Richi Tom Mathew (1900704)

ADAM AS A LITURGICAL BEING: AN EARLY JEWISH UNDERSTANDING

Liturgical worship was instituted by God with the creation of the cosmos. The Garden of
Eden was the first archetypal sanctuary/Temple where God resided and humans worshiped
God. Adam was the archetypal priest who administered worship in the Garden sanctuary. A
Jewish understanding within the Biblical, targumim, midrashim, apocryphal, and
pseudepigraphical writings is imperative as early Syriac Christianity had a formative bond
with Jewish biblical exegetical and liturgical traditions.
1 Garden of Eden: The First Holy Sanctuary in the Cosmos
In the book of Ezekiel 28:13-18, Eden is represented as ‘the Garden of God on the Holy
Mountain’ that contained ‘sanctuaries’ similar to the undefiled Levitical sanctuaries (Lev
21:23).1 The Book of Jubilees 8:19 identified Eden as the Holy Temple as it is ‘residence of
the Lord.’2. Nine aspects that depict the Garden of Eden as a later Sanctuary system are as
follows:
1 The Tree of Life was depicted in the form of Menorah in the Temple and
Tabernacle.
2 Sacred waters were associated with the Temple. (Bronze laver in the temple)
3 Eastward Orientations played a role in the subsequent Israelite Temple. (Adam was
expelled eastwardly and the Cherubim was placed at the East Gate, the High Priest
traverses the westward path on the Day of Atonement symbolizing back to the point
of the creation)
4 Cosmic Mountain was symbolically affiliated with the Garden and the Temple.
(Garden was a mountain, Ez: 28:13-18; The temple was also a mountain site)
5 Account of creation is depicted in the creation of the Tabernacle and Temple. (The
use of seven days compared to the seven commands given to Moses for the
construction of the Tabernacle and the issuance of observing the Sabbath, Ex 25-31)
6 Priests functioned as Cherubim and heavenly angels guarding the Holy of Holies in
the Temple. (Use of ‘to till and keep it.’)
7 Sacrifice started in the Garden similar to the Israelite Temple tradition. (Gen 3:21,
Garments of Skin to clothe Adam and Eve implied that God had sacrificed the first
animal, c/f apocryphal books like Life of Adam and Eve, Jubilees, etc.).
8 Use of similar religious languages. (To till and keep it, God walked in the Garden
and Temple, in the presence of the Lord)
9 Sacred vestments of Adam and Eve were associated with the Israelite priests.
(Garments of Glory were similar to the radiant Aaronic Priestly Garments)3

1
Beale, The Temple, and the Church’s Mission, ch.2.6. “Ezekiel’s View of the Garden of Eden as First
Sanctuary.”
2
Jubilees 8:19, James C. Vanderkam, tr., The Book of Jubilees, 53.
3
Donald W. Parry, “Garden of Eden: Prototype Sanctuary,” 1, Gordon Wenham, Moshe Weinfeld, and P.J.
Kearney, among others, express the same view that the Garden was the archetypal sanctuary.

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2 The Holy Person: Adam as Liturgical Being
In the first century, Adam4 was famously portrayed as a kingly, angelic, or divine figure who
manifested God’s divine glory to the creations through his primordial priestly ministry.5
2.1 Adam Created as a Priest
Within the Targumim (Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible) and Midrashic (Homiletic
expositions) exegesis, the holiness of Adam over other creatures is revealed by the
constituents used by God to create Adam viz-a-viz the ‘dust of the ground.’ Targum Pseudo-
Jonathan (TgPsJ)6 refers explicitly to the dust being taken from the Jerusalem Temple, more
specifically, the place of the sanctuary. On interpreting Exodus 20:24, the Yerushalmi Nazir
7.2:2L7 in Jerusalem Talmud identified God’s order to use the dust to make an ‘altar of the
earth’ from the exact material from which God also had created Adam. In Midrash GenR
14.8,8 the rabbis interpret the same verse to infer that Adam was created from the place of his
own atonement, the future site of the temple. And as per traditions, this was the same altar
that was located in Jerusalem on which Adam and Noah sacrificed.9
The Targumim to explain the creation of Adam through the ‘mixing/mingling’ of various
substances avoided the more common Hebrew verb ‫( גבל‬to form/fashion) and employed a
direct word ‫( פחך‬to knead) that was heavily associated with the legislated duty of a priest to
knead the substances to be used in the temple services.10 As the temple priests mixed and
kneaded together the substances to create the holy offerings God also kneaded together to
create the physical Adam. Adam was holy and was created in service to the holy altar. It

