Midrash sa Ezekiel 28:12: Kohelet Rabbah, Otzar Midrashim, Bereshit Rabbah & Midrash Tanchuma Buber

Another matter, “who is like the wise man” – this is Adam the first man, as it is written in his regard: “You are the culmination of perfection” (Ezekiel 28:12). “And who knows the meaning of a matter” – who delineated names for all. “The wisdom of a man illuminates his face” – his beauty illuminates his face. Rabbi Levi said: The curve of the heel of Adam the first man outshone the sun. Do not be astonished, as it is the way of the world that when a person crafts for himself two excellent trays, one for him and one for a member of his household, whose will he craft more beautifully? Will it not be his? So too, Adam the first man was created for the service of the Holy One blessed be He, and the sun was created for the service of man. Is it not right that the curve of the heel of man will outshine the sun? This is so regarding the curve of his heel, all the more so regarding his face.
Rabbi Levi [said] in the name of Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina: The Holy One blessed be He tied thirteen canopies for them²Adam and Eve. in the Garden of Eden. That is what is written: “You were in Eden, the garden of God; [every precious stone was your canopy: ruby, topaz and clear quartz, beryl, onyx, and chalcedony, sapphire, carbuncle, emerald and gold]” (Ezekiel 28:13). Reish Lakish said: Eleven. The Rabbis say: Ten. They do not disagree.³They do not disagree about the fact that the verse in Ezekiel, which lists ten precious stones, is the source of the number of canopies that God tied for Adam and Eve. The one who said thirteen interpreted [the phrase] “every precious stone was your canopy,” as three [additional materials]. The one who said eleven interpreted it as one. The one who said ten did not interpret it as any. Yet, after all this praise, [God said to Adam:] “as you are dust” (Genesis 3:19). “And the boldness of his face is changed” – when the Holy One blessed be He said to him: “Did you [eat] from the tree?” (Genesis 3:12),⁴To which Adam responded by blaming God for giving him Eve, who had given him to eat from the tree. the Holy One blessed be He, too, changed the glory of his countenance, and expelled him from the Garden of Eden.

And the tree of knowledge of good and evil – Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair said: Until Adam the first man ate from it, this tree was not called by [any] name, but rather just tree, like all the other trees. But from when he ate and transgressed the decree of the Holy One, blessed be He, its name was called, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, based on [what happened to] it later. This is like we find with many things, the names of which are written earlier based on [what happened to] it later, like and they struck the whole territory of the Amalekite (Genesis 14:7). But why was its name called, good and evil? Since the Holy One, blessed be He, informed him not to eat from it, neither the good nor the evil. This is like He said to Lavan: Guard yourself not to speak to Jacob either good or evil (Genesis 31:29); we cannot say anything to you, evil or good (Genesis 24:50); He shall not search whether it be good or bad (Leviticus 27:33). And from here (another textual variant: And from where [do]) we say that before he ate from the tree, he knew good and evil. Indeed, we find that he gave names to all of the creatures from his great wisdom that [God] gave to him, as it is stated: And Adam gave them names (Genesis 2:20). And we also found that the Holy One, blessed be He, created him in a goodly measure, in His image and in His likeness, so He did not create [him as] a lacking creature. And we also found that is written about him that he was full of wisdom and understanding, as it is stated, full of wisdom and flawless in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God (Ezekiel 28:12-13). And from where do you say that the tree was not called the tree of knowledge from the beginning? From the woman’s answer to the snake. See what she answered him: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat of it” (Genesis 3:3). And she did not say, “Of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” And also at the time when the Holy One, blessed be He, asked Adam, “Why are you hiding,” He said to him, Did you eat of the tree from which I had commanded, etc. (Genesis 3:11); and He did not say, “of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” And for another thing as well was its name called, the tree of knowledge of good and evil [bad] – because through it, man knew many bad things. As until man transgressed the command, toil, effort, cold, heat, and pain had not been decreed upon him, nor anything that would hurt him. But once he transgressed the Omnipresent’s decreed statute, all of these bad things affected him… And why did the Holy One, blessed be He, command him that he should eat from all of the trees of the garden, but prevented him from one of them? So that he should constantly see it, remember his Creator, and recognize that the yoke of his Maker is upon him and that he should not become haughty.

In Rabbi Meir’s Torah they found written: “And, behold, it was very [me’od] good” – and, behold, death [mot] is good.⁶In a gloss next to the word me’od Rabbi Meir had written mot. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: I was once riding on the shoulders of my grandfather, going up from his city to Kefar Ḥanan via Beit She’an, and I heard Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar sitting and expounding in the name of Rabbi Meir: “And, behold, it was very good” – and, behold, death is good. Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina and Rabbi Yonatan, Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina said: Adam the first man was worthy not to have tasted the taste of death. Why, then, was he penalized with mortality? It is because the Holy One blessed be He foresaw that [his descendants] Nebuchadnezzar and Ḥiram king of Tyre were destined to render themselves deities. That is why he was penalized with mortality. That is what is written [concerning Ḥiram]: “You were in Eden, the Garden of God” (Ezekiel 28:13). Now, was Ḥiram actually in the Garden of Eden? This is a rhetorical question. Rather, He was saying to him: ‘It is you who caused the one in the Garden of Eden to die.’ Rabbi Ḥiyya, son of Rabbi Berekhya’s daughter, said in the name of Rabbi Berekhya: “You were a great cherub” (Ezekiel 28:14) – it is you [Ḥiram] who caused that cherub [Adam]⁷Adam is referred to as a cherub due to his lofty spiritual status. to die. Rabbi Yonatan said to him:⁸To Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina. If so,⁹If the reason for Adam’s mortality is as you say. let Him decree death for the wicked and not decree death for the righteous. The reason [He didn’t do this] is that it was so that the wicked should not feign repentance, so that the wicked should not say: ‘Do the righteous not live because they accumulate mitzvot and good deeds? We, too, will accumulate mitzvot and good deeds.’ The result would be acting [virtuously] for insincere motives.
Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, Rabbi Yoḥanan said:¹⁰In explanation of Rabbi Meir’s statement that death is a good thing. Why was death decreed for the wicked? The answer is that as long as the wicked are alive, they anger the Holy One blessed be He. That is what is written: “You wearied the Lord with your words” (Malachi 2:17). But once they die, they stop angering the Holy One blessed be He, as it is stated: “There anger has ceased for the wicked” (Job 3:17) – there they stop angering the Lord. And why was death decreed for the righteous? The answer is that as long as the righteous are alive, they engage in battle against their evil inclination, and when they die, they rest.¹¹In Paradise. That is what is written: “There rest those whose strength is sapped” (Job 3:17) – [those who say:] ‘We have toiled enough.’
Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: It¹²The benefit of dying and going on to the Next World. is to give these [the righteous] a double reward and to exact double retribution against those [the wicked]. It is to give reward to the righteous who were worthy of never tasting the taste of death. That is why, “therefore, they will inherit a double portion in their land” (Isaiah 61:7). And to exact retribution against the wicked, as the righteous were worthy of never tasting the taste of death, and it was only due to them [the wicked] that they accepted death upon themselves. They will therefore inherit double of what they have earned.¹³Double punishment. There are other versions that cite the verse: “Shatter them with double destruction” (Jeremiah 17:18).