Yahweh’s Condescension In The Psalter, A Theological Cradle Of The Incarnation -- By: C. Hassell Bullock

Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 176:703 (Jul 2019)
Article: Yahweh’s Condescension In The Psalter, A Theological Cradle Of The Incarnation
Author: C. Hassell Bullock


Yahweh’s Condescension In The Psalter, A Theological Cradle Of The Incarnation

C. Hassell Bullock

C. Hassell Bullock is the Franklin S. Dyrness Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College (IL) and a former president of the Evangelical Theological Society.

Abstract

The Psalms present a portrait of Yahweh as both exalted and lowly, condescending to save and exalt his people who are poor and needy. Further, the editors of the Psalter depict David as identifying with the poor as both their representative and their partner in suffering. These two portraits create the theological infrastructure for the doctrine of the Incarnation.

The Psalms comprise a compendium of Old Testament theology in a way that no other book of the Hebrew Bible does. They are replete with theological themes and ideas, some treated minimally, some maximally.

The Theological Nature Of The Psalms

A Two-Dimensional Portrait

There are basically two composite portraits at the heart of psalmic theology. One is of Yahweh, particularly his love and faithfulness (חֶסֶד and אֱמֶת) as well as his grief and anger, always hovering over and, in varying degrees and ways, connected to the world he made. Thus, it is understandable that Herman Selderhuis, in his book Calvin’s Theology of the Psalms,1 points out that Calvin’s theological center of the Psalms is God.

That brings us to the other portrait, which, as one would

guess, is of humanity, sketched in stark reality, depicting humanity’s sinful proclivity, the distresses that edit out their joys, and their emotional and physical struggles, tempered by the hopes that sustain them. Calvin called the Psalms “an anatomy of all parts of the soul,” and the metaphor of a “mirror,”2 in which we look to see our real selves, is common in the literature on the Psalms.

These two portraits stand alongside each other in the Psalter, supported by numerous subthemes. Calvin puts it in the context of our broader knowledge: “Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: Knowledge of God and of ourselves.”3

It is not as though Yahweh is only exalted and humanity is only humbled. In fact, Yahweh is both exalted and humbled, and humanity is both humbled and exalted by Yahweh’s condescension to their humiliated conditio...

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