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From: Dean and Susan Wheelock
To: heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject: Messianic Prophecies: Genesis (Part 1 of 2)
Dean and Susan Wheelock have a ministry called Hebrew
roots. They produce a quarterly magazine called Hebrew roots. If
you
would like to receive the magazine, please send an e-mail to Dean
and
Susan at: (dewheelock@aol.com)
or write them at the following address:
Hebrew Roots
P.O. Box 98
Lakewood, WI 54138
1-715-757-2775
Messianic Prophecies: Genesis
(Part 1 of 2)
From the website:
http://www.geocities.com/hebrew_roots/html/hr-3-3-04.html
THE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES
THE TORAH
And beginning at Moses and all the
Prophets, He expounded to them in all the
Scriptures The things concerning Himself.
Luke 24:27
It has been said that over
two-thirds of the Bible is prophecy,
with a great portion of those prophecies having yet to come to
pass.
However, to the ancient Jewish rabbis, the entirety of the Hebrew
Scriptures (which we know today as the `Old Testament')
constitutes prophecy. How can this be? It is because the portions
which most people consider to be historical in nature, contain
prophetic types, hints and suggestions of events that are yet to
transpire. King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, told us
directly this was the case:
"That which has been is
what will be, That which is done is
what will be done, And there
is nothing new under the sun. Is there
anything of which it may be
said, `See, this is new?' It has
already been in ancient
times before us." (Eccl. 1:9-10)
"That which is has already
been, And what is to be has already been;
And God requires an account
of what is past." (Eccl. 3:15)
~ Back to the Future ~
According to Solomon, the future
has already been laid out by
God and it is reflected by those things which have occurred in
the
past. This is a difficult concept for us as humans to grasp, for
we
live in a linear world. Time, for us, moves from the past,
through
the present and on into the future. Since our physical lives are
limited by this linear concept of time, it is not possible for us
to
know first hand what has transpired in the distant past. Up until
the
20th century, the most we could do was read or hear about it
from other people. Now, at least, events can be viewed on film,
although one can only see what the camera records.
However, God is not limited by
time or space; He lives in the
past, the present, and the future all at once. The same is true
of
the Scriptures. They are the most powerful writings that man
possesses, because they have come from the Creator of the
Universe Himself. The Scriptures consist of YHVH's very mind; for
they express His nature, and speak to us of His will.
Because the Scriptures have come
to us from the very mind of
God, it must be understood that they, like God, are also
time-less;
without time as we know it. If fact, as we have seen from the two
passages just quoted, time to God is not linear but
circular.
Actually, a spiral might be a better way to express time from the
point of view of Scripture. For what goes around comes around,
and
what has happened before will happen again, with changes
appropriate to the current age. So it is, for example, that the
stories of the Patriarchs tell us much about the one who was
promised
to come (the `Anointed One' or Messiah), for He is the beginning
and
the end; the Alpha and the Omega; the Aleph and the Tav.
"`I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning
and the End,' says
the Lord, who is and who was and who is
to come, the Almighty."'
(Rev. 1:8)
According to the Apostle John, the
one who made the above
statement is none other than the resurrected Jesus Christ (Yeshua
HaMashiach), the one who called Himself the `Son of
Man' when He walked the earth as a human being.
"Then I turned to see the voice
that spoke with me. And having
turned I saw seven golden
lamp-stands, and in the midst of the
seven lampstands One like
the Son of Man, ... "And when I saw
Him, I fell at His feet as
dead. But He laid His right hand on
me, saying to me, `Do not be
afraid; I am the First and the
Last. I am He who lives, and
was dead, and behold, I am
alive forevermore. Amen. And
I have the keys of Hades and of
Death."' (Rev. 1:12-13,
17-18)
The One called the First and the
Last is none other than Yeshua
of Nazareth; the same One who, when lie walked the earth, was
called
by His disciples The Living Torah. At that time He was the human
embodiment of the word or instruction of God, the Torah. No
wonder
John introduces Him to us as the `Word:'
"In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. He was in
the beginning with God. All things
were made through Him, and
without Him nothing was made that
was made ... "And
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of
the Father, full of grace
and truth. ... "No one has seen God
at any time. The only
begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the
Father, He has declared
Him." (John 1:11-3, 14, 18)
We proclaim that Yeshua is this
Word. He is the Aleph and the
Tav, the Beginning and the End, and He is the promised Messiah
whose
coming was prophesied throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, and
pictured
in the ordained Festivals of the LORD.
