הַ֥מְקָרֶֽה בַמַּ֗יִם עֲֽלִיּ֫וֹתָ֥יו הַשָּׂם־עָבִ֥ים רְכוּב֑וֹ הַֽ֝מְהַלֵּ֗ךְ עַל־כַּנְפֵי־רֽוּחַ׃
물에 자기 누각의 들보를 얹으시며 구름으로 자기 수레를 삼으시고 바람 날개로 다니시며
Rashi
they laid its beams Heb. קֵֵֵֵרוּהוּ the intensive conjugation, like “...behold he laid the beams (קֵרָה),” [which appears nowhere in Scripture;] similar to (Ps. 104:3): “Who roofs (הַמְקָרֶה) His upper chambers with water.” The “kuf” of קֵרוּהוּ is not customarily vowelized with a “hirik” in this context because of the “resh” following it, like (ibid. 10:3): “blessed (בֵּרֵךְ)”; (Prov. 17: 5): “blasphemed (חֵרֵף)”; (Gen. 17:16): “I shall bless her (וּבֵרַכְתִּיהָ)”;(Ezek. 29:12): “and I shall scatter them (וּזְרֵתִים) in the lands.”
Ezra ben Solomon
[Ps. 104:3]: “He sets His rafters in the waters” corresponds to the command “Let there be a firmament” created on the second day to “separate water from water” [Gen. 1:6]. The verse from Psalms clarifies that that separation encompassed many matters.161I.e., water is separated from cloud and wind, the entire verse reading: “He sets the rafters of His lofts in the waters, makes the clouds His chariot, moves on the wings of the wind.”
Ezra ben Solomon
[Ps. 104:3]: “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters” [Gen. 1:6] parallels: “Who lays the beams of Your Upper chambers in the waters.”
“Let there be a firmament”: let the firmament expand into the midst of the waters, like the expansion of the soul into form. On the second day, God created the boundaries of space. For this reason, Scripture did not state “it was good” on the second day. For the work of the divine attribute of goodness remained incomplete. Such is the meaning of: “Let the firmament divide the waters from the waters.” The basic act of separation is this division into two: the upper waters and the lower waters. The upper waters are allegorically designated as male: the lower waters as female. This division works out in multifarious details. Consequently, Scripture states: “He builds His upper chambers in the heaven” [Amos 9:6]. For they are constructed as rungs upon rungs, as it is written: “For one higher above the higher, watches” [Eccles. 5:7]. All of these entities are traced, one within the other, each encompassing the other. Thus half of the waters are on high, half are below. So it is said: “Just as the shekhinah is above, is the shekhinah below.”166This quotation is not found in the extant rabbinic sources.
Corresponding to this matter there are eighteen thousand worlds.167b. Avodah Zarah 3b. As David the King states: “God’s chariots are myriads, even thousands upon thousands” [Ps. 68:18]. Having stipulated that God’s chariots are myriads, that is twenty thousand worlds, corresponding to ten sefirot above and ten below, he subtracts two thousand from their number, for they are the nought. All of the above is true. The worlds number twenty thousand. But two thousand are not included in the count, for they are Nought. Each and every world consists of a thousand generations. There are consequently eighteen thousand worlds. The primal essences originate in the mystery of Wisdom and its Cause. For this reason, it is fitting that the phrase “God said” appears but nine times in the narrative of Creation. The tenth is an allusion to the Nought. It appears in the phrase “In the beginning.” It is proper that it not be enunciated.
“Who makes the clouds His riding-mount”: The total of divisions wrought in the upper waters is seventy, excepting that at the center, which makes them seventy-one. Facing them are the lower waters, stamped in their image yet considered but one, leading to a total of seventy-two. This is the meaning of “clouds,”168“Cloud [‘av] is numerically 72. as in “Behold the Lord rides upon a light cloud” [Isa. 19:1] or “Behold I come unto you in a dense cloud” [Exod. 19:9].
The seventy divisions are the five “voices” divided into seven directions, excepting the central one that gives stability to them all and is not one of them. Actually there are six directions, each of them multiplied by ten. That is why “it was good” is said six times in the chapter on creation. This too is why Scripture speaks of “sixty queens” [Cant. 6:1] and “sixty warriors surround it” [Cant. 3:7]. All of this refers to a single matter, as we are to explain. Counting the seventh [central] direction also as ten, they make up seventy. Adding the innermost spiritual direction they are seventy-one. This is the totality of distinctions made on the second day.
