Tafsiran Kejadian 2:1: Da'at Zekenim, Ramban, Ibn Ezra & Sforno

ויכלו, “they had been completed;” whence does the practice to recite this paragraph during kiddush while standing originate? It is because this paragraph is a testimony, and testimony must always be given while the witness is standing. (Compare Maimonides laws about testimony, chapter 9, halachah 7 stating that minors are not acceptable as witnesses as it is required that two men, i.e. adults, stand when testifying,” i.e. ועמדו שני האנשים, “the two adult witnesses shall be standing, etc.”) (Deut 19,17). We are taught further in the Talmud tractate Shabbat folio 119, that when a Jew returns home from the synagogue on Friday night, and he recites this paragraph, two angels will place their hands upon his head and bless him, saying: “may all your sins be removed from you, and may you enjoy complete atonement.” If you were to ask where we can find this line in scripture? We refer you to Leviticus 5,8, where testimony is discussed, and the Torah condemns someone who knows of something that he is required to testify to, but refuses to give such testimony. It says there that by failing to give his testimony, he will have to bear his sin. It follows that testifying truthfully results in one’s sins being removed. Giving testimony that the Lord has created the universe in six days concluding on Friday night, by reciting this paragraph while standing, is such testimony.

AND ALL THE HOST OF THEM. “The host of the earth” are those which have been mentioned: beasts, creeping things, fish, and all growing things, and also man. “The host of the heavens” are the two luminaries and the stars, mentioned above, just as it is written: And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven.²³⁶Deuteronomy 4:19. It also includes the Separate Intelligences,²³⁷Intelligences without matter, generally referring to the angels and spheres. See Rambam, Hilchoth Yesodei Hatorah 3:9. Also Moreh Nebuchim, I, 49: “The angels are likewise incorporeal; they are intelligences without matter, etc.” (Friedlander’s translation.) just as it is written: I saw the Eternal sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him;²³⁸I Kings 22:19. also, The Eternal will punish the host of the high heaven on high.²³⁹Isaiah 24:21. It is here [in the expression, all the host of them], that He has hinted at the formation of the angels in the work of creation. Similarly, the souls of men are included in the host of heaven.²⁴⁰Ramban is thus inferring that the souls of all men of all generations were created at the beginning of creation. This thought is clearly expressed in the other writings of Ramban. (See Ramban’s letter to Rabbeinu Yonah, Kithvei Haramban, Vol. I, 383. See also in same volume his Commentary to Job 38:21, p. 117).

This belongs to the [passive] verb form in which the subject is not mentioned, as in "all the mountains were covered." The meaning here is "they were completed." The ocean is included in "the land" specified in this verse, as they are one unit.