Adam Left as a Golem Until All Creation Was Finished

(Genesis 3:22-24) "Behold, the man" - he was prepared for death. Rabbi Berekhiah said: When the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to create the world, He began His creation with none other than Adam, and made him a shapeless mass (golem). When He came to cast a soul into him, He said: If I set him up now, they will say he became a partner with Me in the work of creation. Rather, I will leave him a golem until I have created everything. When He had finished everything, the ministering angels said to Him: Are You not going to make the man You spoke of? He said to them: I have already made him, and he lacks nothing but the casting in of a soul. And He set him up and included the whole world in him. With him He began and with him He concluded, as it is written (Psalms 139:5), "Behind and before You have formed me." The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us" (Genesis 3:22).