Midrash su Genesi 3:20

(Deut. 1:1:) THESE ARE THE WORDS THAT MOSES SPOKE. This text is related (to Is. 35:6): THEN THE LAME SHALL LEAP LIKE A HART, AND THE TONGUE OF THE DUMB SHALL SHOUT FOR JOY. Come and see.¹Tanh., Deut. 1:2. When the Holy One said to MOSES (in Exod. 3:10): I WILL SEND YOU UNTO PHARAOH, Moses said to him: You are doing me an injustice.²Gk.: bia. (Exod. 4:10): I AM NOT A MAN OF WORDS. He said to him: Seventy languages are spoken in Pharaoh's palace.³Palterin. Gk.: praitorion; Lat. praetorium. Thus if an embassy⁴Gk.: presbeuterion. comes from another place, they may speak with them in their own language. When I go on your mission, they will examine me, asking whether I am a representative of the Omnipresent. Then it will be revealed to them that I do not know how to converse with them. Will they not laugh at me, saying: Look at the agent of the one who created the world and all its languages! Does he not know how to listen and reply? See here, something is wrong!⁵Gk.: bia. (Exod. 4:10:) I AM NOT A MAN OF WORDS. (Exod. 6:12:) {SEE} [FOR] I HAVE UNCIRCUMCISED LIPS (i.e., a speech impediment). The Holy One said to him: But look at the first Adam. Since no creature taught him, where did he <come to> know seventy languages? It is so stated: AND HE RECITED NAMES FOR THEM.⁶The citation is not found in Scripture. Cf. Gen. 2:20: AND ADAM RECITED NAMES FOR ALL CATTLE…., a reading which what follows assumes. The midrash is also assuming that the beasts already had names, which Adam merely recited. "A name for every beast" is not written here but: NAMES (in the plural). [Who gave Adam a mouth that would recite names, <i.e.,> a name for each and every <beast> in seventy languages?] The mouth that said (in Exod. 4:10): I AM NOT A MAN OF WORDS, <then> said (in Deut. 1:1): THESE ARE THE WORDS. The prophet also cries out and says (in Is. 35:6): THEN THE LAME SHALL LEAP LIKE A HART, AND THE TONGUE OF THE DUMB SHALL SHOUT FOR JOY. Why? (Ibid., cont.:) BECAUSE WATERS SHALL BREAK FORTH IN THE WILDERNESS AND STREAMS IN THE DESERT. It is therefore stated (in Deut. 1:1): THESE ARE THE WORDS.

(Gen. 17:3:) THEN ABRAHAM FELL ON HIS FACE. Before he performed circumcision, he would fall < on his face before the Holy One >.¹¹⁵Tanh., Gen. 3:20. After he performed circumcision he did not fall < on his face >. Moreover, the wicked go down into Gehinnom only because of foreskin, as stated (in Is. 5:14): THEREFORE SHEOL HAS ENLARGED ITS DESIRE < AND OPENED ITS MOUTH FOR THOSE WITHOUT A STATUTE > (i.e., without circumcision). In the world to come, however, the Holy One will save Israel from Gehinnom by virtue of circumcision, as stated (in Prov. 31:21): SHE (i.e., Israel) HAS NO FEAR FOR HER HOUSEHOLD ON ACCOUNT OF (Gehinnom's) SNOW BECAUSE ALL HER HOUSEHOLD ARE DRESSED IN SCARLET.¹¹⁶Scarlet is the color of the blood from circumcision. Buber suggests reading SCARLET as TWICE in accordance with PRK 10:4, according to which the household of Israel wears the two parts of circumcision, the cutting off of the foreskin and the rolling back of the inner lining of the prepuce.