Others, who disagree, say that this heavenly man was none other than Adam himself, for it was God’s original intention for Adam to live forever, like the angels. That is the meaning of the verse “Now the man has become like one of us” (Gen. 3:22). For God intended to set up Adam as king over all His creatures. God said, “I am King of the worlds above, and Adam will be king in the worlds below.” So God brought Adam into the Garden of Eden and made him king there.
Still others say that both the heavenly man and the earthly man were introduced into Paradise together, the heavenly man in the heavenly Garden and the earthly man in the earthly Garden. Yet while the heavenly man still makes his home on high, the earthly man was cast out of the Garden long ago. For God’s intentions for Adam came to naught when Adam ate from the forbidden fruit, and at that moment mortality was decreed to him. But if Adam had not sinned, he would have endured forever.
Others concur that two Adams were created, but they say that one is for this world, and one for the World to Come. However, the creation of the second Adam will not be completed until the time of the resurrection of the dead at the End of Days.
The notion that there were two Adams, one heavenly and one earthly, is reflected in Philo’s explanation of the apparent contradiction in the two creation texts found in Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:7. The earlier creation of man in Genesis was understood by Philo to be a heavenly man because he was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), while it is clearly stated that the earthly Adam was formed from the dust of the earth (Gen. 2:7), consisting of body and soul, and therefore human. Philo describes this heavenly man as “an idea, or a type, or a seal, perceptible only by the intellect, incorporeal, neither male nor female, imperishable by nature” (De Opificio Mundi 134).
This heavenly man is known by several names, including the “Heavenly Man,” the “First Man,” and the “Light Man.” It appears that in certain mystical circles the Heavenly Man and Adam merged into a single figure. Philo calls him “God’s Firstborn.” In the Nag Hammadi texts, such as The Gospel of the Egyptians, he is known as Adamas. In later kabbalistic texts this figure seems to evolve into Adam Kadmon. In all cases he is portrayed either as a transcendent being created by God before the creation of the human Adam—or else he was the original incarnation of Adam, when it was God’s intention that he be immortal.
The myth that God created two Adams, one for the heavenly garden and one for the earthly garden, grows out of the dual understanding of the term Gan Eden, literally, the Garden of Eden. While the use of this term in Genesis seems to clearly indicate an earthly garden, it later acquired the meaning of “Paradise,” and it is the term used to indicate Paradise in rabbinic literature. The explanation that God created two Adams and placed each of them in Gan Eden resolves the question of whether Adam’s Paradise was on earth or in heaven by asserting that there was an Adam both above and below.
The idea that God intended to make Adam the ruler of the world derives from the verse The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man whom He had formed (Gen. 2:8). The phrase “placed there the man” is interpreted to indicate Adam’s kingship.
Philo’s concept of the Heavenly Man is based on his interpretation of the verse And God created man in His image (Gen. 1:27). Philo believed that something made in God’s image must be very much like its Creator, far transcendent to human beings. Thus, from his point of view, the figure created in Genesis 1:27 was not the same as the man created in Genesis 2:7. Philo identifies the transcendent figure as the Heavenly Man, as God’s invisible image, and as God’s Logos, identifying the Logos as the “eldest-born Image of God” (De Confusione Linguarum 62-63). Thus, for Philo, the earthly man was made after the image of the Heavenly Man. But as is often the case in Philo’s writings, the meaning of “Logos” seems to veer between a philosophical and a mythological concept. In other places, Philo identifies the heavenly man with the soul, and the earthly man with the body. Philo also identifies three types of men: the earth-born, the heaven-born, and the God-born. The earth-born chase after pleasures of the body; the heaven-born are artists and lovers of learning; the God-born are priests and prophets who have transcended earthly concerns (De Gigantibus 12:58-61).
Ultimately, the role of the heavenly man resembles that of a second divine figure. Rather than acknowledge dualism, the heavenly man was designated to serve a secondary role, greater than that of the angels, but less than his Creator. In some myths, his role is to rule over the creatures of this world; in others, he seems primarily to exist as an archetype of humanity. In some of the Gnostic literature, the celestial Adam does play an active role, bringing the chaotic matter to rest, rotating the universe in a circle, and releasing the world ocean that surrounds the universe.
