Page:Judaism and Islam, a prize essay - Geiger - 1898.pdf/94

 76 JUDAISM AND ISL^M.

going to place a substitute on earth' ; they said, 'Wilt thon place there one who will do evil therein and shed "blood? but we celebrate thy praise and sanctify thee.' God answered : 'Verily I know that which ye know not '; and He taught Adam the names of all things, and then proposed them to the angels, and said : ' Declare unto me the names of these things, if ye say truth/ They answered : c Praise be unto thee, we have no knowledge but what thou teachest us, for thou art knowing and wise. 1 Grod said : them their names, Grod said : ' Did I not tell you that I know the secrets of heaven and earth, and know that which ye discover, and that which ye conceal ? ' " The corresponding Hebrew passage may be thus translated : ! " When the Holy One, blessed be He I would create man, he took counsel with the angels, and said to them : ' We will make man in our image ; ' 2 then they said : ' What is man that thou art mindful of him ? 3 What will be his peculiarity ? ' He said: 'His wisdom is greater than yours.' Then He brought beasts, cattle, and birds before them, and asked for their names, but they knew them not. But when He had
 * Adam, tell them their names ; ' and when he had told

1 Midrash Babbah on Numbers, para. 19.

^baa n-$n HA niW? wn i

inn ]nb na^i hat? nn m DIS wi$]n ^ aJhag na '

teO n n-ioJ nt IDS tots? na nt ib

^KJ f? na TJ^?? na n^i. b^ n.ji D^D nt ' ^i??-na ^m nmn

1^15 ^ P"f nnsa? ^s

Compare .Midrash Kabbah on Genesis, para. 8 and 17, and also Sanhedrin 38. , 9 Genesis, I 26. 3 Psalm, viii. 5.