Sin death and beyond

SIN, DEATH AND BEYOND: M.M.NINAN
"His skin was a bright garment, shining like his nails; when he sinned this brightness vanished,
and he appeared naked" (Targ. Yer. Gen. iii. 7; Gen. R. xi.; Adam and Eve, xxxvii.).
When God said: "Let us make man in our image," the angels in heaven, filled with jealousy,
said: "What is man that Thou thinkest of him? A creature full of falsehood, hatred, and strife!"
But Love pleaded in his favor; and the Lord spoke: "Let truth spring forth from the earth!" (Gen.
R. viii.; Midr. Teh. viii.).
Far older, and blended with Babylonian mythology (Isa. xiv. 12), is the story preserved in Adam
and Eve, the Slavonic Book of Enoch, xxxi. 3-6 (compare Bereshit Rabbati, ed. Epstein, p. 17;
Pirḳe R. El. xiii.; Chronicle of Jerahmeel, xxii.; and Koran, sura ii. 34; xv. 30), according to
which all the angels were commanded by Michael the archangel to pay homage to the image
of God; whereupon all bowed before Adam except Satan, who, in punishment for his
rebelliousness, was hurled from his heavenly heights to the depth of the abyss, while his
vacant throne was reserved for Adam, to be given to him at the time of the future resurrection.
Henceforth, Satan became the enemy of man, appearing to him in the guise of an angel of
light to seduce him (compare II Cor. xi. 14). (This gives the reason for Satan to trick man into
sin)
A somewhat modified midrashic legend (Gen. R. viii.) relates that the angels were so filled with
wonder and awe at the sight of Adam, the image of God, that they wanted to pay homage to
him and cry "Holy!" But the Lord caused sleep to fall upon him so that he lay like a corpse, and
the Lord said: "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be
accounted of?" (Isa. ii. 22).
Another version (Pirḳe R. El. xi.; Tan., Peḳude, 3) is that all other creatures, marveling at
Adam's greatness, prostrated themselves before him, taking him to be their creator; whereon
he pointed upward to God, exclaiming: "The Lord reigneth, He is clothed with majesty!" (Ps.
xciii. 1).
Still, the Book of Wisdom (ii. 23, 24) seems to allude to the older legend when saying, "God
created man for immortality, but through the envy of Satan death entered the world" (compare
Josephus, "Ant." i. 1, § 4; Ab. R. N. i.; Gen. R. xviii., where the serpent is represented as
moved by jealousy).
Adam in paradise had angels (agathodæmons or serpents) to wait upon and dance before him
(Sanh. 59b, B. B. 75a, Pirḳe R. El. xii.).
He ate "angel's bread" (compare Ps. lxxiii. 26; Yoma, 75b; Vita Adæ et Evæ, § 4).
All creation bowed before him in awe. He was the light of the world (Yer. Shab. ii. 5b)
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