~ The Festival Spiral ~
The eternal spiral of time can be
better understood through the
ordained Festivals of the LORD. These Festivals are fully laid
out
for us in Leviticus chapter 23. They represent, in outline form,
the
plan of God for the people of this earth. These Festivals are
called
`moedim (mow-eh-deem) in Hebrew, meaning appointed times,' and
they
have already been entered into HaShem's appointment book. They
need
to be entered into ours as well, for these are the special days
and
seasons which God has appointed for meeting with His children.
The
Festivals move in a spiral. Each year they are repeated, and each
year they move us closer and closer to the time of their ultimate
fulfillment.
And so we look back to ancient
happenings on these very days to
help us understand what will take place when their complete
fulfillment occurs. The slaying of the Passover lamb and the
freeing
of the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt happened to point
us
to the great redemption that our Passover Lamb, Yeshua HaMashiach
performed for us when He was Himself sacrificed in order that we
could be redeemed from our slavery to sin.
~ The Messiah in Prophecy ~
The ancient Jewish sages of
Yeshua's day, and even before His
time, knew the Scriptures backward and forward. They knew the
Messiah
was coming, and they combed the writings to locate passages that
spoke of that coming. A good number of their understandings are
preserved for us in several different writings. These include
both
Scriptural paraphrases and extra-Biblical writings. Some were
written
before the time of Yeshua, and others appeared after His day. For
example, there are writings in both the Jerusalem and Babylonian
Talmud, written well after the time of Yeshua, which clearly show
the
rabbinic understanding of many Messianic passages of
Scripture.
It is on these early works that we
wish to focus our attention
in this and subsequent articles in this series. The basis for
this
information comes from the monumental work of a nineteenth
century Jewish Believer, Alfred Edersheim. In his classic book,
The
Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Edersheim publishes (in
Appendix
IX) a List of Old Testament Passages Messianically Applied in
Ancient
Rabbinic Writings. This list contains 456 scripture passages that
the
ancient rabbis understood pointed to the Messiah or to Messianic
times. Seventy-five are found in the Torah (the first five books
of
the Bible), 243 are found in the Prophets, and 138 are found in
the
Writings. Edersheim claims to have supported these Messianic
Scriptures with references to 558 Rabbinic writings. The works to
which Edersheim refers are:
THE TARGUMIM - These are Aramaic
paraphrases of the Old
Testament. Because they are paraphrases,
and not literal
translations of the Scriptures, they
give additional information
as to how the authors of that time
interpreted the Scriptures.
Often the authors have actually inserted
the word "Messiah" into
a passage so that all will know that it
is to be applied with
that understanding.
THE TALMUD - Although both versions of
the Talmud were written
quite some time after the first century,
they do express the
understanding of earlier times as well
as the times in which they
were written. (A Talmud consists of two
different writings; the
Mishnah, which is the `Oral Law
committed to writing, and the
Gamarah, which is the rabbinic
commentary on that `Oral Law' or
Mishnah.)
ANCIENT MIDRASHIM - These are the
stories and legends that teach
moral truths about the Scriptures. Today
we might call them
allegories or parables. Many of Yeshua's
parables could be
classified as Midrash. Paul's analogy of
Hagar and Sarah being
representative of Mt. Sinai and the New
Jerusalem, is typical
Jewish Midrash. (See Gal. 4 :24-27).
