A
final text form the book of Isaiah is Isa. 4.5-6, which announces that YHWH
will create over the assembly of Zion a cloud by day and smoke and fire by
night. The Septuagint’s και ηξει at the beginning of v. 5 seems to suggest a
reading of ובא (‘and he will come’) instead of וברא. However, the Masoretic
text is preferable, for it is the more difficult reading and is supported by
1QIsaa and other ancient Versions. Furthermore, as Wildberger (1991:
163) aptly puts it, ‘the present passage apparently does not intend to speak of
an appearance by Yahweh, but about the protection which Yahweh will bestow upon
Zion after the judgment’. Once again, YHWH’s absolute power provides the basis
for his secure protection over Zion, and it is in the context of divine sovereignty
rather than creative novelty that the verb ברא is employed. (S. Lee, “Power Not
Novelty: The Connotations of ברא in the Hebrew Bible,” in Understanding
Poets and Prophets: Essays in Honour of George Wishart Anderson, ed. A.
Graeme Auld [Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 152;
Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993], 204)
Outside
the first chapters of Genesis, ברא appears in Exod. 24.10, although none of the
more recent English translations has chosen to render it with ‘created’. Now
one of these ‘wonders’ which has not been ‘created’ but will be ‘made’ by YHWH
is the driving out of Israel’s enemies who are inhabitants of the promised land
(v. 11) and such a ‘making of YHWH’ will induce fear among the people who see
it. In my opinion, the use of ברא in this context refers ultimately to YHWH’s
sovereignty. Displacement of tribes is nothing new or miraculous in the history
of the ancient Near East, and reverence is only caused by the manifestation of
YHWH’s absolute power. The verb ברא has its own unique nuances and should not
be toned down to become synonymous with עשׂה. (Ibid., 208)
