Selected Titles of Messiah
• Wisdom of God – 1 Corinthians 1:24
• The Word – John 1:14
• Yinnon – Psalm 72:17
• Spirit Hovering over the Waters – Genesis 1:2
• Light of the World – John 9:5
• Heavenly Adam – 1 Corinthians 15:45
• Son of Man – Matthew 16:13
• Son of Perez – Traditional; Ruth 4:18
• Spirit of the Day – Genesis 3:8
• Seed of the Woman – Genesis 3:15
• A Different Seed – Genesis 4:25
• The Comforter – Lamentations 1:9
For the Sake of Messiah
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but why did He create them? Why did God create the universe? For the Messiah’s sake alone the entire world came into being. This means that God made the world for the sake of Messiah and for the goal of the Messianic Era. From the beginning, the creation has been working toward the kingdom of heaven on earth: “The important thing is the way to Messiah.” 1
Rav said, “The world was created only for
the sake of David.” Shmu’el said, “Only
for the sake of Moses.” Rabbi Yochanan
said, “Only for the sake of Messiah.”
(b.Sanhedrin 98b)2
The apostles teach that the Messiah existed before the creation and that God made the whole
creation for the Messiah. God appointed
Him to be the heir of all things, and through Him, He made the world.3
By Him all things were created: the things above and the things below, the visible things and the invisible things, supernatural powers and authorities, spiritual beings and physical things—God created all things through the Messiah and for the Messiah.4
The Wisdom of God
From the beginning, with Wisdom the Word of the
LORD created and perfected the heavens and the
earth. (Genesis 1:1, Targum Neofiti) God created all things through the
Messiah. This is a difficult idea to
grasp. Does it mean that the human being
whom we know as Yeshua of Nazareth, who was born in Bethlehem some two thousand
years ago, was also present at the moment of creation as a human being? If He
always existed as Yeshua the man from before creation, why and how was He born
of a woman at a certain time and place?
When the apostles said things like this, perhaps they meant that the Messiah’s
spiritual essence pre- existed the creation and that God made the physical and spiritual worlds through the Messiah’s
divine, pre-existent, spiritual essence.
If so, what was this spiritual,
pre-existent essence? The Messiah is
called “the Wisdom of God,” 5 and He
existed before creation in the form of God’s divine Wisdom. The Bible says that when God created
the universe, He did so through His
Wisdom.6 That Wis- dom is the Messiah. Speaking in the voice of Wisdom, the Messiah says, “The LORD possessed me at
the beginning.”
[Wisdom says:] From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills I was brought forth; while He had not yet made the earth and the fields, nor the first dust of the world. When He established the heavens, I was there, when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, when He made firm the skies above, when the springs of the deep became fixed, when He set for the sea its boundary so that the water would not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth; then I was beside Him, as a master workman; and I was daily His delight, rejoic- ing always before Him. (Proverbs 8:23–30)
The Word
Another answer to the question, “What was the spiri- tual, pre-existent essence of Messiah?” In the days of the apostles, Jewish people in the land of Israel spoke Aramaic. They used Aramaic paraphrases of the Bible. An Aramaic translation of the Bible is called a Targum. The Aramaic versions of the Bible depicted God’s creative and personal being as a sort of temporal and finite expression of the infinite God. Since the Jewish theologians of the day understood God to be infinite, they did not think it possible for Him to intersect with the finite world.
Think about it. How can the infinite God fit in the finite universe? Therefore the Aramaic translators avoided using language that placed the infinite God in contact with the finite world in a revealed way. Instead, they spoke of a condensed and abbreviated emanation of the Almighty whereby God interacts within finite time and space. They regarded this ab- straction of God as a projection of the Infinite One into finite form, and they called it “the Word.” The Aramaic term is Memra (מימרא), a word that literally means “word.”
God’s Word is the active, finite expression of His infinite being. Although His Word acts as the active agent of God, ordering and creating the universe, God creates all things through His Word, and His Word is the one doing the creating. The Gospel of John uses the Greek word Logos (λόγος) as an equiva-lent for the Memra of God. Logos also means “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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. ( John 1:1–3) The Word was not something different than God, instead, the Word was God. It was His Wisdom. The Word was the emanation of the infinite God within the finite universe. In other words, the “Word” was the facet of God involved with creating the physical world and interacting with it and its creatures.
It came to pass that, in a certain definite time and in a certain finite place, the infinite God sent forth His Word to intersect the finite and to be clothed in garments of human flesh, as the Scripture says, “And the Word became flesh” ( John 1:14). At that time Mary, a daughter of the house of David, “was found
to be with child by the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” This means that the Word clothed Himself with a human body and dwelt in it, like a man camping in a tent.
This man was the Messiah. In that sense, the Messiah existed before the creation, and through Him God made all things.
Before Creation
God created seven things before He created the world. They are the Torah; repentance; the Garden of Eden; Gehenna; the Throne of Glory; the Temple; and the name of the Messiah.... The name of the Messiah, as it is written [in Psalm 72:17], “May his name endure forever; before the sun His name endures.” (b.Pesachim 54a) The rabbis say that before God made the world He created seven things: 1) the Torah; 2) repentance; 3) the Garden of Eden; 4) Gehenna; 5) the Throne of Glory; 6) the Temple; and 7) the name of the Messiah. This list teaches the plan of redemption. God created the Torah, which reveals His righteous standard.
He knew that man would fail to meet the standard, so He created repentance. If man repents, he may enter the paradise of the Garden of Eden. If he does not repent, he faces judgment in Gehenna. At the appointed time every man must stand in judgment before the Throne of Glory. The righteous will enter God’s dwelling place, His holy Temple, by the merit of Messiah who brings the redemption and raises up the Temple.
