The Light Of The First Day

And Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: Ten things were created on the first day, and these are they: the heavens and the earth, formlessness and void, light and darkness, wind and water, the measure of day and the measure of night. The heavens and the earth, as it is written: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). Formlessness and void, as it is written: "And the earth was formless and void" (Genesis 1:2). Light and darkness; darkness, as it is written: "And darkness was upon the face of the deep" (Genesis 1:2); light, as it is written: "And God said, Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3). Wind and water, as it is written: "And the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2). The measure of day and the measure of night, as it is written: "And there was evening and there was morning, one day" (Genesis 1:5). And was the light created on the first day? But it is written: "And God set them in the firmament of the heavens" (Genesis 1:17), and it is written: "And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day" (Genesis 1:19)! This is in accordance with Rabbi Elazar. For Rabbi Elazar said: The light that the Holy One, blessed be He, created on the first day, a person could see by it from one end of the world to the other. When the Holy One, blessed be He, looked upon the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Dispersion and saw that their deeds were corrupt, He arose and hid it from them, as it is said: "And from the wicked their light is withheld" (Job 38:15). And for whom did He hide it? For the righteous in the time to come, as it is said: "And God saw the light, that it was good" (Genesis 1:4), and "good" means nothing other than the righteous, as it is said: "Say of the righteous that it shall be good with him" (Isaiah 3:10). When He saw the light that He had hidden for the righteous, He rejoiced, as it is said: "The light of the righteous rejoices" (Proverbs 13:9).