Even God's Joy Did Not Wait When Adam Sinned

(Because no joy waits for a person) "I said to the merrymakers: do not make merry" [do not act madly] (Psalms 75:5). Why? Because whoever rejoices today shall not rejoice tomorrow, and whoever is in distress today shall not be in distress tomorrow — for no joy waits for a person. And likewise it says, "Of laughter I said: it is mad," and so forth (Ecclesiastes 2:2). Do you wish to know? For behold, the joy of the Holy One, blessed be He, did not wait. When? When the Holy One, blessed be He, created His world, there was great joy before Him, as it is said, "May the LORD rejoice in His works" (Psalms 104:31); and it says, "And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31) — to teach you that the Holy One, blessed be He, [when He created His world, there was great joy before Him, as it is said, "May the LORD rejoice in His works" (Psalms 104:31); and it says, "And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31), to teach you that the Holy One, blessed be He,] gloried and took pride in His works. And He commanded the first man a light commandment, but he did not keep it. Immediately He gave him a sentence [Greek: apophasis], as it is said, "For dust you are, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19). And, as it were, He did not wait in His joy, and He said: I created the whole only for the sake of man, and now he dies — what pleasure is there for Me? [And if the Holy One, blessed be He,] did not wait, human beings all the more so. [Therefore it is said, "I said to the merrymakers: do not make merry."]