<b>And God spoke all these words (Exod. 20:1).</b> He spoke them all simultaneously. He causes death and restores life at the same time; He wounds and He heals simultaneously; He answers a woman in travail, those who travel on the sea and wander on the desert, and those who are imprisoned in the east, the west, the north, and south. <i>He forms the light and creates the darkness, makes peace and fashions evil</i> (Isa. 45:17)—all at the same time. Dust is turned into man, and man is turned back into dust, as it is said: <i>And bringeth on a shadow of death in the morning</i> (Amos 5:8). What is meant by a shadow of death in the morning? It means that He restores man to his original state by morning.<sup class="footnote-marker">15</sup><i class="footnote">According to tradition, the soul leaves the body when it is sleeping and returns in the morning, when it awakens.</i>
It says: <i>And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood</i> (Exod. 7:20), but later the blood reverted back to water. Living flesh was turned into rancid flesh, and the dead were restored to life. The staff became a serpent, and the serpent was converted into a staff again. The sea was converted into dry land, and later the dry land became a sea once more. Likewise it says: <i>That calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; the Lord is His name</i> (Amos 5:8). Thus it is said: <i>And God spoke all these words</i>.
What is written prior to this verse? <i>Now Mount Sinai was altogether on smoke</i> (Exod. 19:18). <i>Altogether</i> is stated, for otherwise one might believe that only the place where the Glory rested is meant here. Scripture says: <i>Because the Lord descended upon it in fire</i> (ibid.). This informs us that the entire Torah was of fire. It emanated from fire and it is compared to fire. As in the case of fire, if a man draws close to it he is warmed, and if he withdraws from it he becomes cold. Thus a man can warm himself at the fires of the wise.