Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

NATURE

For the larger part of the 20th century biblical scholars gave little attention to the role of the natural world in the Bible. They emphasized instead that the Bible presented a God who acted in and for human history. Yahweh was unlike the gods of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Canaan, who were bound by the endless and unchanging cycles of nature. Nature was regarded as the stage for Yahweh’s historical drama of salvation or as Yahweh’s instrument in that drama, but the natural world was not deemed significant in its own right.

Interest in the Bible’s view of nature has intensified in recent decades due largely to the public’s growing environmental awareness. The claim by many that the Bible’s objectification of nature was the foundation for our exploitation of the natural environment led many scholars to reassess the biblical view of nature. By first giving attention to the biblical understanding of creation, scholars have begun to recognize that the Bible contains multiple views of nature and that the natural world played a significant role in the formation and expression of the religion of Israel. The various biblical views of nature can be grouped into three distinct value orientations, shared by the people of the Bible, but expressed under different circumstances: harmony with nature, mastery over nature, and subjugation to nature.

Harmony with nature is the most frequently expressed value in the biblical texts. This value orientation assumes that humans and nature are united in a precarious balance so that human actions cause consequences in nature which inevitably affect humans themselves. In texts reflecting the covenant tradition, the condition of the natural world is linked to the people’s faithfulness to the stipulations of the covenant. If the Israelites follow God’s commandments, then Yahweh will send the rains so that the land abundantly yields its produce. Otherwise, God will withhold the rains and the land will become desolate, resulting in the people’s death (Deut. 11:13-17). The prophets similarly link human actions to the environment. Both Hosea and Jeremiah attribute drought to the people’s crimes against one another and against God (Hos. 4:1-3; Jer. 3:1-3). Haggai blames drought on the people’s dereliction to rebuild Yahweh’s temple (Hag. 1:9-10). Second Isaiah offers the eschatological hope that Yahweh will redeem the natural world even as the people are redeemed (Isa. 51:3).

In the Yahwist Creation myth (Gen. 2:4b–3:24) the first human is described as being born from the earth, made of the dirt of the ground, and returning to the earth when he dies. Although the account expresses the harmony-with-nature value, it qualifies it with the mastery-over-nature value. The acquisition of knowledge has freed the human couple from the determinism of nature. They are distinct from the animals, which are also made from the dirt, and can transform the natural world to create civilization (Gen. 4). Yet in the end humans are bound to the natural world of which they are a part.

The Priestly Creation myth (Gen. 1:1–2:3) is the foremost biblical example of the mastery-over-nature value orientation — that nature can and should be manipulated for human purposes. According to the account, humans are commanded to subdue the earth and are given dominion over all other creatures (Gen. 1:28). However, within the larger context of the Priestly narrative this mastery-over-nature value is qualified by the harmony-with-nature value, which emphasizes the order of creation. Human dominion must be exercised within the constraints of the created order lest human actions corrupt the creation (Gen. 6:11-13). As a result, only certain animals are acceptable for food (Lev. 11), men are limited with whom and when they may have sexual relations (18:6-23), and the land may not be farmed in Sabbatical Years (25:1-12).

The mastery-over-nature value is also expressed by the cosmic metaphors of Jerusalem’s royal ideology. According to this ideology, human kingship replicates divine kingship. The king’s reign in Jerusalem was based on a manifestation of Yahweh’s reign over creation. Therefore, just as Yahweh defeated all threats to the created order — typically personified as the sea (Ps. 89:9-11[MT 10-12]; 93) — the king secures the order of creation by defeating his enemies (89:22-25[23-26]). The king’s actions are world-ordering, bringing righteousness — fertility and abundance — to the land (Ps. 72). Yet the king’s mastery over nature is not absolute. It is only by virtue of God’s covenant, bestowed upon him as a gift, and should be characterized by God’s righteousness.

Subjugation to nature — that humans have no control over nature and are subject to its inevitable effects — was probably the dominant value orientation of the ancient Israelite peasants. However, the biblical texts, which come from elite groups, only sporadically reflect this value. The book of Job is a notable exception. Contrary to covenant theology, Job emphasizes that there is no necessary correlation between human actions and the condition of the creation. Moreover, the speeches of Yahweh (Job 38–41) underscore the inability of humans to either control or replicate the creation.

Joel also expresses the subjugation-to-nature value. The prophet calls the people to lament the devastation caused by a locust plague, but unlike other prophets does not attribute the natural catastrophe to the people’s sins. The people’s actions are not responsible for the plague, nor can they prevent it. Their only hope of deliverance is God, and thus Joel summons them to return to Yahweh with fasting, weeping, and mourning (Joel 2:12-14).

As a result of the recent scholarly attention to the Bible’s view of nature, God’s presence and activity in the world can no longer be understood in historical categories and metaphors exclusively. The Bible attests that God’s activity is visible also in the cycles of nature, in blessing. As the Creator, God brings the advent of seasonal rains, makes the land agriculturally productive, and increases the reproduction of flocks and herds. The Bible usually links God’s presence to natural locations — predominantly mountain tops, but also springs, rivers, and trees. Moreover, God’s appearance in theophany is often presented in natural form: God is associated with the thunderstorm and the related phenomena of downpours, clouds, and lightning; the voice of God shakes the earth like an earthquake (or the rumbling of thunder); and God appears in a burning bush and a pillar of cloud and fire.

Bibliography. B. W. Anderson, From Creation to New Creation. OBT (Minneapolis, 1994); T. Hiebert, The Yahwist’s Landscape (Oxford, 1996); R. A. Simkins, Creator and Creation: Nature in the Worldview of Ancient Israel (Peabody, 1994); O. H. Steck, World and Environment (Nashville, 1980).

Ronald A. Simkins

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

NATURE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)