“God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” – Rabbi Yoḥanan said: When a flesh-and-blood king builds a palace, he looks at the upper levels in one glance and at the lower levels in another glance. But the Holy One blessed be He looks at the supernal and the earthly all in one glance. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: “Behold, it was very good” – this is this world. “And, behold, it was very good”3The addition of the word “and” is to introduce a second object. – this is the World to Come.
The Holy One blessed be He looked at this world and the World to Come in one glance. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said in the name of Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya: “Alas! My Lord God, behold, You made the heavens and the earth with Your great power and with Your outstretched arm; there is nothing that is obscured from You” (Jeremiah 32:17). From that moment on, there is nothing that is obscured from You.4Every act in history, since the creation of heaven and earth, is known by God.
Rabbi Ḥagai said in the name of Rabbi Yitzḥak: “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the Lord seeks all hearts, and understands all inclinations of thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be accessible to you, but if you forsake Him, He will abandon you forever” (I Chronicles 28:9). Even before a thought is formed in a person’s heart, it is already revealed before Him.5Most Hebrew texts have “before You”; see Rashash.
Rabbi Yudan said in the name of Rabbi Yitzḥak: Before a creature is created, his thought is already revealed before Him. Rabbi Yudan himself said: “Even when there is no speech on my tongue, behold, Lord, You know it all” (Psalms 139:4) – even before one’s tongue utters a word, already, “behold, Lord, You know it all.”