YALKUT - This is a collection of fifty
older writings, which are
no longer available from any other
source. It is the only late
dated writing that Edersheim included;
only because its contents
represent a much earlier point of view.
Edersheim did not include any references
from the Zohar, the
Jewish mystical books that were written during the Middle Ages.
This series of articles will
follow Edersheim's list as closely
as seems appropriate. However, with so many of the passages cross
referencing each other, we may cover some of the later passages
in
some detail within earlier ones. Edersheim's information
is either quoted or paraphrased, and other information has been
added
as seems appropriate. Let us begin!
~ The Book of Genesis ~
"The earth was without form, and void;
and darkness was on the
face of the deep. And the Spirit
of God was hovering (KJV;
moved) over the face of the
waters." (Gen. 1:2)
Edersheim: "...the
expression, `Spirit of God,' is explained of
`the Spirit of the King Messiah,' with reference to Is. xi. 2
..." (p. 710)
"There shall come forth a Rod from
the stem of Jesse, And a
Branch shall grow out of his
roots. The Spirit of the LORD
shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of
wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the LORD." (Isa.
11:1-2)
The rabbis knew this Isaiah
passage applied to the King Messiah,
so they interpreted the `Spirit' in both cases to be the `Spirit
of
the Messiah.'
Edersheim: "...and the
`moving on the face of the deep' of
`repentance,' according to Lam. ii. 19." (p. 711). Ancient
Sources:
The Midrash Bereshith Rabba, on Genesis; and The Midrash Vayyikra
Rabba, on Leviticus.
"`Arise, cry out in the
night, At the beginning of the watches;
Pour out your heart like
water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young
children, Who faint from
hunger at the head of every
street."' (Lam. 2:19)
The `Spirit of God,' which the
Messiah possesses in full
measure, moves upon the hearts of Believers just as it moved upon
the
waters of creation.
~ ~
"This is the history
(KJV; generations) of the heavens and the
earth when they were
created, in the day that the LORD God
made the earth and the
heavens." (Gen. 2:4)
Rabbinic commentary centers around
the spelling of the Hebrew
word toldah, in Gen. 2:4 and Ruth 4:18, as opposed to all of its
other occurrences. They have also indicated that Gen. 3:15 must
be
taken into account in order to properly understand the concepts
involved.
The word in question is
(toldah = tohl-dah). It means;
"descent, i.e. family; (fig.) history:--birth, generations.
"The
second letter from the right (Hebrew is read from right to left)
is a
vowel form of the letter vav( ). Vav, the sixth letter of
the Hebrew
alphabet, is also the numeral `six;'* which is the number that
represents `man.' In all other occurrences of this word (toldah)
the
vav ( ) is missing, and the word is spelled: . The Rabbis
say that
every change in the text is for a purpose, and that it must have
some
meaning attached to it. Therefore, there must be a reason why the
vav
( ) has been removed in the majority of cases; and there
must also
be a reason why the vav ( ) has been maintained in the two
scriptures mentioned. [* In Hebrew each letter of the alphabet
represents a number.]
Edersheim: "This to indicate
that subsequent to Gen. ii. 4 the
Fall took place, in which Adam lost --six-- things: his
glorious
sheen (Job xiv. 20); life (Gen. iii. 19); his stature (Gen. iii.
8 --
either by 100, by 200, by 300, or even by 900 cubits); the fruit
of
the ground; the fruits of the trees (Gen. iii. 17); and the
heavenly
lights. But the reappears in the word in Ruth iv. 18,
because these six things are to be restored to man by `the son of
Pharez' -- or the Messiah" (p. 711) Ancient Sources.
Bereshith Rabba,
on Genesis. The Midrash Shemoth Rabba on Exodus.
"So Boaz took Ruth and she became
his wife; and when he went in
to her, the LORD gave her
conception, and she bore a son.
