Rabbi Yitzchak said:
[God] should have begun the Torah from:
‘This month shall be to you’ (Exodus 12:2), –
the first mitzvah (precept) Israel was commanded.
So why did [God] began with ‘In the beginning’?
Because of [the idea expressed in the verse]:
‘[God] has declared to His people the power of His deeds,
in order to give them the land of nations’ (Psalms 111:6)
Thus, should the nations of the world say to Israel::
‘You are robbers, having taken
the lands of the seven [Canaanite] nations [by force],
[Israel] can say to them:
‘The whole earth belongs to the Holy Blessed One;
He created it and gave it to whomever He saw fit.
By His will He gave it to [the Canaanite seven nations],
and by His will He took it from them and gave it to us.’
