Texts in Conversation
The Samaritan text Memar Marqah and Rabbinic midrash in Genesis Rabbah share a tradition that describes Adam’s original form, said to have been shining like the sun, derived from ancient Near Eastern traditions related to the concept of melammu.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Memar Marqah 5.4
The Book of Wonders
Samaritan
Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died—twenty in Egypt, sixty in Midian, forty in the desert with exceedingly great exaltation in prophethood, in prayer, in fasting. His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. His eye was not dim—so in the case of his fathers, the Righteous of the world. His eye was not dim, for he was prepared for the recording of the law, and to see the four quarters of the world. Nor his natural force abated, for he was vested with the Form which Adam cast off in the Garden of Eden; and his face shone up to the day of his death.
Genesis Rabbah 20:5
Aggadah
Rabbinic
“The Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of hide [or], and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). In Rabbi Meir’s Torah, they found that “garments of or” was written. These are the garments of Adam the first man, that were similar to the common rue, broad at the bottom and narrow at the top. Rabbi Yitzḥak Ravya says: They were as smooth as a fingernail and as pretty as jewels. Rabbi Yitzḥak said: It was like the thin linen garments that come from Beit She’an. [And they were called] garments of hide because they adhered to the skin. Rabbi Elazar said: Goat hides. Rabbi Aivu said: Garments that cover the skin. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Hare hides. Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina said: Hides with their wool. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: Radiant hides. And the firstborn sons would use them. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: They were camel wool and hare wool. [And they were called] “garments of hide” because they were garments that come from hide. Rabbi Levi said: The Torah teaches you proper conduct: Eat according to your means, wear clothing that is less than your means, and dwell in a place that is more than your means. Eat according to your means – “From every tree of the garden you may eat” (Genesis 2:16). Wear clothing that is less than your means –“The Lord God made for Adam and for his wife [garments of hide].” And dwell in a place that is more than your means – as two people resided in the entire world.
Date: 500 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Notes and References
"... Jarl Fossum and April De Conick successfully demonstrated the importance of the Samaritan materials for understanding the connection between the glories of Adam and Moses. The Samaritan texts insist that when Moses ascended to Mount Sinai, he received the image of God which Adam cast off in the Garden of Eden. According to Memar Marqa, Moses was endowed with the identical glorious body as Adam ..."
Orlov, Andrei
Vested with Adam's Glory: Moses as the Luminous Counterpart of Adam in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Macarian Homilies
(pp. 498-513) Marquette University, 2002
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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