Journal: Southeastern Theological Review
Volume: STR 10:2 (Fall 2019)
Article: The Works Of God’s Salvation: The Rhetorical Use Of Creation Imagery In Psalm 74
Author: Graham J. L. Michael

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The Works Of God’s Salvation: The Rhetorical Use Of Creation Imagery In Psalm 741

Graham J. L. Michael

St. David’s School, Raleigh, NC

This article explores the rhetorical function of creation imagery and how it is utilized particularly in the communal lament of Ps 74. Although “creation” is often defined exclusively in terms of origination, it is a much more expansive and complex theological category that includes God’s ongoing interaction with his creation. The biblical authors thus draw images and language from creation for a variety of rhetorical purposes and theological emphases. In Ps 74, the psalmist utilizes creation imagery—which is evocative of both the ANE Chaoskampf and the biblical Exodus—to address his current situation in which the temple is destroyed, and God is apparently silent. Thus, instead of a systematic theological exposition of creation, the imagery of creation in Ps 74 is utilized rhetorically to articulate a yearning for the works of God’s salvation in the present as of old.

Key Words: Chaoskampf, cosmogony, creation imagery, lament, Leviathan, Psalm 74, temple

Psalm 74 is a communal lament over the destruction of the temple and was presumably written in light of the Babylonian defeat of Jerusalem in 587 BC.2 The psalm’s vivid depiction of the devastation caused by the scoffing enemies (vv. 3–9) is naturally marked by exasperated questions

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of “why?” and “how long?” (vv. 10–11) and includes several pleas for God’s intervention (vv. 18–23). Yet, in the midst of this psalm is the remarkable declaration of God’s works of salvation from of old (vv. 12–17), in which he defeats the chaotic forces and sets up the created order. Undoubtedly, such vivid imagery is able to evoke a wide array of texts, images, and events, which has generated much scholarly debate regarding the nature, origin, and use of creation imagery. However, for the psalmist the use of this creation imagery primarily functions as a crucial component of this desperate plea for God to respond and to act. The poetic use of such imagery, in the words of T. S. Eliot, is a “raid on the inarticulate,”