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Midrash Interpretation of Genesis 1:1-2

Genesis 1:1-2

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Authored by Frank Redmond, 2006

This interpretation is modeled after the Third Chapter of Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer. I made sure to follow his protocol by using lots of biblical quotations to back up my points and by directly addressing the reader with questions. The Third Chapter of Rabbi Eliezer is a little bit different than other chapters in that it has less narrative and has more straightforward midrash and I have followed this method. Enjoy!

R. Frank ben John opened his discourse with the following words: “I beg you, child, to look at the heavens and the earth and see all that is in them; then you will know that God did not make them out of existing things” (2 Maccabees 7:28). Can you not see the truth which shows forth from this passage?

The Holy One, blessed be He, alone existed before the heavens and the earth. He was not accompanied by angels or spirits of any sort. There was no preexisting material from which the heavens and the earth were fashioned. The only eternal being or thing is the Holy One, blessed be He. Before creation, it was Him alone with His name, as R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos too would have it, “Before the world was created, the Holy One, blessed be He, with His name alone existed” (Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter III, p. 10).

And since the Universe had yet to be created, it must be remembered that time too did not exist. We have to be in full agreement with Rambam when he shows forth the following words of wisdom: “The Universe has not been created out of an element that preceded it in time, since time itself formed part of the Creation” (Guide for the Perplexed, Chapter XXX, p. 212). The Holy One, blessed be He, has always existed and continues to exist eternally outside of the perimeters of time, for He Himself created time ex nihilo. Wise Rambam identifies time with motion, particularly motion of the spheres (cf. Guide for the Perplexed, Chapter XXX, p. 212). So let us not be ignorant; let us see that time began when motion began. This is in agreement with the pagans as well, for the Philosopher himself believed that time itself could not be imagined without a beginning (cf. Rambam, Guide for the Perplexed, Chapter XXX, p. 212). The Holy One, blessed be He, decided from the beginning that His creation would be bound by the perimeters of time, for “there is […] a time for every affair under the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 3.1).

But the Holy One, blessed be He, is wise in that he created Wisdom as he created the heavens and the earth, for Wisdom is what holds up the heavens and the earth. R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos is a fool to believe that repentance is what holds up the heavens and the earth (cf. Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter III, p. 10). Has not R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos read the Proverbs where it says, “I [Wisdom] was there when He set the heavens in place […] I was with Him as a confidant” (Proverbs 8:27, 30)? Wisdom is the Holy One’s, blessed be He, confidant, which means that Wisdom formed the foundation of the Holy One’s, blessed be He, heavens and earth. R. Moses Mendelsohn has a similar idea when he says, “It is conceivable to say that this “beginning” is widsom [sic], and with it [i.e. wisdom], the Holy One, praised be He, created all that he created” (Commentary on the Pentateuch, Section 1). The difference between R. Moses Mendelsohn and I is that he seems to uphold the belief that Wisdom preceded creation. This is patently false. The creation of Wisdom coincides with the creation of the heavens and the earth. There was nothing in existence before the creation of the heavens and the earth, and that includes holy Wisdom herself. However, Wisdom was needed at the moment of creation to let the heavens and the earth come into being.

I forgot to mention how incorrect R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos is when he states that “Seven things were created before the world was created. They are: The Torah, Gehinnom, the Garden of Eden, the Throne of Glory, the Temple, Repentance, and the Name of the Messiah” (Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter III, p. 10-11). If one believes in the truth of the Holy Book, then one would ignore such ridiculousness. R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos is creating fictions when he says that these things existed prior to creation. Where is your proof R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos? “To which of the holy ones will you appeal?” (Job 5:1). As R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos should know, the Holy Book only says, “When God began to create the heaven and earth” (Genesis 1:1). There is no mention of these things existing before the creation.

