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The Dead Sea Scroll 4Q504 and Rabbinic tradition in Genesis Rabbah describe Adam created with a radiant glory resembling melammu, the shining aura of kings and divine beings based on ancient Near Eastern tradition.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
4Q504
Words of the Luminaries
Dead Sea Scrolls
[Rememb]er, O Lo[r]d that... Thou hast fashioned A[dam], our [f]ather, in the likeness of [Thy] glory; Thou didst breathe [a breath of life] into his nostrils and, with understanding, knowledge [Thou didst give him] ... Thou didst make [him] to rule [over the Gar]den of Eden which Thou didst plant... and to walk in the land of glory... he guarded. And Thou didst enjoin him not to st[ray ...]... he is flesh and to dust [he will return (?)] ... And Thou, Thou knowest... for everlasting generations ... a living God and Thy hand ... man in the ways of... [to fill the] earth with [vi]olence and to shed [innocent blood] ...
Date: 160 B.C.E. - 100 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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
"... In the group of the Dead Sea Scrolls fragments known under the title Words of the Luminaries (4Q504), the following passage about the glory of Adam in the Garden can be found ... Later in 4Q504, this tradition about Adam's former glory follow with a reference to the luminosity bestowed upon another human body - the glorious face of Moses at his encounter with the Lord at Sinai ... it is also remarkable that later Rabbinic materials often speak of the luminosity of Adam's face, the feature that might point to the influence of the Adam-Moses connection. Thus, as an example, In Leviticus Rabbah 20.2, the following passage can be found ..."
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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