hand of God. Also, note the presence of Cain’s name in that of the descendant who assists in killing him, hinting that Cain, in a sense, killed himself.
Finally, this midrash aptly sets the precedent that a killer should be slain for his crime (contrary to an alternative interpretation that Cain repented and his repentance was accepted). This reading also supports the biblical injunction that the punishment for murder be death, and avoids setting the precedent that exceptions to this rule be permitted.
It is not surprising, then, that this version of the death of Cain, which became the predominant one, served the needs of the ancient rabbis and accurately reflected their views of the need for, and the manner of, justice and retribution. All subsequent versions of this midrash merely embellish aspects of this midrash and present the details in an improved narrative form, but do not change it in any essential way.
Thus it can be seen that this midrash of Cain’s death solves two problems at the same time: it explicates a difficult passage about Lamech, and at the same time it solves the narrative and moral problem of the ultimate fate of Cain. And despite its intentional usage of existing sources—Cain’s horn and the enigmatic passage about Lamech—it still manages to be an original creation of its own.
Sources:
Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, Bereshit 11; Book of Jubilees 4:31; IFA 17586.
578. THE EVIL INCLINATION
God created two inclinations, one good and the other evil. Some say that the Evil Inclination came into being at Adam’s creation, while others say it was not until the creation of Eve. For when Adam’s rib was taken from him, his eyes were opened and he came to know good and evil (Gen. 3:5).
The Evil Inclination that resides in the human heart entices us in this world and testifies against us in the World to Come. Because of the force of the Evil Inclination, it is difficult to extract oneself from sinful behavior. Indeed, it is said that the greater the man, the greater his Evil Inclination. At first it is like the thread of a spider, but before long it becomes as thick as the ropes of a cart.
The force of the Evil Inclination holds sway in this world, and everyone is subject to it, even the angels. For when the angels Shemhazai and Azazel descended to earth from heaven, they took on concrete appearance and became visible, and they soon became subject to the Evil Inclination and lusted after the daughters of men.
The Evil Inclination grows in strength from day to day, and were it not for God’s help, no one would be able to withstand it. The rabbis said: “If you meet this repulsive wretch, drag him to the House of Study. If he is of stone, he will dissolve; if of iron, he will shiver into fragments.”
The Evil Inclination has seven names. God called it Evil. Moses called it the Uncircumcised. David called it Unclean. Solomon called it the Enemy. Isaiah called it the Stumbling Block. Ezekiel called it Stone. And Joel called it the Hidden One.
The Evil Inclination is one of the four things that God repented of having created. The others are Exile, the Chaldeans, and the Ishmaelites.
In the days to come, God will bring forth the Evil Inclination and slay it in the presence of the righteous and the wicked. To the righteous it will appear as a mountain, and to the wicked it will have the appearance of a thread as thin as a hair. Both of them will weep. The righteous will weep and say, “How were we able to overcome such a towering hill?” And the wicked will weep and say, “How is it that we failed to conquer this thread?” And God, too, will marvel with them.
The Evil Inclination, or Yetzer ha-Ra, is the force of evil that is present in this world because of its material nature. There is also a countervailing force, less mentioned, known as the Yetzer ha-Tov, or the Good Inclination. According to B. Bava Batra 16a, the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, Satan, the Yetzer ha-Ra, and the Angel of Death are one and the same.
For versions of the story of the fallen angels, see pp. 454-460.
Sources:
B. Berakhot 61a; B. Bava Batra 16a; B. Sukkah 52a-b; Genesis Rabbah 21:5;Yalkut Shim’oni, Bereshit 44; Rabbi Moshe Alshekh on Exodus 31:18; Makhon Siftei Tzaddikim on Exodus 30:12; Tzidkat ha-Tzaddik 111.
579. HOW SAMAEL ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN
Samael, riding on the serpent, came to Eve and she conceived a child. The son that was born was the son of Samael. Then Adam, who had been walking in the Garden of Eden, returned. He found the son of Samael crying, and he asked Eve: “Who is he?” And she said: “This is Samael’s son.” And he said to her: “Why do we need this problem here?” And the boy was still crying, because he wanted to make Adam angry.