"Also the neighbor
women gave him a name, saying, `There is a
son born to Naomi.' And they
called his name Obed. He is the
father of Jesse, the father
of David. "Now this is the
genealogy () of Perez: Perez
begot Hezron; Hezron begot
Ram, and Ram begot
Amminadab; Amminadab begot Nahshon, and
Nahshon begot Salmon; Salmon
begot Boaz, and Boaz begot
Obed; Obed begot Jesse, and
Jesse begot David."
(Ruth 4:13,16-22)
This is, of course, the lineage of
the Messiah from which Yeshua
HaMashiach descended. (See Matt. 1:39 and Luke 3:33).
~ ~
"`And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman, And between
your seed and her
Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you
shall bruise His
heel."' (Gen. 3:15)
The Rabbis see Messiah in this
passage and they consider it as
being integral to the understanding of the missing vav ( )
discussed
in the previous section. For it is the Messiah who re-institutes
the
missing vav ( ), thereby making the `generations' or
`history
complete once again.
Edersheim: "This well-known
passage is paraphrased, with
express reference to the Messiah..." (p. 711). Ancient
Sources.
Targum Jonathan and the Jerusalem Targum. This
passage is well known in both Jewish and Christian circles as
having
Messianic implications. In relationship to Yeshua, the snake
(HaSatan
the adversary) was able to condemn Yeshua to a physical death
only
because He willingly took upon himself the sins of the world.
Those
are the same sins which had entered the world through
HaSatan's
deception and Adam's subsequent fall. however, in the end
the
Messiah is prophesied to triumph over death and the grave, and to
subsequently have both the power and the authority to deal
with the
adversary in a final manner:
"And the devil who deceived
them, was cast into the lake of
fire and brimstone where the
beast and the false prophet are.
And they will be tormented
day and night forever and ever."
(Rev. 20:10)
~ ~
"And Adam knew his wife
again, and she bore a son and named him
Seth, `For God has appointed
another seed (zehrag) for me
instead of Abel, whom Cain
killed."' (Gen. 4:25)
Edersheim: "The language of
Eve at the birth of Seth: `another
seed,' is explained as meaning `seed which comes from another
place,'
and referred to Messiah ... The same explanation occurs
twice in the
Midrash on Ruth iv. 19 (in the genealogy of David, ...), the
second
time in connection with Ps. xl. 8 (`in the volume of the
book it is
written of me' -- bim'gillath sepher -- Ruth belonging to
the class
[megillah: the class of book to which Ruth belongs])." (p.
711).
Ancient Sources: Bereshith Rabba, on Genesis; Midrash on Ruth.
The scripture referred to in the book of Ruth is actually found
in
verse 12, not verse 19 as given by Edersheim:
"`May your house be like the house
of Perez, whom Tamar bore to
Judah, because of the
offspring (zehrag) which the LORD will give
you from this young
woman.'" (Ruth 4: 12)
"Then I said, `Behold I
come; In the scroll of the Book it is
written of me. I
delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your
law is within my
heart.'" (Psalm 40:7-8)
The Rabbis saw Psalm 40:7-8
as referring to the Messiah, and
understood that He was written about in the Megilloth which
include
the books of: Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations,
Ecclesiastes and
Esther. Hence the connection between Gen. 4:25 and Ruth 4:12
which
both have to do with the ancestry of Yeshua HaMashiach; while the
connection between Psalm 40 and the book of Ruth has to do
with the
phrase "scroll of the Book." That phrase in Hebrew, as
Edersheim
stated, is: "bim'gillath sepher."