Midrash Tanhuma offers another version of the myth of the two Adams, stating that one Adam was created for this world, and one for the World to Come. The second Adam, in this view, is the Messiah, whose coming will herald the End of Days. This coincides with the myth that the Messiah is a heavenly figure, who lives in his own mystical palace. This is contradicted by the tradition that the Messiah will be a human being. The Lubavitch Hasidim combined these two myths into one, saying that the divine soul of the Messiah would descend into a human body. They believed (and many still believe) that this was the body of their late Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn (1902-1993). In effect, they combined two contradictory myths into one. See the Introduction, p. 83, note 110.
Sources:
B. Hagigah 12a; B. Bava Batra 58a; Pesikta Rabbati 48:2; Philo, De Opificio Mundi 134-142; Philo, Legum Allegoriarum 1:31, 1:53, 1:88, 2:13, 2:4; Philo, De Confusione Linguarum 62-63; Midrash Tanhuma, Tazri’a 2.
Studies:
The Name of God and the Angel of the Lord by Jarl E. Fossum, pp. 266-291.
Portraits of Adam in Early Judaism: From Sirah to 2 Baruch by John R. Levison, pp. 63-88.
Four Powers in Heaven: The Interpretation of Daniel 7 in the Testament of Abraham by Phillip B. Munoa, pp. 82-112.
158. ADAM THE ANGEL
God created Adam from invisible and visible substances, and assigned him to be an angel, second in power, who would share His wisdom. And God assigned him to be a great and glorious king, who would reign on earth. There was nothing comparable to him on earth, among any other creatures that existed. And God assigned him four special stars and called his name Adam. And God handed over Paradise to Adam, and commanded him to peer into the heavens, so that he might look upon the angels.
In this version of the theme of the heavenly Adam, found in 2 Enoch, Adam is described as an angel. Just as Enoch and Jacob are portrayed as demiurgic angels, second in command to God, so too was there such a tradition about Adam, although there are strong Gnostic echoes in this Adam myth. See “The Metamorphosis and Enthronement of Enoch,” p. 156, and “Jacob the Angel,” p. 364. For more about Adam as demiurge, see “The Heavenly Man,” p. 124.
Sources:
2 Enoch 30-31 (Ms. J).
Studies:
“2 (Slavonic Apocalypse of) Enoch,” translated by F. I. Andersen, in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by James H. Charlesworth, vol. 1, pp. 91-221.
159. ADAM THE GOLEM
When God decided to create Adam, He gathered dust from the four corners of the earth, rolled it together, mixed it with water, and made red clay. Then God shaped the clay into a lifeless body, the first golem, stretching from one end of the world to the other, and brought it to life. So large was it, that God’s hand rested upon it. So large was it, that wherever God looked, He saw it. That is the meaning of the verse Your eyes saw my golem (Ps. 139:16). So huge was it, that the angels mistook it for God Himself, and they wanted to say “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts.” So God caused sleep to fall upon him, so that all knew he was but a mortal man.
While the golem of Adam lay sleeping, God whispered in his ear the secrets of Creation, and showed Adam the righteous of every generation, and the wicked as well, unt
il the time when the dead will be raised. Indeed, God showed him every righteous man who would ever descend from him, every generation and its judges, scribes, prophets, and leaders. So too did God show him every generation and its saints and sinners. And as God spoke, Adam witnessed everything as if he were there. Some of the righteous hung on Adam’s head, some hung to his hair, some to his forehead, some to his eyes, some to his nose, some to his mouth, some to his ears, some to his teeth.
And later, when Adam did come to life, he dimly remembered all that God had revealed when he was only a golem. And at night, in his dreams, he still heard God’s voice recounting mysteries, and telling of all that would take place in the days to come. In those dreams Adam would travel to those places and see the events firsthand, as a witness. And since there is a spark of Adam’s soul in every one of his descendants, there are a few in every generation who still hear the voice of God in their dreams.