What did the first man Adam do? He stood over him and slaughtered him and cut him into pieces. And then every piece would yell by itself. What did Adam do? He stood and boiled it, and he and his wife Eve ate it.
When Samael learned that they had eaten his son, he came to them and said, “Give me my boy.” They said “We didn’t see anything. We don’t know anything.” And he said to them: “You’re lying.” While they were arguing, the son of Samael spoke from the heart of Adam and Eve and said to Samael: “Go on your way, because I have already entered into their hearts, and I am not going to leave their hearts, nor the hearts of their sons, nor the sons of their sons, throughout the generations.”
This is a gruesome, primitive tale about the origin of evil in the human heart. The cannibalistic elements are shocking and seem inappropriate to Jewish tradition. The cruelty reflected in the myth suggests a cynical view of humanity appropriate to its subject matter. It draws on the midrash that the serpent conceived a child—Cain—with Eve. See “How Cain Was Conceived,” p. 447.
A variant is found in IFA 1141 from Yemen, where Satan brings his son to Adam in the shape of a sheep and gives it to him to keep for a year. When Satan doesn’t return on time to take his sheep, Adam butchers it and eats it with challah. Then when Satan returns and asks for his sheep, Adam lies and says that it has run away. Satan calls his son and he replies from inside of Adam, and Satan leaves him there.
Sources:
IFA 1141; Ha-Goren 9:38-41 by Louis Ginzberg; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 13, 21 and 22.
580. THE SONS OF GOD AND THE DAUGHTERS OF MEN
When men began to increase on earth and daughters were born to them, the divine beings saw how beautiful the daughters of men were and took wives from among those that pleased them. The Lord said, “My breath shall not abide in man forever, since he too is flesh; let the days allowed him be one hundred and twenty years.” It was then, and later too, that the Nefilim appeared on earth, when the divine beings cohabited with the daughters of men, who bore them offspring. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.
Many of the best-known biblical episodes are found in the early portions of Genesis, prior to the story of Abraham. These include the accounts of the Creation, of Adam and Eve, of Noah, and of the Tower of Babel. But one enigmatic episode that is consistently overlooked is Genesis 6:1-4, concerning the Sons of God (B’nei Elohim) and the daughters of men.
Like the account of the Tower of Babel, this mythic account of the mysterious Sons of God seems to appear from out of nowhere. Indeed, it may well be a mythic interpolation, added to explain why, a few verses later, the earth became corrupt before God (Gen. 6:11), much as the story of the Tower of Babel explains the origin of the many languages, as well as the dissemination of people over the earth.
Sources:
Genesis 6:1-4.
581. THE STAR MAIDEN
When the generation of the Flood went astray, God began to regret having created humans. Then two angels, Shemhazai and Azazel, reminded God that they had opposed the creation of humans, saying, What is man, that You have been mindful of him? (Ps. 8:5). God replied: “Those who dwell on earth are subject to the Evil Inclination. Even you would be overpowered by it.” But the angels protested, saying: “Let us descend to the world of humans, and let us show You how we will sanctify Your name.” And God said: “Go down and dwell among them.”
So the two angels descended to e
arth, where they were certain they could resist the power of the Evil Inclination. But as soon as they saw how beautiful were the daughters of men, they forgot their vows and took lovers from among them, even though they were defiling their own pure essence. So too did they teach them secrets of how to entice men, as well as the dark arts of sorcery, incantations, and the divining of roots.
Then the two angels decided to select brides for themselves from among the daughters of men. Azazel desired Na’amah, the sister of Tubal-Cain, the most beautiful woman on earth. But there was another beautiful maiden, Istahar, the last of the virgins, whom Shemhazai desired, and she refused him. This made him want her all the more.
“I am an angel,” he revealed to her, “you cannot refuse me.”
