“Because the Lord God did not cause it to rain upon the earth” – it mentions a complete name10Lord God. in association with a completed world.11In the verse “These are the outgrowths…on the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens” (Genesis 2:4). That is the first time this full name of God is used. Rabbi Ḥilfai said: Just as it mentions a complete name for a complete world [in that verse],so it mentions a complete name [here,] regarding rainfall.
Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai said: Three matters are of equal importance to one another, and they are: Earth [eretz], man [adam], and rain [matar]. Rabbi Levi bar Ḥiyya said: The three of them are each of three letters, to teach you that if there is no earth there is no rain, and if there is no rain there is no earth, and without the two of them, there is no man.