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Psalms

About this book
Psalm 24

1 A psalm of David. The Lord owns the earth and all it contains, the world and all who live in it. 2 For he set its foundation upon the seas, and established it upon the ocean currents.⁠ 3 Who is allowed to ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may go up to his holy dwelling place? 4 The one whose deeds are blameless who has clean hands and a pure heart*, who does not lie,⁠ or make promises with no intention of keeping them.⁠ 5 Such godly people are rewarded by the Lord, and vindicated by the God who delivers them. 6 Such purity characterizes the people who seek his favor, Jacob’s descendants, who pray to him. (Selah) 7 Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors.⁠ Then the majestic king will enter.⁠ 8 Who is this majestic king? The Lord who is strong and mighty. The Lord a mighty man in battle.⁠ 9 Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors. Then the majestic king will enter. 10 Who is this majestic king? The Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He is the majestic king. (Selah)

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 1:9 and Psalm 24:2

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Psalm 24 reflects an ancient view that the earth stands over chaotic waters held back. Genesis begins the same way, with unshaped waters that are later limited and ordered, presenting creation as bringing stability out of watery chaos.

Passages

Genesis 1:9

Hebrew Bible
8 God called the expanse “sky.” There was evening, and there was morning, a second day. 9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear.” It was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good. 11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: plants yielding seeds and trees on the land bearing fruit with seed in it, according to their kinds.” It was so.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Psalm 24:2

Hebrew Bible
1 A psalm of David. The Lord owns the earth and all it contains, the world and all who live in it. 2 For he set its foundation upon the seas, and established it upon the ocean currents. 3 Who is allowed to ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may go up to his holy dwelling place? 4 The one whose deeds are blameless who has clean hands and a pure heart*, who does not lie, or make promises with no intention of keeping them.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... Psalm 24 ... The second verse refers to the primitive cosmological view that the earth was founded on the chaotic waters that were hostile to life (compare Genesis 1:1-13). The Lord’s act of creation was to transform a nonplace that was inhospitable to life (compare Psalms 46:2-3; 65:7) into a place that is hospitable to life. God performs this transformation by imposing order onto chaos. The metaphor here is that God founded and established the earth on the waters and the rivers. The metaphor cuts two ways. On the one hand, chaos remains an active element in creation. God has limited the reach of chaos (“thus far shall you come, and no farther,” Job 38:11), but chaos and randomness remain present. On the other hand, creation is secure, because of the Lord’s ongoing providence and stewardship of creation. Thus, the creation into which God is entering in the psalm needs God’s presence, because only God can hold chaos at bay and secure the environment for life ..."
Nancy L. DeClaissé-Walford, The Book of Psalms (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2014), 294–295.
"... Psalm 24:1–2 ... presupposes a view in which the earth disk is set on pillars on the nether-ocean. It is clear that the initial state is the pre-cosmic water mass, twice described as “waters” and “streams.” Yet again, it is not stated, that God formed the earth out of the waters, as the material with which he makes. In line with Gen 1 is also the notion that yhwh does not make or create the earth as such, but sets it on pillars on the nether-ocean, as is expressed clearly by the two verbs “founding” and “establishing” (not “making” or “creating”). However, the context in which this image figures, differs greatly from Gen 1. In Ps 24 the context is yhwh’s lordship and ownership. The opening verse already shows it: “to yhwh belongs the earth.” The front position of le-yhwh in the clause indicates that yhwh is the topic and focus of the clause and the readers are invited to share his perspective. Also the next verses confirm the very same topic and focus. In vv. 3ff the rhetoric questions (“who may ascend the mountain of yhwh,” “who may stand in his holy place”) indicate that yhwh’s residence is too high to ascend, his holiness too great to stay in his presence. The climax is reached in vv. 7–10 where yhwh is five times called “the king of glory,” and three times characterized by terms of might and power: “mighty and valiant,” “valiant in battle,” “lord of hosts/armies.” The majesty and glory of this king is thus specified in his might in battle. yhwh is the lord, the one in charge. Power, might, ownership is the context yhwh’s establishment of the earth ..."
Ellen van Wolde, “‘Creation out of Nothing’ and the Hebrew Bible,” in Creation Stories in Dialogue: The Bible, Science, and Folk Traditions, ed. R. Alan Culpepper and Jan G. van der Watt, BibInt 139 (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 157–176.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 1:9 and Psalm 24:2

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