Rabbi Meir Wrote Death Instead of Very Good

In Rabbi Meir’s Torah they found written: “And, behold, it was very [me’od] good” – and, behold, death [mot] is good.6In a gloss next to the word me’od Rabbi Meir had written mot. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: I was once riding on the shoulders of my grandfather, going up from his city to Kefar Ḥanan via Beit She’an, and I heard Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar sitting and expounding in the name of Rabbi Meir: “And, behold, it was very good” – and, behold, death is good.

Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina and Rabbi Yonatan, Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina said: Adam the first man was worthy not to have tasted the taste of death. Why, then, was he penalized with mortality? It is because the Holy One blessed be He foresaw that [his descendants] Nebuchadnezzar and Ḥiram king of Tyre were destined to render themselves deities. That is why he was penalized with mortality.

That is what is written [concerning Ḥiram]: “You were in Eden, the Garden of God” (Ezekiel 28:13). Now, was Ḥiram actually in the Garden of Eden? This is a rhetorical question. Rather, He was saying to him: ‘It is you who caused the one in the Garden of Eden to die.’

Rabbi Ḥiyya, son of Rabbi Berekhya’s daughter, said in the name of Rabbi Berekhya: “You were a great cherub” (Ezekiel 28:14) – it is you [Ḥiram] who caused that cherub [Adam]7Adam is referred to as a cherub due to his lofty spiritual status. to die. Rabbi Yonatan said to him:8To Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina. If so,9If the reason for Adam’s mortality is as you say. let Him decree death for the wicked and not decree death for the righteous.

The reason [He didn’t do this] is that it was so that the wicked should not feign repentance, so that the wicked should not say: ‘Do the righteous not live because they accumulate mitzvot and good deeds? We, too, will accumulate mitzvot and good deeds.’ The result would be acting [virtuously] for insincere motives. Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, Rabbi Yoḥanan said:10In explanation of Rabbi Meir’s statement that death is a good thing.

Why was death decreed for the wicked? The answer is that as long as the wicked are alive, they anger the Holy One blessed be He. That is what is written: “You wearied the Lord with your words” (Malachi 2:17). But once they die, they stop angering the Holy One blessed be He, as it is stated: “There anger has ceased for the wicked” (Job 3:17) – there they stop angering the Lord.

And why was death decreed for the righteous? The answer is that as long as the righteous are alive, they engage in battle against their evil inclination, and when they die, they rest.11In Paradise. That is what is written: “There rest those whose strength is sapped” (Job 3:17) – [those who say:] ‘We have toiled enough.’ Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: It12The benefit of dying and going on to the Next World. is to give these [the righteous] a double reward and to exact double retribution against those [the wicked].

It is to give reward to the righteous who were worthy of never tasting the taste of death. That is why, “therefore, they will inherit a double portion in their land” (Isaiah 61:7). And to exact retribution against the wicked, as the righteous were worthy of never tasting the taste of death, and it was only due to them [the wicked] that they accepted death upon themselves. They will therefore inherit double of what they have earned.13Double punishment. There are other versions that cite the verse: “Shatter them with double destruction” (Jeremiah 17:18).