And in Bereshit Rabbah, one of our most beloved collections of Midrash – stories that expand upon the Hebrew Bible – we find a fascinating perspective. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa offers a striking interpretation of the word behibare’am, "when they were created," in the creation narrative. He connects it to Abraham, suggesting that the world was created because of Abraham.
Now, behibare’am and be’Avraham are spelled with the same letters in Hebrew. It's a clever little play on words, right? But it's more than just a linguistic trick. Rabbi Azarya expands on this, quoting Nehemiah 9:6: "You alone are the Lord; You made [the heavens, the heaven of heavens, and all their host, the earth and everything that is on it, the seas] and everything that is in them." All this effort, all this creation, was undertaken for what purpose? Nehemiah continues, "You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram, and took him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and set his name as Abraham" (Nehemiah 9:7).
In essence, the entire cosmos, according to this view, was created with Abraham in mind.
But wait, there's more! Rabbi Yudan offers a beautiful analogy from Psalm 104:18. It doesn't say, "the ibex are in the high mountains," but rather, "the high mountains are for the ibex." Why were those towering peaks created? For the ibex!
The ibex, you see, is a vulnerable creature, constantly threatened by predators. But when it needs to drink, something amazing happens. According to Rabbi Yudan, the Holy One, blessed be He, instills a "manic spirit" within it. It shakes its horns wildly, creating a racket that scares away the wild beasts. It's like the ibex gets a divine boost of courage and strength precisely when it needs it most.
And it doesn't stop there. "The crag is a shelter for the hyrax" (Psalms 104:18). The hyrax, a small, furry creature, finds refuge under the crag from birds of prey circling above. It's protected.
The Midrash asks a powerful rhetorical question: If the Holy One, blessed be He, took such care in creating the world for these seemingly insignificant creatures, providing them with protection and strength, wouldn't He do even more for the sake of Abraham?
It's a profound thought. That even the smallest details of creation – the high mountains for the ibex, the crag for the hyrax – point to a larger purpose. A purpose that culminates in the emergence of a figure like Abraham, whose actions and faith would shape the course of history. The world, in this understanding, isn't just a random collection of stuff. It’s infused with intention, with care, with a divine plan that unfolds through the lives of individuals like you and me. It makes you wonder what we are being created for.