The perush starts off by telling us we will come to know God both through his creative acts and his activities around creation.  It then distinguishes between saying, a creative act, and calling, a defining act, explaining that acts of calling establish identity, here specifically of the essential boundaries of time and space. 
Why isn’t establishing identity a form of creation? 
What do we come to know about God through his three defining acts?

By L on 2011 09 16

The difference between defining and creating is that before creating the item does not exist, and it comes into being upon creation. When an item exists but has not yet been defined, a defining act does that.
One can argue that the definition is created through the defining. While that is true, the focus of the posuk is the item itself, first created and then defined.
Please note the Mishnah in Avot chapter 5:1 that takes for granted that only the language of “saying” is included in the 10 statements by which God created the world, leaving out the language of “calling”.
That being said, you are certainly right that the process of creation is extended as a result of defining, and it is certainly part of his “continuing activity in context of the created world”.
As far as what we come to know about God through his 3 defining acts, the perush does not try to explain what we know about God from either his creating or defining acts, except that He does them. Any one is free to learn what he sees or understands. It should be noted, though, that God is both a Creator and a Definer, and Man imitates God when he defines, not only when he creates.
Please also note that Creating will be forbidden on Shabbat, while defining is not.

By Menachem Schrader on 2011 09 25

-The perush suggests that the initial creation of light is to establish its presence in our world.  What is the significance of that, especially if God’s initial perception of light as good is utilitarian?
-The perush seems to claim that light and time are created in anticipation of life, but the luminaries and attendant time/direction markers are created in anticipation of intelligent life.  To clarify: Is the suggestion here that information is only embedded in the world if intellects can use it? That intelligent life needs a world with accessible information? That time is an interplay of objective and subjective? Something else entirely?

By L on 2011 10 23

Want to comment on this post?

Name  

Email  

Please type the word in this image into the box below: 

Notify me by email of follow-up comments?