“He placed there [vayasem sham] [the man]” – Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Neḥemya, Rabbi Yehuda said: He elevated him, just as it says: “You shall set [som tasim] a king over you” (Deuteronomy 17:15). Rabbi Neḥemya said: He enticed him.16With all the comforts available in the Garden. This is analogous to a king who prepared a feast and invited a guest. So, too, the Holy One blessed be He invited Adam,17To the “feast” that had been prepared for him in the Garden. due to the merit of Abraham.18See Bereshit Rabba 14:6 That is what is written: “You know my sitting and my rising; You understand my thoughts from afar” (Psalms 139:2)19The midrash applies the verse to Adam. – “my sitting” in the Garden of Eden,” “my rising” – my expulsion from it.
“You understand my thoughts from afar” – by what merit did You come to the decision to create me? It is by the merit of the one who came from afar, as it is written: “I summon a bird of prey from the east, the man of My counsel from a distant land” (Isaiah 46:11).20This is a reference to Abraham, whom God summoned from the east.