Before the Sun
What is the name of Messiah? The school of Rabbi Yannai said, “His name is Yinnon, for it is written [in Psalm 72:17], “May his name endure forever; before the sun His name is Yinnon.” (b.Sanhedrin 98a) Psalm 72 is a messianic psalm about the Son of David and his righteous reign over the kingdom. The rabbis teach that this psalm contains information about the Messiah, including a secret name for the Messiah. We know that Messiah existed before the sun was made because it says in Psalm 72:17, “Before the sun His name is Yinnon.” 7 The rabbis explain that “Yinnon” is one of the Messiah’s names.
The Talmud quotes this psalm to prove that God gave the name of the Messiah before the foundation of the world. According to this idea, God established the Messiah’s name before He made the sun. He gave Messiah the mysterious name “Yinnon” before he created the heavens.
A parallel verse from the psalm contains another cryptic reference to the Messiah: “Let them fear You while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations” (Psalm 72:5). These words make an acronym for the Hebrew word mashiach (משיח), which we translate into English as Messiah and Christ. If you combine the final letters of the phrase iM shemeSH velifneI yareaCH, ( עם שמש ולפני ירח), translated here as “while the sun endures, and as long as the moon,” it spells mashiach.8
Mashiach encoded in Psalm 72:5
עם While מ
שמש The sun endures ש
ולפני And as long as י
ירח The moon ח
The first letters of the same phrase contain all the letters in the name Yeshua (ישוע): Im Shemesh Velifnei Yareach (עם שמש ולפני ירח), albeit not in letter order of the name. This means that the same psalm that the rabbis use to prove the pre-existence of Messiah’s name happens to contain the words “Messiah” and “Yeshua” encrypted in the same four-word phrase.
Yeshua encoded in Psalm 72:5
עם While ע
שמש The sun endures ש
ולפני And as long as ו
ירח The moon י
This Was the Spirit of Messiah
The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. (Genesis 1:2)
One Sabbath morning in the Nazareth synagogue a young Jew, a local carpenter, the son of a carpenter, stood up to read the Torah. They handed Him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll “and found the place where it is written, ‘The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the gospel.’” Then He told those in attendance, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 9
In so doing, He declared Himself to be the Anointed One of God—the Messiah.
Another prophecy in the scroll of Isaiah speaks
of the same anointing Spirit of the LORD
resting upon the Messiah.
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The
Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and strength, the
spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
(Isaiah 11:1–2)
The prophet Isaiah foresaw a king from the line of David, a “stem of Jesse” and a branch from David’s roots. He saw that the Spirit of the LORD would rest upon this Son of David.
According to the Midrash Rabbah, an ancient collection of Jewish lore and Bible interpretation, this Spirit of the LORD that Isaiah depicted resting upon the head of the Messianic King is the same Spirit of the LORD that moved over the primeval waters of creation: “The Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” This was the Spirit of Messiah as it is written, “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him.” (Genesis Rabbah 1:2 quoting Isaiah 11:1–2)
According to the ancient rabbis, the Spirit of Messiah spoken of in Isaiah 11:1–2 is the Spirit of God that was present at the creation of the world. The Spirit of God that anointed Yeshua is the same Spirit that moved over the surface of the water before creation.
As it is written in Psalm 77:19, “Your way was
in the sea and Your paths in the mighty
waters, and Your footprints may not be
known.” His footprints on the water may
not be known because a foot upon the water leaves no print. In the ancient
world, the wa-
ters of the sea symbolized the forces of chaos. God’s Spirit moved above the chaos. In the gospel
story the Messiah strides over the
waves, as Scripture says, “He came to
them, walking on the sea” (Matthew 14:25).
Chasidic discourse teaches that the Spirit of Messiah is more exalted than that of Moses. Whereas the Torah depicts Moses as one drawn out from the water, who later divides the sea and walks through the midst of the water, it depicts the Messiah as one above the water: The Messiah has superiority even higher than that of Moses our teacher. On the phrase at the beginning of the Torah, “And the spirit of God hovered,” the sages teach, “This alludes to the spirit of the King Messiah.” That verse continues, “over the surface of the waters.” This intimates a level higher than that of Moses, who was so called Moses [in Exodus 2:10] “because from the water I drew him.” (The Maamarim of the Alter Rebbe on the Parshiyos)10
Exile and Redemption
God created the material world formless, void, dark, and chaotic like water. The Spirit of God hovered over this material world and began to order it and separate it into light and dark, above and below, sky and ground, land and sea, and so forth.
The rabbis did not look at Genesis 1:2 merely as a literal description of the primordial earth. They believed the verse hinted toward the future of Israel’s exile and ultimate redemption in the Messianic Era: The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. (Genesis 1:2)
The words “the earth was formless” alludes to the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles. The word “void” alludes to Israel’s subjugation under Persia and Media.
