Lights in the Darkness: Primal fears and sacred solutions

GOD BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY AND SANCTIFIED IT. ...

Rabbi Elazar said: "God blessed it with a lamp--and this happened in my case: I once lit a lamp for the Shabbat night, and when I came at the end of the Sabbath I found it still burning and not at all diminished."

God blessed it with the light of a person's face, [and] sanctified it with the light of a person's face: the light of a person's face is not the same all the days of the week as it is on Shabbat.

God blessed it with the celestial luminaries (i.e. the sun, moon, and stars). Rabbi Shimon ben Yehudah said: Even though the luminaries were corrupted on Erev Shabbat (i.e. Friday, the 6th day of Creation, when Adam and Eve transgressed, thus causing a diminishment of light in the world), they weren't struck until the close of Shabbat. This agrees with the Rabbis but not with Rabbi Ami who maintained: "The first human being's glory did not stay the night with him. (Or, "God's glory did not stay the night with the human being.") What is the proof? But Adam does not stay the night in glory (Ps. 49:13). The Rabbis maintain: "[God's/Adam's] glory stayed with him (Adam), but at the close of Shabbat, God took the splendor away from humanity and expelled them from the Garden of Eden, as it is written, You change his face and send him away (Job 14:20)."

As soon as the sun set on the night of Shabbat [i.e. Friday evening], the Blessed Holy One sought to hide the light, but (instead) showed honor to Shabbat; hence it is written, AND GOD BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY. God blessed it with light. When the sun set on the night of Shabbat, the light continued to function, whereupon all began praising, as it is written, Under the whole heaven they sing praises to God. (Job 37:3) Why? Because God’s light [reaches] unto the ends of the earth (ib.).

Rabbi Yehudah, son of Rabbi Simon, said: "[With] the light the Blessed Holy One created on the first day, one could look and see from one end of the world to the other. Once the Blessed Holy One looked at the people of the generation of the Flood and the people of the generation of the Tower of Babel, whose behavior was degenerate, God stood and hid it (i.e., the light) and set it aside for the righteous for the future. ..."

(continued)

Rabbi Levi said in the name of Rabbi Ze'irah: That light functioned thirty-six hours--twelve on Erev Shabbat [i.e. Friday], twelve during the night of Shabbat, and twelve on Shabbat [day]. Once the sun began to set at the end of Shabbat, and the darkness began, Adam was afraid, as it says, Surely the darkness will strike at me (Psalms 139:11), [meaning,] “The one, about whom it is written (i.e., the snake), ‘He will strike at your head and you will strike at his heel’ (Genesis 3:16), will come and attack me!”

What did the Blessed Holy One? God showed him two rocks and he struck one against the other and light (of the fire) came from them. He blessed the light, as it is written, at night the light is about me (ba’adeni)” (Psalms 139:11)--or But the night was light in my Eden (be’edni)." Which blessing did he recite? “Creator of the fire’s lights.”

This agrees with Samuel, for Samuel said: "Why do we recite a blessing over the light [fire] at the close of Shabbat? Because it was then created for the first time."