~ ~
"This is the book of the
genealogy of Adam. In the day that God
created man, He made
him in the likeness of God." (Gen. 5:1)
Edersheim. "In connection
with Gen. v. 1 it is noted ... that
King Messiah will not come till all souls predestined for it have
appeared in human bodies on earth." (p. 711). Ancient
Sources:
Bereshith Rabba, on Genesis. This may seem
like a very controversial topic. We will let each person work out
their own conclusions concerning this matter. However, it is well
when studying this subject to be aware of the following New
Testament
scriptures which seem to confirm this viewpoint:
"For whom He foreknew, He
also predestined to be conformed to
the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover whom
He predestined, these He also
called; whom He called,
these He also justified; and whom He
justified, these He also
glorified." (Rom. 8:29-30)
"But we speak the wisdom of
God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom
which God ordained
(predestined) before the ages for our
glory, which none of the
rulers of this age knew; for had they known,
they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory." (I Cor. 2:7-8)
"Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places in Christ, just as He
chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love,
having predestined us to adoption as
sons by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of
His will, to the praise of
the glory of His grace, by which He
has made us accepted in the
Beloved. ... "... in whom also we
have obtained an
inheritance, being predestined according to
the purpose of Him who works
all things according to the
counsel of His will, that we who
first trusted in Christ
should be to the praise of His
glory." (Eph. 1:3-6, 11-12)
~ ~
"Then the dove came to him in
the evening, and behold, a
freshly plucked olive leaf
was in her mouth; and Noah knew
that the waters had abated
from the earth." (Gen. 8:11)
Edersheim: "... the
olive-leaf, brought by the dove, was taken
from the Mount of the Messiah." (p. 711). Ancient
Source: Targum
Pseudo-Jonathan. This is obviously a Jewish tradition. The Mount
of the Messiah is a term used to indicate either Mount Moriah,
where the Temple was eventually built in Solomon's day, or the
Mount
of Olives.
"May God enlarge
Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem;
And may
Canaan be his servant." (Gen. 9:27)
Edersheim: "The promise, that
Japhet shall dwell in the tents of
Shem, is paraphrased ... as meaning, that his-descendants should
become proselytes, and dwell in the schools of Shem --which seems
to
refer to Messianic times." (p. 711). Ancient Source: Targum
Pseudo-Jonathan. It is interesting to note that according to
tradition, Shem, the son of Noah, is said to have resided on
Mount
Moriah (then known as Salem) and that Isaac went to him for
instruction in the ways of God after being offered as a living
sacrifice by his father Abraham.
~ ~
"And it came to pass in
the days of Amraphel king of Shinar,
Arioch king of
Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal
king of nations, that
they made war with Bera king of Sodom,
Birsha king of
Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king
of Zeboiim, and the
king of Bela (that is, Zoar)." (Gen. 14:1-2)
Edersheim: "...we are
reminded that when we see the nations
warring together, we may expect the coming of the Messiah."
(p. 711).
Ancient Sources: Bereshith Rabba, on Genesis.
"`And you will hear of
wars and rumors of wars. See that you
are not
troubled; for all these things must come to pass,
but the end is
not yet. For nation will rise against nation,
and kingdom
against kingdom. And there will be famines,
pestilences, and
earthquakes in various places. All these
are the
beginning of sorrows. ... "`Immediately after the
tribulation of
those days the sun will be darkened, and
the moon will
not give its light; the stars will fall from
heaven, and the
powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then
the sign of the
Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then
all the tribes
of the earth will mourn, and they will see
the Son of Man
coming on the clouds of heaven with power and
great
glory.'" (Matt. 24:6-8)
~ ~
"On the same day
the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying:
`To your
descendants I have given this land, from the river of
Egypt
to the
great river, the River Euphrates - '" (Gen. 15:18)
Edersheim: "The promise ...
is expected to be finally fulfilled
in the time of Messiah." (p. 711). Ancient Source. Bereshith
Rabba,
on Genesis.
~ ~
"`Please let a little water be
brought, and wash your feet, and
rest yourselves under the
tree. And I will bring a morsel of
bread, that you may refresh
your hearts. After that you may pass by,
inasmuch as you have come to
your servant.' And they said,
`Do as you have said.'"
(Gen. 18:4-5)
Edersheim: "...the words of
Abraham to his Angelic guests were
to be returned in blessing to Abraham's descendants, in the
wilderness, in the land of Canaan, and in the latter (Messianic)
days. Referring only to this last point, the words, `let a little
water be fetched,' is paralleled with the `living waters' in
Zech.
xiv. 8; `wash your feet,' with Is. iv. 4 (the washing away of the
filth of the daughters of Zion); `rest under the tree,' with Is.
iv.
