As long as Adam stood naked, casting about for means of escape from his
embarrassment, God did not appear unto him, for one should not "strive
to see a man in the hour of his disgrace." He waited until Adam and Eve
had covered themselves with fig leaves.[71] But even before God spoke
to him, Adam knew what was impending. He heard the angels announce,
"God betaketh Himself unto those that dwell in Paradise." He heard
more, too. He heard what the angels were saying to one another about
his fall, and what they were saying to God. In astonishment the angels
exclaimed: "What! He still walks about in Paradise? He is not yet
dead?" Whereupon God: "I said to him, 'In the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die!' Now, ye know not what manner of day I
meant—one of My days of a thousand years, or one of your days. I will
give him one of My days. He shall have nine hundred and thirty years to
live, and seventy to leave to his descendants."[72]
When Adam and Eve heard God approaching, they hid among the trees—which
would not have been possible before the fall. Before he committed his
trespass, Adam's height was from the heavens to the earth, but
afterward it was reduced to one hundred ells.[73] Another consequence
of his sin was the fear Adam felt when he heard the voice of God:
before his fall it had not disquieted him in the least.[74] Hence it
was that when Adam said, "I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was
afraid," God replied, "Aforetime thou wert not afraid, and now thou art
afraid?"[75]
God refrained from reproaches at first. Standing at the gate of
Paradise, He but asked, "Where art thou, Adam?" Thus did God desire to
teach man a rule of polite behavior, never to enter the house of
another without announcing himself.[76] It cannot be denied, the words
"Where art thou?" were pregnant with meaning. They were intended to
bring home to Adam the vast difference between his latter and his
former state—between his supernatural size then and his shrunken size
now; between the lordship of God over him then and the lordship of the
serpent over him now.[77] At the same time, God wanted to give Adam the
opportunity of repenting of his sin, and he would have received Divine
forgiveness for it. But so far from repenting of it, Adam slandered
God, and uttered blasphemies against Him.[78] When God asked him, "Hast
thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee thou shouldst not eat?"
he did not confess his sin, but excused himself with the words: "O Lord
of the world! As long as I was alone, I did not fall into sin, but as
soon as this woman came to me, she tempted me." God replied: "I gave
her unto thee as a help, and thou art ungrateful when thou accusest
her, saying, 'She gave me of the tree.' Thou shouldst not have obeyed
her, for thou art the head, and not she."[79] God, who knows all
things, had foreseen exactly this, and He had not created Eve until
Adam had asked Him for a helpmate, so that he might not have apparently
good reason for reproaching God with having created woman.[80]
As Adam tried to shift the blame for his misdeed from himself, so also
Eve. She, like her husband, did not confess her transgression and pray
for pardon, which would have been granted to her.[81] Gracious as God
is, He did not pronounce the doom upon Adam and Eve until they showed
themselves stiff-necked. Not so with the serpent. God inflicted the
curse upon the serpent without hearing his defense; for the serpent is
a villain, and the wicked are good debaters. If God had questioned him,
the serpent would have answered: "Thou didst give them a command, and I
did contradict it. Why did they obey me, and not Thee?"[82] Therefore
God did not enter into an argument with the serpent, but straightway
decreed the following ten punishments: The mouth of the serpent was
closed, and his power of speech taken away; his hands and feet were
hacked off; the earth was given him as food; he must suffer great pain
in sloughing his skin; enmity is to exist between him and man; if he
eats the choicest viands, or drinks the sweetest beverages, they all
change into dust in his mouth; the pregnancy of the female serpent
lasts seven years; men shall seek to kill him as soon as they catch
sight of him; even in the future world, where all beings will be
blessed, he will not escape the punishment decreed for him; he will
vanish from out of the Holy Land if Israel walks in the ways of
God.[83]
Furthermore, God spake to the serpent: "I created thee to be king over
all animals, cattle and the beasts of the field alike; but thou wast
not satisfied. Therefore thou shalt be cursed above all cattle and
above every beast of the field. I created thee of upright posture; but
thou wast not satisfied. Therefore thou shalt go upon thy belly. I
created thee to eat the same food as man; but thou wast not satisfied.