The words “and darkness” alludes to the triumph of Hellenism under Alexander the Great. The word “surface of the deep” refers to the Roman Empire. The words “and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters” refers to the Messiah. The rabbis said, “This alludes to the Spirit of Messiah, as it is written [in Isaiah 11:2], ‘And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him.’” 11
The Spirit of Messiah hovering over the waters symbolizes the Messianic Era when the knowledge of the LORD will cover the earth. The whole creation aims for the kingdom of heaven, as it says, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” 12
When the Messiah comes, He will transform the formless, the void, the darkness, the deep, and all the sorrows of this present age of exile into the light and joy of a new world and a new creation. Rabbi Bechaye says, “The word ‘in the beginning’ alludes to the Temple, ‘formless and void’ alludes to the exile, ‘and there was light’ alludes to the Messianic Era.”13
Our Master taught us to repent because the kingdom of heaven is near. The waters over which the Spirit of the Messiah hovers symbolize repentance: In what merit will the redemption come? For the sake of the one who hovered over the waters. That is to say, in the merit of repentance which is likened to water, as it is written [in Lamentations 2:19], “Pour out your heart like water.” (Genesis Rabbah 2:4)
The waters correspond to Israel’s repentance in exile. Just as the Spirit hovered over the waters, the Spirit of Messiah blossoms over Israel during the exile. This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, creates the cure, which is King Messiah, before he inflicts the wound, which is the destruction of the Temple and the exile. The LORD anticipated the destruction of the Temple and the exile, so he set the name of Messiah over it as the chief cornerstone.14
The Concealed Light
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)
The first light of creation was not ordinary light. In the story, the Almighty had not yet created the sun and the moon and the stars. No natural source of light existed, yet there was light. Imagine light that shines forth without a light source. In the days of the apostles, Rabbi Eleazar taught that the light of the first day of creation was a miraculous, wondrous light, independent of a luminary. It enabled a person to see “from one end of the world to the other,” and some say, from one end of time the other.15
The Almighty foresaw the future, and He saw that man would sin and wickedness would prevail upon the earth. He concealed the divine light from the world, as Scripture says, “From the wicked their light is withheld” ( Job 38:15). He removed the divine radi- ance from the world and concealed it for the pleasure of the righteous in the days of Messiah and the world to come.16
The Light of the Messianic Age
God saw that the light was good. (Genesis 1:4) The original light of the first day of creation is called “good,” because on the first day of creation, “God saw that the light was good.” He hid away the divine light of the first day of creation, concealing it until He will reveal it in the Messianic Era and the world to come: This is the light of Messiah, as it is said, “God saw the light, that it was good.” This teaches that before the world was created, the Holy One, blessed is he, looked forward to the generation of Messiah and its deeds. He hid [the primordial light] for Messiah and his generation beneath his throne of glory. (Yalkut Shimoni, Isaiah, 499)
Darkness symbolizes the exile—a time of spiritual blindness when the presence of God is concealed from view. We pray for an end to the exile when we ask God to “shine a new light upon Zion.” In the Messianic Age, they will say to Zion, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you” (Isaiah 60:1). Jerusalem will become a spiritual lamp as the spiritual capital of the entire world. At that time Jerusalem will be called “the light of the world, as it says, ‘Nations will come to your light.’”17 The presence of the Messiah in Messianic Jerusalem will offer spiritual revelation to all of humanity. The LORD tells His servant the Messiah, “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).
At that time, the Holy One, blessed is he, will make the light of King Messiah and of Israel gleam, and everyone will walk by the light of King Messiah and of Israel, as it is said, “Nations will walk by your light and kings by your shining brilliance.” (Yalkut Shimoni, Isaiah, 499)
The coming of the Messiah brings light to Israel, but it brings darkness to the wicked.18
At the time that King Messiah comes, he will stand on the roof of the Holy Temple and proclaim to Israel, “Humble ones, the time of your redemption has come! And if you do not believe me, see my light that is shining upon you! As it is said, ‘Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.’ And it has shone upon you only, and not on the idolaters, as it is said [in Isaiah 60:2], ‘For behold, darkness will cover the earth.’” (Yalkut Shimoni, Isaiah, 499)
In that day the LORD will bring devastating judgments against the wicked, but those who survive from the nations will see a beacon of light from Zion. The nations will walk in the light of this Messianic revelation as they make pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship the LORD and learn Torah, as described in
Isaiah 2:2.19 Likewise, the Talmud calls the Temple “the light of the world,” citing proof from Isaiah 2:2 and the nations streaming to Jerusalem in the Messianic Era.
Jerusalem will ultimately prepare a lantern for the nations of the world, and they will walk by her light. What is the reason? “Nations will come to your light.” Likewise, it says [in Isaiah 2:2], “The mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it.” (b.Bava Batra 4a)20
Light of the World to Come
The Apostle John received a glimpse of the revelation of the hidden light shining forth in the world to come. He saw New Jerusalem and reported, “And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light” (Revelation 21:23).
In the world to come, all of humanity will see the light of the glory of God. The source of the illumination is the Lamb: “They will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the LORD God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5). John saw the original “good” light—divine light of the first day of creation—revealed for the sake of the righteous.
The Light is the Messiah
The divine light of the first day is the revelation of the Messiah. “Light” is one of the names of the
Messiah. The Light dwells with God.21
Messiah is the true light. “True light
not only illuminates; it also warms.” 22
Yeshua told us that He is the light of the world, which is to say, the light of the creation. The world was created through His light, and His light will shine again at the time of the great redemption. The Apostle John taught that the divine light is the divine Word—the Logos—through which all things were created. The Logos is the light of men that shone in the darkness.
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ( John 1:3–5)
The Torah tells us, “God said, ‘Let there be light,’” to reveal that God will ultimately illuminate Israel with the light of the Messiah, of whom it is written, “Arise, shine; for your light has come ...”—the light being, of course, the Messiah ... The verse “Let there be light” teaches that God created the world through this light, for immediately after these words the creation began. (Tz’enah Ur’enah on Genesis 1:3)23
Just as God revealed the light of creation, concealed it, and will reveal it again in the final redemption, so too He has revealed the Messiah, concealed Him, and will reveal Him again. Messiah is the original light that is reserved for the righteous in the time to come, “the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints” (Colossians 1:26).
