Nachmanides, in his classic commentary, explains that the divine creation of the cosmos and everything within them so vastly supersedes mankind's experience and comprehension that the Torah could only outline the process of creation ex nihilo in the most abstract terms, applying terms like "higher waters" to represent the celestial spheres and "light" to describe the primordial spiritual radiance that is the source of all physical existence. The light of photons produced by the release of energy from the stellar fusion of hydrogen atoms into helium did indeed begin on the fourth day with the creation of our sun, but this was not the light of creation, merely a physical manifestation and a shallow reflection of the eternal light that makes both physical and spiritual illumination possible.

# posted by Squach : 8:17 PM   |