Each setting of limits is in fact a division of space. Thus it says of man’s creation that in the second hour He “limited” him. This is like a person who is building up a ruined place; he needs to trace out where he will put the upper stories and the chambers. The building is completed by means of these divisions. That is why division exists.
“He walks upon the wings of the winds”: The blessed Holy One is revealed in and is raised up through the world. His footsteps are known through those attributes, just as the soul’s action is revealed through the body. This is the meaning of “God called the firmament heaven” [Gen. 1:5]. All the names are included in the word “heaven.” Thus Scripture says: “And you hear, O heaven” [II Chron. 6:27], “the Lord, God of heaven” [Neh. 1:8], “He who rides in heaven” [Deut. 33:26].
“Let there be a firmament”: let the firmament expand into the midst of the waters, like the expansion of the soul into form. On the second day, God created the boundaries of space. For this reason, Scripture did not state “it was good” on the second day. For the work of the divine attribute of goodness remained incomplete. Such is the meaning of: “Let the firmament divide the waters from the waters.” The basic act of separation is this division into two: the upper waters and the lower waters. The upper waters are allegorically designated as male: the lower waters as female. This division works out in multifarious details. Consequently, Scripture states: “He builds His upper chambers in the heaven” [Amos 9:6]. For they are constructed as rungs upon rungs, as it is written: “For one higher above the higher, watches” [Eccles. 5:7]. All of these entities are traced, one within the other, each encompassing the other. Thus half of the waters are on high, half are below. So it is said: “Just as the shekhinah is above, is the shekhinah below.”166This quotation is not found in the extant rabbinic sources.
Corresponding to this matter there are eighteen thousand worlds.167b. Avodah Zarah 3b. As David the King states: “God’s chariots are myriads, even thousands upon thousands” [Ps. 68:18]. Having stipulated that God’s chariots are myriads, that is twenty thousand worlds, corresponding to ten sefirot above and ten below, he subtracts two thousand from their number, for they are the nought. All of the above is true. The worlds number twenty thousand. But two thousand are not included in the count, for they are Nought. Each and every world consists of a thousand generations. There are consequently eighteen thousand worlds. The primal essences originate in the mystery of Wisdom and its Cause. For this reason, it is fitting that the phrase “God said” appears but nine times in the narrative of Creation. The tenth is an allusion to the Nought. It appears in the phrase “In the beginning.” It is proper that it not be enunciated.
“Who makes the clouds His riding-mount”: The total of divisions wrought in the upper waters is seventy, excepting that at the center, which makes them seventy-one. Facing them are the lower waters, stamped in their image yet considered but one, leading to a total of seventy-two. This is the meaning of “clouds,”168“Cloud [‘av] is numerically 72. as in “Behold the Lord rides upon a light cloud” [Isa. 19:1] or “Behold I come unto you in a dense cloud” [Exod. 19:9].
The seventy divisions are the five “voices” divided into seven directions, excepting the central one that gives stability to them all and is not one of them. Actually there are six directions, each of them multiplied by ten. That is why “it was good” is said six times in the chapter on creation. This too is why Scripture speaks of “sixty queens” [Cant. 6:1] and “sixty warriors surround it” [Cant. 3:7]. All of this refers to a single matter, as we are to explain. Counting the seventh [central] direction also as ten, they make up seventy. Adding the innermost spiritual direction they are seventy-one. This is the totality of distinctions made on the second day.
Each setting of limits is in fact a division of space. Thus it says of man’s creation that in the second hour He “limited” him. This is like a person who is building up a ruined place; he needs to trace out where he will put the upper stories and the chambers. The building is completed by means of these divisions. That is why division exists.
“He walks upon the wings of the winds”: The blessed Holy One is revealed in and is raised up through the world. His footsteps are known through those attributes, just as the soul’s action is revealed through the body. This is the meaning of “God called the firmament heaven” [Gen. 1:5]. All the names are included in the word “heaven.” Thus Scripture says: “And you hear, O heaven” [II Chron. 6:27], “the Lord, God of heaven” [Neh. 1:8], “He who rides in heaven” [Deut. 33:26].