Tumah
Veteran Member
I thought it would be interesting to show how some commentators approach studying Tanach.
The following is a list of questions on the first chapters asked by three Jewish commentators (the Abarbanel, the Malbi"m and the Gr"a.) edited out for duplicates and other sundry reasons. I chose these three, because they happen to start their commentary by asking a number of questions and then go on to answer them over the chapter.
The following is a list of questions on the first chapters asked by three Jewish commentators (the Abarbanel, the Malbi"m and the Gr"a.) edited out for duplicates and other sundry reasons. I chose these three, because they happen to start their commentary by asking a number of questions and then go on to answer them over the chapter.
- Why is the first word, "In the beginning of" and not, "in the beginning" or "at the start"?
- What's the point of first stating that G-d created the heavens and the earth and then itemizing all the things that were created?
- Psa. 33:6 indicates that the heavens and earth were created with G-d's word, where is the "And G-d said let there be heavens and earth"?
- Why doesn't the verse start "G-d created at the beginning" to reinforce the concept of G-d doing the creation and not the creation appearing on its own?
- Why are the creation of the angels of G-d never mentioned?
- Why does the chapter keep switching between, "created", "formed" and "made"?
- Why is the Tetragrammaton never mentioned?
- Why does the verse here say, "the heavens and the earth" instead of the way it chose at the end of 2:4 without the two "the"?
- Why is the nature of the earth (v2) mentioned before the actual creation of the earth (v9)?
- Similarly the creation of wind/spirit, water, tohu and bohu are never mentioned.
- Why is the earth called "AReTZ" in verses 1 and 2 but "EReTZ" in verse 10?
- Why does it say that the heavens were created on the first day, but the firmament was created on the second day?
- Similarly, why does G-d call the firmament "heavens" when the heavens had already been created on the first day?
- Why does it never say, "and G-d made the light" like it does by the other creations?
- Why only by light does it say, "and G-d saw the light, that it was good" while other days it simply says, "and G-d saw that it was good"?
- Why does the verse choose to say, "and it was evening and it was morning" instead of "and it was night and it was day" or something more general?
- Why does it say that "light" was called "day"? You can get light even during the night.
- Why does the verse indicate that the separation of light and dark was a result of G-d seeing that the light was good?
- What does it mean to "separate" between light and darkness anyway - its not like they can be mixed together?
- Why does the first day end with "one day" instead of sequential counting, "the first day" as the rest of them do?
- Why does verse 6 says, "between water to the water", yet verse 7 says, "between the water... and between the water?
- Why doesn't it say, "And G-d saw that it was good" on the second day?
- Why does it only say, "Let there be" by the light, the firmament and the luminaries?
- Why does G-d call the light, "day", the firmament "heavens", and the dry land "earth"?
- What's the purpose of stating, "it was so" anyway?
- Why does it say by vegetation "that seeds forth seeds" but by trees it says, "that its seeds are in it"?
- Why doesn't it say, "to its kind" in the command verse by vegetation as it does by trees, but by the actual creation it says it by both?
- Why does it say in the command verse "a fruit tree that makes fruit" but in the creation verse "a tree making fruit"?
- When it says "a fruit tree" why does it need to add "that makes fruit"?
- If verse 11 says "and it was so", what's the point of verse 12? The same for verses 24 and 25.
- Why is the creation of the luminaries sandwiched between the creation of the vegetation and the creatures?
- Why is the moon called a "great luminary" when the stars are much bigger than it?
- What does the phrase "in the firmament of the heavens" mean?
- Why does verses 17-18 not include "for signs and season and days and years" as it says in verse 15?
- Why does verse 15 have to tell us that "they should be for luminaries in the firmament of the heaven" when verse 14 already said, "there should be luminaries in the firmament of the heaven"?
- If it already repeated twice that the luminaries would be in the firmament of the heavens and there was a "and it was so", what's the point of repeating a third time, "and G-d put them in the firmament of the heavens"?
- Why does the verse only single out "stars" out of all the luminaries?
- Why by the command does it say, "to separate between the day and between the night" but by the creation it says, "to separate between the light and between the dark"?
- If light was created on the first day, what are the luminaries doing here on day 4?
- Why does the verse first mention the "two great luminaries" and then call them "the great luminary and the small luminary"?
- Why does verse 20 says, "the water should swarm forth with swarming living creatures", but by the animals it says, "the earth should bring forth living creatures."
- What's with the phraseology in "all the living creatures that creep that were swarmed forth [by the] water"?
- Why does it never say, "and it was so" after any of the creations of the fifth day?
- What's with the extra word "saying" in the verse "And G-d blessed them saying, 'be fruitful and multiply'"?
- And why by man does it say, "and G-d blessed them and G-d said to them" as opposed to the format above?
- Why are the animals of the sea blessed but not the animals of the land?
- Why is the blessing to be fruitful written in the imperative form?
- What's with the phrase "let us make man"?
- Why does verse 26 say man will have dominion over animals of the land but that's not mentioned in the blessing of verse 28?
- Why does verse 27 have to repeat, "and G-d created man in His shadow" and "in the shadow of G-d He created him"?
- Why does verse 27 switch from "him" to "them".
- Verse 29 starts off with "And G-d said" and ends with "and it was so" as all the other creationary verses do, but no new creation was indicated in that verse.
- What's with the phrase, "greens vegetation" in verse 30 (both of which essentially mean the same thing)?
- Why does it keep mentioning "vegetation that seeds" but never says "greens that seed"?
- Why does it never say "and G-d saw that it was good" by man, but instead says the more general "and G-d saw everything that He did and behold it was very good"?