But has the Holy One, blessed be He, created the heavens and the earth from a blueprint? It is foolishness to believe that the Holy One, blessed be He, consulted a blueprint to create the heavens and the earth, for the Holy One, blessed be He, is perfect and does not need to consult a plan to create. And so, Bereshit Rabbah is incorrect when it says, “Thus the Holy One, blessed be He, consulted the Torah when he created the world” (Bereshit Rabbah, I:2F.). The Torah did not exist prior to the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the Holy One, blessed be He, is so perfect that He does not need to consult a third party to create the heavens and the earth, since it is already part of His divine nature to know how to create the heavens and the earth. For, “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you” (Jeremiah 32:17).

In any case, the Holy One, blessed be He, began to willfully create from nothing on that first day. For, “He made the earth by His power, established the world by His wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his skill” (Jeremiah 10:12). So what did He willfully create on that first day? R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos believes there were eight things created on that first day, “Heaven, Earth, Light, Darkness, Tohu (Chaos), Bohu (Void), Wind (or Spirit), and Water” (Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter III, p. 13-14). Unlike his list of things made before creation, this list by R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos is verifiable. All of these elements can be found in the Genesis account. Should we take his word for it, or should we seek a more fitting explanation? Ramban has a differing explanation - we should look into that. Ramban believes that all of the heavens are made of one substance and all of the earth is made of another separate substance. “The Holy One, blessed be He, created two substances from nothing; they alone were created, and everything else was constructed from them” (Ramban, Genesis 1, Bereshith, p. 23). Who should we believe? It is certainly possible to uphold both as true. You could say that the things of R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos were created from the two substances of Ramban. This happens to be the best approach to the puzzle, for it combines Ramban’s elegant theory with R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos’ direct references to the Holy Book.

But are the heavens and the earth made of two different substances? Yes. For, “The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron” (Deuteronomy 28:23). The Holy One, blessed be He, from the beginning of time ordained for there to be two substances. Moses saw the truth of this when he saw that the heavens were of a different stock than the earth. The other Moses, Rambam, holds the exact same theory, “All things on earth have one common substance; the heavens and the things in them have one substance different from the first” (Guide for the Perplexed, Chapter XXVI, p. 201).

But are the heavens of better stock than the earth, or vise-versa? R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos has an extraordinary thing to say about this topic: “’Whence were the heavens created? He took part of the light of His garment, stretched it like a cloth, and thus the heavens were extending continually, as it is said: He covereth Himself with light as with a garment, He stretcheth the heavens like a curtain’ (Ps. civ. 2). ‘Whence was the earth created? He took of the snow under the throne of glory, and threw it; according to the words: He saith to the snow, Be thou earth’ (Job xxxvii, 6)” (Quoted in Rambam, Chapter XXVI, p.200).

Thus according to R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos, the earth is made of snow from underneath the throne of glory, and the heavens are made from the Holy One’s, blessed be He, own garment. While R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos has the right idea that they are made of two separate substances, he is wrong in that he views the earth as being made of inferior substance than the heavens. The Holy One, blessed be He, does not create imperfect things, or things of a lesser perfection. For, “He is the Rock, His works are perfect” (Deuteronomy 32:4). The heavens and the earth are made of different substances, yet they are equally perfect to the Holy One, blessed be He. The creation as a whole was a perfect act.

Source

Anonymous. Genesis Rabbah: The Judaic Commentary to the Book of Genesis.
Trans. Neusner, Jacob. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1985.
Anonymous. Holy Bible: New International Version. Zondervan Publishing Company, 2007.
Anonymous. New American Bible Personal Study Edition. Ed. Fireside, Nab. Fireside Catholic Publishing, 2001.
Anonymous. Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures. Jewish Publication Society of America, 1985.
Anonymous. Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer. Trans. Friedlander, Gerald. New York: Hermon Press,
Maimonides, Moses. The Guide for the Perplexed. Trans. Friedlander, M. Second Edition.
London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.
Nachmanides. Ramban: Commentary on the Torah. Trans. Chavel, Charles B. New York: Shilo Publishing House, Inc., 1971.

2012/midrash-interpretation-of-genesis-1_1-2.txt · Last modified: 2015/12/16 11:03 by 127.0.0.1

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