Leviathan
God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:21)
What are the “great sea monsters” that the LORD made on fifth day? Literally this refers to large fish, like whales and sharks, but according to Jewish legends, God created two enormous sea creatures: Leviathan and its mate. He killed the female Leviathan so that it would not reproduce, because if it reproduced and multiplied, the world would not be able to sustain them.24 He salted the meat of the female Leviathan and has preserved it since the six days of creation. He will serve it to the righteous at the banquet in the time to come. At that time, He will also slay the male Leviathan: In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will prepare a banquet for the righteous from the meat of Leviathan ... He will make a booth for the righteous out of the skin of Leviathan ... and the rest of the skin He will spread out upon the walls of Jerusalem, and its splendor will shine from one end of the world to the other; as it is said [in Isaiah 60:3], “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” (b.Bava Batra 74b)25
Souls in the Body
The mystics teach that God created all human spirits during the six days: “You should know that all the souls that existed from the time of Adam the first man until the end of time, were all created during the six days of creation.”26 Prior to the creation of the first man, God created the spirit (neshamah, נשמה) of every person ever destined to live on earth. The midrash says, “all of them were in the Garden of Eden, and all of them were present at the giving of the Torah.” 27
The Almighty keeps the human souls in a heavenly storehouse called the “Body” (Guf, גוף). Whenever a child is conceived, he sends one of the souls to inhabit the new human life. Since the divine soul existed before the person’s body, it will also live on after the body perishes: “The dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Eventually, the Guf will run out of souls. Rabbi Assi taught, “The Son of David will not come until all the souls in the Guf have been exhausted.” 28
Dispute among the Angels
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule
over the fish of the sea and over the
birds of the sky and over the cattle and
over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26)
The Almighty addressed His angelic retinue, saying, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.”29 Although the Creator did not need the permission of the angelic court, He consulted them out of courtesy. He knew that, since man is made with angelic qualities such as the ability of speech and the ability to gain understanding and wisdom, the angels would be jealous of him. The ministering angels objected, “King of all worlds! ‘What is man that you take thought of him, and the son of man that you care for him?’” 30
The Holy One, blessed be He, replied, “This man whom I seek to create has greater wisdom than you.” 31
The ministering angels divided into two competing factions. Some of them argued, “Let him be created,” but the other objected, “Let him not be created.” The great angelic prince, Sammael, argued persuasively against the creation of man, and he convinced many to join him in the resistance. While the ministering angels disputed the question, thoroughly distracted by the argument they were having with each other, the Holy One, blessed be He, created Adam. Then He said to the angelic hosts, “Your argument is pointless. The man has already been made!” 32
The LORD made man a little lower than the angels, but he crowned him with majesty and glory and put all things on earth under his feet: “All sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the sea.”33 He wore luminous
garments of light, and his height extended from earth to heaven.34 When the angels and created beasts saw Adam in his splendor and his glory, they mistook him for the Creator, and they attempted to worship him. Although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.35
Adam told the angels and the creatures that he was only a created being, and he instructed them to worship God.36 Sammael burned with jealousy. He and his loyal followers who had opposed the creation of Adam rose up in indignation and descended into the created world. They plotted against Adam, and they found an ally among the creatures. Sammael entered Eden as Ezekiel says, “You were in Eden, the garden of God.” 37
Image of God
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him. (Genesis 1:27)
The Almighty scooped out earth from the Temple Mount. He took dust from the four corners of the world. He took water from all the waters of the world. He mixed them all together in His hands, so to speak, and He created Adam. He created him in a pure place, at the center of the earth, on the top of Mount Moriah, the future place of the Temple.38 He created him in His own image.
The mystics say that God made Adam in the image of a prototype human being, the primordial man, a heavenly man that may be likened to the physical image of God, so to speak. The mystics called the ideal, heavenly man, Adam Kadmon (“primordial man,” אדם קדמון). He is the firstborn of all creation, the spiritual image of God.39
The theology of the heavenly Adam attempts to reconcile the conflict between the idea that God is incorporeal, that is without image and form, and the idea that man is created in the image of God. Adam Kadmon is God’s blueprint form for man.
Paul also alludes to similar mystical ideas when he states: “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly [i.e., Adam], we will also bear the image of the heavenly [i.e., Yeshua]” (1 Corinthians 15:49). Paul calls Adam “the first Adam” and Messiah “the second Adam.” According to Paul, “The first Adam is from the earth, earthy; the second Adam is from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:47).40 Paul also says that Adam was “an impression of Him who was to come.” 41 That is to say that Adam was made in the image of Messiah. “Just as Adam was created in God’s image, so the Messiah is anointed by God, and God’s Spirit will be upon him.”42 God created Adam in His image, and the Messiah is the image of God: “He is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15); “He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3). Luke even refers to Adam as “the son of God” (Luke 3:38).
The Second Adam
The Messiah, as the second Adam, provides humanity with a fresh start. In Messiah, the human race can go back to Eden, so to speak, and start over in perfect innocence and righteousness. How does this work? Adam’s name means “man.” Sin and death came to humanity as the result of one man’s sin. We are all guilty of our own sins and punished for our own misdeeds, but disobedience first entered the world through our first father (and mother). Through one single act of disobedience, Adam forfeited his right to the tree of life, so human death came through Adam.
Death came “even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam” (Romans 5:14), which is to say that everyone dies, whether they sin or not. An unborn child who dies (God forbid), though he never had the opportunity to commit a single sin, dies all the same. It does seem frightfully unfair that one man’s single transgression consigns all humanity to death, but it is equally unfair that one man’s righteousness also offers all of humanity the reward of righteousness: “The right to the tree of life” (Revelation 22:14). Those who cast their allegiance with “the last Adam,” the life-giving Spirit, receive that reward.
