Commentary for Genesis 5:3

שלשים ומאת שנה A HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS — Until then he lived apart from his wife (Genesis Rabbah 24:6).

AND HE BEGOT A SON IN HIS OWN LIKENESS, AFTER HIS IMAGE. It is known that all who are born from the living are in the likeness and in the image of those who give birth to them, [so why was this verse necessary?] However, because Adam was elevated in his likeness and image in that Scripture said of him, In the likeness of G-d He made him,⁴⁷⁶Verse 1. Scripture explains that his offspring were also in this ennobled likeness. Scripture did not state this concerning Cain and Abel for it did not want to prolong the discussion of them. It explains it, however, in the case of Seth because the world was founded from him, [Noah being his direct descendant]. Or it may be that because Adam was created with absolutely perfect form, Scripture relates concerning Seth that he was like him [Adam] in strength and beauty.

ויולד כדמותו כצלמו, Sheth was more righteous than either of his brothers, seeing that even Hevel had only offered his gift to G’d after Kayin had preceded him.

ויולד בדמותו כצלמו. He reproduced in his likeness and in his form. The Torah stressed this positive development, seeing that neither Cain nor Abel represented ideal offspring, both of them dying either almost immediately or their offspring during the deluge. During the 130 years between the birth of Cain and Abel and that of Sheth most of the pollutant Eve absorbed from the serpent had been expelled making it easier for a promising human being to emerge from her womb. We have a tradition that the third son is the most saintly, a tradition that proved itself with both Levi and Moses. It probably originated with the birth of Sheth.

ויחי ארם, after Adam had lived on earth for 130 years, he begat a son in his image and in his form, as we have explained already. (1,26 where this term has been explained) This was possible now, since Adam, after having completed his penitence had become a thoroughly good person. It is possible to understand the word כדמותו as referring to Adam’s body reflecting the quality of his soul, whereas the meaning of the word בצלמו refers to his intellectual qualities. After he had done תשובה, Adam’s intellectual qualities also had fully recovered from the negative fallout they had experienced as a result of his sin. It is also possible that he did not recover these faculties to the full until the last tenth of his life on earth, seeing that the prophet Isaiah 65,20 describes people in the times of the Messiah as remaining adolescent until they attain the age of 100. Adam’s offspring also might have been in an adolescent state until they came of age at about 100 years old, and that is why they did not marry until then. Once they had matured both physically and mentally, they could be expected to reproduce so that their children could be described as being בצלמיהם בדמותיהם, reflecting the good qualities of their respective parents.
Our sages (Eyruvin 18) say that during all these 130 years that Adam had lived the life of a bachelor he was generating all kinds of spirits, demons, and the like, (whenever he had a nocturnal seminal emission, these emissions did not go to waste). The sages derive this from the emphasis in our verse that finally Adam “begat in his image in his form,” i.e. up until then he had involuntarily begotten inferior beings. [the Talmud implies criticism of Adam, who, though he flagellated himself in this manner, did not fulfill the commandment to be fruitful during those years. Rabbeinu Nissim, in the name of Rabbi Sherirah gaon, writes G’d had indicated to him at the time of his sin that henceforth his children, if any, would not be true reproductions, i.e. that he just like women sometimes who suffer from giving birth to malformed beings, would produce such malformed creatures. The matter is discussed in Niddah 24. Rabbi Yehudah in the name of Shemuel says that when a woman gives birth to a malformed being with wings, she is still considered as ritually as impure as if she had given birth to a normal human being.
While Adam was in a state of disgrace he was unable to sire regular human beings, but grotesque looking creatures with ugly faces, resembling demons. We know that people are in the habit of referring to such malformed human specimens as demons and ghosts. When Adam regained his former good standing in the eyes of G’d, and He lifted the curse from him, he was once more able to father children that could be described as בדמותו כצלמו, in his image.

ויולד בדמותו, בצלמו, “he begat in his likeness and in his image.” It is a well known fact that all the children born to man resemble their parents in large measure. So what did the Torah tell us here that we did not already know? The fact is that first man, not born of woman had been fashioned by G’d and been described by Him as being בצלם אלוקים. We might have thought that this distinction applied only to the first human being, the one who was the direct product of G’d’s handiwork. The Torah tells us here that this distinction was passed on throughout the generations. No mention was made of this distinction when Kayin and Hevel were born, as the Torah did not want to dwell on these two (whose descendants ceased at the time of the deluge) Seeing that Noach and his family were descendants of Sheth, it was important to inform us that their exteriors also reflected their G’dliness. According to the Midrash, the Torah mentions the fact that Adam reproduced in his own image to alert us to the fact that seminal emissions during the one hundred and thirty years before the birth of Sheth had resulted in the formation of שדים ומזיקים, spiritually and physically harmful creatures.

Until now he had separated from his wife. Rashi is answering the question: On the day he was created he had children. If so, why did he not have [more] children until now, [one hundred and thirty years later]?

בדמותו כצלמו. Oben heißt es: בצלמנו כדמותנו, wir wollen einen Träger unserer שכינה auf Erden machen in einer leiblichen Hülle, wie sie demjenigen entspricht, der uns geistig ähnlich sein soll. Hier heißt es umgekehrt ברמותו כצלמו, in seiner geistigen Ähnlichkeit wie seine leibliche Gestalt. Offenbar erscheint hier die geistige Ähnlichkeit, דמות, größer, als die leibliche, צלם. Vielleicht sind sich geistig alle Menschen gleich, ist das רמות in dem unsterblichen, ewigen Geiste in allen gleich, und entsteht die Verschiedenheit nur durch die größere oder geringere Vollkommenheit seines Werkzeugs, des Leibes. Adam vererbte die volle Ebenbildlichkeit; leiblich wurden die Geschlechter schwächer, schon der nächste Sohn war nur כצלמו. Daher, sodann, der große Wert, den die תורה auf טהרה, auf Reinheit des Leibes legt. Daher dann חקים die Grundbedingung aller Zukunftshoffnung. Je reiner der Leib, desto klarer wird das ׳צלם אלקי in ihm zur Verwirklichung kommen; nur er ordnet sich dem Geiste unter. חקים stehen in der Regel den משפטים voran; denn nur einem nach dieser Diät des leiblichen Daseins gezeugten und genährten Volke kann die Erfüllung der משפטים zugemutet werden. Seth war also כצלמו, "in einer schon abgeschwächten Stufe des leiblichen Ebenbildes gezeugt". ויקרא, er nannte; wie dies schon vorher von Chawa geschehen war, so betrachtete ihn auch Adam.

ויולד בדמותו כצלמו, “he begot a son in his likeness in his image;” the emphasis on this is to show us that anything he begot during the previous 129 years were only creatures that did not reflect his likeness or image, i.e. disembodied spirits, mostly מזיקים, injurious, destructive spirits. (Compare 3,20)