More Important Than Angels

The rabbinic sages often viewed textual difficulties or oddities as opportunities to uncover or teach profound lessons. Thus, when we read of God asking Adam, a mere human being, to name the creatures of the earth, the sages confronted a theological challenge: Why would God need Adam to perform this task?

And the Lord God formed out of the earth all the wild beasts and all the birds of the sky, and brought them to the human to see what he would call them; and whatever the human called each living creature, that would be its name. (Genesis 2:19)

In addressing this question, the sages turned to another puzzling verse from the previous chapter:

And God said, “Let us make (na‘aseh) humankind in our image, after our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26)

Here, the difficulty lies in the Torah’s use of the plural form “na‘aseh – let us make”, when referring to God.

The following midrash addresses these questions in ancdotal form:

Rabbi Aḥa said: When the Holy One, blessed be He, came to create Adam HaRishon (the first human), He consulted with the ministering angels. He said to them, “Let us make man” (Genesis 1:26). They asked Him, “What is this man’s nature?” He replied, “His wisdom will surpass yours.”What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He brought before them the animals, beasts, and birds, and said to the angels, “What is the name of this one?” But they did not know. He then brought them before Adam and asked, “What is the name of this one?” Adam said, “This is an ox; this is a donkey; this is a horse; this is a camel.”
[God then asked:] “And you, what is your name?” He replied, “It is fitting that I be called Adam, for I was created from the ground (adamah).” [God asked further:] “And what is My name?” Adam replied, “It is fitting that You be called A-donai, for You are the Adon (Lord) over all Your creatures.”
Rabbi Aḥa concluded: “‘I am the Lord, that is My name’ (Isaiah 42:8)—that is the name that Adam, the first human, gave Me.” (Adapted from Bereishit Rabbah 17:4, Theodor–Albeck ed., pp. 155–156)

This powerful midrash transforms a grammatical difficulty, the use of the plural na‘aseh, into a profound statement about human potential. The angels may appear to be God’s partners in creation, but the midrash asserts that they are, in fact, inferior to humanity, whose wisdom and creativity allow them to give identity to all of God’s creatures. More striking still, it is the human who gives God a name!

In other words, it is not humanity that stands “a little lower than the angels,” but rather the opposite.

All that remains is for this new creation to use their wisdom and talents wisely. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could truly show up the angels?