38. Bereshit — Abarbanel on the Torah, Section 38

Bereshit as Principle and Beginning

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At times, however, the term mayim is used more specifically for the lower luminous substance, namely the element of water, as in: “Let the waters swarm” (Genesis 1:20), “and the waters prevailed” (Genesis 7:24), and similar expressions. These are called mayim in the plural—either because the term mayim, in its general usage, includes multiple distinct natures, namely the upper and lower waters; or because the upper waters themselves differ in their nature, referring to the spheres and the stars, and are therefore expressed in the plural.

As for the lower waters, they too are called mayim in the plural because of their divisions into parts, their droplets, and their movements as they flow and intermingle. Likewise, “He called the gathering of the waters seas” (Genesis 1:10) uses the plural, even though we also find “sea” in the singular—either because there are different seas that flow into one another, as explained by the Ephodi¹, or because of the multiplicity of their parts and their constant motion.

And since, within the region of the air, rain is generated, the chief of the poets said: “He roofs His upper chambers with water” (Psalms 104:3). And because great dangers occur in seas and waters, Scripture borrows the term mayim to signify distress: “We went through fire and through water” (Psalms 66:12); “I have come into the deep water, and the current has swept me away.” (Psalms 69:3).

From this, the term mayim is also metaphorically applied to sound counsel by which one may be saved from distress, as it is said: “Counsel in man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out” (Proverbs 20:5).

From all this, it becomes clear what is indicated by the term mayim: at times it is used in a general sense for all bodies, both upper and lower together; at times for the celestial bodies alone; at times for the four elements; and at times for elemental water alone. Thus it is said: “And God made the expanse and it separated between the water that was below the expanse and the water that was above the expanse, and it was so.” (Genesis 1:7).

And after clarifying these shared usages and meanings of the term, I shall proceed—with the help of the Lord God—to explain the verses of this section according to the different approaches, and to resolve the questions I have raised.

And now he comes to explain the passage:

“In the beginning, God created…” (Genesis 1:1).

According to what I have explained regarding the equivocal use of the word bereshit (“in the beginning”), which may refer either to a principle or foundation—being a part of the thing itself, as explained by Maimonides—or to the “now,” which is the beginning of time, even though it is not itself time, this verse may be explained in one of two ways.

The first approach is that the bet of bereshit serves in the sense of “with.”² Thus, the verse would mean: “the heavens and the earth, together with their beginning and their initial principle, were all created”—that is, brought into existence from absolute nothingness, as is indicated by the term bara (“created”), according to the first interpretation I have set forth. Elohim refers to the First Emanator, acting with absolute power.

The divine Torah found it necessary to establish this statement at its very beginning, because among those who denied the creation of the world, some rejected it entirely, claiming that the heavens and the earth are eternal, having no temporal beginning—this being the view of Aristotle and his followers. Others admitted that the heavens and the earth were brought into existence, but maintained that they were formed from pre-existing matter—this being the opinion of Plato and the earlier thinkers.

In order to refute both of these false positions, the Torah testifies: “In the beginning, God created…”—that is, together with their beginning and their very principle, which is their matter, God created both the higher and the lower realms, without there being any pre-existent reality whatsoever apart from Him. This is the first interpretation.

The second approach is that the divine Torah establishes in this verse three fundamental principles that overturn and destroy three erroneous doctrines held by the philosophers.

The first is their claim that time cannot have a beginning. For they argued that every “now” that might be designated as the beginning of future time is necessarily also the end of past time, and therefore it is impossible for there to be a “now” that is truly the beginning of time without also being the end of what preceded it³.

But the Torah testifies that this is not so. Rather, there was indeed a “now” that constituted an absolute beginning of time, without being the end of any prior time. It is that “now” in which time itself began to exist, and in which the Blessed One created the heavens and the earth. Concerning this it is said: “In the beginning, God created…”—for reshit (beginning) refers to that first “now,” which is called a beginning because it alone is the beginning of future time, without being the end of any past time. This is not the case with all other moments, each of which is both a beginning and an end from different perspectives. It is as if the verse said: “At that moment which was a beginning and not an end, God created the heavens…” This is the first principle⁴.

(Parashat Bereshit — Genesis 1:1, Bereshit as Principle and Beginning in the Commentary of Don Isaac Abarbanel)

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