Why Did God Create the World in Six Days? Torah’s Blueprint and the Secret of Previous Worlds

Uri asks: "Shalom Rabbi. I have a few questions about the creation of the world:

A. I don’t understand why God created the world specifically in six days? After all, He could have created it in a single day.

B. How can the Midrash say that the Torah was hidden 974 generations before the creation of the world, when time itself was only created together with the world?

C. The Midrash says that before our world, God created worlds and destroyed them. But why would God, Heaven forbid, need to do trial and error in creation?"

* * *

Shalom Uri, and thank you for your interesting questions.

The Midrashim you quoted contain very deep secrets, and they are intended to teach us elevated ideas both on the level of peshat (simple meaning) and sod (mystical meaning). Here I will focus on the peshat level.

A. Why six days?
Indeed, God could have created everything in a single moment. However, He chose to create the world with ten utterances (ma’amarot) in order to teach us lessons from His actions, to let us witness the unfolding stages of creation until the arrival of man, and to understand that humanity is the crown of creation.

The Sages provide a parable of a host preparing a banquet for his guest, who first sets the house in order, then arranges the table and utensils, and only afterward invites the guest to enter. In the same way, God prepared the world step by step in anticipation of man. This gradual creation teaches us to appreciate His handiwork and recognize the great planning involved in shaping the world for human life.

Another explanation given is so that humanity could participate in Ma’aseh Bereshit (the act of creation) through keeping Shabbat. Every Shabbat we testify to our faith that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. By resting, we resemble His divine pattern.

The Sages provide yet another explanation (Pirkei Avot 5:1): “With ten utterances the world was created. And why so — could it not have been created with a single utterance? Rather, this was to exact retribution from the wicked who destroy a world created with ten utterances, and to give great reward to the righteous who uphold the world created with ten utterances.”

B. Torah before creation
The Midrash states that the Torah was “hidden” 974 generations before creation (Shabbat 88b). This teaches us that the Torah and mitzvot are actually the “blueprint” of the world, not a reaction to it.

People may mistakenly think the Torah was given “after the fact” — for example, because there are parents, the Torah commanded us to honor them; or because there is theft, the Torah commanded “do not steal.” This is not so. Rather, God desired there to be a mitzvah of honoring parents, so He created a reality of parents. He wanted there to be a test regarding property, so He created a world with free will and desire.

The world was created in accordance with the Torah, not the other way around. That is the lofty idea of the Midrash.

The Torah is eternal — it always was God’s true will to bestow good on His creations. The phrase “974 generations” contains deeper mystical meaning, but the essential point is that God is eternal and therefore His will, expressed in the Torah, existed before the creation of the world and before the creation of time itself. Only when time came into being was His eternal will expressed within the world.

C. Worlds created and destroyed
The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 3:9) that says God “created worlds and destroyed them” teaches us that our world is in fact the best possible world for achieving His purpose. That is why the Torah testifies, “And behold, it was very good” (Bereishit 1:31).

To those who might wonder whether God could have made a “better” world, the Midrash explains that He already brought out other possibilities, so we would understand that our world is the most fitting and complete for His plan.

It is not that God needed to “experiment,” but rather, it is like an artist who first fashions simple vessels and then smashes them, until finally producing the most beautiful one. Seeing the earlier, imperfect versions allows people to appreciate the excellence of the final vessel. In this sense, the Midrash teaches that the world we live in is the most perfect form of creation.

Indeed, when we look out into space we see countless worlds, yet none are suitable for life. Only Earth contains the delicate balance needed for existence. This uniqueness testifies to its perfection.

Many commentators also explain that this Midrash refers not to physical universes but to spiritual realms — levels of existence God brought into being and then transcended, before creating our world.