If, according to philosophers, the first is that which is antecedent to others in respect of time, or that which was before them, the contradiction is clear; for, in the first verse of Genesis it is said "God created the heavens and the earth," mentioning the heavens first, from which it is inferred that they were created prior to the earth; but in the second passage the earth is mentioned first, which apparently indicates a contrariety. RECONCILIATION. This contradiction led to discussion between the schools of Shamai and Hilel:1 the former, founding his opinion on the first passage, asserted that the heavens were created before the earth; the latter assumed from the second, that the earth was before the heavens; each, finding the other verse opposed to him, supports his opinion as follows: Shamai said, "that the heavens were first created," and corroborated his opinion by the first verse of Genesis; and he held, that, as the creation is there detailed, the Holy Scripture relates things in the order they were created; besides, in the divine writings, the heavens are generally named before the earth; the earth being first mentioned in the other passage, he considered attributable to some other cause, or to demonstrate that the divinity of the Lord and his Providence, are equally over the terrestrial as over the celestial world, or that the world of action was created before the world of .עולם הגמול reward, termed This opinion was held by those sages, who, in reply to Alexander's question, Which was first created? answered, "The heavens." 2 ' Guemara and Jerusalemi Hagiga, c. 2. 2 Tamid, c. 4. B Hilel understands the contrary; he says, "The earth was created first,' which he supports by the latter verse, as well as by the words of the Royal Psalmist, "Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands."3 If, then, the heavens precede in the first text, it is not from their being created first in respect of time, but from having precedence in dignity (which is one of the four modes used by logicians to understand one thing as being anterior to another) from the heavens being a purer substance, as Aristotle terms it a "quintessence," or from its being animated.4 R. Johanan solves the question differently: he says, that in respect to creation, the heavens were antecedent; but in adornment and arrangement, the earth was completed before them, meaning, as Don Isaac Abarbanel and R. Samuel Jaffé explain, that the creation being from nothing, in respect of time the heavens were first, but in germination and production the earth preceded them; for on the third day it brought forth and yielded its produce, and on the fourth "the lights" were fixed, and the heavens shone resplendent with stars; so, that although created first, they were not perfected until after the earth. R. Tanhuma confirms this opinion from the texts, observing that in the first the word used is " created," and in the latter "nwy made,” which word also means "arranged or dressed," as it is translated in various places by Jarchi and Aben Ezra in Genesis xviii. 8, it is rendered "dressed," nwy w span "and the calf that he had dressed;" so, that in respect to the creation from nothing, the heavens were prior to the earth; but in respect to arrangement and adornment, the earth was previous to them. R. Eliezer, the son of Simeon, reconciles these verses in another manner, which is, that the Scripture, to prove the equality of the heavens and the earth, mentions the one first in one passage, and last in the other; for which he adduces examples: Abraham, he observes, was before his son Isaac, or his grandson Jacob, yet, in Leviticus xxvi. 42, we find him named after them," Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember;" which serves to prove that they were equally holy, virtuous, and good; as also in the precept of honouring parents, in one passage the mother is first mentioned," in another the father, which is to shew a child both are to be equally honoured and loved; this sage therefore says, the mention of the heavens first in one place, and last in the other, should not be considered a contradiction, as it only implies that both are equally appreciated by the Almighty Creator. The best reconcilement of these verses by the ancients, in my opinion, is that of R. Simeon ben Jochai, who was surprised that such distinguished academics, as those of Shamai and Hilel, should differ thereon, his opinion being that the heavens and the earth were created simultaneously, which he supports by the text of Isaiah xlviii. 13. "Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and the palm of my right hand hath spanned out the 3 Psalms 102:26. It must not be supposed two such learned men as Shamai and Hilel differed upon any point of law or tradition; it was only where the decisions were to be formed from their views by different logical deductions upon such points as were left to human reasoning, on which they seldom differed; but their disciples, being numerous, naturally entertained a variety of opinions, therefore it is said, their schools. TRANSLATOR. 5 Leviticus 19:3. heavens; when I called unto them they arose together."" from that they were created at the same time. 3 He infers there In Pirqué of R. Eliezer, it is asserted, that, by the interposition of divine influence, the differences of Shamai and Hilel were set at rest; they coincided in this; that no certainty could be arrived at respecting the opinion each entertained, as the heavens and the earth were created at the same instant of time. This opinion is adopted by many modern sages, as R. Abraham Aben Ezra, Jarchi, R. Levi ben Gershon, and Maimonides, in their commentaries and other works; the latter in his "Guide to the Doubtful" says, "The whole world is like an individual or immense animal, as Plato terms it, and that it is impossible to have heavens without earth, or earth without heavens; for the earth, being the centre of the circumference of the heavens, and the heavens being the circumference encircling it on every side, where there is one, there must be the other." In the same treatise, amongst many quotations from the ancient sages, Maimonides cites the above of R. Simeon ben Jochai, and the elucidations they give: That when various seeds are sown at the same time, they do not, in consequence, all shoot and spring up together; deducing thereby, that the Almighty does not require time, like human agents, to accomplish his work: therefore it is incorrect to say the Lord created the world in the course of six days, as the interpretation of the word n'w should be "with the beginning;" that is, when time was created, God also created the heavens and the earth, the entire creation consisting of six different degrees, namely, First, light and darkness: second, the formation of rain: third, minerals: fourth, plants: fifth, animals; and sixth, man: indicating and representing this, it is said they were created in six days. To this explanation of Maimonides, R. David de Leon and R. Eliezer Askenasi agreed, and others also, with such trifling differences as are of no moment and foreign to the