12. Bereshit — Abarbanel on the Torah, Section 12

On the Question of Simultaneous Creation

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To support his position, Maimonides drew from the analogy given by the Sages, comparing creation to a farmer sowing seeds all at once—even though different plants sprout at different times, some in a single day and others over the course of many days. Maimonides considered this a deep secret of the Creation account, concealing it carefully, as can be observed from his writings. However, those who reveal secrets—such as Ralbag, Narboni¹, and other commentators of his work—exposed his true opinion and publicly disclosed his hidden teaching.

Before I present my own view on this matter, I must first point out that similar ideas can be found in the words of the Sages—even more explicitly stated than in Maimonides’ writings. For instance, in Bereshit Rabbah, the following debate is recorded:

Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Nechemia disagreed². Rabbi Yehuda said: “The heavens and the earth, and all their hosts, were completed in their time” (Genesis 2:1) Rabbi Nechemia replied: “But is it not written, ‘These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created’ (Genesis 2:4)? This teaches that everything was brought forth on the very day it was created.” Rabbi Yehuda countered: “But does it not say, ‘And there was evening and there was morning, the second day… the third day… the fourth day… the fifth day… the sixth day’” (Genesis 1:5, etc.)? Rabbi Nechemia responded: “It was like a person gathering figs—each ripened at its own time, and he gathered each one in its proper season.” Rabbi Berechiah, commenting on Rabbi Nechemia’s view, explained: ‘And the earth brought forth…’ (Genesis 1:12)—this refers to something that was already entrusted to it.”

Similarly, in Midrash Tanchuma: Rabbi Yehuda said: “The world was created over six days, as it is written in the account of each day’s creation.” However, Rav Nachman said: “On the first day, the entire world was created,” citing as proof the verse ‘And the earth brought forth…’ (Genesis 1:12), referring to something that had been prepared since the beginning.

From this, it appears that Rabbi Nechemia, Rabbi Berechiah, and Rav Nachman all agreed with Maimonides’ view that everything was created simultaneously on the first day. It is therefore appropriate to examine whether this view, as presented by Maimonides, is correct and valid or not. If it is incorrect, we must then ask: did the Sages in these statements actually intend to support Maimonides’ view, or did they mean something entirely different?

As for Maimonides’ opinion—aside from the greatness of his Torah—it is a manifest falsehood³. This will become clear for several reasons:

First, that the Torah explicitly states six times: “And there was evening, and there was morning, a [specific] day.” How, then, can anyone who follows the Torah deny that there was an actual count of days, and that evening and morning truly existed? If one claims that everything was created at once, is this not a complete denial and contradiction of the Torah’s words?

Second, Maimonides claimed that the enumeration of the days serves to symbolize the hierarchy of existence, and he himself enumerated six levels. The first: light and darkness. The second: the rain (or waters). The third: the minerals (or land and its produce). The fourth: the plants. The fifth: the living creatures (animals). The sixth: man. He further wrote at the end of his discussion: “Thus, Scripture follows this same order in the account of Creation, without deviating from it in any way.”

However, you will see that the sequence of the six days does not align with these so-called ‘hierarchical levels’ that Maimonides described: minerals and plants are assigned to a single day, not two separate days as his system suggests. Animals and man, which he considers two distinct levels, were actually created on the same day (the sixth day). Conversely, marine animals and terrestrial animals, which he combined into a single category, were actually assigned two separate days in the Torah (the fifth and sixth).

Even more problematic is the fact that the fourth day was designated for the creation of the luminaries, yet these do not even appear in Maimonides’ hierarchical levels! He made no mention of them, nor did he attempt to account for their place in the hierarchy. He completely overlooked them. This clearly proves that the six days of Creation do not symbolize hierarchical levels, as Maimonides claimed.

The third argument is based on what is stated in the Mishnah (Avot 5:1): “With ten utterances the world was created. And why does it say so? Could it not have been created with a single utterance? And this Mishnah is undisputed, and it proves that all things were not created together nor with one utterance, but rather with ten utterances that are mentioned across the six days, each day expressing its own utterance (Tehillim 19:3). As it is written regarding the Ten Commandments: ‘For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth.’” (Shemot 20:11)

The fourth argument is that if we deny that the six days of creation were truly separate days, then it would follow that the seventh day could not have been a day of rest. For if everything was created at once, then God would not have “rested” on the seventh day, but rather on the same day that He created everything, meaning that He acted and rested on the first day simultaneously. However, the truth of the matter is what the simple reading of the verses indicates—that there was a distinction between the days and between the things created in them, and that the alternation of evening and morning was real.

Next section → The Debate of the Sages on the Six Days