Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 6, scan section 68

for it is written [Gen. i. i] : " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth " ; chaos and desolation, for it is written [ibid. i. 2] : "And the earth was without form and void (chaos)" ; light and darkness — darkness, for it is written [ibid., ibid.] : "And darkness was upon the face of the deep " ; light, for it is written [ibid. i. 3] : " And God said, Let there be light " ; wind and water, for it is written [ibid. i. 2] : " And the spirit (wind) of God was waving over the face of the waters " ; the measures of the day and those of the night, for it is written [ibid. i. 5] : "And it was evening, and it was morning, the first day." We have learned in a Boraitha : Chaos is a green line com- passing all the world, and from it darkness springs, as it is writ- ten [Ps. xviii. 12]: "He made darkness his hiding place, round about him." Desolation— this means the stones covered TRACT HAGIGA (HOLOCAUST). 23 with mud, which are sunk in the deep, from which waters come forth, as it is written [Is. xxxiv. 11] : " And he shall stretch out (Jver it the line of destination and the weights of desolation." Was light created on the first day ? Is it not written [Gen. i. 17]: "And God set them in the expansion of the heaven," and also [ibid. i. 19] : " And it was evening and it was morning the fourth day " ? This is as R. Elazar said : The light which the Holy One created on the first day, Adam saw by its means from one end of the world to the other. When the Holy One considered the generation of the flood and the generation of the dispersion, and that their works were vain, He took it from them and concealed it for the upright in the world to come. In this, however, the following Tanaim differ, as we have learned in a Boraitha : The light which the Holy One, blessed be He, created on the first day, Adam observed and saw by its means from one end of the world to the other. So said R. Jacob. But the sages said : These are the luminaries which were created on the first day, but were not hung up until the fourth day. R. Zutra bar Tobiah in the name of Rabh said : By ten things the world was created : by wisdom and by understand- ing; by knowledge and by strength; by rebuke and by might; by righteousness and by judgment ; by mercy and by compas- sion.* R. Jehudah in the name of Rabh said : At the time that the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world it went spreading on like two clews of shoot and warp, until the Holy One, blessed be He, rebuked it and brought it to a standstill, as it is written [Job xxvi. 11]: "The pillars of heaven tremble greatly, and are astounded at his rebuke." And this is what Resh Lakish also said : What is meant by [Gen. xvii. i] : " I am the Almighty God " ? 01^). It means : I am He WAo {\^) said to the world, " Enough " (^1). Resh Lakish said again : At the time the Holy One, blessed be He, created the sea, it went spreading on, until the Holy One, blessed be He, rebuked it and made it dry, for it is written [Nah. i. 4] : " He rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry ; and all the rivers he dried up." The rabbis taught : The School of Shammai say : The heavens were created in the beginning, and afterwards the earth was created, for it is written [Gen. i. i] : "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." But the School of Hillel say : The earth was created in the beginning, and afterwards the * All these ere deduced from passages. See foot-note further on. 24 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. heavens, for it is written [Gen. 11.4]: "On the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven." Said the School of Hillel to the School of Shammai : According to your words, a man builds an upper story, and afterwards builds a house ; and the heavens are the upper story, as it is written [Amos ix. 6] : *' That buildeth in the heavens his steps, and hath founded his vault over the earth." Said the School of Shammai to the School of Hillel : According to you, a man makes a footstool, and after- wards makes a throne, as it is written [Is. Ixvi. i] : "Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool." The sages say : Both were created together, as it is written [ibid, xlviii. 13]: "My hand also hath laid the founda- tion of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned out the heavens. I call unto them, they stand forward together." What is meant by "heavens"? Said R. Jose bar Hanina: It means, the place where there is water. In a Boraitha it is explained as equivalent to fire and water, thus teaching that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought them and mingled them one with the other, and made from them the firmament. R. Ish- mael questioned R. Aqiba when they were on the road : Thou art one who hast served for twenty-two years Na'hum, the man of " Gimzu," the man who expounded the meaning of all the particles "^//^" (the) which are in the Law. What was his exposition of " Eth-ha-shamayim v'eth haaretz " ? R. Aqiba answered : If the words had been simply : First created God heaven and earth, I should have said, " Heaven " is another name of God. But as it is now, all know that heaven and earth are to be taken in the literal meaning. And why do I find the expression " v'eth haaretz " ? To show that heaven preceded the earth. There is a Boraitha of R. Jose which says: Woe to the creatures which see and know not what they see, which stand and know not upon what they stand. Upon what does the earth stand? Upon the pillars. The pillars stand upon the waters ; the waters upon the mountains ; the mountains upon the wind ; the wind upon the storm ; * the storm is suspended upon the strength of the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is writ- ten [Deut. xxxiii. 27] : " And here beneath, the everlasting arms." The sages say : It stands upon twelve pillars, as it is * There are here adduced biblical passages for every statement, but we omitted them, as they are not in point. TRACT HAGIGA (HOLOCAUST). 25 written [Deut. xxiii. 8] : " He set the bounds of the tribes according to the number of the sons of Israel." According to others, seven pillars, as it is written [Prov. ix. i] : " She had hewn out her seven pillars." R. Elazar b. Shamua said : Upon one pillar, and its name is Zaddik (The Righteous), as it is writ- ten [Prov. X. 25] : " But the righteous is an everlasting founda- tion." R. Jehudah said : There are two firmaments, as it is written [Deut. x. 14] : " Behold, to the Lord thy God belong the heavens and the heavens of the heavens." Resh Lakish said, they are seven, viz. : Vilon, Rakia, Shchakim, Zbul, Maon, Ma- khon, Araboth. Vilon serves no purpose whatever save this, that it enters in the morning, and goes forth in the evening, and renews every day the work of creation. Rakia is that in which