purpose, it being sufficient to collect, that, according to this opinion, the texts do not virtually differ for as language is formed by syllables, and each syllable by letters, so it is impossible to hear or pronounce, and much more so to write, two words of different sounds at the same moment; the Scripture therefore wisely named the heavens first in one place, and the earth in the other passage, inculcating We may also say, that it thereby that both were created at the same instant, which the prophet corroborates, in saying "they arose together." In the represents to us, that the circle of every thing commences and terminates with God, the Almighty Creator being the beginning and end of the circle, the smallest atom within each of the semicircles proceeding from Him. first instance it descends to the angelic, then by ordained degrees to the etherial, from that to the lunar sphere, and then to our globe, which is first matter; this terminates the semicircle the farthest removed from the perfection of the Creator: then commences the other semicircle, which ascends to the elements; from them to mists, then to plants; from them to irrational beings, and lastly to man; ascending from a lesser to a greater Intelligence, stopping the intellectual faculty of the superior intelligence of a divine origin which is the ultimate connection between them, not alone from the angelic nature, but through it with the Supreme Divinity itself; the circle being thereby completed and graduated by all beings, that is, beginning with the 6 This reconciliation is according to the 13th Logical rule of R. Ismael for explaining the Scriptures. The verb by means stand, but in this place it should be rendered raise, as in Ps. 107: B 2 25, my my, and raiseth the stormy wind.-TRANSLATOR. heavens or celestial and superior, from major to minor; and then, from minor to major, commencing with the earth or first matter, so that between the two verses, the circle which commences with God, and terminates with Him, is completed. Much has been written in a cabalistic sense on this subject, but the foregoing is sufficient for the reconciliation of the texts. QUESTION 2. Gen. 1:4. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And it was evening, and it was morning, one day. Gen. 1:14. And God said, Let there be between day and night, how can it be If the solar light causes the distinction said that it was created on the fourth day? If the first light was that of the sun, what was the creation on the fourth day? RECONCILIATION. Some suppose that the light of the first day was a small cloud which after the creation of the sun was attached to it; but this notion would have attributed a superfluous creation to God which cannot be said of any of his works. Maimonides, in his "Guide," Rashi and Aben Ezra, in their "Commentaries," hold that the light of the first day was that of the sun itself, which revolving in its sphere from west to east and from east to west, made a day of twenty-four hours. The Scripture saying, that it was created on the fourth day, is incident to its then demonstrating its effects on plants, which appeared on the third day, rain (which proceeds from the exhalations and vapours raised from the earth by the action of the sun's heat thereon) being necessary for their vegetation. Therefore, it is clear that there was no new creation on the fourth day; but the text implies that on that day the Sun developed the effects of his heat on plants. : Maimonides collects, from the sayings of our ancient sages upon the words "Let there be lights," that these are those of the first day, but which were not suspended until the fourth their opinion was, that it was one and the same light; and on their saying, that the lights were hung or suspended on the fourth day, R. Levi ben Gershon very properly observes, that it does not mean that they were hung in the air, since the Sun, Moon, and Stars are fixed in the heavens, but that they then demonstrated their effects on plants, as above the same is also stated in the Guemara of Hagiga, chapter ii. The prophet,' also, treating on a future age, says, "The light of the sun shall be seven times the light of the seven days," that is, of the days of the creation, indicating that all the seven days had the same light; according "And God made," should be translated "And God had made" ons in"" and set them," "he had given (or set) them," which the Hebrew idiom permits; so in chapter ii. 8, D ויעש אלהים to this the divine words ויטע יי it should be "The Lord God had planted, and not-planted," for after the sixth day there was no new creation. The verses consequently agree, the same light being meant in both. Isaiah, 30:26. Nicolas de Lira adopts this opinion in his exposition. 66 gave 5 R. Bechayai also held that the solar light was created on the first day, but that it had not sufficient power to afford light to the earth, which was only given to it on the fourth day; in support of his opinion he adduces the 17th them the And God set them in the expansion of the heavens to give light upon verse, earth," from which he infers the text to mean that then God power to give light upon the earth. Dion De Diei Nom. (c. 4) says the first light was the sun itself; but on the first day it was not complete, having the illuminative property in common; but subsequently a fixed and special virtue As we experience the rays of the Sun for particular purposes was given to it. to have a different effect to those of the Moon, so light was distinct from darkness in three respects First, as to cause: from the substance of the Sun being the cause of light, and the opacity of the earth causing darkness. Second, as to place while it is light in one hemisphere, it is dark in the other. Third, as to time: each hemisphere having light and darkness alternately. By this axiom no doubt remains; since the solar light was only increased, and its effects were determined on the fourth day. R. Eliezer Askenasi, following the opinion of Maimonides, in his Guide,? and Nachmanides, in his Commentary, says that the darkness mentioned in verse 2 is the element of fire. God having made it descend to that of air, it ignited and formed light; so that he holds the light of the first day to have been inflamed air: this, he says, illumined the semicircle of the heavens, the other half being in darkness; but the light, following the rotatory motion of the prima mobile, revolving from west to east, it formed night, and turning then from east to west, from whence it came, it formed day; but this light being weak and not sufficiently clear, it was necessary on the fourth day that the Sun, as being more powerful, should be created to give light upon the earth. He corroborates this opinion by the above cited verse, "to give light upon the earth," meaning that the reason of a new creation being necessary, was because the first light was not sufficiently strong for that purpose. Don Isaac Abarbanel was of opinion that in the beginning a light was R. Joda ben Simeon3 understands this light to be metaphorical, signifying 4 B. ii. c. 29. Milhamot a Shem, b. vi. c. 8. |