As human beings, we are all sons of Adam, and we share in Adam’s physical nature, including the fallen aspects of it. We share in his condemnation. Messiah is also a son of Adam, sharing in Adam’s nature as it was prior to his disobedience and expulsion. He is in the form of the original man. He referred to Himself as “the Son of Man”; that is, “the Son of Adam.” He is a second Adam, but unlike the first Adam, He did not transgress. If the first Adam’s sin was sufficient to merit death for all mankind, the righteousness of Messiah—the last Adam—is sufficient to merit life for all of us: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Messiah all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). And this life is not only a spiritual, ethereal idea. This is the hope of eternal life through the resurrection of the dead. Resurrection reverses Adam’s bane. The following chart demonstrates Paul’s parallel- ism in discussing the correspondence between Adam and the Messiah.
|
Adam (First Adam) |
Yeshua (Second Adam) |
|
Romans 5:15–19 |
|
|
For if by the transgression of the one the many died, |
Much more did the grace of God and the gift by grace of the one Man, Yeshua the Messiah, abound to the many |
|
For on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, |
But on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification |
|
For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one |
Much more ... the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Yeshua Messiah. |
|
So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men |
Even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men |
|
For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners |
Even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous |
|
1 Corinthians 15:21–22 |
|
|
For since by man came death, |
By man also came the resurrection of the dead. |
|
For as in Adam all die, |
So also in the Messiah all will be made alive. |
|
1 Corinthians 15:45–49 |
|
|
The first man, Adam, became a living soul. |
The last Adam became a life-giving spirit |
|
The spiritual is not first, but the natural; |
Then the spiritual. |
|
The first man is from the earth, earthy; |
The second man is from heaven. |
|
As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy |
And as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. |
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Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, |
We will also bear the image of the heavenly. |
Very Good
God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. (Genesis 1:31)
At the end of each day of creation, the LORD “saw that it was good,” but after the sixth day of creation on which He made Adam, it says, “Behold, it was very good.” The Hebrew word for “very (me’od [מאד])” has the same letters as the word “Adam (אדם).” The rabbis said, “Me’od is the same as Adam because both words have the same letters. This means, ‘Behold, Adam was good.’”43 Some say that the three letters in Adam’s name are an acronym for Adam, David, and Messiah.
א Adam אדם
ד David דוד
ם Messiah משיח
The Day that is Entirely Sabbath
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. (Genesis 2:1–2)
God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and on the seventh day He rested. In the Talmud, some of the sages viewed the seven days of creation as a broad outline for human history, as the Scripture says, “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by” (Psalm 90:4). Accordingly, they compared each of the six days to a millennia of history. Different rabbis offered differing opinions, but they generally agreed that the seventh day, the day of the Sabbath, corresponds to the seventh millennium—the thousand-year Messianic Era.44 In the poetic words of the sages, the Messianic Era will be a “day that is altogether Sabbath.”
Tz’enah Ur’enah says, “Man was created on the sixth day, for within six thousand years the Messiah will come.”45 The apostolic community held a similar view of redemptive history. The book of Hebrews compares the age to come to the Sabbath and speaks of the Sabbath as a foretaste of final salvation and the Messianic Era. The book of Revelation speaks of a coming millennium of peace—a thousand-year reign of Messiah during which the adversary is bound in chains. The Apostle Peter reminds us that: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. (2 Peter 3:8–10)
The apocryphal Epistle of Barnabas ensconces early, apostolic-era traditions and teachings, including one about the Sabbath and the thousand years of the Messianic Era: My children, attend to the meaning of this expression: “He finished in six days.” This implies that the LORD will finish all things in six thousand years, for a day with Him is a thousand years. And He Himself testifies, saying, “Behold, ‘today’ will be as a thousand years.” Therefore, my children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, all things will be finished.
“And He rested on the seventh day.” This means that when His Son, coming again, shall destroy the time of the wicked, and judge the ungodly, and change the sun, and the moon, and the stars, then He shall truly rest on the seventh day. (Barnabas 15:4–5)
In view of these teachings, the weekly Sabbath celebrates the coming of the Messiah. The Sabbath offers a weekly foretaste of the era of peace and rest when Messiah will rule the earth. By keeping the Sabbath, we participate in the kingdom of heaven on
earth even now. Each Sabbath may be likened unto a down payment on the Messianic Era. “We rest on Shabbat to symbolize the peace that we will have in the days of the Messiah.” 46
Why doesn’t it say in regard to the Sabbath “and there was evening and there was morning” like it does for the other days? Because the Sabbath alludes to the world to come, and it is called the day that is completely Shabbat, and there is no night (Minchah Belulah)47
Though the Messiah may tarry, we eagerly await the coming return of Messiah, who will initiate that seventh millennium, a thousand-year era “that is altogether Sabbath.” As of this writing (according to the traditional Jewish reckoning) 5,773 of the 6,000 allotted years have already passed.48
Generations of the Heavens and Earth
[These are the generations] of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made ear t h and heaven. (Genesis 2:4)
The word “generations” (toledot, תולדות) in Genesis 2:4 is spelled with two vavim (ו). In all other instances, except for one occurrence in the book of Ruth, the Bible spells the word with only one vav (תולדת). The sages searched tiny discrepancies like this for meaning. They believed that every letter of Torah is significant. Our Master Yeshua also said that every jot and tittle of the Torah is important.49 In this case, the sages explain that prior to Adam’s sin, the word “generations (toledot)” was spelled with two vavim (תולדות) to indicate that the generations of Adam and the generations of all creation were complete and whole. Subsequent to sin, those generations were diminished. The Torah indicates their diminution by the defective spelling of the word of toledot (תולדת). According to this idea, Adam’s sin affected the heavens and the earth.
Though these things were created in their fullness, yet when Adam sinned they were spoiled, and they will not be restored to their fullness until the Son of Perez [i.e., the Messiah] comes, as it says [in Ruth 4:18], “Now these are the generations (toledot, תולדות) of Perez.” (Genesis Rabbah 12:6)
Ruth 4:18 spells “the generations (תולדות) of Perez” with both vavim. The rabbis say that this alludes to King Messiah who will come through the line of Perez. In Ruth 4:18, Perez stands at the head of David’s genealogy—the toledot of the Davidic monarchy from which Messiah comes. Messiah will restore both the generations of mankind and the generations of the whole creation.
