Retelling Traditions in the Psalms

The stories of creation, the exodus, kingship – all are retold in the Psalter. Retold, reworked, and often completely turned around. For example, as the book of Numbers tells it, the wilderness wanderings were a time of complaint and unfaithfulness. Yet according to Psalm 105, this was when God moved in glorious and miraculous ways to keep the Abrahamic covenant. By examining the creativity of the psalmists, we can find ways of telling the stories of God’s ways in the world.