“You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin; and you shall not go out, each from the door of his house, until the morning” (Exodus 12:22). “You shall take a bunch of hyssop” – that is what is written: “Everything the Lord has done is for His purpose” (Proverbs 16:4). You find that everything that the Holy One blessed be He created during the six days of Creation, He created only for His glory and to perform His will with them.
On the first day, He created the heavens and the earth, and He created them, too, for His glory, as it is stated: “So said the Lord, the heavens are My throne” (Isaiah 66:1), and it says: “The heavens relate the glory of God” (Psalms 19:2). Likewise, the light that He created was for His glory, as it is written: “He covers Himself with light as with a garment” (Psalms 104:2). What was created on the second day?
The firmament, and He created it for His glory, so that the angels would stand there and laud him, as it is stated: “Praise Him in the firmament of His power” (Psalms 150:1). What did He create on the third day? Grasses and trees, and we found that the grasses laud the Holy One blessed be He as it is stated: “They shout for joy, they even sing” (Psalms 65:14). From where is it derived that the same is true of the trees?
It is as it is stated: “Then the trees of the forest will sing before the Lord” (I Chronicles 16:33). You find that the Holy One blessed be He issued a command to perform mitzvot with the trees. Regarding the red heifer, He issued a command to cast into its conflagration cedar wood and hyssop; He issued a command to perform the sprinkling of the waters of sprinkling with hyssop;1After the red heifer is burned, its ashes are mixed with spring water and a priest uses hyssop to sprinkle the mixture on people or objects that have become impure due to contact with a corpse.
See Numbers 19:17–18. and He commanded to perform the purification of the leper with cedar wood and hyssop. Likewise, in Egypt, He issued a command to apply the blood to the lintel and the two doorposts with hyssop, as it is stated: “You shall take a bunch of hyssop.” Likewise, He created the water on the third day, as He collected it from covering the earth. From there, His laudation ascends, as it is stated: “From the sound of much water, the mighty breakers of the sea, [the Lord on high is mighty]” (Psalms 93:4).
What was created on the fourth day? The lights, and He created them for His glory, as it is stated: “Praise Him, sun and moon; [praise Him, all stars of light]” (Psalms 148:3). On the fifth day, He created the birds for His glory, to sacrifice an offering from them, as it is stated: “If his offering is a burnt offering from the birds…” (Leviticus 1:14). What was created on the sixth day?
Animals, for His glory, and He commanded to sacrifice an offering from them, as it is stated: “A person among you who sacrifices an offering to the Lord from the animal, from the cattle” (Leviticus 1:2). And He created man for His glory, as it is stated: “Praise the Lord, from the earth, sea creatures…[young men…elders…let them praise the name of the Lord]” (Psalms 148:7, 12–13); that is: “Everything the Lord has done is for His purpose.”