Like One of Us and Rabbi Akiva's Two Paths for Adam

Rabbi Pappias expounded, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us" (Genesis 3:22) to mean like one of the ministering angels. Rabbi Akiva said to him: Enough, Pappias! Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, set before him two ways, and he abandoned the way of life and chose for himself the way of death. Rabbi Yehudah son of Rabbi Simon said: like the Unique One of the world, as it is said, "the LORD our God, the LORD is One" (Deuteronomy 6:4). The rabbis say: like Gabriel, as it is said, "and behold, one man clothed in linen" (Daniel 10:5). Resh Lakish said: like Jonah; just as that one flees, so this one flees. "And He drove out the man" (Genesis 3:24). This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him a divorce like a woman. "And He stationed east of the Garden of Eden the cherubim": this teaches that the cherubim preceded all the work of creation. "And the flaming sword": this is Gehinnom. "To guard the way": this is the way of the world [proper conduct]; it teaches that proper conduct preceded the tree of life. And "tree" means nothing other than Torah, as it is said, "it is a tree of life" (Proverbs 3:18). Just as that one [Elijah] did not have his honor lodge with him, so this one did not have his honor lodge with him. Rabbi Berekhyah said: like Elijah; just as that one did not taste the taste of death, so this one was not fit to taste the taste of death. As long as Adam was alone he was "like one"; once his rib was taken from him he came to the knowledge of good and evil. "And now" (Genesis 3:22): this teaches that the LORD opened for him an opening of repentance, as you say, "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you" (Deuteronomy 10:12). "And He sent him forth." Rabbi Yehudah says: the sending forth from the Garden of Eden was in this world and in the world to come. Rabbi Nehemiah objected and said: He sent him from the Garden of Eden in this world but did not send him in the world to come. And this supports Rabbi Nehemiah: "As for me, in righteousness I shall behold Your face; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Your likeness" (Psalms 17:15) - when the one created in Your likeness awakes, at that hour I will declare him righteous, freeing him from that decree. "And the LORD God sent him forth." When He created him, He created him with the attribute of mercy and the attribute of justice, and when He banished him, He banished him with the attribute of mercy. "Behold, the man" - he could not stand by Your command even for a single hour, yet behold, his children wait for the fruit of the first three years, as it is said, "three years it shall be forbidden to you, it shall not be eaten" (Leviticus 19:23). "And He drove out the man." This is like a king who had three friends and would do nothing without their counsel. Once the king wished to do something without their counsel. He took the first and banished him, sending him outside his palace. The second he imprisoned and placed a guard over him. The third, who was especially dear to him, he said: I will do nothing without his counsel. So with Adam the first man, "And He drove out the man"; with Noah, "and the LORD shut him in" (Genesis 7:16); with Abraham, who was especially dear to Him, He said, I will do nothing without his counsel, as it is said, "And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham" (Genesis 18:17). "And He drove out" [vaygaresh]. He showed him the destruction of the Temple, as you say, "He has broken my teeth with gravel" [vayagres] (Lamentations 3:16). To the expelled-area of the Garden of Eden He banished him, and set guards over him to keep watch over him. "East" [from the east]. Rav said: in every place the eastern wind takes in. It took in Cain: "and he dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden" (Genesis 4:16). The murderer: "then Moses set apart three cities... toward the rising of the sun" (Deuteronomy 4:41).