4
The androgyne Adam has the advantage of keeping the female as the “image of God is presented in G.M.G.
Teugels, “The Creation of Human in Rabbinic Interpretation,” in The Creation of Man and Woman:
Interpretations of the Biblical Narratives in Jewish and Christian Traditions, edited by Gerard P. Luttikhuizen in
vol. 3 of Themes in Biblical Narrative: Jewish and Christian Traditions. (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 111-112. An
ancient rabbinic reading conforming to the modern feminist reading understood Adam had both male and female
sides and simply put, that a man without a woman is no ‘Adam.’ Condemnation of women because she is female
in nature and second in creation over the male as the pure spirit is less prevalent in rabbinic literature, a much
less misogynist feature expressed than in Hellenistic and Christian patristic texts. Refer to G.M.G. Teugels, “The
Creation of Human in Rabbinic Interpretation,” 126. Midrash Genesis Rabbah, GenR 14.7, H. Freedman, tr.,
Midrash Rabbah: Genesis I, edited by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon. (Gower Street, London: Soncino Press.
1939), 114. According to Rabbi Huma’s view, Genesis 2:7 was interpreted to mean that Adam was formed from
the dust (afar) of the earth (adamah). While afar is masculine and adamah is feminine, Rabbi Huma described
that the potter took the ‘male’ dust and ‘feminine’ ground to make a sound vessel that is human, not less female
or more male
5
Stephen N. Lambden, “From Fig-Leaves to Fingernails: Some Notes on the Garments of Adam and Eve in the
Hebrew Bible and Select Early Post-Biblical Jewish Writings,” 78.
6
TgPsJ Genesis 2:7, Michael Maher, tr., Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Genesis, 22.
7
Yerushalmi Nazir 7.2, Heinrich W. Guggenheimer, tr. and ed., The Jerusalem Talmud, 657.
8
GenR 14.8, Freedman, Midrash Rabbah: Genesis I, 115-116.
9
GenR 34.8, Freedman, Midrash Rabbah: Genesis I, 272.
10
Robert Hayward, “Adam, Dust and Breath of Life,” 161.

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broadly hinted at the priestly character of Adam.11 Adam’s bodily mixture was identified with
the Temple altar and its liturgical nuances merited the vocation of Adam as a priest.
2.2 Adam Created for a Priestly Role
Adam was the designated priest in the Garden who incorporated a priestly character similar to
the priests in the service of the temple.12 The Midrash GenR 16: 5 interprets Genesis 2:15 “to
work and till it” as one of Adam’s roles required under the Mosaic law to offer sacrifices:
“Another interpretation: le- ‘abedah ule-shamerah (to till it and to keep it) is an allusion to
sacrifices: thus, it is written, Ye shall serve (ta-‘abdun) God upon this mountain (Ex. 3: 12);
and, Ye shall observe (tishmeru) to offer unto Me (Num 28: 2).”13 This was primarily Adam’s
work in the Garden. ‘Le abedah’ explicitly within the rabbinic interpretation refers to the
sacrificial service indicating that Adam was created to serve God.14 Adam’s job ‘to till and
keep it’ was the same expression used exclusively by Levites in their priestly duty to guard
and minister the sanctuary.15 Whenever these two words occur together in the Old Testament
it would refer to the Israelites ‘serving’ God or ‘guarding’ God’s word or to the priests who
‘keep’ the ‘service’ of the Tabernacle (Num3:7-8; 8:25-26; 18:5-6; 1 Chr23:32; Ezek
44:14).16 Both words are always used together throughout the Pentateuch to refer to the
Levitical responsibility to care for the sacred space.17 In both Targums TgPsJ and TgN,
Genesis 2:15 indicated the priestly trait by mentioning that Adam was placed in the Garden
‘to toil in the law and to observe its commandments’ similar to a Levitical priest observing
the law and commandments.18 John H. Walton understands this action of the priest Adam to
be a representation that would extend to all humans who were yet to come in the form of the
Aaronic priests as well as the Israelites who were the ‘kingdom of priests.’19 Thus, Adam’s
vocation and duty was to worship God warranted as a priest on behalf of the entire creation.
3 Adam the Divine Cosmic Priest
The form of Adam’s image and his priestly character had cosmic dimensions. Rabbinic
traditions held that physical Adam was created essentially as the anthropomorphic image of

