EXPLICIT
REFERENCES TO DIVINE CAUSATION IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
In a sense, the theory of DCP is
completely inferential. That is, biblical Hebrew has no direct equivalent for
the English word “cause.” The concept of causation, however, can
presumably be inferred, first of all from what is understood to be a correct
interpretation of functions within Hebrew grammar. Here the verbal system is
said to contain forms indicative of causation (e.g. especially in certain types
of pi‘el, pu‘al and hip‘il formations).
This is why English translations have a few instances where the word “cause”
occurs in the rendition. For example, a simple word search in the RSV with
“cause” as the only extension and pertaining to divine agency shows only a
number of cases. These occur across a variety of sources and shows complex
causation in all instances, for example:
(i) And when God (Hebrew: “gods”)
caused me to wander from my father’s house . . . (Gen 20:13)
. . .
Besides interpretations of
grammar, also lengthier depictions of YHWH as causal agent as well as
theological propositions implicating YHWH in the actualisation of certain
states of affairs seem to constitute the other side of the textual data from
which causation has been inferred. In addition, textual representations of the
working of both human and divine characters in tandem are held to warrant the
inference of a duality in causation, especially if these two agencies are the
only ones that are kept in view, and internally undifferentiated at that. (Jaco
Gericke, “Rethinking
the ‘Dual Causality Principle’ in Old Testament Research—A Philosophical
Perspective,” Old Testament Essays 28, no. 1 [2015]:93, 94, emphasis
added; other texts are quoted in Deut 28:27; 2 Kgs 19:7; 21:8; Ezek 36:27; Psa
88:18; 106:46)