Therefore thou shalt eat dust all the days of thy life. Thou didst seek
to cause the death of Adam in order to espouse his wife. Therefore I
will put enmity between thee and the woman." How true it is—he who
lusts after what is not his due, not only does he not attain his
desire, but he also loses what he has!
As angels had been present when the doom was pronounced upon the
serpent—for God had convoked a Sanhedrin of seventy-one angels when He
sat in judgment upon him—so the execution of the decree against him was
entrusted to angels. They descended from heaven, and chopped off his
hands and feet. His suffering was so great that his agonized cries
could be heard from one end of the world to the other.[84]
The verdict against Eve also consisted of ten curses, the effect of
which is noticeable to this day in the physical, spiritual, and social
state of woman.[85] It was not God Himself who announced her fate to
Eve. The only woman with whom God ever spoke was Sarah. In the case of
Eve, He made use of the services of an interpreter.[86]
Finally, also the punishment of Adam was tenfold: he lost his celestial
clothing—God stripped it off him; in sorrow he was to earn his daily
bread; the food he ate was to be turned from good into bad; his
children were to wander from land to land; his body was to exude sweat;
he was to have an evil inclination; in death his body was to be a prey
of the worms; animals were to have power over him, in that they could
slay him; his days were to be few and full of trouble; in the end he
was to render account of all his doings on earth.
These three sinners were not the only ones to have punishment dealt out
to them. The earth fared no better, for it had been guilty of various
misdemeanors. In the first place, it had not entirely heeded the
command of God given on the third day, to bring forth "tree of fruit."
What God had desired was a tree the wood of which was to be as pleasant
to the taste as the fruit thereof. The earth, however, produced a tree
bearing fruit, the tree itself not being edible.[88] Again, the earth
did not do its whole duty in connection with the sin of Adam. God had
appointed the sun and the earth witnesses to testify against Adam in
case he committed a trespass. The sun, accordingly, had grown dark the
instant Adam became guilty of disobedience, but the earth, not knowing
how to take notice of Adam's fall, disregarded it altogether.[89] The
earth also had to suffer a tenfold punishment: independent before, she
was hereafter to wait to be watered by the rain from above; sometimes
the fruits of the earth fail; the grain she brings forth is stricken
with blasting and mildew; she must produce all sorts of noxious vermin;
thenceforth she was to be divided into valleys and mountains; she must
grow barren trees, bearing no fruit; thorns and thistles sprout from
her; much is sown in the earth, but little is harvested; in time to
come the earth will have to disclose her blood, and shall no more cover
her slain; and, finally, she shall, one day, "wax old like a
garment."[90]
When Adam heard the words, "Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth,"
concerning the ground, a sweat broke out on his face, and he said:
"What! Shall I and my cattle eat from the same manger?" The Lord had
mercy upon him, and spoke, "In view of the sweat of thy face, thou
shalt eat bread."[91]
The earth is not the only thing created that was made to suffer through
the sin of Adam. The same fate overtook the moon. When the serpent
seduced Adam and Eve, and exposed their nakedness, they wept bitterly,
and with them wept the heavens, and the sun and the stars, and all
created beings and things up to the throne of God. The very angels and
the celestial beings were grieved by the trans gression of Adam. The
moon alone laughed, wherefore God grew wroth, and obscured her light.
Instead of shining steadily like the sun, all the length of the day,
she grows old quickly, and must be born and reborn, again and
again.[92] The callous conduct of the moon offended God, not only by
way of contrast with the compassion of all other creatures, but because
He Himself was full of pity for Adam and his wife. He made clothes for
them out of the skin stripped from the serpent.[93] He would have done
even more. He would have permitted them to remain in Paradise, if only
they had been penitent. But they refused to repent, and they had to
leave, lest their godlike understanding urge them to ravage the tree of
life, and they learn to live forever. As it was, when God dismissed
them from Paradise, He did not allow the Divine quality of justice to
prevail entirely. He associated mercy with it. As they left, He said:
"O what a pity that Adam was not able to observe the command laid upon
him for even a brief span of time!"
