Yahweh Re-Orders Creation

Genesis 1; Psalm 8; Psalm 74:12-17

Yahweh, our Lord—your name is ruling throughout the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens!
Even from toddlers and infants you have established strength,
Due to your enemies— for in this way you silence the Enemy who desires to take revenge.
I give thought to the heavens—your handiwork; and the sun and moon—your creation.
How little humans are—why do you pay attention to them?
Yet you placed humans just under the gods and gave him your glory and ruling power!
You established humans to rule over your creatures and everything is under their feet—
The living creatures, the animals, the swimming things and the flying things.
Yahweh, our Lord—Your name is ruling throughout the earth!
Psalm 8

The King of Rock
Yahweh God is the creator of all things. Before anything else existed, Yahweh God created the heavens, where he lived, and the earth. He created powerful beings to live and rule in heaven—dragons and cherebim and angels—and they ruled heaven and earth with Yahweh God. He ruled over everything in heaven and his powers ruled over the sea and over the air. We don’t know how they ruled or what they ruled, but long before mankind the earth existed with water over all the surface.

The Emperor Strikes Back
Among the powers that ruled over the earth was Leviathan, the dragon. But this dragon was wicked and decided to rebel against Yahweh. He called up his whole realm—the waters and seas—to lift themselves up against Yahweh and to take his place as ruler of the universe. The waters covered the earth and destroyed everything that existed, making everything Chaos. And Leviathan roared in heaven and claimed his authority to rule over all, taking out all the light in the air and bringing darkness. Thus the powers were called darkness. Yahweh was angry that these upstarts that he himself created would try to take his place as ruler and so he fought against them. In great power, Yahweh fought Leviathan and conquered him—although he was not killed.

The Light Stuff
Yahweh then determined to punish the powers that he had established over the earth and he replaced them. First of all, he determined to judge Leviathan and the powers of Darkness. So Yahweh spoke with the word, “Light—be!” and Light separated the powers of darkness. God looked at the expanse and spoke with the word, “Lights—be!” and the heavenly powers of the sun and the moon lived in the expanse. Now, instead of just the kingdom of darkness that ruled over the earth, there was a time of light, ruled by the power of the sun and a time of darkness, ruled by the moon—day and night. No longer was Leviathan in power over the lower heavens.

Separation of Water and State
Yahweh then punished the waters. Yahweh spoke with the word, “Expanse—be!” and an expanse appeared above the waters. He spoke with the word “Divide—be!” and the waters were divided—some on the earth and some in Heaven. Yahweh then spoke with the word “Gather” and the waters were gathered together. Yahweh spoke the word “Dry-land—be!” and dry land appeared where the waters were not. Yahweh spoke with the word, “Sprout” and vegetation came out all over the land. Thus the earth was divided into two kingdoms—the kingdom of land and the kingdom of water.

Filling Up
Then Yahweh spoke with the word, “Waters, swim with swimming things.” And various kinds of creatures appeared in the water, so the waters were no longer free to rise up. Then Yahweh spoke with the word, “Expanse, be flown in with flying things.” And various kinds of flying creatures appeared in the lower heaven. Yahweh spoke with the word to the swimming and flying things, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the waters and fill the air.” Then Yahweh spoke with the word, “Land, live with living creatures,” and various kinds of animals appeared on the land.

“Fish are food, not friends”
Then Yahweh spoke with the word to all the powers, “Humans are made in our image, so they will rule as a power over the air, over the water and over the land.” And so Yahweh created Humans in the image of the gods in the higher heavens in two forms—male and female. And Yahweh said with the word to the humans, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the land and keep it in line. You are in charge over all the flying creatures, all the swimming creatures and all the living creatures on the land. Rule well.”

The End of the Beginning
In this way, Yahweh conquered his enemies and established Humans as rulers over the earth.


What is “Yahweh”?“Yahweh” is God’s name in the Bible. His name is not “God” or “Lord”—those are just descriptions of who he is. God’s name is his personal identity, and it differentiates him from any other god or lord on earth or in heaven. Yahweh is the God over all other gods—angels, demons or whatever.

What is a “cherebim”?
These are angels that are closest to God. They have six wings and Yahweh symbolically sits on their back as his throne. They fly wherever Yahweh wants them to and everywhere they go, they call “holy, holy, holy” which in Hebrew means “The Holiest”.

Dragons? What kind of dragons?
We know in Scripture that God made a number of dragons. One is called Leviathan—who is a sea-dragon—, another Rahab, and Satan himself is a dragon. They are powerful spiritual beings, giving Yahweh counsel when he asks for it. They may not be literal dragons, but metaphorical ones that indicate powerful beings who live in heaven.

Why does Yahweh rule the earth?
Two reasons: He made it, and he conquered it. It is a basic principle that the creator owns the creation and can do with it whatever he wants. But the creation was stolen by God’s underlings—Leviathan and other spiritual powers. And so God had to get it back. He did this by using great powers, showing that he is the most powerful warrior that has ever existed. Other ancient stories have this tale backwards—the Father God was conquered by his underling

Why have I never heard about this war between God and Leviathan before?
It isn’t clearly spoken of in the Bible. In Genesis 1, there are only hints that it took place. But it is articulated in Psalm 74, right in the middle of the psalm. All throughout the Psalm the writer is begging God to get rid of Israel’s enemies. In the midst, he is reminding Yahweh that Yahweh already conquered much greater enemies than pesky human armies. And so he describes Yahweh’s battle with Leviathan and than describes God’s re-creation of the world in language that is supposed to remind us of Genesis 1. Not many Sunday School teachers have found this text, and some scholars want to make it say something else to fit their theology. But the clearest way to understand Psalm 74 is that the Psalmist is reminded of a battle that takes place before creation.

Did Yahweh make the earth in six days?
Yes and no. First of all, the earth already existed before the six days. We see this in the Genesis account, where the “earth is formless” with “water covering” the earth, before the first day begins. Thus there is already earth and ocean. Also, God lives in heaven. But the six day event is a re-creation of the earth and heavens. Instead of one heaven, there is now three—where God lives, the water where Leviathan lives and the expanse where the stars dwell. Instead of a water-covered earth, there is an earth of both water and land, and everything is full of life everywhere.

Does this account go against science?Some parts do, some parts don’t. Certainly, the timing of everything is different than the fossil record indicates. Having vegetation on the world before there is a sun doesn’t make any sense to science. It is possible that the particular order of creation isn’t important to the writer of Genesis, since Genesis 2:4 indicates that vegetation wasn’t created until after humanity. But the idea that there was a devastating event that destroyed almost all large life on earth and then a quick resurgence of life afterwards certainly agrees with what science has found in the fossil record. The only question science cannot answer: how did life spring up so quickly? Genesis does answer it.

Why did God make so much life in all three realms (water, land, air)?
We don’t really know. Perhaps he wanted to fill the earth with so much life that the spiritual powers would have difficulty taking over the earth again. Perhaps he created life so the humans would have something to rule. Perhaps he just likes lots of life.

Why are humans so important?
Because God gave them authority over the earth. All other creatures—even spiritual ones—are under human control on the earth, unless they give that authority to someone else (More about that next time)