History, Justice, and the Agency of God: A Hermeneutical and Exegetical Investigation on Isaiah and Psalms

The central thesis of this volume is that the biblical view of divine agency in creation and history is realistic. History unfolds according to how human society relates to the sphere of power that is beyond it. Next to the hermeneutical discussion this is demonstrated exegetically by analyzing texts from Isaiah and Psalms: 1. In Isa 6:9-10 the prophet recieves the commission to proclaim and to anticipate YHWH’s strange work in response to the people’s violation of the torah. 2 The psalmist’s change of mood in Psalms 3, 6, and 7 is caused by the acting of YHWH, the creator, with the psalmist partaking in the change that occurs in the creation surrounding him. The section on Psalm 7 is especially important for the Psalm scholar. It provides a rich comparison with prayers to the divine judge in ancient Near Eastern texts.