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Ibn Ezra has already written that the term neshamah properly applies only to the intellectual soul. How fitting, then, that Scripture says, “the souls I have made”, in the past tense, while saying, “the spirit from before Me shall be enwrapped”, in the future tense. This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself made the intellectual souls at the beginning of Creation, whereas the vital spirits continue to arise from that which is before Him, since such spirits are continually coming into being with the generation of living creatures.
It was concerning this that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Job in His rebuke, “and whose breath emerged from you?”1 (Job 26:4). Solomon likewise said, “Man’s soul is the Lord’s lamp...”2 (Proverbs 20:27), indicating that souls proceed from Him: He Himself kindles those lamps, and not some other separate intellect. For this reason you will find that Elijah and Elisha did not pray concerning any of the other miracles they performed as they prayed for the resurrection of the son of the woman of Zarephath and the son of the Shunammite woman3. For the bestowal of intellectual forms belongs specifically to God, blessed be He, and those prophets had no power to restore them to bodies. They therefore prayed to Him, blessed be He, that He should bestow those souls there once more.
One should not object to this from the words of the prophet Isaiah, “Who gave a soul to the people upon it and a spirit to those who walk thereon”4 (Isaiah 42:5), where both the giving of the spirit and that of the soul are attributed alike to Hashem. For there the prophet is speaking specifically from the perspective of the original Creation, as the beginning of the verse itself demonstrates: “So said God the Lord, the Creator of the heavens and the One Who stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and what springs forth from it”. That is to say: when He created the heavens and those who stretch them out—the separate intellects—He Himself, without any intermediary, bestowed the soul upon the people who would inhabit the earth, namely human beings; and He likewise bestowed the vital spirit upon those who walk upon it, namely all living creatures.
After the First Cause, blessed be He, decreed the gathering of the waters and the appearance of the dry land, He decreed concerning the composite beings that were to arise upon it, for He did not create it to remain desolate; He formed it to be inhabited.
This is indeed so, for all the souls bestowed upon living creatures and human beings during the work of Creation were bestowed by the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself. Thereafter, however, the natural order of generation was established by His decree: the bestowal of vital spirits upon living creatures was entrusted to a separate intellect that stands before Him, blessed be He, whereas the rational soul always proceeds directly from Him, blessed be He, as I have explained. This is the second philosophical principle.
The Gathering of the Waters and the Appearance of the Dry Land
After explaining these two philosophical principles, I shall now interpret the verses and answer the questions raised concerning them. After the First Cause, blessed be He, decreed the gathering of the waters and the appearance of the dry land, He decreed concerning the composite beings that were to arise upon it, for He did not create it to remain desolate; He formed it to be inhabited5.
Scripture makes no mention of the formation of vapors and exhalations or of the things generated from them in the air, because these arise solely from the nature of earth and water. Neither does it mention inanimate substances and metals, since the elements themselves, through their inherent powers, were sufficient to generate them. No divine declaration was therefore made concerning their formation, for all their forms arise from the power of matter and not from an external agent, as has been explained. A distinct divine declaration was required only for the first principles of generated things or for the formation of beings possessing a soul.
Since all plants possess a soul, the earth, through its matter and inherent power alone, was not sufficient to produce them without a divine declaration imparting to it the power to bring forth its vegetation. Hence Scripture says, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth vegetation”6 (Genesis 1:11). Since the luminaries did not yet exist, Hashem imparted His power to the earth so that it might itself bring forth plants and vegetation without the assistance of any external agent. After the luminaries had been made, however, they became the agents that bestowed the forms of all plants, as has been explained. The fifth question is thereby resolved7.
Parashat Bereshit — Genesis 1:11-13, The Lamp Kindled by God in the Commentary of Don Isaac Abarbanel)
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