"Listen to Me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am He — I am the first, and I am the last as well" (Isaiah 48:12). God speaks with the full weight of eternity — before everything, after everything, present through everything. And the proof of this claim is not philosophical. It is historical: "You have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself" (Exodus 19:4). I carried you. You were there. You saw.
The rainbow enters at the end because it was God's first public covenant — the promise made to all of creation after the flood that the world would not be destroyed again (Genesis 9:13-15). Rabbi Abbahu said: in the future, everyone will come to hear God's voice — but Israel alone will say "we already know that voice." They heard it at Sinai. They heard it at the sea. The rainbow was God's promise to the whole world; Sinai was His promise to Israel; the two promises are not in competition. The rainbow covenant holds. The Sinai covenant is layered on top of it, more particular, more demanding, more intimate.
The text of Aggadat Bereshit ends where Genesis ends — with Jacob's descendants in Egypt, with the covenant still intact, with the promise still open. The flood came and went. The rainbow held. Egypt came and would go. The covenant would hold. Every generation that stood between the rainbow and the Messiah was held inside the same arch: first and last, beginning and end, the God who carries you on eagles' wings and has not yet put you down.
Chapter (83) 84: Writings [1] "Listen to Me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am He—I am the first, And I am the last as well." (Isaiah 48:12) This is what scriptures say: "You have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." (Exodus 19:4-6) "You did not come to me except to hear my voice," Rabbi Abbahu said, "In the future, everyone will be astonished in comparison to those who listened to the Holy One, blessed be He, and will say: 'What is the matter with so-and-so, who sat and did not learn and did not read?' But he will be sitting with the patriarchs, engaged in discourse with them, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will say to them, 'Why are you amazed? These have only merited it because they listened to me during their lifetime,' as it says, 'The ear that hears rebukes will live among the wise' (Proverbs 15:31). Heed me, O Jacob." [2] Alternative interpretation: "Hear me, O Jacob" (Isaiah 43:22). In scriptures it is said like this: "And you did not call upon me, Jacob" (Isaiah 43:22). This is compared to a king who had a beloved poor man and made a feast for him. The king called his own sons and stood in the middle of the house, saying to the poor man, "You called all your children, but you did not call me. I do not love you." The poor man begged the king, saying, "I am poor and did not act according to your honor. I would be ashamed to call you." The king replied, "You should not be ashamed. You are more precious to me than what I have in my palaces." Similarly, when our father Jacob came to pass from this world, he called his sons and said his farewell and blessings. He sent them out throughout the land, and immediately the Lord was revealed to him. Jacob said to God, "You did not call upon me, and I did not call upon you, Jacob." God replied, "Do you not know that if a poor person calls upon me, I hear him? As it says, 'This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him' (Psalm 34:7). You should have called upon me with your children." Jacob said, "I was ashamed." God responded, "May you not be ashamed, as it is written, 'But now thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine"'" (Isaiah 43:1). When Jacob's sons saw him, they began to praise the Lord and His compassion towards them. As it is written, "When he saw his sons, he recited, and said" (Genesis 49:1), and thereafter, "Listen to me, O Jacob" (Isaiah 48:12). [3] Another interpretation: "Listen to me, Jacob." Those who are killed and called by his name, as it is said "For thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter" (Psalms 44:23). And Job says, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him" (Job 13:15). Those who call upon me every year, as it is said, "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord" (Psalms 116:13), "I find trouble and sorrow" (Psalms 116:3). These generations said to him, "Lord of the Universe, the earlier generations had the patriarchs as their fathers, and they have the merit of their fathers; we are orphans and have no father to stand up for us." But you wrote and said, "In you the fatherless find mercy" (Hosea 14:4), "You have seen it, for You have taken note of trouble and grief, to requite it with Your own hand" (Psalms 10:14). You gave many commandments in the Torah to look after the orphans: "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corner of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor, and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God" (Leviticus 23:22). "When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow" (Deuteronomy 24:20). And we are orphans, have mercy upon us, as it is written, "In you the fatherless find mercy" (Hosea 14:4). Obadiah was blessed in his household when his sons became orphans. When was Isaac blessed? After Abraham's death, as it is said, "And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac" (Genesis 25:11). The tribes said, "And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation" (Exodus 1:6). And "the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly" (Exodus 1:7). "Your eyes are on the orphans, who will have compassion on you? God said to them, "Repent and I will heal your backslidings." He said, "Until they repent, I have stopped healing them." As it is said, "Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings" (Jeremiah 3:22). And it is also written, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely" (Hosea 14:4). Love that never ceases, I love you. Isaac called Esau his firstborn, and I call Jacob my firstborn (Exodus 4:22). The birthright of Isaac was voided and fulfilled in Jacob. Isaac loved Esau, as it is said, "And Isaac loved Esau" (Genesis 25:28), and I love Jacob. His love for Esau was voided and fulfilled in his love for Jacob. How much difficulty have they caused to try to instill hatred between us, and they cannot nullify it, as it is said, "Many waters cannot quench love" (Song of Songs 8:7). These nations are compared to water, as it is said, "Woe to the multitude of many people who make a noise like the noise of the sea" (Isaiah 17:12) Moreover, how many times were the Israelites killed for the sake of returning them to God, and the Assembly of Israel says to them "I cannot remain silent about Him. My soul became aroused in His presence." (Song of Songs 5:6) "My soul went forth [when he spoke]." (ibid. 5:16) "When He spoke on Sinai, my soul heard [His voice]." (ibid. 6:2) "But my heart is sick with love for Him." (ibid. 5:8) They said to her, "What is your beloved more than another beloved?" (ibid. 5:9) She said to them, "I will extol His praises and relate His greatness to you. And you will know that I do not pursue Him in vain." (ibid. 5:16) "My beloved is pure and ruddy." (ibid. 5:10) "Pure for Israel, ruddy for Esau." (Rashi on Song of Songs 5:10) "Why are your clothes red?" (Isaiah 63:2) "Dignified from among the myriads" (Song of Songs 5:10), for there are none among the exalted multitudes like Him. "His head is as fine gold" (ibid. 5:11), which is the Torah, as it is written "More desirable than gold, than much fine gold" (Psalms 19:11). "His locks are bushy, and black as a raven" (Song of Songs 5:11), this is the script. Alternatively, "black" refers to the Assembly of Israel, as it is written "I am black" (Song of Songs 1:5), "His eyes are like doves" (Song of Songs 5:12), this is the sun and moon. "His hands are like rods of gold" (ibid.), this is the rainbow. "His body is like polished ivory, inlaid with sapphires" (ibid. 5:14), this is the air. "His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold" (ibid.), these are the mountains, founded on the adonai of fine gold, these are the foundations of the Temple. "His appearance is like Lebanon" (ibid. 5:15), this is the Temple. "Choice as the cedars" (ibid.), which refers to walking with the righteous, as it is written "And I will walk among you" (Leviticus 26:12). "Awaiting the delight [of his beloved]," this refers to the time of the giving of the Torah, and "altogether desirable," when He receives the penitent. The nations of the world said to them, "Since He receives penitents, where is your beautiful Beloved?" (Song of Songs 5:17) Said the Holy One, blessed be He, "The nations hate Me because of My children, and My children love Me despite all these nations. I give them one hundred worlds filled with the love that I have for My children, as it is said, 'If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, they would utterly despise him' (Song of Songs 8:7)." This is from the Midrash Aggadah on Genesis.
