I. The Creation of the World (pp. 3–46)
1 Tehillim 90, 391. For further details relating to the pre-existent things, see Excursus I.
2 The Torah is conceived as having emanated from God’s wisdom. Comp. Excursus I.
3 PRE 3. As to God’s taking counsel with the angels and the Torah, comp. also vol. I, pp. 51 and 55. Similarly both Talmudim and the Midrashim frequently speak of God’s court of justice, consisting of the angels as members. Comp. Yerushalmi Berakot 9, 14b; Sanhedrin 1, 18a, and Babli 38b; WR 24.2; BaR 3.4; BR 51.2; ShR 6.1 and 12.4; Shir 1.9; PR 42, 175b; Tan. Wa-Era 16; Tan. B. I, 96, 106; II, 36, 51; Tehillim 119, 497; Yerushalmi Rosh ha-Shanah 2, 58b; ShR 30.18. Tertullian, Adversus Praxean, 16, clearly points to the fact that the legend that the angels were consulted by God with regard to the creation is due to an anti-Christian tendency. Its purpose is to exclude the possibility of assuming that the Trinity is implied wherever the Bible employs the plural in connection with the deity. Comp. notes 10 and 12 on vol. I, pp. 51–53.
4 Raziel 20b and Sode Raza in Yalkut Reubeni on Gen. 1.3, excerpted from an unknown but late midrashic source, since it is a further development of the Haggadot cited in notes 1 and 3 from Tehillim and PRE; comp. Luria on PRE 3, note 25, and vol. I, pp. 51–52.
5 BR 3.7 and 9.2; Koheleth 3.11; Tehillim 34, 245. This is a faint reflection of the view that God formed the world out of eternal chaos, since the legend could not question the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo. Comp. Excursus I. The legend about the nine hundred and seventy-four generations which existed prior to the creation of the world (or cautiously expressed, the generations that God had intended to create), originally presupposed a pre-existent chaos; comp. BR. 28.4; Koheleth 1.15 and 4.3; Shir 4.4; Tehillim 90, 392, and 105, 459; Hagigah 13b; ARN 31, 91; Tan. Lek 11 and Yitro 9; ER
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