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Creation and New Creation in the Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish Literature

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Creation and New Creation in the Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish Literature GOD, GRACE, AND CREATION Philip J. Rossi Editor THE ANNUAL PUBLICATION OF THE COLLEGE THEOLOGY SOCIETY 2009 VOLUME55 ORBISOBOOKS Uaryknoll, New York 10545 Creation and New Creation in the Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish Literature Todd R. Hanneken While creation imagery in general is common in the Hebrew Bible and early Jewish literature, this essay will focus on imagery of new creation and what it implies about the former creation.1 It surveys the diversity of thought about new creation to illustrate a basic point: The images and claims about new creation reflect fundamental views of the goodness of the present creation, the status quo. If the status quo is good then a good God created it thus. If the status quo is broken then it was broken outside of God's will, but will be repaired to God's good plan. If the status quo is irrecoverably evil, then creation must be destroyed and replaced with something entirely different. The language and im- ages of creation thus correlate to views of particular institutions of the world order. Three particular institutions of the status quo drew heated controversy: first, the temple and priesthood; second, the covenant and law; and third, the boundaries that define God's people. When Jewish thinkers in antiquity looked at these institutions they saw either the manifestation of God's plan for a perfect world order, or a corrupted creation in need of eschatological revision. Imagery of a future new creation expresses a view of the present world. New Creation of Nature The Babylonian exile fueled the conviction that the present world order is other than the order desired by the creator. It seems the first step was to assert God's power as creator in order 80 TODD R. HANNEKEN to assert, a fortiori, God's ability to restore the people from exile. Thus, Deutero-lsaiah (40-55) invokes God's power as creator to transform nature to facilitate the return of the people (Is 40:4; 45:7-8; 55:12).2 The combination of imagery leads to a combina- tion of logic. In Trito-Isaiah (56-66), God's power to restore was not just a corollary to God's power to create, it was analogous to God's power to create. The restoration hoped for the future would be no less dramatic than the original creation of the heav- ens and the earth. It would be a new heaven and a new earth (Is 65:17; 66:22). The image is not a passing metaphor, but elaborately described in terms evoking the original creation (Is 65:17-66:24). Trito- Isaiah seems to depend on traditional ideas that the original hu- man lifespan was hundreds of years, and that all creatures were originally herbivores.3 If this is the case, Trito-lsaiah stands as an example of a new creation that restores the original plan of creation, but does not necessarily improve upon it. This is not a clearly defined position in Trito-Isaiah, presumably because it was not a clearly defined issue at the time. It becomes more important in later texts to distinguish whether new creation is restoration of the original plan of creation, or a complete rejection of the former creation. Indeed, on at least one point Trito-lsaiah expresses an idea that would be consistent with a critique of creation not only in its fallen state, but even of its original design. Deutero-Isaiah already made the connection from God creating light and dark to God creating good and bad (ls 45:7). This logic eventually culminates in the explicit formulation in the Instruction on the Two Spirits among the sectarian literature found at Qumran (lQS III.13-lV.26). There we find two creations. In the first creation God creates good and evil and allows them to compete. In the second creation evil will be abolished and good will be re-created. Trito-Isaiah expresses the seed of the idea that the former creation was flawed from the very beginning, and will be replaced by a new and improved creation in which there will be no cycles of day and night, sun and moon, or by extension, good and evil (ls 60:19-20). The point is not that Trito-Isaiah took the revision of astronomical order literally, 4 but attests the beginning of the idea that the eschatological restoration would not merely return CREATION AND NEW CREATION IN THE HEBREW BIBLE 81 people from exile, not merely restore creation to its original plan, but fundamentally replace creation. Zechariah expresses the same idea: "And there shall be con- tinuous day, not day and not night, for at evening time there shall be light" (Zee 14:7).5 Again, in the Astronomical Book (1 Enoch 72-82) we find an explicit statement that the order of the sun, moon, and stars is fixed for this creation, but will be replaced in the future new creation. There Enoch learns, "how every year of the world will be forever, until a new creation lasting forever is made" (1 Enoch 72:1). This verse expresses clearly the idea of a new creation that replaces, rather than restores, the original creation. Yet again, the Apocalypse of Weeks (1 Enoch 93, 91) presents an overview of history that deteriorates from the original creation to the author's present, but in the future goes beyond restoring the original plan. The new heaven is seven times brighter than the original heaven (1 Enoch 91:16). The distinction between restoring and replacing creation may seem abstract, but the different images convey different views of the degree of corruption of the present world. In some texts, such as the Hodayot among the Dead Sea Scrolls, there is not much good about this world that is worth saving.6 Relatively speaking, texts such as the Book of the Watchers and the Animal Apocalypse reflect optimism about the goodness of creation, as they can at least imagine an original ideal to which creation can be restored. The Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1-36) was composed in the third century B.C.E., and stands at the head of a long tradition of Jewish apocalyptic literature associated with Enoch.7 For our purposes, three developments merit discussion. First, the Book of the Watchers is an early example of the interpretation of Genesis, beyond allusion to traditional themes about creation. Comparison of the new creation in the Book of the Watchers with Genesis allows us to see more specifically what the authors thought was wrong with the known world and when they thought things went wrong. This becomes more explicit in later texts, which raise questions such as whether the new creation will go back before a time when humanity was divided into different nations, languages, and covenants. For the most part, the new creation in the Book of the Watchers restores humanity to the original plan of creation in Eden. There are, however, improvements. For one, the 82 TODD R. HANNEKEN troublesome tree of knowledge of good and evil will be relocated to a safer location, protected from illicit human consumption (1 Enoch 32:6). The relocation of the tree fits with the second major develop- ment in the Book of the Watchers. Like all apocalypses, the Book of the Watchers is characterized by transcendence on the spatial axis. 8 One implication is that the new creation in the Book of the Watchers is not merely a restoration of the familiar creation, but a spatial shift to a new and different area of the cosmos.9 In later parts of the tradition, such as the Epistle of Enoch (1 Enoch 92- 105 ), it is striking that new creation occurs largely from outside the human realm. As in the Book of the Watcher-s, the principal agents are angels (1Enoch6-10; 99:3; 100:4, 5, 10; 102:3; 104:1). The instruments of judgment also come from outside the human realm. Heavenly stores of snow and frost (100:13) and completely unnatural weapons of fire (102:1) bring judgment to earth. This contrasts with Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon, which see the tools of divine justice built into the natural created order, with things like venomous animals (Sir 39:30-34; 40:9-10; Ws 11:20, 24; 16:17; 19:6, 18). The protection of the righteous often involves an escape from the present world, not just protection within it. Thus, in the Epistle of Enoch the portals of heaven are opened to the righteous (1 Enoch 104:2) and they ascend like eagles (96:2) out of the corrupted former creation. Simply put, the judgment and restoration of creation is not a local transformation or even a global event, but a cosmic event in which agents and places outside the visible created order figure prominently. Finally, the Book of the Watchers introduces the flood typology of judgment and new creation that figures prominently in Enochic literature and parts of the New Testament.10 The basic claim is that the destruction and re-creation of the world in the days of Noah is a model for a future destruction and re-creation of the heavens and the earth. The revelation of the Book of the Watchers is set in the days of Enoch before the flood, and anticipates a future judgment and re-creation. At first the description seems to apply to Noah, but it soon becomes apparent that the re-creation described was not fulfilled in the days of Noah, but remains to be fulfilled in a second, future re-creation (1Enoch10:16-11:2).
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