“Golem” means “a formless body.” In shaping Adam’s body out of clay, God created the first golem. There are stories in the Talmud and medieval Jewish lore that describe the creation of golems, one a calf that was eaten on the Sabbath, one a man of clay animated by the fourth century Rabbi Rava, and one a woman golem that Ibn Gabirol is said to have made out of wood. Later the famous legend of the golem of the Maharal recounted how he created a man out of clay in much the same way that God did, using the powers of what is known as practical kabbalah. The fact that the golem of the Maharal is mute and cannot reproduce demonstrates that man’s creation is less perfect than God’s. It also demonstrates man’s desire to take on the powers of God and act in a godlike fashion. The righteous who cling to the golem of Adam represent the qualities that each of the righteous emphasized. See “The Golem of Prague,” p. 281.
According to Midrash ha-Ne’elam, Zohar Hadash 17c-d, God gathered the dust for Adam’s body from the site where the Temple in Jerusalem would be built in the future, and drew down his soul from the celestial Temple.
One of the important questions about the creation of Adam asks whether God created Adam by Himself, or if the angels played a role in his creation. Many midrashim describe Gabriel’s role in gathering dust from the four corners of the earth. In contrast, 4 Ezra insists that God created Adam entirely by Himself: “Adam was the workmanship of Your hands, and You breathed into him the breath of life, and he was made alive in Your presence. And You led him into the garden which Your right hand had planted before the earth appeared” (4 Ezra 3:4-6).
Sources:
Midrash Tanhuma, Bereshit 28; Genesis Rabbah 8:1, 8:10, 24:2; Exodus Rabbah 40:3; Ecclesiastes Rabbah 6:1, 10; 4 Ezra 3:4-6; Avot de-Rabbi Natan 31; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 12; Pesikta Rabbati 23:1; Eliyahu Rabbah 1:3; Midrash ha-Ne’elam, Zohar Hadash 17c-d.
Studies:
“Imagery of the Divine and the Human: On the Mythology of Genesis Rabbah 8:1” by David H. Aaron.
“The Idea of the Golem” by Gershom Scholem.
Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid by Moshe Idel.
160. ADAM THE GIANT
When Adam was first created, he was as tall as the distance from the earth to heaven, big enough to fill the world from east to west or from north to south. His two eyeballs were like globes of the sun. He even filled the hollow places of the world. The radiance of his face was unchanged, and its lights were not eclipsed until the Sabbath ended. And he was as strong and powerful as the mighty ones on high. This first Adam knew more of the supernal wisdom than the angels above, and his union with God was closer than with any other beings in the universe.
When the angels saw him, they trembled and fled. Then they all came before God and said, “Master of the Universe! Are there to be two powers in the world, one in heaven and the other on earth?” Then God placed His hand upon Adam and reduced his size until he was no more than a hundred cubits tall, and all the springs of wisdom were closed to him.
The myth of the giant Adam is found in the midrashic literature. Later, it likely served as one of the sources in the kabbalistic literature for the myth of Adam Kadmon. See “Adam Kadmon,” p. 15. The biblical sources for the concept of a giant Adam are: God created man on earth, from one end of heaven to the other (Deut. 4:32), You have formed me from west and east (Ps. 139:5), and, Your eyes saw my golem (Ps. 139:16). The first Adam is portrayed as a giant figure, half man, half god. There is also a myth of the first Eve, who is sometimes identified with Lilith, but also has an independent existence apart from Lilith. See “The First Eve,” p. 140.
Zohar 3:107b adds the interesting detail that when the creatures in the Garden of Eden saw Adam prostrate himself before the Tree of Knowledge, all of them followed his lead, and this sin, rather than the eating of the forbidden fruit, was the cause of his death and the introduction of death into the world.
According to Sefer Hasidim, when the angels first saw the giant Adam, they wanted to worship him. But after he sinned, God diminished him and piled pieces of his limbs around him. Adam said to God, Does it benefit You to defraud, to despise the toil of Your hands? (Job 10:3). God told Adam to scatter the pieces of his limbs throughout the world and plant them, and his offspring will settle in those places. But no Jews would live in any of the places where he did not plant any pieces of his flesh. This closely resembles the Greek myth of Cadmus. See Graves, Greek Myths 58.g.