11
Robert Hayward, “Adam, Dust and Breath of Life,” 162.
12
Hayward, “Adam, Dust and Breath of Life,” 162.
13
GenR 16.5, Freedman, Midrash Rabbah: Genesis I, 130.
14
U. Cassuto, A Commentary of the Book of Genesis, Part One: From Adam to Noah, ch.2.5.”
15
Wenham, “Sanctuary Symbolism in the Garden of Eden Story” 401.
16
Beale, The Temple, and the Church’s Mission, ch.2.6. “Garden as Place of the First Priest.”
17
John H. Walton, “A Historical Adam: Archetypal Creation View,” in Four Views on Historical Adam, ch.2.
18
TgPsJ Genesis 2:15, Michael Maher, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Genesis, 23 and TgN Genesis 2.15, Martin
McNamara, tr., Targum Neofiti I: Genesis, 58.
19
John H. Walton, “A Historical Adam: Archetypal Creation View,” ch.2.”

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God.20 The body of Adam embodied divinity and implied God’s presence in the entire
cosmos.21 Adam’s ability to name animals, a sign of wisdom, labeled Adam as a divine
figure.22 For a cosmic trait, the writings in TgPsJ Genesis 2:723 and b. Sanh. 38a24 records
that the dust used to create Adam was taken from the four ends of the earth which implied the
universal character of Adam’s composition.25 And hence when Adam, the microcosm,
worshipped God, the entire creation was wholly represented. The writings in b. Sanh. 38b26
and GenR 24.227 suggest that God filled Adam throughout the entire spatial dimensions of the
world. The rabbis in GenR 14.828 discloses the reason why Adam is so large. His head was
required to reach the heavens from where his soul would be infused into his nostrils.29 Adam
was the connecting link between the heavenly and earthly creatures. Adam was to bridge the
heavenly holiness into the earth, something which no other created beings could do.
4 Adam the Divine Luminous Priest
The glorious garments adorned by Adam in Eden are a fundamental priestly trait. The earliest
citation in Ezekiel 28:13, “You were in Eden, the Garden of God, every precious stone was
your covering” resembled a 12-piece jeweled garment worn by Adam similar to the one
adorned by the Levite priests.30 In Ben Sira 50:1 ff, the author speaks of Simon the High
Priest who was adorned in ‘splendid robes and vested in sublime magnificence’ exalted in
light of Adam’s primordial priesthood.31 Adam was adorned in beauty and radiant as he was
vested in his liturgical garb of a priest. Within the Targumim tradition, the phrase ‘garments
of skin’ from the usual translation of the Hebrew text of Genesis 3:21 was rendered the
phrase “garments of honor/glory.’32 In the Midrash Genesis Rabbah, Rabbi Meir reads
‘garments of light’ rather than ‘garments of skin’ referring to Adam’s garment that was like a
torch [shedding radiance], broad at the top and narrow at the bottom.33 This change in
translation, as scholars believe, is attributed to a second reading of the Hebrew word ʻôr

