King James Version. (Bellingham WA: LogosResearch Systems, Inc., 1995).
Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche .(Gttingen: Vandenhoed & Ruprecht, 1967).
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia : With Westminster Hebrew Morphology. , electronic ed. (Stuttgart; Glenside PA: GermanBible Society; Westminster Seminary, 1996, c1925;morphology c1991).
Francis Brown et al., Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Strong's, TWOT, and GK referencesCopyright 2000 by Logos Research Systems, Inc.; electroniced.; Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 2000)
Walter Eichrodt. Man in the Old Testament . trans. K. and R.Gregor Smith. (Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1951).
________. The Theology of the Old Testament , trans. J.A. Baker,(Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1967).
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament , Vols. 5-9 Edited byGerhard Friedrich. Vol. 10 Compiled by Ronald Pitkin., ed.Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey William Bromiley and GerhardFriedrich, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids,
Recommended