Midrash su Genesi 2:15

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
There was a time for Adam the first man to enter the Garden of Eden, as it is stated: “He placed him in the Garden of Eden” (Genesis 2:15). And there was a time to depart from there, as it is stated: “He banished the man…” (Genesis 3:24). There was a time for Noah to enter the ark, as it is stated: “Come…to the ark” (Genesis 7:1). And there was a time to emerge from there, as it is stated: “Emerge from the ark” (Genesis 8:16). There was a time for the [mitzva of] circumcision to be given to Abraham, as it is stated: “You shall observe My covenant” (Genesis 17:9). And there was a time for his descendants to be circumcised, [and for many] of them to be circumcised [at once. This occurred] in two places, once in Egypt and once in the wilderness, as it is stated: “All the people who departed were circumcised [and all the people born in the wilderness…were not circumcised]” (Joshua 5:5).¹Joshua saw to their circumcision.
“And a time for every purpose under the heavens” – there was a time for the Torah to be given to Israel. Rav Beivai said: It was time for a certain thing that was located above the heavens to now be given under the heavens. What is that? It is the Torah, as it is stated: “God spoke all these matters, saying” (Exodus 20:1).

(Lev. 26:3:) “If you walk in My statutes.” This text is related (to Prov. 1:20), “Wisdom shouts for joy in the street; in the squares she raises her voice.” R. Samuel bar Nahman questioned R. Johanan ben Eleazar, when he was standing in the market. He said to him, “Recite one chapter (of Mishnah) for me.” He said to him, “Go to the house of study, and I will recite it for you there.” He said to him, “Rabbi, did you not teach me (Prov. 1:20), ‘Wisdom shouts for joy in the street?’” He said to him, “You know how to read (Scripture), but you do know how to recite (Mishnah). What is the meaning of ‘Wisdom shouts for joy in the street?’ In the street of Torah. In the case of a pearl,³Gk.: margelis. where is it sold? In [its] street. In the case of jewels and pearls, where are they sold? In the known place. They are not brought to the owners of vegetables, onions and garlic, but rather to the place of merchants. Simply in [its] street. Similarly Torah is said in the street [of Torah], as stated, ‘Wisdom shouts for joy in the street; in the squares.’” And what is the meaning of (Prov. 1:20, cont.) “in the squares (rt.: rhb)?” In the place where one amplifies (rt.: rhb) it. And where do they amplify it? In the synagogues and in the study halls. Therefore it is stated (in Prov. 1:20), “in the squares she raises her voice.” (Prov. 1:21:) “At the head of the roaring hosts she calls (rt.: qr').” At the head (r'sh) of the roaring hosts she is the one calling (rt.: qr'). How so? From the beginning (rt.: r'sh) of Torah, how many hosts⁴Gk. ochloi (“crowds”). does she destroy? The generation of the flood, the generation of the dispersion (i.e., of the tower of Babel) and the generation of Sodom. Hence, from the beginning of Torah she calls. Ergo, “At the head of the roaring hosts she calls.” [(Prov. 1:21:) “At the head of the roaring hosts (as if from mwt)⁵The actual root is HMH. she calls.”] At the head of death (mwt) she is calling concerning the first Adam, as stated (in Gen. 2:17)? “For on the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die.” Ergo (in Prov. 1:21), “At the head of the roaring hosts (as if from mwt) she calls.” (Prov. 1:21, cont.:) “In the entrance of the city gates she speaks her words.” In the beginning they made synagogues on the heights of a city, to fulfill what was said (ibid.), “in the entrance of the city gates she speaks her words.”⁶In the ancient world, it was the city heights that were enclosed in a wall and would therefore be entered through its gates. If you have spoken on matters of Torah, never say, “I have already spoken”; but rather speak again; for it is written (ibid.), “she speaks her words” (which can also be read as a future imperative form, “[you,] speak her words”). R. Abba said, “She speaks what is good and she speaks what is bad. (In Lev. 26:3-4) ‘If you walk in My statutes […] Then I will give you your rains in their season.’ Here is the good. ‘But if you do not heed, […] I will make your skies like iron’ (according to Lev. 26:14, 19). Here is the bad.” Another interpretation (of Lev. 26:3) “If you walk in My statutes”: What is written there (in vs. 11)? “Then I will set My dwelling place in your midst.” If you fulfill My commandments, I will leave the heavenly beings and come down to dwell among you, as stated (in Exod. 29:45), “And I will dwell in the midst of the Children of Israel.” So they came forth from Egypt on this condition: that they build the dwelling place, so that the Divine Presence might dwell among them, as stated (in vs. 46), “And they shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out from the land of Egypt, so that I might dwell in their midst.” Now if they have done My will, My Divine Presence shall not move from their midst. Why? R. Samuel bar Abba said, “The Holy One, blessed be He, desired that, just as He has an abode above, so He would have an abode below, for so He said to the first Adam, ‘If you are worthy, just as I am King over the heavenly beings, so I will make you king over the lower beings.’”⁷Cf. Tanh., Numb. 2:16; Gen. R. 3:19. It is so stated (in Gen. 2:15), “Then the Lord God took the human.” Now the word, “took” can only be a word of exaltation, just as you say (in Gen. 12:15), “and the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house.”⁸Cf. Gen. R. 16:5. And it also says (in Esth. 2:16), “So Esther was taken unto King Ahasuerus, unto his royal palace.” But He (the Holy One, blessed be He,) did not do so. Rather, when Adam sinned, He removed his Divine Presence from him. Then when Israel arose, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them, “You shall only go forth from Egypt on condition that you make a dwelling place for Me, so that My Divine Presence may dwell among you,” as stated (in Exod. 25:8), “Let them make Me a sanctuary [that I may dwell among them].” So also He said to Solomon (in I Kings 6:12–13), “With regard to this house which you are building, if you walk in My statutes […] Then I will dwell in the midst of the Children of Israel [and will never abandon My people Israel].” [However] (in I Kings 9:6-7) “If you and your children turn away from following Me […]. Then I will cut off Israel from upon [the face of] the land.” Why? Because those are [the] terms between Me and them, as stated (in Lev. 26:3. 14), “If you walk in my statutes…. But if you do not heed me;” what is written there (in vs. 31)? “Then I will make your sanctuaries desolate.” What did Solomon do? He had a lot of wives and horses; and it is written (in I Kings 11:4), “Now it came to pass in Solomon's old age that his wives led his heart astray.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “I have given you the Torah [for you] to carry out its commandments, and you have seen the terms which I prescribed to you in it”; and it is written (in Ps. 72:1), “To Solomon, O God, give Your statutes to the king.” And [so] it is written (in I Kings 11:11), “Because this has been with you, and you did not keep My covenant and My statutes.” So what do I do? (According to Is. 55:11) “So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth: it shall not return unto Me empty.” Manasseh arose to make the image and bring it into the holy of holies, as stated (in II Chron. 33:7; cf. II Kings 21:7), “And he set up a sculptured image, which he had made, in the house [of God].” Then the Holy One, blessed be He, called unto Jeremiah and said to him (in Lam. 4:3), “Even snakes⁹The midrash follows the ketiv (tannin). The qere reads tannim (“jackals”). extend a breast to nurse their young; [the daughter of My people has become cruel].” When the snake (tannin) comes to nurse from its mother, she sees it from afar and extends her breasts for it to nurse; for it would not see her breasts [if] covered, and would not nurse. Now My children do not act like this. Instead, when they saw Me entering the house, Manasseh came and brought in the image in order to force Me out of it. At first they made a single face,¹⁰Gk.: prosopon. and set it up to the west. The Divine Presence went, as it were, to another corner, a place where the image would not be seen. When Manasseh saw that, he made four faces so that the Divine Presence would see them and depart. Thus it is stated (in Is. 28:20), “For the couch is too short for stretching out, and the molten image¹¹Massekhah. Most biblical translations render the word as denoting a kind of covering here and in Is. 25:7, but massekhah generally refers to an image. In any case, the image concept must have suggested the use of the verse in this context. too narrow (tsar) for curling up.” Ergo I would say, “Unlike the snakes (in Lam. 4:3), they did not extend a breast to nurse their young.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said, “What am I doing here? (Hos. 5:15) ‘I am going. I will return to my place.’” "I will go and return" is not written here, but “I am going. I will return.” Now if had been written, "I will go and return (to the heavenly abode)," there would have been no hope for Israel; however, the Holy One, blessed be He, said, “Although I am going, let them repent, and I will return.” It is therefore written, “I am going. I will return to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face. In their distress (tsar) they will search diligently for Me.” Out of the midst of distress, when it comes upon them, they shall repent, and I will return and they shall seek My face. R. Yehuda says, “If Israel does not repent, they will not be redeemed, since it is stated (in Is. 30:15), ‘In stillness (shuva, which can be read as return or repentance) and calm you shall be saved; [… but you were unwilling ].’”¹²yTa‘an. 1:1 (63d-64a); Sanh. 97b. R. Shimon says, “Whether they repent or do not repent, when the end arrives, they will be redeemed immediately, since it is stated (in Is. 60:22), ‘I the Lord will hasten it in its time.’” R. Elazar said, “If they do not repent on their own, the Holy One, blessed be He, will raise over them an evil king, whose decrees are as harsh as [those of] Haman. Then he shall enslave them, and for that reason they shall repent, since it is stated (in Is. 59:19), ‘for distress shall come like a stream, with the wind of the Lord driving it onward.’ At that time (according to vs. 20), ‘Then a redeemer shall come to Zion.’”