6: `there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from
the
heat;' `I will fetch a morsel of bread,' with the provision, Ps.
lxxii. 16: `there shall be a handful of corn in the earth,' etc.
So
also the words: `Abraham ran unto the herd,' are paralleled with
Is.
vii. 21 (which is most significantly here applied to Messianic
times); and lastly, the words, `he stood by them,' with Mic. ii.
13:
`the breaker is come up before them.' ..." (pp. 711-712).
Ancient
Sources: Bereshith Rabba, on Genesis; the Midrash
Bamidbar Rabba, on Numbers.
Rather than explore all of the
scriptures given by Edersheim,
one other comment seems to be in order concerning this passage,
and
its relationship to the Messiah. In verse one it states clearly
that
YHVH "...appeared to him..." Was one of these three
`men' actually
YHVH Himself? That fact seems to be confirmed in
the conversation that Abraham had with this person; for He is
identified as YHVH several more times in the course of the
conversation. Verse 22 states:
"Then the men turned
away from there and went toward Sodom,
but Abraham
still stood before the LORD (YHVH)."
(Gen. 18:22)
The `men' departed but the LORD
stayed, and only two angels
(men) showed up in Sodom.
"Now the
two angels came to Sodom in the evening, ..."
(Gen.
19:la)
Is it possible that Abraham
actually stood before YHVH, served
Him a meal, and talked with Him? Consider this statement made by
the
Apostle John:
"No one has
seen God (the Father) at any time. The only
begotten
Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has
declared
Him." (John 1:18)
Now the
words of Yeshua:
"`And the
Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.
You have
neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.'"
(John
5:37)
"`All
things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no
one
knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know
the
Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to
reveal Him.'" (Matt. 11:27)
It is our belief that
the One with whom Abraham ate and talked
was the One whom we know as Yeshua HaMashiach, a member of the
God
Family.
~ ~
"`Come, let us make our
father drink wine, and we will lie
with him,
that we may preserve the lineage of our father.'"
(Gen.
19:32)
This is the case where the
daughters of Lot, thinking that all
the rest of the human race had been destroyed, connived to bear
children by their father.
Edersheim: "The last clause
of Gen. xix. 32 is interpreted as
referring, like the words of Eve about Seth, to the Messiah --
the
sin of the daughters of Lot being explained on the ground of
their
believing that all mankind had been destroyed in the judgment
that
overthrew Sodom." (p. 712). Ancient Source: Bereshith Rabba,
on
Genesis.
Apparently the Rabbis believed
that the daughters of Lot knew
that a Messiah had to come, so they set about to provide a means
for
that to happen.
~ ~
"`In your seed all the
nations of the earth shall be blessed,
because you have
obeyed My voice.'" (Gen. 22:18)
Edersheim: "The promise ...
is also explained Messianically ...
in connection with Num. ii. 32, where it is somewhat curiously
shown
in what sense Israel is to be like the sand of the sea." (p.
712).
Ancient Source: Bamidbar Rabba, on Numbers.
"These are the ones who were
numbered of the children of Israel
by their fathers'
houses. All who were numbered according to their
armies of the forces
were six hundred and three thousand
five hundred and
fifty." (Num. 2:32)
It is curious that the Rabbis
would select verse 18 of Genesis
chapter 22 to apply in a Messianic sense rather than the entire
story
of the sacrifice of Isaac which is a great type of the sacrifice
of
the `Suffering Servant Messiah' of Isaiah 52 and 53. Certainly,
the
concept of a substitutionary sacrifice (the ram in
place of Isaac) pointed to later sacrifice in Tabernacle and
Temple
worship, and ultimately to the sacrifice of Yeshua as a
substitute
for all peoples of the world (who are willing to accept it).
(End Part 1 of 2)
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