Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
The fourth day of creation produced the sun, the moon, and the stars.
These heavenly spheres were not actually fashioned on this day; they
were created on the first day, and merely were assigned their places in
the heavens on the fourth.[98] At first the sun and the moon enjoyed
equal powers and prerogatives.[99] The moon spoke to God, and said: "O
Lord, why didst Thou create the world with the letter Bet?" God
replied: "That it might be made known unto My creatures that there are
two worlds." The moon: "O Lord: which of the two worlds is the larger,
this world or the world to come?" God: "The world to come is the
larger." The moon: "O Lord, Thou didst create two worlds, a greater and
a lesser world; Thou didst create the heaven and the earth, the heaven
exceeding the earth; Thou didst create fire and water, the water
stronger than the fire, because it can quench the fire; and now Thou
hast created the sun and the moon, and it is becoming that one of them
should be greater than the other." Then spake God to the moon: "I know
well, thou wouldst have me make Thee greater than the sun. As a
punishment I decree that thou mayest keep but one-sixtieth of thy
light." The moon made supplication: "Shall I be punished so severely
for having spoken a single word?" God relented: "In the future world I
will restore thy light, so that thy light may again be as the light of
the sun." The moon was not yet satisfied. "O Lord," she said, "and the
light of the sun, how great will it be in that day?" Then the wrath of
God was once more enkindled: "What, thou still plottest against the
sun? As thou livest, in the world to come his light shall be sevenfold
the light he now sheds."[100] The Sun runs his course like a
bridegroom. He sits upon a throne with a garland on his head.[101]
Ninety-six angels accompany him on his daily journey, in relays of
eight every hour, two to the left of him, and two to the right, two
before Him, and two behind. Strong as he is, he could complete his
course from south to north in a single instant, but three hundred and
sixty-five angels restrain him by means of as many grappling-irons.
Every day one looses his hold, and the sun must thus spend three
hundred and sixty-five days on his course. The progress of the sun in
his circuit is an uninterrupted song of praise to God. And this song
alone makes his motion possible. Therefore, when Joshua wanted to bid
the sun stand still, he had to command him to be silent. His song of
praise hushed, the sun stood still.[102]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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