“I will not give in to you,” Istahar replied, “unless you teach me God’s Ineffable Name.”
“That I cannot do,” Shemhazai replied, “for it is a secret of heaven.”
“Why should I believe you?” said Istahar. “Perhaps you don’t know it at all. Perhaps you are not really an angel.”
“Of course I know it,” said Shemhazai, and he revealed God’s Name.
Now as soon as she heard the holy Name, Istahar pronounced it and flew up into the heavens, escaping the angel. And when God saw this, He said: “Because she removed herself from sin, let Istahar be set among the stars.” And Istahar was transformed into a star, one of the brightest in the sky. And when Shemhazai saw this, he recognized God’s rebuke of his sin and repented, hanging himself upside down between heaven and earth. But Azazel refused to repent, and God hung him upside down in a canyon, bound in chains, where he remains to this day. That is why a scapegoat is sent to Azazel on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, bearing the sins of Israel.
Others say that when the two angels, Shemhazai and Azazel, came down to earth, they were still innocent. But they were corrupted by the demonesses Na’amah and Lilith. The children they bore were the giants of old, known as the Nefilim, or Fallen Ones. They bore six children at each birth, and in that very hour their offspring stood up, spoke the holy language, and danced before them like sheep. There were said to be sixty in all. These giants had such great appetites that God rained manna on them in many different flavors, so that they might not eat flesh. But the Fallen Ones rejected the manna, slaughtered animals, and even dined on human flesh.
Still others say that the offspring of the fallen angels were tall and handsome, and had greater strength than all the children of men. Because of the heavenly origin of their fathers, they are referred to as “the children of heaven.”
The primary mystery of Genesis 6 is the identity of the Sons of God. Anthropologists have suggested that they may have been a tribe of exceptionally tall and handsome men who appeared and were irresistible to women. But the ancient rabbis were certain that the Sons of God were angels, although an alternate version in Aggadat Bereshit identifies them as the Sons of Cain. As a model, the rabbis drew on the prologue to Job, where God and Satan agree to test Job to see if he is truly righteous. Here God has a dialogue in heaven with two angels, Shemhazai and Azazel, who condemn the corrupt ways of men. God argues that if they lived on earth they would behave the same way, because everyone on earth is subject to the Yetzer ha-Ra, the Evil Inclination. The angels insist that they would remain righteous, and they convince God to let them descend to earth (in some versions, by Jacob’s ladder). When they do, they are immediately filled with lust for the beautiful daughters of men, and use their heavenly powers to satisfy their desires. And the offspring of these unions are described as the Nefilim, which has been interpreted to mean giants. Thus the account in Genesis 6 also provides the origin of giants.
In some versions of this myth, the two angels end up coming down to earth not to demonstrate their ability to resist the Evil Inclination, but because God cast them out of heaven for opposing the creation of man. According to Zohar Hadash, Ruth 81a, the angels acquired human form as they descended from on high. When they mated with human women, the “daughters of men,” their offspring were the Nefilim in Genesis 6:4, which literally means “fallen beings.”
There are many variants of the story of the two angels from a wide range of sources, including The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) and Yalkut Shim’oni. The best-known of these stories concerns two maidens, Istahar and Na’amah, whom the two angels sought to seduce.
Note that this story, with its fairy-tale quality, manages to explain who the Sons of God were, how they brought corruption to the earth, and the origin of giants. The story also demonstrates that no one, not even an angel, is immune to the Evil Impulse. Indeed, so corrupt did the angels become, that it is said that in the end they indiscriminately enjoyed virgins, married women, men, and beasts. The Sons of God are also blamed for having invented the use of ornaments, rouge, and multicolored garments to make women more enticing. The daughters of men are identified as the children of Seth, Adam’s son, and therefore are human (Zohar 1:37a). The heroine of the story is, of course, Istahar, the virgin who resisted the advances of Shemhazai, and was turned into a star. Istahar is a variant name for the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, who was equated with the planet Venus, the brightest star. As for Na’amah, the young woman who is said to have overwhelmed Azazel with her beauty, she is identified as the sister of Tubal-Cain. In later legends, Na’amah is also identified as a sister or daughter of Lilith.
