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Share(27) And God created humankind in the divine image,
creating it in the image of God—
creating them male and female.
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
O wives of Lamech, give ear to my speech.
I have slain a person for wounding me,
And a lad for bruising me.
(24) If Cain is avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” (25) Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, meaning, “God has provided me with another offspring in place of Abel,” for Cain had killed him. (26) And to Seth, in turn, a son was born, and he named him Enosh. It was then that יהוה began to be invoked by name.
Verse 3 contains an odd ambiguous statement about Seth, the father of humankind. It is not said he is in the image of God, but in the image of Adam, who is in the image of God. Thus, he is one step removed. This might mean he continues the image of God, for the image of God is granted not only to the first human but to all humans. But such an assertion is hedged, for the image of Adam is something less, and marred (cf. Gen. 3). Thus, the text may realistically recognize that Seth and his heirs are a strange, unresolved mixture of the regal image of God and the threatened image of Adam. Such a double statement recognizes the ambivalence of humankind...
(ג) ובזאת ההשאלה נאמר ב׳אדם׳: ״ויחי אדם שלושים ומאת שנה ויולד בדמותו כצלמו״; וכבר קדם לך ענין ׳צלם אדם ודמותו׳ מה הוא; וכל מי שקדמו לו מן הבנים לא הגיעה אליהם הצורה האנושית באמת אשר היא ׳צלם אדם ודמותו׳ הנאמר עליה ׳בצלם אלהים ובדמותו׳ אמנם ׳שת׳ כאשר לימדהו והבינהו ונמצא שלם השלמות האנושי נאמר בו ׳ויולד בדמותו כצלמו׳. וכבר ידעת, כי כל מי שלא הגיעה לו זאת הצורה אשר בארנו ענינה הוא אינו איש אבל בהמה על צורת איש ותבניתו אבל יש לו יכולת על מיני ההזק וחידוש הרעות מה שאין כן לשאר בעלי החיים; כי השכל והמחשבה שהיו מוכנים להגעת השלמות אשר לא הגיע ישתמש בהם במיני התחבולות המביאות לרע והולד הנזקים כאילו הוא דבר ידמה לאדם או יחקהו. וכן היו בני אדם הקודמים ל׳שת׳; ואמרו ב׳מדרש׳: ״כל אותן מאה ושלושים שנה שהיה אדם נזוף בהן היה מוליד רוחות״ – רצונם לומר ׳שדים׳; וכאשר רצהו האלוה הוליד ׳בדמותו כצלמו׳ – והוא אמרו: ׳ויחי אדם שלושים ומאת שנה ויולד בדמותו כצלמו׳.
(3) In this figurative sense, the verb yalad (to bear) is employed when it is said of Adam, “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat (va-yoled) a son in his own likeness, in his form” (Gen. 5:3). As regards the words, “the form of Adam, and his likeness,” we have already stated (ch. i.) their meaning. Those sons of Adam who were born before that time were not human in the true sense of the word, they had not “the form of man.” With reference to Seth who had been instructed, enlightened and brought to human perfection, it could rightly be said, “he (Adam) begat a son in his likeness, in his form.” It is acknowledged that a man who does not possess this “form” (the nature of which has just been explained) is not human, but a mere animal in human shape and form. Yet such a creature has the power of causing harm and injury, a power which does not belong to other creatures. For those gifts of intelligence and judgment with which he has been endowed for the purpose of acquiring perfection, but which he has failed to apply to their proper aim, are used by him for wicked and mischievous ends; he begets evil things, as though he merely resembled man, or simulated his outward appearance. Such was the condition of those sons of Adam who preceded Seth. In reference to this subject the Midrash says: “During the 130 years when Adam was under rebuke he begat spirits,” i.e., demons; when, however, he was again restored to divine favour “he begat in his likeness, in his form.” This is the sense of the passage, “Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and he begat in his likeness, in his form” (Gen. 5:3).
Above (1:26), it says, "Let us make an Adam be-tzalmo, in our image, as is befitting for one who is ki-d'mootainu - like our likeness;" the bodily form should be worthy of humanity, whose spirit is to be in Our likeness. Here, however, the order is reversed: bi-d'mootainu ki-tzalmeinu - in his spiritual likeness, akin to his bodily form. It appears that the spiritual resemblance (d'moot) was greater than the bodily resemblance (tzelem).
Perhaps all human beings are spiritually similar; the d'moot, the immortal, eternal spirit, is one. The differences lie in the body, which is the instrument of the spirit; the degree of bodily perfection differes from person to person. Adam bequeathed the spiritual d'moot completely, but the physical tzelem weakened from generation to generation; Adam's son already was only k'tzelem - like the image.
