Kaisipang Hudyo sa Genesis 42:10: Akeidat Yitzchak

(1) The entire story begun here extends until the second report of the creation of man and his placement in gan eden. In this way, man is indeed the consequence of, i.e. the "descendant" of "heaven and earth." The Torah thus justifies the creation of vegetation-- though in suspended animation-- by the eventual appearance of man on the scene. This also explains why the word "earth" is mentioned at the end of the verse before the word "heaven." "Earth" is mentioned first since it was to serve as the center of man's activities, his home base, so to speak. The whole paragraph then is introduced by the statement "These were the results of heaven and earth, which G-d had planned for since the day He first created earth and heaven." Although vegetation did indeed exist, it did not function normally until the "descendants," i.e. man was around to benefit therefrom. For why would G-d cause rain to fall as long as there was as yet no man to toil the earth?" (2) The Torah then makes the point that man is a creature combining all four basic elements in his composition. On the one hand this makes him mortal, since such combinations cannot endure forever, on the other hand he has been endowed with the essence of immortality via his soul. The mist which rose from the earth served to combine fire, water and wind when it settles on the earth. Thus it combines with the fourth basic element, earth. When man was formed, this fusion with earth from which he had been formed had already been achieved. The personal involvement of G-d expressed by "Let Us make man" is what imbued man with the potential of everlasting life. Our sages have interpreted the use of the letter yud twice in the word vayyitzer, He fashioned, as referring to two creations of man, the finite (mortal) and the potentially infinite (immortal). From this point onwards, the Torah deals with the purpose of creation. (3-6) Because of the centrality of man in G-d’s plans, all the means necessary to achieve the end have been listed prior to the main event of creation, that of the making of Adam.