אֵ֣לֶּה תוֹלְד֧וֹת הַשָּׁמַ֛יִם וְהָאָ֖רֶץ בְּהִבָּֽרְאָ֑ם בְּי֗וֹם עֲשׂ֛וֹת יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶ֥רֶץ וְשָׁמָֽיִם׃
這是天地被創造時的來歷：在永恆者上帝造地和天的那一日。
Rashi
אלה THESE [ARE THE GENERATIONS] — “These” means those that are mentioned above.
Ramban
THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH WHEN THEY WERE CREATED. Scripture now relates the account of the heaven and the earth as regards rain and growth after they had been created and put in proper order, that the heavens shall give their dew276Zechariah 8:12. and rain, and the ground shall give her increase,276Zechariah 8:12. these making possible the existence of all living beings. And in the word b’hibaram (when they were created) — [which could be read as if it were two words: b’hei baram] — Scripture alludes to what the Rabbis have said:277Menachoth 29b., “He created them with the letter hei” [which is the last of the four letters of the Tetragrammaton]. It is for this reason that Scripture until this point mentioned only the word Elokim. This is explained in the verse: For all these things hath My hand made;278Isaiah 66:2. The last letter (hei) of the Tetragrammaton is in the Cabala considered the yad hashem (the hand of G-d). See my Hebrew commentary, p. 32. and so did Job say, Who knoweth not among all these, that the hand of the Eternal hath wrought this?279Job 12:9. This being so, the expression, in the day that the Eternal G-d made, refers covertly to the word bereshith (in the beginning).280See Ramban above at the end of 1:1 and see also Note 64.
Radak
אלה תולדות השמים והארץ, the word אלה refers to the phenomena mentioned during the 6 “days” of creation. Even though we have been told that G’d created the universe, as is clear from the verbs ויברא and ויעש all referring to G’d Himself doing these things, so where did the derivatives, תולדות come from? The Torah means that indeed G’d had created all these, but He had employed intermediaries, i.e. heaven and earth to whom He had issued directives. In Bereshit Rabbah 12,7 we are told לכל יש תולדות, everything has derivatives. We know that heaven and earth have derivatives. Rain has derivatives as it says in Job 38,28 do you know who is the father of rain, do you know who sired dew? [The concept being described is that none of these phenomena created themselves but were the product of something preceding them. Hence all phenomena that we perceive are derivatives of heaven or earth, which alone had been created by G’d directly, without intermediaries. Ed.]
Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said that pearls are derivatives of dew; he referred to the bedolach mentioned in verse 12 of our chapter. Basically, the message of our verse is that everything that does produce derivatives, offspring, is itself slated to die and to disintegrate. This fact is proof that it is a creature and not a creator. On the other hand, if a phenomenon in the universe does not produce derivatives, this is proof that the phenomenon is not mortal, not subject to dissolution but that we are faced with a Creator and not a creature. Rabbi Azaryah in the name of Rabbi added that Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish’s comment was directed toward heaven, i.e. seeing that G’d is eternal and not subject to disintegration He needs no derivatives, “offspring” in order to perpetuate Himself. Everything which is a visible phenomenon is a derivative of either heaven or earth, seeing that the Torah commenced with the words בראשית ברא אלוקים את השמים ואת הארץ “First, G’d created heaven and earth.”
בהבראם, on the very day G’d created the heaven it already began to produce derivatives . This is the meaning of the words: ביום עשות ה' אלוקים ארץ ושמים. This is a reference to the day on which G’d confirmed that heaven was to be the upper waters, rakia, and earth was to be the dry land, yabashah. Starting with that day, heaven and earth each produced derivatives, i.e. a process of evolution began, one that followed rules set by G’d. The meaning of the word ביום is that this occurred simultaneously, i.e. both heaven and earth began this process on the same day, as we explained on Genesis 1,6. Our sages explained the reason for the minuscule letter ה in the word בהבראם as meaning that G’d had used the letter ה as His agent in creating the physical universe. (Bereshit Rabbah 12,10.) The peculiarity of that letter is that all the other letters in the Hebrew alphabet demand an effort to pronounce them, whereas the letter ה demands no effort. The use of this letter here symbolises that the work involved in creating the physical universe did not cause fatigue, etc., to the Creator.