In most versions of this myth, Istahar demands to be told God’s secret Name, the Tetragrammaton (YHVH). But in one alternate version in Beit ha-Midrash 5:156, which, because it mutes the sexual elements of the story, might be described as a midrash for children, she demands that he let her try on his wings. At first he denies that his wings come off, but when she insists, he takes them off and lets her put them on and at that moment she flies off into heaven and is transformed into a star.
In later versions of this legend, the role of Shemhazai is diminished, while the role of Azazel is expanded, until Azazel is virtually identified with Satan. Ultimately, it is Shemhazai who repents and Azazel who does not. This leads to subsequent legends about the evil-doings of Azazel. According to Yalkut Shim’oni, Istahar became a star set among the seven stars of the Pleiades, while Shemhazai, hung upside down between heaven and earth, became the constellation Orion. Thus this myth may also be viewed from an astrological perspective as the origin of the constellations Pleiades and Orion.
There are strong echoes of Greek mythology in the myth of the Sons of God and daughters of men. In bringing heavenly secrets to earth, the Sons of God function much as does Prometheus when he steals fire from heaven and brings it to earth. For more on Prometheus stealing fire from heaven see Graves, The Greek Myths, 39g. There is also a strong parallel to the fate of Istahar in the story of Zeus setting Callisto’s image among the stars. See Graves, The Greek Myths, 22h. See also “Adam Brings Down Fire from Heaven,” p. 137.
Sources:
Targum Pseudo-Yonathan on Genesis 6:1-4; Yalkut Shim’oni, Bereshit 44; Midrash Avkir in Beit ha-Midrash, 4:127-128; The Book of Jubilees 4:15, 4:22, 5:1-3; 1 Enoch 6:14; Bereshit Rabbati 29-30; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 22; Zohar 1:37a;Zohar Hadash, Ruth 81a; IFA 10856.
582. THE WATCHERS
There are those who say that Shemhazai and Azazel were not the only angels who descended to the face of the earth. Instead, Shemhazai was the leader of two hundred angels known as the Watchers, a high order of angels who never slept. After they descended to the summit of Mount Hermon, these angels swore an oath, binding themselves together. But when the angels fell from their holy estate, they were reduced in stature as well as in strength, and their fiery substance became flesh.
At first the fallen angels intended to instruct the people in the ways of righteousness. But when they saw the beautiful daughters of men, they lusted after them, and chose wives from among them. And the children born from this union were giants.
Each of the angels, not only Shemhazai and Azazel, revealed secrets of heaven, teaching charms and enchantments, incantat
ions and the cutting of roots, astrology and the knowledge of signs. They taught men the art of working metal to make weapons, and they taught women how to make themselves desirable to men. So too did these angels sin with anyone they desired, men as well as women, beasts as well as humans, and they became corrupt in all ways. Before long, everything on earth became corrupted, and God ordered these fallen angels to be rooted out and bound in chains in the depths of the earth.
Then the four archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael, went to God and recounted the sins of the fallen angels. And God said to Raphael: “Bind Azazel hand and foot, and cast him into a canyon in the desert Dudael, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there. And on the day of Judgment he shall be cast into the fire.”
And God said to Michael: “Bind Shemhazai and his associates. Bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, till the day of judgment. Then they will be led to the fiery abyss and tormented and imprisoned forever.”
Still others say that Shemhazai and Azazel, alone among the angels, assumed human form when they descended to this world. As for the other fallen angels, they took the form of he-goats, serving as mounts for Shemhazai and Azazel. Later they were all cast into an abyss, where they still remain, imprisoned, until the end of time.
While most versions of this myth of the Sons of God focus on two angels who descended from heaven, the version in The Book of Enoch states that they descended with an order of angels.
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