וְאִשְּׁר֥וּ אֶתְכֶ֖ם כָּל־הַגּוֹיִ֑ם כִּֽי־תִהְי֤וּ אַתֶּם֙ אֶ֣רֶץ חֵ֔פֶץ אָמַ֖ר יְהוָ֥ה צְבָאֽוֹת׃ (ס)
Y todas las gentes os dirán bienaventurados; porque seréis tierra deseable, dice SEÑOR de los ejércitos.
Rashi
And the earth abides forever. But who are the ones who [cause the earth to] endure? The humble and low, who bring themselves down to the ground, as the matter is stated, “But the humble shall inherit the earth.”23Tehillim 37:11. 24Alternatively, unlike generations, that when one passes by, another one comes, the earth does not change. But Midrash Tanchuma states, that all the righteous of Yisroel are called earth [=אֶרֶץ, as it is stated, “for you will be a desirable land.”25Malachi 3:12.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ויבדל אלוקים בין האור ובין החשך G’d separated between the light and the darkness.” According to the plain meaning, the word חשך here refers to the absence of light. It is not the same as the “darkness” which we discussed earlier in connection with the words “the darkness was on the face of the deep (1,2).” We had described that particular brand of darkness as “fire.”
The Torah does not mention the words כי טוב “that it was good,” in connection with the second day. On the third day however, when G’d completed what He had done with the water the Torah mentions the word טוב, “good” twice; the first time the word refers to completion of the creative directives associated with the waters, the second time to express G’d’s satisfaction with the progress achieved on that day itself.
My question concerning this is: Why should the fact that the directives concerning the water on earth had not yet been completed cause the Torah omit to mention that what had been achieved was “good?” Seeing that the skies, as well as the angels had been completed on that day the Torah should have described this as “good?” G’d should have decreed that these phenomena should endure, just as He had in connection with the accomplishments on the first day! None of these achievements appear inferior to the ones which were deemed as deserving to endure as soon as they had been created! I believe that the absence of the word טוב at this juncture is potent proof for the argument that this “lower” terrestrial universe represents G’d’s main purpose in creating the universe. As long as the Jewish people perform the will of G’d, observe what is written in the Torah, our domain is the principal arena of the universe Even though G’d had completed creation of the angels already on the second day, that day was not distinguished by the description “good” being applied to it. Nothing in the celestial regions qualified for permanence until the waters in the terrestrial world had been separated from the dry land when G’d gave that directive on the third day and said: יקוו המים מתחת השמים אל מקום אחד ותראה היבשה “let the waters which are below the heaven congregate in one area so that the dry land becomes visible.” Once this directive had been carried out, the heaven, i.e. the celestial regions, qualified for permanence. At that point the Torah saw fit to describe the creation of the celestial regions as being “good.”
Our sages summarise their commentary on this paragraph in Bereshit Rabbah 5,7 as follows: “seeing the work involving the waters had not yet been completed, because it had not been completed in the terrestrial regions, the Torah did not want to mention that the creation of the celestial regions was “good.” We see from here that the terrestrial part of the universe is the principal part of existence. Perhaps this is the reason that the dry land was called ארץ, seeing it was this region which completes carrying out G’d’s will and His intention when creating a physical existence, His intention when creating a physical existence, מציאות . [I believe that what is meant here is that the last two letters in the word ארץ are an abbreviation of the word רצון, pointing to G’d’s will, whereas the first letter א may allude to G’d as the אחד, the One and Only Unique One. Ed.] The author attributes his conclusions by pointing to Maleachi 3,12 who speaks about ארץ חפץ, the implication being that “earth performs the will of the Lord.”
