Was is the meaning of Hashem “consulting with His heart”? Moreover, if He was actually consulting with His own heart, why does He use the plural form “Let us make Man”?
The Meshech Chochmah explains. The faculty of “Tzelem Elokim – the Likeness of G-d” refers to Man’s ability to choose based on his own free will, with his decisions not being entirely dictated either by his nature of by Hashem’s command. The Name “Elokim” denotes Hashem as the Source of all power. In granting Man the capacity to defy Him, Hashem was essentially “diminishing” His own power, granting a “likeness” of it – “Tzelem Elokim” – to Man. Hence, Hashem “consulted with His heart,” referring to His infinite power, before endowing Man with this capacity.
Rashi informs us that the term “Elokim,” as with all terms that denote power, is typically used in the plural form, even when referring to only one source of that power. Therefore, since the faculty which Hashem was about to bestow upon Man involved granting him some of His own power, so to speak, the plural form is used – “Let us make Man.”
This G-d-given faculty of free will defines Man, and hence, in the Midrash’s allegory, it is the “architect” that was commissioned to design him. Thus, when Man led himself into a state of total moral decline, the pasuk states that Hashem was “sad toward His heart” – the heart with whom He “consulted” before granting Man this power which he had proceeded to abuse.
From Journeys in Torah
