משלי, פרק ח׳, פסוק כ״ט

The creation of the world required a precise cosmic balance and the restraint of powerful natural forces to allow life to exist on Earth. Divine Wisdom, or the Torah, was present and served as an active partner when God set the boundaries of the sea and shaped the dry land. The primary approach among commentators is that God established a physical limit for the ocean waters. Left to its natural state, water would completely cover the Earth. However, God commanded the waters to gather in one place, placing the sand as an eternal border that they cannot cross [אבן עזרא, אמרי דעת]. The shore acts as this boundary, and the waters do not disobey His command [ביאור שטיינזלץ, מצודת דוד]. Restraining the sea in this way, even during its most violent storms, ensures that the dry land remains exposed and suitable for human habitation, as well as for the growth of plants and animals [רלב״ג, מלבי״ם]. This precise planning is also evident in how the land, which rests upon the water, does not press down heavily upon it, preventing underground waters from flooding the surface [אלשיך].

While this boundary establishes the permanence of nature, another perspective suggests that the law given to the sea included planned exceptions. According to this approach, at the very moment of creation, God made a condition with the sea that it would alter its nature during specific historical events. This allowed for miraculous moments, such as the splitting of the Red Sea for Moses or the overflowing of waters to flood the world [רש״י, אלשיך].

Beyond restraining the waters, the shaping of the dry land involved a deliberate process of carving and hewing [רש״י, מלבי״ם]. Divine Wisdom altered the Earth from a perfectly smooth, spherical shape by creating raised and depressed areas, forming a varied landscape for the benefit of living creatures and the successful settlement of the world [עמנואל הרומי]. Throughout all these immense actions, from limiting the oceans to carving the foundations of the earth, the Torah and Supreme Wisdom were intimately involved. They served as the means through which the world was created, and they remain the active force that continues to sustain and uphold the laws of nature at all times [אלשיך, מצודת דוד, עמנואל הרומי, אמרי דעת].