Why does the Torah speak of the heaven and earth having “generations”? Do the heavens and the earth beget children? Paul says that the creation is groaning in childbirth, awaiting the redemption along with us, straining to give birth to the Messianic Era: For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. (Romans 8:20–22)
The letter vav is equivalent to the number six, the number of man who was made on the sixth day. The missing vav represents six things that the Holy One, blessed be He, took away from Adam after he sinned: the radiance of his face, his height, his potential for eternal life, the fruit of the earth, the Garden of Eden, and the brightness of the light of the sun and moon. All these things will be restored in the Messianic Era and the world to come, “On the day the LORD binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted” (Isaiah 30:26).50
River of Life
Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. (Genesis 2:10)
The Garden of Eden corresponds to paradise, the Messianic Age, and the world to come. In the Messianic Era, a river will flow out of Eden again in the form of a mighty river that flows forth from the holy Temple and from Jerusalem. “Living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter” (Zechariah 14:8). Our Master alluded to this prophecy when He declared, “From [the Temple’s] innermost being will flow rivers of living water.”51 Ezekiel describes this river as a river of life which turns the Dead Sea sweet.
And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many. (Ezekiel 47:10)
Fruit trees, like the trees of Eden, will grow along its banks. Their leaves will not whither and their fruit will not fail, for they will be the righteous who are planted by streams of living water, like a tree which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither.52 “They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing” (Ezekiel 47:12).
Is this river literal or figurative? Yeshua
taught that the river symbolized the
Holy Spirit which will be poured out on
all flesh in the Messianic Era.53 Likewise,
the mystics teach that the river of life symbolizes revelation pouring forth from Zion
to
water all nations and spread the knowledge of God throughout the world. The nations will flow to
Zion like a river, and the Torah will
flow forth from Zion to all nations: A
river will flow forth from Eden. The forefathers will come into the Garden of Eden and will
crown Messiah our Righteousness with the
holy crowns, and a river will come forth
from Eden, and the river is Messiah our
Righteousness, as it is written, “All the nations shall flow to him.”54
Yeshua taught “that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47), flowing out to the nations like the river of life flowing out from Zion. The river also flows from New Jerusalem in the world to come. In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John sees a river of life flowing from the throne, and on either side of the river grows the tree of life: Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:1–2)
Bride of Messiah
So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. (Genesis 2:21)
The name Chavah (Eve, חוה) means “living.” The creation of Chavah can be read as a metaphor for Messiah and Israel, the bride.55 The Apostle Paul asked us, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Messiah?” 56 He told us, “We are members of His Body.” 57 This “is a great mystery.” 58
Paul teaches that the first Adam was “a type of Him who was to come” (Romans 5:14), and he goes on to
refer to Messiah as the “last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45). Just as Adam was created in God’s image, so the Messiah is anointed by God, and God’s Spirit will be upon him.59 Since the original Adam prefigures the last Adam, Adam’s wife Eve can symbolize the bride of Messiah.
It says, “The LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept.” 60 Sleep means death, as the Master said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep.”61 The sleep of the first Adam symbolizes the “sleep” of the last Adam—for from out of it He awoke and “He brought her to the man.” 62 God built the bride of the first Adam from his slumber, and He raised the bride of the last Adam from His “slumber.” When Adam saw Eve, he exclaimed, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.”63
That is to say, “She is my body, for she was taken out of my body,” therefore, “a man shall be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” 64 One flesh is one body, therefore the bride of Adam is also the body of Adam and the Bride of the Messiah is also called the Body of Messiah. Moreover, God made Eve as a new creation, “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Galatians 6:15).
Paul develops the symbolism further. In Jewish tradition a bride immerses in a mikvah (immersion pool) on the night before her wedding. Paul says that the Messiah “sanctified her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the assembly in all her glory” (Ephesians 5:26–27). To prove his premise that Messiah can be likened to a husband and the assembly of Messiah can be likened to a bride, he quotes the Torah: We are members of His body. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Messiah and the assembly. (Ephesians 5:30–32 quoting Genesis 2:24)
The Malice of Sammael
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1)
The devil was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.65
Sammael employed all his cunning deceit and per suaded his followers to rebel with him against the Almighty. They descended to the earth and plotted against Adam. Sammael found no creature so shrewd and adept at deceit as the serpent. He took control of the serpent like a man who rides upon a steed.
To what can this be compared? To a man possessed by an evil spirit. All the deeds which he does, and all the words which he utters, he does involuntarily. He acts only according to the will of the evil spirit which rules over him. So it was with the serpent. All the deeds which he did, and all the words which he spoke, he did not speak except by the direction of Sammael. (Pirkei deRebbi Eliezer 13)
Sammael used the serpent’s sly and manipulative words to persuade the human beings to eat of the tree knowledge, thereby inciting them to join his rebellion against their Creator and keeping them from the tree of life.
God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity. Nevertheless through the devil’s envy, death entered into the world. (Wisdom of Solomon 2:23–24)
Naked in the Garden
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. (Genesis 3:7)
After their sin, Adam and Eve immediately became aware of their nakedness. Their sudden shame indicates their loss of innocence. The pious rabbis blushed at the notion that, prior to the fall, Adam and Eve simply walked about the garden nude. Instead, they suggested that Adam and Eve wore heavenly garments. Some sources describe Adam and Eve clothed in a fingernail-like substance: “A skin of nail and a cloud of glory covered them.”66 Garments of light and glory encompassed them. Before they sinned, they radiated light, reflecting “the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God.”67 In these luminous garments, they resembled heavenly beings. After Adam’s sin, the glory faded, leaving the man and his wife naked in the garden.