20
W. Randall Garr, In His Own Image and Likeness: Humanity, Divinity and Monotheism, 167.
21
W. Randall Garr, In His Own Image and Likeness: Humanity, Divinity and Monotheism, 88
22
Grypeou and Spurling, Book of Genesis in Late Antiquity, 47.
23
TgPsJ Genesis 2:7, Michael Maher, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Genesis, 22.
24
B. Sanh. 38a, Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz, ed., Tractate Sanhedrin Part One, in vol. 29 of Koran Talmud
Bavli, Edited by Tzvi Hersh Weinreb (Jerusalem: Koren Publishers, 2017), 245
25
Robert Hayward, “Adam, Dust, and Breath of Life,” 160.
26
B. Sanh. 38b, Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz, ed., Tractate Sanhedrin Part One, 245
27
GenR 24.2, Freedman, tr., Midrash Rabbah: Genesis I, 199.
28
GenR 14.8, Freedman, tr., Midrash Rabbah: Genesis I, 116.
29
G.M.G. Teugels, “The Creation of Human in Rabbinic Interpretation,” 117.
30
Beale, “Adam as the First Priest,” 10.
31
BenSira 50:1 ff; Skehan, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 546.
32
TgN 3:21, Martin McNamara, tr., Targum Neofiti I: Genesis, 62; TgO Genesis 3:21, Tov Rose, ed., Targum
Onkelos, 13; TgPsJ Genesis 3:21, Michael Maher, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Genesis, 29.
33
GenR 20.12, Freedman, tr., Midrash Rabbah: Genesis I, 171.

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meaning ‘skin’ (‫ )עור‬as ʼôr meaning ‘light’ (‫)אור‬.34 Adam and Eve are envisioned as
possessing a body of light that is divine, a garment covering the deity.35 The rabbis identified
this glorious attire in terms of Edenic and not post-Edenic attire.36 A direct reading from the
Midrash Leviticus Rabbah indicates the luminosity of Adam’s body was more than the solar
effulgence, precisely: “the apple of Adam’s heels outshined the globe of the sun.”37 In the
rabbinic materials, the image of God was understood as the radiance of Adam’s face. 38 In Ben
Sira 49:16, the Hebrew word ‫ תפאדת‬indicates Adam’s glorious beauty expressed similarly in
Exodus 28:2,40 to describe Aaron’s high priestly garments along with the word glory.39
Hence, in rabbinic literature, supernaturalistic interpretations of the glorious and radiant
garments of Adam suggested his priestly status at the time of creation.40
Conclusion
The Garden Sanctuary manifested a ‘hierophany, an irruption of the sacred’ into the human
world that resembled the later Israelite Tabernacle and Jewish Temple, and more importantly
the Holy Church. Adam was created as the ‘archetypal priest at the primeval temple’ of Eden.
Adam was Holy as he was created specifically from the dust of the altar. More importantly,
his vocation and duty also signified the later Levitical responsibility of serving and guarding
the Holy precincts. This holy trait that characterized Adam in his making made him a cosmic
figure and a luminous divine beauty, a unique symbol amongst other creatures within the
creation. Adam was, hence, created primarily as a priest of the Garden Sanctuary. In the
West-Syrian Liturgy, a hymn sung in the Friday evening prayer recites: “You created me and
placed your hands upon me, in the beginning, on Friday, God created Adam from dust and
breathed on him and gave him a speech to sing praises”41 This Church continues this
passionate claim of the creation of Adam as a priest established through the liturgical act of
holy ordination. Adam’s primary vocation was to offer praises to God on behalf of the entire
creation. The holy priestly representation that started from Adam continued through Moses,
Aaron, and, through Christ, the Apostles, and even today, through the Church in all its holy
and undefiled members. Humans, as it is understood, were ultimately created to worship God.

34
Gary A. Anderson, “The Punishment of Adam and Eve in the Life of Adam and Eve,” 63. See also, Lambden,
“From Fig Leaves to Fingernails,” 87.
35
Anderson, “The Punishment of Adam and Eve,” 63.
36
Lambden, “From Fig Leaves to Finger Nails,” 86.
37
LevR 20.2, Judah J. Slotki, tr., Midrash Rabbah: Leviticus, edited by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon.
(Gower Street, London: Soncino Press. 1939), 252.
38
Jarl E. Fossum, The Name of God and the Angel of the Lord, 94.
39
Lambden, “From Fig Leaves to Fingernails,” 80.
40
Lambden, “From Fig Leaves to Fingernails,” 87.
41
Shehimo: Book of Common Prayer, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, 152.