 The principal subject of Ben Zoma's exegetic research was the first chapter of Genesis.One of his questions on this chapter, in which he took exception to the phrase "God made", has been handed down by the Judean aggadists (though without the answer), with the remark, "This is one of the Biblical passages by which Ben Zoma created a commotion all over the world".An interpretation of the second verse of the same chapter has been handed down in a tannaitic tradition, together with the following anecdote