Divine wisdom existed long before the physical design of the world, predating even the most stable and prominent geological structures in nature. This ancient priority is not merely a matter of time. Instead, it reveals that the spiritual realm came before the material universe, serving as the essential foundation for its existence [עמנואל הרומי]. To fulfill this purpose, wisdom itself was uniquely formed and created at the dawn of time [ביאור שטיינזלץ, מצודת דוד].
When exploring how the mighty mountains were formed, the primary approach among commentators is that their foundations were literally sunk deep into the original waters. At the very beginning of creation, the element of earth was entirely covered by water, and dry land was not yet visible [מלבי״ם]. Like heavy objects plunging into the depths, the mountains were deeply submerged in these early waters [רש״י, אבן עזרא, מצודת ציון, עמנואל הרומי]. Others view this formation as a process of establishment and permanence. Long before the mountains took on their defined physical shapes, they were firmly founded and secured in the earth [רלב״ג, ביאור שטיינזלץ, מצודת דוד]. A complementary perspective suggests that this relates to the moment just before the mountains were organized and bound by the laws of nature [עמנואל הרומי].
A deeper look at the creation of these mountains and hills highlights the vast gap between the spiritual and the material. The earth, by its very nature, is physical and murky. The process of its creation is pictured as spiritual clumps of earth being thrown from under God's Throne of Glory directly into the waters below. The larger clumps that sank became the mountains, while the smaller ones formed the hills. In order for such a coarse and physical world to survive, the Torah—representing this highest divine wisdom—had to undergo a process of expansion and descent from its pure, refined spiritual state. It had to take on a more physical garment and be recreated in a new form. This recreation bridged the massive divide between the Throne of Glory and the physical earth, ultimately making the existence of the world possible [אלשיך].