Midrash sobre Génesis 3:22

1. And He drove (ויגרש) the Adom (Man) (Bereshis 3:24) - from here learn that The Holy One Blessed Be He gave to him (Adom) a divorce (גירושין) like a woman (that is like husband would give a divorce document to his wife whom he wishes to divorce). And He placed from the east (מקדם) of Gan Eden the Cheruvim (type of Angels) - from here learn that the Cheruvim came before (קדמו) of all of the Act of Creation. with a bright blade of a revolving sword - this is Gehinnom (Hell). to guard the way - this is Derech Eretz (literally the 'Way of the Land', different meanings, here Basic Human Decency, Proper Conduct or similar). of the Tree of Life - we learn that Derech Eretz comes before (i.e. has priority) over the Tree of Life. And there is no 'Tree of Life' except Torah, as is said it is a Tree of Life for all whose grasp on it (Mishlei 3:18).

[Another interpretation (of Numb. 14:11): HOW LONG WILL THIS PEOPLE SCORN ME?: The Holy One said to them: I had said that you would not sin. Instead you would live and endure like me, just as I live and endure forever and forevermore. (According to Ps. 82:6:) I SAID: YOU ARE GODS; EVEN ALL OF YOU ARE CHILDREN OF THE MOST HIGH. <You are> like the ministering angels who never taste death. Yet after this greatness you wanted to die (according to vs. 7): INDEED YOU SHALL DIE LIKE A HUMAN (Adam), <i.e.,> like the first Adam, to whom I decreed one commandment which he was to do, that he might live and endure forever, as stated (in Gen. 3:22): BEHOLD, THE HUMAN (adam) HAS BECOME LIKE ONE OF US. Similarly also (in Gen. 1:27): AND GOD CREATED THE HUMAN (adam) IN HIS OWN IMAGE, so that he would live and endure like himself. Yet he corrupted his works and nullified his decree, for he ate of the tree. Then I said to him (in Gen. 3:19): FOR DUST YOU ARE AND UNTO DUST YOU SHALL RETURN. So also in your case (in Ps. 82:6), I SAID: YOU ARE GODS, but you corrupted your works as <did> Adam. Surely you shall die like Adam! And who made this happen to them? <You, for> (according to Prov. 1:25) BUT YOU HAVE SPURNED ALL MY PLAN. (According to vs. 30:) THEY HAVE DESPISED ALL MY REBUKE. It is therefore stated (in Numb. 14:11): HOW LONG WILL THIS PEOPLE SCORN ME …?

“Was [haya] [a Judean man in the Shushan citadel]….” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Everyone about whom “haya” is stated, it is he at the beginning and it is he at the end.⁹ He was righteous from beginning to end. They objected to him; but isn’t it written: “One was [haya] Abraham” (Ezekiel 33:24)?¹⁰ Abraham began his life as an idolater; he wasn’t the same at the beginning and the end. He said to them: That is not, in fact, a refutation, as Rabbi Ḥanina and Rabbi Yoḥanan said: At age three Abraham identified his Creator. That is what is written: “Because [ekev] Abraham heeded My voice” (Genesis 26:5). The number of years that Abraham heeded the voice of his Creator is the equivalent of ekev (172),¹¹Ayin – 70, kof –100, beit – 2 and he lived one hundred and seventy-five years. [If one does not accept this explanation,] how do I find expression for haya about him? It means that he was fated from the beginning to guide the entire world to repent.¹²Although Abraham was not a believer in God his whole life, he had the potential from the beginning.
“[The Lord God said:] Behold, the man has become [haya] [like one of us, knowing good and evil]” (Genesis 3:22) – he became fated to die. “The serpent was [haya] more cunning” (Genesis 3:1) – he was fated for punishment. “Cain was [haya] a cultivator of the ground” (Genesis 4:2) – he was fated for exile, as you say: “Cain departed from the presence of the Lord” (Genesis 4:16); saying that he would be “restless and wandering” (Genesis 4:12). “There was [haya] a man in the land of Utz” (Job 1:1) – he was fated for suffering. “Noah, a righteous man, was [haya] faultless” (Genesis 6:9) – he was fated to acknowledge his Creator. “Moses was [haya] herding (Exodus 3:1) – he was fated for salvation. Mordekhai was fated for redemption.
Rabbi Levi and the Rabbis: Rabbi Levi said: Anyone about whom haya is stated witnessed a new world. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: They are five.
Noah – yesterday “Water eroded stone” (Job 14:19), as Rabbi Levi said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: Even millstones were dissolved during the flood, and now [after the flood] it says: “The sons of Noah who emerged from the ark…” (Genesis 9:18),¹³Immediately following this verse, the Torah relates how the earth was repopulated by Noah’s sons while Noah was alive. indicating that he witnessed a new world.
Joseph – yesterday “they tortured [his feet] with chains” (Psalms 105:18), and now “And Joseph was [haya] was the ruler over the land” (Genesis 42:6); that is, he witnessed a new world.
Moses – yesterday he was fleeing from Pharaoh and now he is drowning him in the sea; that is, he witnessed a new world.
Job – yesterday “He spills my bile onto the ground” (Job 16:13), and now “and the Lord gave Job double what he had had” (Job 42:10); that is, he witnessed a new world.
Mordekhai – yesterday “he wore sackcloth and ashes” (Esther 4:1), and now “he emerged from before the king in royal garments” (Esther 8:15).
“And his name was Mordekhai” (Esther 2:5). Just as myrrh [mor] is first of all the spices,¹⁴It is first on the list of ingredients of the sacred oil of anointment (Exodus 30:23). so was Mordekhai first among the righteous in his generation.