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Pesikta Rabbati

Midrash

About this book
Chapter 40

… And He said to him ‘go away to the land of Moriah and bring him up there for a burnt offering’ (Bereshit 22:2) What is the land of Moriah? There is a whole bundle of Sages here, each saying their own answer. R’ Yanai says ‘what is Moriah? The place from which awe and fear (morah and yirah) go out to the world,’ “You are feared, O God, from Your Sanctuary…” (Tehillim 68:36) R’ Chiya the elder says ‘the land from which instruction (hora’ah) goes out to the world,’ as it says “…for out of Zion shall the Torah come forth…” (Yeshayahu 2:3) Another explanation: the land from which, in the future, the Holy One will teach that the wicked should descend to gehinnom, as it says “Like sheep, they are destined to the grave; death will devour them, and the upright will rule over them in the morning, and their form will outlast the grave…” From where? “…his dwelling place (zevul).” (Tehillim 49:15) Another explanation of the land of Moriah. R’ Yehoshua ben Levi said ‘the land from which the righteous teach (morim) and make decrees upon the Holy One which He does,’ as it says “…and David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell upon their faces. And David said to God, "Did I not say to count the people?…I beg that Your hand be against me and against my father's house, but not against Your people for a plague." (Divre HaYamim I 21:16-17) Another explanation of the land of Moriah. R’ Yehudah bar Padiiya said ‘Moriah - he said to Gd, where is it? He replied – to the land which I will show (mareh) you.’ Another explanation of Moriah. Avraham said to Gd, Master of the World! But am I fit to offer sacrifices? Am I a kohen? Let Shem the High Priest come and receive him from me. The Holy One replied to him – when you arrive at the place I will sanctify you and make you into a kohen. What is the meaning of Moriah? In exchange (temurah) for Shem. His replacement, as it says “He shall not exchange it or offer a substitute for it…” (Vayikra 27:10) Another explanation. What is Moriah? R’ Pinchas said ‘the land in which the master (maruto) of the world dwells,’ as it says “…and My eyes and My heart shall be there at all times.” (Melachim I 9:3) Another explanation. What is Moriah? R’ Shimon bar Yochai said ‘the land which was adorned opposite the altar above “…or cast down… (yaro yireh)” (Shemot 19:13) Another explanation. The land in which the incense is offered – “I will go to the mountain of myrrh (mor)…” (Shir HaShirim 4:6) He [God] did not specify to Adam if it would be a day of his [own days] or a day of God's, which lasts one thousand years,⁠ since 'a thousand years in your [God's] sight are like yesterday' [Ps. 90:4].

Texts in conversation

Compare Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 81.3 and Pesikta Rabbati 40

Early Christian · Rabbinic

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Summary

The Christian theologian Justin Martyr reads the warning of death “in the day” in Genesis as a 1000-year span since Adam died in that time. Rabbinic tradition in Pesikta Rabbati makes a similar link between Genesis and Psalm 90 where a day is 1000 years.

Passages

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 81.3

Early Christian
3 Now we have understood that the phrase among these words, ‘According to the days of the tree [of life] shall be the days of my people; the works of their toil shall abound,’ points in a hidden way to a thousand years. For as Adam was told that on the day he ate from the tree he would die, we know that he did not live a full thousand years. We have also understood that the saying, ‘The day of the Lord is as a thousand years,’ bears on this.
155–160 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho

Pesikta Rabbati 40

Rabbinic · Midrash
He [God] did not specify to Adam if it would be a day of his [own days] or a day of God's, which lasts one thousand years, since 'a thousand years in your [God's] sight are like yesterday' [Ps. 90:4].
600–900 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Pesikta Rabbati

References

"... This verse addresses an exegetical problem in Genesis 2:17. According to that verse, God commanded the man not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, and threatened him “for on the day you eat from it you shall surely die.” Soon after, the snake promised the man and the woman that they would not die if they ate from the fruits of the Garden, and accused God of deception ... Jubilees 4:30 solves this problem by a reinterpretation of the word “day” in Genesis 2:17, “for on the day you eat from it you shall surely die,” not as 24 hours, but rather as a 1000-year period. The first man, who died at the age of 930 (Genesis 5:5), therefore did indeed die on the same “day” on which he ate, during the same 1000-year period. The identification of “one day” with “1000 years” is based upon Ps 90:4, which equates the two “in the eyes of God” ..."
Michael Segal, The Book of Jubilees: Rewritten Bible, Redaction, Ideology and Theology (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 310–311.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 81.3 and Pesikta Rabbati 40

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