The rabbis and mystics called the light of God’s glory “the radiance of the Shechinah (Ziv HaShechinah, זיו השכינה).” 68 “Adam’s heel outshone the globe of the sun; how much more the brightness of his face!” 69
“Adam’s garments blazed like a torch.” 70
Likewise, the pious will shine like the original Adam in the time to come: How do we know that the [original glory of Adam] will be restored to man in the days of the Messiah? We can infer that [Adam’s] resplendence will be restored from the text [in Judges 5:31], “Those who love Him [will] be like the rising of the sun in its might.” (Numbers Rabbah 13:12)
After spending forty days and forty nights in the cloud on the mountain, Moses descended, his face resplendently reflecting the glory of God. “The radiance of Moses’ appearance was like that of the sun and he was like an angel of the Lord of hosts.” 71 White and luminous garments clothe the righteous, the divine, and angelic beings.72
The Chasidim teach that the Messiah will be at the level of the first Adam before he sinned.73 When the disciples witnessed the Master on the Mount of Transfiguration, “His face shone like the sun” (Matthew 17:2). “His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them” (Mark 9:3).
A brilliant countenance and blazing garments of glory appear frequently in apocryphal and rabbinic literature to describe celestial beings and the resurrected righteous. In the future, the resurrected righ- teous, with faces shining like the sun and the moon, will welcome the presence of the Shechinah.74 When the risen Messiah appeared to His disciple John, “His face was like the sun shining in its strength” (Revelation 1:16).
The Master told His disciples that at the time of His coming, “the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43).
God made garments of skin for Adam and Eve to replace their garments of light. The Hebrew word for “skin (or, עור)” sounds like the Hebrew word “light (or, אור).” From where did God get the skin with which he clothed Adam and Eve? The rabbis say that He used the resplendent skin shed by the serpent.
Cool of the Day
They heard the [voice] of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8)
Prior to their sin, Adam enjoyed communion with the presence of the LORD. The Almighty entered the garden and walked with the man “in the cool of the day” and spoke with him. The words “cool of the day” translate ruach hayom (רוח היום), i.e., “the breeze of the day,” or more literally, “the spirit of the day.” After their sin, Adam and Eve heard the “voice” of the LORD in the garden, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD. The LORD called to the man, “Where are you?” The sixteenth century rabbi, Moshe Alshich offers the following messianic interpretation on the story.75
Before Adam’s sin, he was clothed in a spiritual garment. This enabled him to hear the voice of God speaking to him directly, as a father speaks to his son. After sin corrupted him, he was stripped of this heavenly garment. This affected the way that he heard God’s voice. He heard the Almighty speaking as though there was a voice walking in the garden, speaking to no one in particular. Adam only heard this voice speaking indirectly rather than directly to him, and he would not even have merited to hear this much, if it were not for the ruach hayom, “spirit of the day.” The “spirit of the day” is the same Spirit of God that hovered above the water, which our rabbis say is King Messiah. It is called the Spirit of the Day because it refers to that specific day mentioned in Malachi 3(4), which is the day of our Messiah.76 One day the ruach hayom will be returned and the world will be repaired to the way it was, because Adam was the King Messiah (so to speak).
After he sinned, however, Adam was not able to bear even the echo of the voice speaking indirectly. Being naked of his holy garment he did not retain the strength to bear God’s holy and awesome voice. Being deprived of holiness and the ability to listen to the Holy One speaking, he fell on his face in fear and dread, which is why he hid himself among the trees of the garden.
Seed of the Woman
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. (Genesis 3:15)
The LORD punished the man, the woman, and the serpent. He cast down Sammael and all his host from their holy place in heaven, and he cut off the feet of serpent.77 He placed eternal enmity between the serpent and the woman and between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. This sounds like a folktale meant to explain why women are afraid of snakes, but the Torah has a spiritual and prophetic message in view. The seed of the woman will be bruised on the heel by the seed of the serpent, but the head of the serpent will be crushed by the seed of the woman. On the one hand, the seed of the woman is the whole human race. On the other hand, it refers to the singular seed of the woman, the Messiah.
And it will be that when the sons of the woman consider the Torah, and observe its instruction, they will be prepared to smite your head to kill you, but when the sons of the woman forsake the commandment of the Torah, and do not observe its instruction, you will be able to wound them in their heel, and harm them. Nevertheless there will be a remedy for the sons of the woman, but for you, ser- pent, there will be no remedy. [For the sons of the woman] there will be a remedy for the [wounded] heel in the days of the Messiah King. (Genesis 3:15, Targum Pseudo-Yonatan)
The Repentance of Adam
So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24)
God cast Adam and Even from the garden and barred them from entering paradise. They could not eat of the tree of life or enjoy the presence of God. The only remaining taste of Eden they could have came to them in the form of the water that flowed hence from the garden, as the Torah says, “Now a river flowed out of Eden” (Genesis 2:10).
Adam repented by sitting in the river that flowed out of Eden.78 In some versions, both he and Eve immersed themselves in the river to symbolize repentance for their sin. The legends about Adam and Eve immersing themselves in a river to symbolize repentance help explain the work of John the Immerser. All four gospels open with John the Immerser calling Israel to repentance and confession of sin, symbolized through immersion in a river.
According to the Talmud, all the water in the world ultimately flowed out from Eden.79 Even though we cannot enter the Garden of Eden itself, we can enter the water that has flowed out of Eden. Aryeh Kaplan says, “When a person immerses in the waters of the Mikvah, he is also re-establishing a link with man’s perfected state [in Eden]. He then loses the status of uncleanness, and is reborn into a state of purity, where he is permitted to enter the Holy Temple.” 80
The cure for Adam’s sin can only be obtained by an immersion of repentance into the death and resurrection of the Messiah—the Living Water that flows from the river of life.
