The Lord by Wisdom Founded the Earth – Review
The Lord by Wisdom Founded the Earth: Creation and Covenant in Old Testament Theology, by Katharine J Dell, September 2023. Baylor University Press, ISBN: 9781481317047, 252 pages. RRP: $54.99 (US hardback)
Seldom can the Book of Proverbs have been at the heart of a book on Old Testament theology. In this book, Katharine Dell proclaims wisdom literature, in particular Proverbs and Job, as a “lens of wisdom” by which to judge the themes of creation and covenant elsewhere in the Old Testament. Her book – and thesis – is bold, imaginative, disciplined and scholarly. Gone is the prominence traditionally given to Genesis 1; it is rightly seen as one of many creation stories. Her two chapters on creation in wisdom texts (in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and then in Job) are central to her thinking. Exciting, almost lyrical, these two chapters can be read, with Bible in the other hand, by the general reader as well as the OT student, to great profit. We can discover the delight in the act of creation by Wisdom, seen as the child of God at play in God’s presence and everywhere in His world. As well as implying the joy of God in creation by Wisdom, the passage (Proverbs 8, 22-36) ends with a call to listen, repeated three times, and the phrase “all who hate me, love death”.
Dell denies writing her book with an environmental intent, but this is an example of where an environmentalist might find biblical inspiration. A chapter on the Book of Job follows. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?” God asks of Job (chapter 38). God’s questions to Job are not just a putdown, but imply the presence of Wisdom. Joy is here too! Dell describes the carnival of animals, wildness within a certain order. Lions, ravens, mountain goats, the ostrich, the horse, hawk and eagle; provision is made for them in the act of creation. (Biodiversity in Job!) These animals are simply answerable to their Creator.
From this study, Dell identifies six key elements: Foundation, the setting up of the Earth by God; Division, how, for instance, skies are separated from the deep; Provision, how God sustains the Earth; Life, breath for all animals; Relationship, between God and humanity, and between humanity and the natural world, and finally Morality, given from God via Wisdom. These themes enable Dell to study Genesis 1-3 and Psalm 104 through her lens of wisdom; a richly rewarding study, including the realisation that creation is about continuous provision. The “dialogue between creation and covenant” is examined in a fascinating chapter on Genesis 9, where the covenant with Noah becomes one with the whole created order. She next examines “creation and covenant in cosmic dialogue”, citing passages from Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Another chapter sees wisdom and covenant relating to one another, particularly in the Psalms and in Deuteronomy. Dell includes an extensive twelve page bibliography, and various indices. This book will be invaluable to students of the Old Testament and a rewarding challenge to the general reader.
Peter Dodd
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