Psalm 33:6 compresses all of creation into a phrase: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made." Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bereshit 11:2 pairs that verse with Genesis 1:1 to make a theology of effort and reward.
Resh Laqish's reading
Resh Laqish, the third-century sage famously converted from a life as a gladiator to a life as a Torah scholar, offered a piercing observation. A word, "as it were," came from the mouth of the Holy One — and the heavens were made. No toil. No wearisome labor. Just speech.
And yet, when you read Genesis 1 carefully, it describes the same creation as a work project. Day one, day two, day three. Each with its own announcement: "and it was so." The narrative looks industrious, even though the underlying mechanism was instantaneous.
Why the two framings matter
Resh Laqish drew out the purpose of the double framing. The creation was effortless for God but presented as laborious in the text. Why the gap? For moral reasons.
"This account was simply for exacting retribution from the wicked who destroy the world, which was created with toil and wearisome labor, and to give a good recompense to the righteous who preserve the world, which was created by the word of the Lord."
Two accounts, two audiences. To the wicked, the world is described as built with effort — so destroying it is a grave theft. To the righteous, the world is described as spoken into being — so preserving it is a noble partnership with divine speech.
The ethical implications
This midrash connects to Pirkei Avot 5:1, which famously teaches that the world was created with ten utterances when it could have been created with just one. Why so many? "To exact punishment from the wicked who destroy a world created with ten utterances, and to give good reward to the righteous who sustain a world created with ten utterances."
Resh Laqish extends the logic. Every act of destruction — pollution, violence, slander, theft — is vandalism against divine handiwork. And every act of preservation — planting, teaching, peacemaking, speech made holy — is an alignment with the creative word itself.
Speech as creation
The deeper teaching is about the power of words. If the heavens were made by speech, then human speech inherits some of that creative charge. Words build or destroy. A kind word preserves the world. A cruel word tears at it.
This is why the Jewish tradition has a vast body of law around lashon hara — "evil speech" — and around oaths, vows, and blessings. Each spoken word participates in the same category of power that spoke the heavens into being.
The takeaway: the world was made easily, and you are responsible for it heavily. What God did with a word, you are asked to protect with every word you speak.