ה' אלוקים, this combination of two names to describe G’d occurs here for the first time, not having occurred during the report of the creation. Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 13,3 explain it as appropriate saying that now that the universe was complete, also G’d’s name had to be spelled out in full. Ibn Ezra writes (in his book יסוד מורא chapter 12 page 42) that seeing that in this world nothing is permanent and enduring except the soul of man, as long as man did not exist there was no point in revealing another facet to G’d’s name. The only aspect of G’d’s essence which was revealed until that point was the attribute of Justice, i.e. the attribute designed to instill awe in the creatures whom He had created.
The superior soul of man is called לב, heart; but the heart is both גוף and something over and beyond merely a physical organ pumping blood. It is called by a name describing something physical, seeing it is the original organ combining spiritual and physical features. Seeing that also all of G’d’s activities had been implemented by means of angels, disembodied agents at home in the celestial spheres, these angels bear His name אלוקים. The name Hashem was co-opted on account of man, i.e. on account of the superior essence of man, the soul, which is of an enduring eternal nature. Man, after all, represented the purpose of G’d creating the entire universe. There is a reason why the name Hashem has not simply replaced the attribute אלוקים used by the Torah to describe the Creator until now, until the birth of Kayin (man’s first derivative, תולדה). We will have more to say on this on chapter 4,1.
Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said that pearls are derivatives of dew; he referred to the bedolach mentioned in verse 12 of our chapter. Basically, the message of our verse is that everything that does produce derivatives, offspring, is itself slated to die and to disintegrate. This fact is proof that it is a creature and not a creator. On the other hand, if a phenomenon in the universe does not produce derivatives, this is proof that the phenomenon is not mortal, not subject to dissolution but that we are faced with a Creator and not a creature. Rabbi Azaryah in the name of Rabbi added that Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish’s comment was directed toward heaven, i.e. seeing that G’d is eternal and not subject to disintegration He needs no derivatives, “offspring” in order to perpetuate Himself. Everything which is a visible phenomenon is a derivative of either heaven or earth, seeing that the Torah commenced with the words בראשית ברא אלוקים את השמים ואת הארץ “First, G’d created heaven and earth.”
בהבראם, on the very day G’d created the heaven it already began to produce derivatives . This is the meaning of the words: ביום עשות ה' אלוקים ארץ ושמים. This is a reference to the day on which G’d confirmed that heaven was to be the upper waters, rakia, and earth was to be the dry land, yabashah. Starting with that day, heaven and earth each produced derivatives, i.e. a process of evolution began, one that followed rules set by G’d. The meaning of the word ביום is that this occurred simultaneously, i.e. both heaven and earth began this process on the same day, as we explained on Genesis 1,6. Our sages explained the reason for the minuscule letter ה in the word בהבראם as meaning that G’d had used the letter ה as His agent in creating the physical universe. (Bereshit Rabbah 12,10.) The peculiarity of that letter is that all the other letters in the Hebrew alphabet demand an effort to pronounce them, whereas the letter ה demands no effort. The use of this letter here symbolises that the work involved in creating the physical universe did not cause fatigue, etc., to the Creator.
ה' אלוקים, this combination of two names to describe G’d occurs here for the first time, not having occurred during the report of the creation. Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 13,3 explain it as appropriate saying that now that the universe was complete, also G’d’s name had to be spelled out in full. Ibn Ezra writes (in his book יסוד מורא chapter 12 page 42) that seeing that in this world nothing is permanent and enduring except the soul of man, as long as man did not exist there was no point in revealing another facet to G’d’s name. The only aspect of G’d’s essence which was revealed until that point was the attribute of Justice, i.e. the attribute designed to instill awe in the creatures whom He had created.
The superior soul of man is called לב, heart; but the heart is both גוף and something over and beyond merely a physical organ pumping blood. It is called by a name describing something physical, seeing it is the original organ combining spiritual and physical features. Seeing that also all of G’d’s activities had been implemented by means of angels, disembodied agents at home in the celestial spheres, these angels bear His name אלוקים. The name Hashem was co-opted on account of man, i.e. on account of the superior essence of man, the soul, which is of an enduring eternal nature. Man, after all, represented the purpose of G’d creating the entire universe. There is a reason why the name Hashem has not simply replaced the attribute אלוקים used by the Torah to describe the Creator until now, until the birth of Kayin (man’s first derivative, תולדה). We will have more to say on this on chapter 4,1.