Rabbi Berekhya said: When the Holy One blessed be He came to create Adam the first man, He foresaw righteous and wicked people descending from him. He said: If I create him, wicked people will descend from him. But if I do not create him, how will righteous people ever descend from him? What did the Holy One blessed be He do?
He distanced the way of the wicked from His attention, appended the attribute of mercy to Himself,17In most of the story of creation, only the name Elohim (God) is used, but at the point man is created He is described as Hashem Elohim (the Lord, God). The title “Hashem” indicates God’s attribute of mercy. and created him: That is what is written: “For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the wicked will be eradicated” (Psalms 1:6).
He eradicated it [the way of the wicked] from before his attention, appended the attribute of mercy to Himself, and created him. Rabbi Ḥanina did not interpret it in that manner. Rather, when He came to create Adam the first man, He consulted the ministering angels and said to them: “Let us make Man in our image, in our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). They said to him: ‘What is his nature?’
He said to them: ‘Righteous people will arise out of him.’ That is what is written: “For the Lord knows [yode’a] the way of the righteous” (Psalms 1:6) – for the Holy One blessed be He informed [hodi’a] the ministering angels about the way of the righteous. “But the way of the wicked will be eradicated” (Psalms 1:6) – He eradicated18Concealed. it from them. He revealed to them that the righteous would arise out of him, but He did not reveal to them that the wicked would [also] arise out of him, as had He revealed to them that the wicked would arise out of him, the attribute of justice would not have allowed him to be created.19That is, they would have protested against his creation.