Bereshit Rabbah 3:9 (Vilna numbering)
Rabbi Shmuel bar Ami said: From the beginning of the creation of the world, the Holy One blessed be He desired to enter into a partnership with the creations below. Either way, it [the wording of the verse] is difficult. If it [the counting of the days] was for the purpose of a tally, it should have said: ‘One, two, three,’ or else ‘first, second, third’; is it proper to say: ‘One, second, third?’ This is bewildering. When did the Holy One blessed be He repay them? It was later, at the establishment of the Tabernacle, as it is stated: “The one who presented his offering on the first day” (Numbers 7:12) – [alluding to] the first [day] of the creation of the world. The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘It is as though I created the world on that day.’ It was taught: That day was conferred with ten crowns. It was the first day of the act of Creation; the first day for [years of] kings; the first day for the princes; the first day for the priesthood; the first day for the Divine Presence [on earth], as it is stated: “They shall craft a sanctuary for Me [and I will dwell in their midst]” (Exodus 25:8); the first day for blessing; the first day for sacrificial service; the first day for the prohibition of improvised altars; the first day for slaughtering [sacrifices] in the north; and the first day for descent of fire [from heaven], as it is stated: “Fire emerged from before the Lord…” (Leviticus 9:24).
The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022 · sefaria-midrash-rabbah
Bereshit Rabbah 3:9 (Vilna numbering) · cc-by-sa
The grammatical objection in its sharpest rabbinic form: if the days were being tallied it should read 'one, two, three' or 'first, second, third' — is it proper to say 'one, second, third'? The midrash states the difficulty and then answers something else (the ten crowns of the Tabernacle's first day), leaving the grammar standing as a difficulty. Ambrose, Bruno and Rupert answer the identical objection on the Latin side, and nobody on either side cites anybody.