The Sacrifices of Cain and Abel
And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. (Genesis 4:4–5)
God placed Adam at Mount Moriah, the place where He had created him. Adam built an altar to the LORD and sacrificed on it. Adam’s altar stood in the place where Abraham later built the altar on which he placed his son Isaac. King Solomon placed the altar of the holy Temple on the same spot. Cain and Abel also sacrificed on that altar. God accepted Abel’s sacrifice, but he rejected Cain’s because Cain’s “deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous” (1 John 3:12). “Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts” (Hebrews 11:4). God told Cain, “If you do good, will not [your offering] be lifted up? And if you do not do good, sin is crouching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” 81
The Blood of Abel
He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.” (Genesis 4:10)
According to one Targum, Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices on the same day on which future Israel would offer their Passover lambs. They brought their sacrifices on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan—Passover: “And it was at the end of days, on the fourteenth of Nisan, that Cain brought of the produce of the earth ... and Abel brought of the firstlings of the flock.” 82 Cain stuck down Abel and spilled his blood that same day, committing the first murder. “He bruised him over and over again with a stone, wounding him on his hands and on his feet.” 83
Abel’s blood cried out from the ground.
Messiah may be likened unto the righteous and innocent Abel who did only good. On the fourteenth day of Nisan, the same day that the Passover lambs were offered in the Temple, the priests surrendered Yeshua to Pontius Pilate, and the Romans crucified
Him. Yeshua died at the hands of murderous men, on the anniversary of the first fratricide—the murder of the righteous Abel.
The writer of the book of Hebrews makes reference to the blood of Yeshua, “which speaks better than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24). Abel’s blood, spilled on Passover, cried out in a voice of condemnation.
Yeshua’s blood, spilled on Passover, cried out in a voice of forgiveness: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Hence, the blood of Yeshua truly does speak “better than the blood of Abel.”
A Different Seed
Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.” (Genesis 4:25)
When Eve gave birth to Cain, she assumed that he must be the promised seed who would crush the head of the serpent. She declared, “I have gotten (kanah, קנה) a manchild with the help of the LORD” (Genesis 4:1), so she named him Cain (Kayin, קין). Cain slew Abel and disqualified himself as Messiah.
She conceived again and bore another son. She named him Seth (Shet, שת) because “God has apointed (sheet, שית) me a different seed.” 84 By naming him Seth, she alluded back to the Messianic
promise in Genesis 3:15, where God used
the same word, saying, “And I will put
(sheet, שית) enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and
her seed; he shall bruise you on the
head, and you shall bruise him on the
heel.” Eve hoped that her son Seth was
the appointed seed of whom God had spoken: Why does Eve say, “God has appointed
me a different seed”? Rabbi Tanchuma said in the name of Shmuel Kozith, “She
alluded to the seed which would arise from
a different source, [the seed] that is King Messiah.” (Genesis Rabbah 12:5)
What does the Midrash Rabbah mean when it speaks of Messiah as the seed that arises from
a different source? It refers to Ruth the Moabitess, the grandmother of King David. She is called “a
different source” because she was a Moabitess. Similarly, Yeshua came as “a different seed” in that he
was conceived in a different way—born of
a virgin, yet conceived of the seed of
David, through the Holy Spirit. He is the seed from a different place.
Adam’s Death
So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. (Genesis 5:5).
Adam lived 930 years. He foresaw a man through whom the Messiah would come and rectify his sin. He asked the Holy One, blessed is He, “Will you allow me to make a gift of my years to this man?”85 Adam gave seventy of his years to David, but Messiah will live forever.86 Adam should have lived one thousand years, but it is written, “In the day you eat from it, you will surely die” (Genesis 3:17). A day with the Holy One, blessed be He, is one thousand years.87
Adam built a tomb for himself to rest in beyond Mount Moriah.88 The early Jewish believers claimed that “the body of Adam, the first man, was buried upon the spot where Christ was crucified.” 89 The location was called “skull” because the skull of Adam had been found there. The cross of Messiah stood above the tomb of Adam. The tradition explains why Christian iconography often depicts a skull at the base of the cross. Pilgrims to Jerusalem today can visit a chamber in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher called the Chapel of Adam. The chamber is cut into the rock beneath the place where the cross is purported to have stood.
There is no reason to suppose that local Jerusalem lore did not already connect the location with Adam’s tomb. As we have seen, Jewish folklore teaches that God created Adam from the soil of Jerusalem and that Adam returned there after His expulsion from Eden, but scholars disagree about whether or not the tradition of Adam’s tomb at Golgotha predated the gospels. If the apostles associated Golgotha and Adam, they made no mention of the association. The tradition might have developed in the midrashic exegesis of the Jewish believers of the second and third centuries; the church fathers might have learned itfrom their contact with the Nazarenes. Early Christian teachers used the tradition to illustrate Paul’s theology about the second Adam reversing the curse of the first Adam.
The Signature
But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:8)
The last words of the Torah portion introduce the righteous Noah, savior of the world, who “found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” Chasidic teaching associates these closing words with Messiah. The name Noach (נח), which means “comfort,” alludes to Messiah who is called “the Comforter.” 90
The last words of a Torah portion are called the “signature.” One Chasidic teaching states, “Everything goes after the signature.” That means that the essence of the Torah portion is contained in the last few words. The numerical value of the words, “he found favor in the eyes of the LORD,” is 357, which including the whole parashah [as one], equals 358, which corresponds to the numerical value of the word Mashiach (i.e., 358). “This teaches that the important thing in the work of creation is the coming of the Messiah. When he comes, he will rectify the world.” 91
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