42

It has been said:

"One of the secrets of 42 in Kabbalah in relation to the creation of the universe is that the Divine act of creation begins with God's saying yehi ("let there be...") = 25, and concludes with God's seeing His creation to be tov ("good") = 17. 25 (the beginning of the creative process) plus 17 (the conclusion of the creative process) = 42 (the all-inclusive power of creation)."

However, precisely speaking the Divine act of creation did not begin with the imperative, "Let there be.." If one understands the relationship of "Let there be..," to Bereshit..., then it is possible to also understand the place and value of the values of 17 and 25 in this context. For the imperative has reference to the grace and faithfulness (which is to say, obedience) of G-d's word in the aspect of an imperative, "Let it be.. and there was..."

What does this mean? Can G-d's word obey G-d's word? To understand this clearly one must understand how G-d's command, His imperative, "Let there be light," was spoken as a part of, an assisting or helping of, the heavens and earth which already existed. Just as G-d first

The Ein Sof and the emanation of worlds

commanded Israel to have faith in Him by simply stating that He is the Lord, their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, so He at first commanded all things to exist and to be in perfect accord with His Torah, without imperfection, simply by stating that in the beginning He created the heavens and the earth. For the father who loves his child will at first let his child know his will simply by stating it. But afterwards, if his child does not fulfill the father's will, having been told it in confidence, then the father will turn and use an imperative form of speech and will give his child a direct command, Go and do this or that which I am commanding you.

However, in creating the world G-d was very careful not to seem to be correcting the heavens and the earth by seeming instead to be improving the expression of His own will by making His will that there should be light explicit. Thus we see that just as the commandmet that there should be light is G-d's word, so this light which obeyed the commandmet is G-d's word. This is His light that was not created, but rather preceded creation, becoming the original divinely created light of creation. For the heavens and earth themselves, on their own, were unable to shine in response to G-d's implied commandment, His first word, His statement, recorded in Genesis 1:1, that in the beginning He created the heavens and the earth. For in partial obedience to this word of G-d the heavens and earth come to exist, but had they obeyed the intent of this Torah they would have not only immediately come to exist but would have immediately come to shine with the light of the glory of their Creator.

However, it was necessary that G-d should assist them in their obedience. And so, accordingly, He condescended to Himself command the light to exist, in order that His creation might glorify Him. And it was, therefore in this act of assistance that the word of G-d acted in solidarity with the creature and attributed G-d's own merit to the merit of the heavens and the earth, thus becoming, as it were, not only the Author of creation but also a part of creation. This, then, is the aspect here of 25 and it was because of this aspect that G-d said, "It is good", the aspect of 17. One can begin to see the outline of Mashiach therefore, in the 42 letter name of G-d.