To guard the entrance to Paradise, God appointed the cherubim, called
also the ever-turning sword of flames, because angels can turn
themselves from one shape into another at need.[94] Instead of the tree
of life, God gave Adam the Torah, which likewise is a tree of life to
them that lay hold upon her, and he was permitted to take up his abode
in the vicinity of Paradise in the east.[95]
Sentence pronounced upon Adam and Eve and the serpent, the Lord
commanded the angels to turn the man and the woman out of Paradise.
They began to weep and supplicate bitterly, and the angels took pity
upon them and left the Divine command unfulfilled, until they could
petition God to mitigate His severe verdict. But the Lord was
inexorable, saying, "Was it I that committed a trespass, or did I
pronounce a false judgment?" Also Adam's prayer, to be given of the
fruit of the tree of life, was turned aside, with the promise, however,
that if he would lead a pious life, he would be given of the fruit on
the day of resurrection, and he would then live forever.
Seeing that God had resolved unalterably, Adam began to weep again and
implore the angels to grant him at least permission to take
sweet-scented spices with him out of Paradise, that outside, too, he
might be able to bring offerings unto God, and his prayers be accepted
before the Lord. Thereupon the angels came before God, and spake: "King
unto everlasting, command Thou us to give Adam sweet-scented spices of
Paradise," and God heard their prayer. Thus Adam gathered saffron,
nard, calamus, and cinnamon, and all sorts of seeds besides for his
sustenance. Laden with these, Adam and Eve left Paradise, and came upon
earth.[96] They had enjoyed the splendors of Paradise but a brief span
of time—but a few hours. It was in the first hour of the sixth day of
creation that God conceived the idea of creating man; in the second
hour, He took counsel with the angels; in the third, He gathered the
dust for the body of man; in the fourth, He formed Adam; in the fifth,
He clothed him with skin; in the sixth, the soulless shape was
complete, so that it could stand upright; in the seventh, a soul was
breathed into it; in the eighth, man was led into Paradise; in the
ninth, the Divine command prohibiting the fruit of the tree in the
midst of the garden was issued to him; in the tenth, he transgressed
the command; in the eleventh, he was judged; and in the twelfth hour of
the day, he was cast out of Paradise, in atonement for his sin.
This eventful day was the first of the month of Tishri. Therefore God
spoke to Adam: "Thou shalt be the prototype of thy children. As thou
hast been judged by Me on this day and absolved, so thy children Israel
shall be judged by Me on this New Year's Day, and they shall be
absolved."[97]
Each day of creation brought forth three things: the first, heaven,
earth, and light; the second, the firmament, Gehenna, and the angels;
the third, trees, herbs, and Paradise; the fourth, sun, moon, and
stars; and the fifth, fishes, birds, and leviathan. As God intended to
rest on the seventh day, the Sabbath, the sixth day had to do double
duty. It brought forth six creations: Adam, Eve, cattle, reptiles, the
beasts of the field, and demons. The demons were made shortly before
the Sabbath came in, and they are, therefore, incorporeal spirits—the
Lord had no time to create bodies for them.[98]
In the twilight, between the sixth day and the Sabbath, ten creations
were, brought forth: the rainbow, invisible until Noah's time; the
manna; watersprings, whence Israel drew water for his thirst in the
desert; the writing upon the two tables of stone given at Sinai; the
pen with which the writing was written; the two tables themselves; the
mouth of Balaam's she-ass; the grave of Moses; the cave in which Moses
and Elijah dwelt; and the rod of Aaron, with its blossoms and its ripe
almonds.[99]