We also find in connection with the fourth day in the paragraph “let there be luminaries in the sky of the heaven,” that the Torah clearly hints that that the luminaries were created only for the sake of being useful in this terrestrial world. This is what is meant by the words (1,15) להאיר על הארץ, “to provide light on earth.” This proves that the creatures of the celestial regions, though great and mighty in stature, nonetheless have been created only for the sake of the creatures in the “lower” regions of the universe. I have further proof from the mouth of Moses himself who has said in (Deut. 10,14 ) הן לה' אלוקיך השמים ושמי השמים ”indeed the heavens as well as the heaven of the heavens belong to the Lord.” The fact that Moses mentioned the “heaven” of our lower regions, i.e. the sky first, indicates that he considered it as more important to G’d than the celestial “heaven.” All these comments by our sages are homiletical comment in Sanhedrin 93, where they phrased is as: “the righteous are greater than the ministering angels of G’d.”
The Torah does not mention the words כי טוב “that it was good,” in connection with the second day. On the third day however, when G’d completed what He had done with the water the Torah mentions the word טוב, “good” twice; the first time the word refers to completion of the creative directives associated with the waters, the second time to express G’d’s satisfaction with the progress achieved on that day itself.
My question concerning this is: Why should the fact that the directives concerning the water on earth had not yet been completed cause the Torah omit to mention that what had been achieved was “good?” Seeing that the skies, as well as the angels had been completed on that day the Torah should have described this as “good?” G’d should have decreed that these phenomena should endure, just as He had in connection with the accomplishments on the first day! None of these achievements appear inferior to the ones which were deemed as deserving to endure as soon as they had been created! I believe that the absence of the word טוב at this juncture is potent proof for the argument that this “lower” terrestrial universe represents G’d’s main purpose in creating the universe. As long as the Jewish people perform the will of G’d, observe what is written in the Torah, our domain is the principal arena of the universe Even though G’d had completed creation of the angels already on the second day, that day was not distinguished by the description “good” being applied to it. Nothing in the celestial regions qualified for permanence until the waters in the terrestrial world had been separated from the dry land when G’d gave that directive on the third day and said: יקוו המים מתחת השמים אל מקום אחד ותראה היבשה “let the waters which are below the heaven congregate in one area so that the dry land becomes visible.” Once this directive had been carried out, the heaven, i.e. the celestial regions, qualified for permanence. At that point the Torah saw fit to describe the creation of the celestial regions as being “good.”
Our sages summarise their commentary on this paragraph in Bereshit Rabbah 5,7 as follows: “seeing the work involving the waters had not yet been completed, because it had not been completed in the terrestrial regions, the Torah did not want to mention that the creation of the celestial regions was “good.” We see from here that the terrestrial part of the universe is the principal part of existence. Perhaps this is the reason that the dry land was called ארץ, seeing it was this region which completes carrying out G’d’s will and His intention when creating a physical existence, His intention when creating a physical existence, מציאות . [I believe that what is meant here is that the last two letters in the word ארץ are an abbreviation of the word רצון, pointing to G’d’s will, whereas the first letter א may allude to G’d as the אחד, the One and Only Unique One. Ed.] The author attributes his conclusions by pointing to Maleachi 3,12 who speaks about ארץ חפץ, the implication being that “earth performs the will of the Lord.”
We also find in connection with the fourth day in the paragraph “let there be luminaries in the sky of the heaven,” that the Torah clearly hints that that the luminaries were created only for the sake of being useful in this terrestrial world. This is what is meant by the words (1,15) להאיר על הארץ, “to provide light on earth.” This proves that the creatures of the celestial regions, though great and mighty in stature, nonetheless have been created only for the sake of the creatures in the “lower” regions of the universe. I have further proof from the mouth of Moses himself who has said in (Deut. 10,14 ) הן לה' אלוקיך השמים ושמי השמים ”indeed the heavens as well as the heaven of the heavens belong to the Lord.” The fact that Moses mentioned the “heaven” of our lower regions, i.e. the sky first, indicates that he considered it as more important to G’d than the celestial “heaven.” All these comments by our sages are homiletical comment in Sanhedrin 93, where they phrased is as: “the righteous are greater than the ministering angels of G’d.”
Rabbeinu Bahya
In Yaakov’s dream G’d immediately added the words “and you will spread out to the west, to the east, to the north and to the south, to make plain that the mention of “dust” was to be interpreted positively as the dust of the earth endures forever. Similarly, Yaakov’s descendants would endure forever.