39. Bereshit — Abarbanel on the Torah, Section 39

Creation from Nothing and the Refutation of Emanation

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The second principle concerns the nature and reality of creation itself. The philosophers were unable to conceive that something could come into being except from something else; in their view, the coming-into-being of something from nothing was false. But the divine Torah bears witness to the existence of such a reality in stating: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”—that is, although within the course of natural generation nothing comes into being except from something else, at the beginning of time and its origin, the Holy One, blessed be He, brought into existence not from anything, but after absolute non-being. This is what is indicated by the term bara, according to the interpretation I have given: that the higher and lower realms were all brought into existence by His absolute power, after complete non-existence¹.

I have already explained in my work Mif‘alot Elohim² that the coming-into-being of something from nothing, when considered philosophically, is not in itself impossible with respect to the divine Agent, blessed be He; and likewise, that it is not impossible for there to exist a first “now” that is the beginning of time without being its end. There, I have responded, on philosophical grounds, to the arguments advanced by the philosophers against these principles. This is the second principle.

The third principle is that the philosophers held that, since God is One, only one effect can proceed directly from Him. According to them, He produces only the first of the separate intellects, from which proceeds the second, then the sphere, and so on, such that beings multiply through a chain of emanation, as is reported in their name by Maimonides (Part II, chapter 2). Even according to the view found in Bereishit Rabbah, which distances itself somewhat from the strict path of emanation, there is no doubt that the Holy One, blessed be He, exercises providence and influence first in the world of the separate intellects, then secondarily—through them—in the celestial world, and thirdly—through all of these—in the lower world³.

And it was regarded by them all as false that anything material could proceed directly from the First, blessed be He, without an intermediary⁴. To refute this view, the Torah testifies: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1)—that is, God, the First Emanator, possessing absolute power, created bereshit—that is, in a primary and direct manner, not secondarily and not through a chain of emanation—the heavens, a term that includes the separate intellects according to their levels, as well as the celestial sphere, which is the abode of the spiritual beings; and also the earth, which is exceedingly material, encompassing the four elements.

Thus, the relation of the earth to the First Cause, blessed be He, in its coming-into-being after non-existence, is the same as that of the intellectual heavens—the first movers and moved beings—in their creation: both were brought into existence by Him directly, from absolute nothingness, without any intermediary.

Accordingly, in this interpretation, the word bereshit refers to the first “now,” which is the beginning and not the end of time; and it also expresses the relation of the effect to its cause—that is, that it proceeds from Him directly and primarily, without intermediary. The term bara indicates the bringing-into-being of existence from nothing, and the emergence of actuality after complete non-existence, as I have established at the outset. The name “Elohim” signifies the “First Emanator”, endowed with absolute power and all capacities. “The heavens” refers to the separate intellects in their various levels, as well as to the first moving celestial sphere; and “the earth” includes the encompassing material body that contains the four elements, both light and heavy, all of which are designated by the name “earth.”

With this interpretation of the verse, the first question is resolved⁵. For when it is said, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” this does not mean that all upper and lower beings—simple and composite—were created in their complete actuality, nor does it refer to primordial potential matter alone. Rather, the verse teaches that at the beginning of time, the Holy One, blessed be He, brought into existence from absolute nothingness the separate intellects, the celestial sphere, and likewise the four elements contained within it, all in a state of mixture and without differentiation.

The other spheres, the luminaries, and the composite beings formed from the elements were not created in their actualized state on the first day. Rather, He implanted within those initial principles created at the beginning the power to bring forth, in the subsequent days, the rest of the generated beings, as will be explained.

In this way, the second question is also resolved⁶: as I have explained, the term “heavens” includes all the separate intellects as well as the highest sphere that serves as their abode. I have already demonstrated that this was the view of some of the Sages of Israel. It follows, then, that the creation of the angels is mentioned in the Torah as having taken place on the first day, prior to all other things—although some Sages held that they were created on the second or the fifth day, and were led to that view in order to avoid saying that they assisted in the making of the heavens and the earth, as I have already explained.

(Parashat Bereshit — Genesis 1:1, Creation from Nothing and the Refutation of Emanation in the Commentary of Don Isaac Abarbanel)

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