The shrinking of the giant Adam to human size is explained by the verse You hedge me before and behind; You lay Your hand upon me (Ps. 139:5). Since it is well known that God fashioned Adam out of the dust of the earth, the second part of the verse and laid Your hand upon me, suggests that it was God who caused the man to shrink from his celestial proportions.
Sources:
B. Hagigah 12a; B. Sanhedrin 38b; Genesis Rabbah 8:1, 8:9-10, 24:2; Leviticus Rabbah 18:2; Midrash Tanhuma, Bereshit 25; Midrash Aleph Bet 15:26; Alpha Beta de-Rabbi Akiva in Otzar Midrashim, p. 428; Zohar 1:9a, 2:55a, 3:107b; Sefer Hasidim 500; Adir ba-Marom; Sefer ha-Zikhronot 6:12.
Studies:
Cosmic Adam: Man as Mediator in Rabbinic Literature by Susan Niditch.
161. ADAM THE LAST AND FIRST
When God wished to create the world, His first work of Creation was none other than Adam. First God made a lifeless body. But when He was about to instill a soul in him, God said, “If I finish his creation now, he will claim that he was My partner in the work of Creation. Therefore I shall leave him as a lifeless body until I create everything.”
When God had completed everything else, the angels said to Him: “Are You going to make man, as You said you would?” God answered: “I have already made him, and all he lacks is the infusion of a soul. When he receives this, he will reign on the earth, and there will be nothing comparable to him, even among the other creatures that exist. I will call his name Adam.”
So God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7). That is why it is said that Adam was the last and first, for God began and completed the creation of the world with him, as it is said, Last and first You did form me (Ps. 139:5).
This myth is a polemic about the traditions that indicate that God shared some of the work of creation with a heavenly Adam. Since this implies Gnostic duality and threatens monotheism, the present myth is offered as an antidote. It says that yes, Adam was God’s first creation, but only his lifeless body. God held off giving him a soul until the sixth day, as is stated in Genesis 2:7: Then God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
This myth serves to prove that Adam was not God’s partner in Creation. This is stated explicitly in B. Sanhedrin 38a: “Adam was created last on the eve of the Sabbath. Why? Lest the heretics should say, ‘God has a partner in the work of Creation.’” Here, as in the other passages, the phrase “lest the heretics should say” indicates that there were those who did say such things. Because the existence of such a partner for God would dispute monotheism, those
who argued for such a partner are regarded as heretics—minim. In this case it is likely that the heretics the rabbis had in mind were the Gnostics, who taught that everything came into being through Adam. A similar tradition about Adam is found in 2 Enoch 30:11-12, where God says, “I assigned him (Adam) to be a second angel, honored and glorious. I assigned him to be a king, to reign on earth and to have My wisdom. There was nothing comparable to him, not even among the angels.”
The Testament of Abraham, chapter 8 (rec. B) goes even further, describing Adam as sitting upon a throne of glory at the gates of Paradise, surrounded by angels. Later, in the same text, Adam is described as “adorned in glory, with a terrifying appearance, like that of the Lord” (chapter 11, rec. A.) Here Adam clearly plays a demiurgic role.
“Adam the Last and First” alerts us to an entire category of polemical myths. A classic example of such a myth is the talmudic account of Elisha ben Abuyah’s vision of Metatron. Here Elisha was said to have seen Metatron seated on a heavenly throne. Since he had understood that there was no sitting in heaven other than for God, he announces, “There must be two powers in heaven” (B. Hagigah 15a). The intention of this myth is clear: to undermine the extensive myths about Enoch/Metatron, demonstrating that such belief in Metatron as the Prince of the Presence, the second in command after God, would endanger belief in monotheism. Here it causes Elisha to become an apostate, thereafter known as Aher, “the Other.” See “A Vision of Metatron,” p. 174.
Another example of a polemical myth is that of the homunculus of Maimonides, probably created by the opponents of Maimonides in the anti-Maimonidian controversy. See “The Homunculus of Maimonides,” p. 284.
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