Rabbi Abbahu began: “But they, like men [ke’adam], have violated the covenant” (Hosea 6:7) – this is Adam the first man. The Holy One blessed be He said: I brought Adam the first man into the Garden of Eden, I commanded him, and he violated My command. I sentenced him to banishment and expulsion, and I lamented him with eikha. I brought him into the Garden of Eden, as it is stated: “He placed him in the Garden of Eden” (Genesis 2:15). I commanded him, as it is stated: “The Lord God commanded the man saying.… [but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat]” (Genesis 2:16–17). He violated My command, as it is stated: “Have [you eaten] from the tree from which I commanded you [not to eat?]” (Genesis 3:11). I sentenced him to banishment, as it is stated: “He banished the man” (Genesis 3:24). I sentenced him to expulsion, as it is stated: “The Lord [God] sent him from the Garden of Eden” (Genesis 3:23). I lamented him with eikha, as it is stated: “He said to him: Where are you [ayeka]” (Genesis 3:9); it is written eikha.¹¹Ayeka and eikha are each spelled alef, yod, kaf, heh. Thus, it is as though God used the word eikha, how, regarding Adam, as if to say: How did this come to be, just as the first word of Lamentations is how [eikha].
His descendants, too, I brought into the Land of Israel, as it is stated: “I brought you into a fruitful land” (Jeremiah 2:7). I commanded them, as it is stated: “Command the children of Israel” (Leviticus 24:2). They violated My command, as it is stated: “All Israel has violated your Torah” (Daniel 9:11). I sentenced them to banishment, as it is stated: “From My house I will banish them” (Hosea 9:15). I sentenced them to expulsion, as it is stated: “Send them from My presence and let them go” (Jeremiah 15:1). I lamented them with: “How does…sit solitary?” (Lamentations 1:1).