An Analysis of “us” from the Original Hebrew Text

This analysis draws on Rabbinic interpretations of several famous scholars, Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki), Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachmanides), Rambam (Maimonides), and Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi), foundational Jewish commentators from the High Middle Ages (approx. 1000–1300 CE).

Drawing from their scholarship, we offer the following analysis that strengthens our argument that Evil is a product of the mortal human mind. It also strengthens our argument for eliminating theodicy from the discussion of Good and Evil.

1) נַעֲשֶׂה — Genesis 1:26

Text: וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ

The verb נַעֲשֶׂה is first-person plural from עשה, “to make/do”: literally, “let us make” or “we shall make.” But the verse begins with the singular וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים (“God said”), and the next verse resolves the issue with the singular וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים (“God created”), not “they created.” Rabbinic interpretation makes that move explicit: God speaks in the plural to His heavenly court, but the act of creation belongs to God alone. Rashi says the plural teaches divine humility and consultation with the angels; Sanhedrin 38b (Babylonian Talmud) says the answer to any plural-reading, “heresy,” is right beside the verse, in the singular of 1:27. (Chabad)

So, on the Jewish reading, נַעֲשֶׂה is a plural of consultation, not a statement that more than one god creates. Radak also preserves that line, explaining that God included Himself with the angels in speech, while not sharing the actual creative act with them. (Chabad)

2) כְּאַחַד מִמֶּנּוּ — Genesis 3:22

Text: הֵן הָאָדָם הָיָה כְּאַחַד מִמֶּנּוּ

This breaks down very simply:

• כְּ־ = “like / as”
• אַחַד = “one”
• מִמֶּנּוּ = “from us / of us”

At the plain syntactic level, the phrase reads most naturally as “like one of us.” If “us” is the heavenly court, the plain sense is: man has become like one of the heavenly beings in some respect. That is exactly the line found in Bereshit Rabbah, where the phrase is explained as “like one of the ministering angels.” (Sefaria)

Rashi preserves another famous Jewish reading: כְּאַחַד can be taken interpretively as “like the Unique One among us.” His point is not grammar alone, but theology: Adam has become unique among earthly beings, as God is unique among heavenly beings. In other words, the phrase does not make Adam divine; it marks his special status below, while God remains unique above. (Chabad)

So there are two main Jewish ways to hear כְּאַחַד מִמֶּנּוּ:

• the more literal: “like one of us” = like one of the heavenly court
• the more midrashic/Rashi reading: “like the Unique One among us” = uniquely distinguished, not divine (Sefaria)

3) לָדַעַת טוֹב וָרָע — Genesis 3:22

Text: לָדַעַת טוֹב וָרָע

This is:

• לָדַעַת = infinitive construct of ידע, “to know”
• טוֹב = good
• וָרָע = and evil

So, the phrase means “to know good and evil” or “knowing good and evil.” In the immediate rabbinic reading reflected by Rashi, this is the thing that makes man unique among earthly creatures: animals do not possess this kind of discernment. (Chabad)

Maimonides gives the phrase a deeper philosophical turn. In Guide for the Perplexed I:2, he argues that before the sin, man was oriented to true and false; after the sin, he entered the sphere of good and evil that is evaluative, desire-laden, socially and morally entangled judgment.

In Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Teshuvah 5, he links Genesis 3:22 to human moral agency: the human species became unique in being able to know good and evil and choose either path. (Sefaria; Sefaria)

That means לָדַעַת טוֹב וָרָע in Jewish thought is not merely “having information.” It points to a specifically human kind of moral discernment and freedom. (Sefaria)

Putting the three together

The sequence is important:

• נַעֲשֶׂה in 1:26 is plural speech, but Jewish interpretation immediately anchors creation in the singular action of God in 1:27. (Chabad)
• כְּאַחַד מִמֶּנּוּ in 3:22 then says that, after transgression, man has become like the heavenly realm in a limited respect, or unique among earthly creatures in a way analogous to God’s uniqueness above. (Chabad)
• That respect is defined by לָדַעַת טוֹב וָרָע: moral discernment, moral consciousness, and the capacity to choose. (Chabad)

So, the strongest monotheistic reading of “us” is: