Comentario citado sobre Génesis 1:9

Solomon compared wisdom which is a spiritual delight to honey which is a physical delight. This is a method Solomon employs in most of his parables in the Book of Proverbs. His purpose is to teach man to relate his spirit, his intellect, to his nature. Seeing that man is made up of a physical part and a spiritual, disembodied part, the only way he can relate the one to the other is by the use of the parable. Comparisons between the physical and the spiritual have to be illustrated for man in order for him to comprehend their validity.
We know that the phenomena in this terrestrial world are comprised of four distinct categories, beginning with the lowest, most primitive form and culminating in the most sophisticated creature. The most primitive category of physical phenomena are the ones called דומם, inert objects such as stones, etc. Such objects do not possess any degree of mobility. The next higher category are plants; they are rooted in the earth but grow both vertically and horizontally. Next in terms of sophistication are all living, mobile creatures; finally the most sophisticated physical phenomenon is man inasmuch as only he can communicate his thoughts and feelings by means of language. Man’s advantage over other mammals is not his physical mobility but his intelligence. You will find the report in the Torah of the progress of creation of the universe in Genesis describe the creation of the inert, followed by the creation of vegetation, followed by the report of the emergence of a variety of more and more sophisticated forms of life, and only at the very end does the Torah describe the creation of man, G’d’s crowning handiwork. Only of man does the Torah report that he reflected part of the Creator Himself, was created “in His image” (Genesis 1,25).
The report of the phenomena in the terrestrial world coming into existence follows the opposite pattern of the report of the phenomena of a celestial (extra-terrestrial) nature. When reporting on the creation of physical phenomena the Torah begins with the lowest, i.e. the mass of dry land becoming visible on the third day (Genesis 1,9), it continues with the report of the creation of vegetable matter (Genesis 1,11), etc., etc., whereas when it comes to describing phenomena in the celestial spheres (or at least in the world of the planets, the galaxies, a world between earth and heaven), the Torah begins with the creation of “light,” followed by the creation of a רקיע, “a firmament,” etc. The luminaries sun and moon, which were placed in orbit on the fourth day are another example of celestial phenomena being created in a descending order of their sophistication or lack of physicality.

He said it at the beginning of the order of the creation of the heavens; and the Rabbis, of blessed memory, explained that the word [shamayim (heavens)] is composed of two things esh (fire) and mayim (water); and from this, God forbid, it gives a hand to the sinners to say that [given that] this is the beginning of the creation, but [yet], God forbid, the Creator did not create the fire and water, since the verse itself informs us that the beginning of the creation was the heavens, and if the waters were created [and not pre-existing], it should have started with their creation. And the Sages, of blessed memory, (Chagigah) preempted these two observations and explained that the structure of the verse is as follows: In the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth, the earth was chaos, etc. - not that the heavens and earth was the beginning of the creations. But the words [of the Sages], of blessed memory's, were not enough to remove the [possibility of] error; since according to their words, why did scripture not inform us later of the creation of water and fire, and dirt and wind. And even though the verse (9) states, "and the waters gathered, etc. and the dry land appeared," it is not understood [from this] that it was created; and more justified is the understanding that it was pre-existing, but that [God] decreed upon it to be revealed when the water gathered.

And you will find that when He wanted to create the heavens, He said (verse 6), "let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters," [meaning] He set its place; but it was already created in the first proclamation. And so [too] with the earth (verse 9) "and the dry land appeared."