Toldot: Why Edom = Rome in In Jewish Thought
In this lesson on the Torah portion Toldot, we learn about how the word “toldot” can mean “genealogies” or “stories”. We will learn about how, in the generations that lead to Messiah, just how important the matriarchs are. We will learn about the connection between Ya’akov and Esav, and what that connection means in respect to today’s world and the end-times.
The name of this week’s Torah portion comes from the word for “the generations.” As it says in the beginning of this Torah portion, Genesis 25:19, “And these are the generations of Yitzchak, Avraham's son: Avraham begat Yitzchak.” The Torah uses the word “toldot” to relate to someone’s genealogy, but not just that, it also relates the word “toldot” to the stories of the people in the genealogy. For example, the toldot of Yitzchak tells the story of Yitzchak and his offspring, Ya’akov and Esav. In this way, Genesis 25:19 could also be translated as, “And these are the stories of Yitzchak...”
Biblical genealogy is important because it records the line of Messiah. The sages looked to the toldot in the Torah to find hints about the Messiah.The stories of the forefathers lay down the foundations for the story of Messiah because the Messiah is the goal of their genealogy. As stated in the Hasidic commentary, Rokeach al HaTorah in Yalkut Moshiach V’Geulah al HaTorah, “All the genealogies and generations are for David and the Messiah.”
The book of Matthew starts with the words, “This is the genealogy of Yeshua the Messiah, son of David, son of Avraham:” Matthew traces the lineage of Yeshua all the way back to Avraham. Unlike most genealogies in the Bible, Mathew includes the names of certain women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Miriam, the mother of Yeshua. Commentators have several ideas as to why the names of these women were included, but one thing is for sure: The very fact that Matthew included the names of these women shows that the maternity of the Messiah matters.
Rabbinic literature doesn’t pay too much attention to the mother of Messiah, but there are a few interesting mentions. The most famous one appears in the Jerusalem Talmud. In the legend the name of Messiah is Menachem, and he is born the day of the Temple’s destruction:
“Rabbi Yudan son of Rabbi Aivu said, ‘An incident happened to a certain Jew who was standing and plowing his field. His ox lowed before him. An Arab passing by heard the sound of the ox and said, “Son of Judah, son of Judah! Unties your ox! Unfasten your plow! For the temple has just been destroyed!” The ox lowed a second time and the Arab said, “Son of Judah! Jew! Tie your ox and fasten your plow, for king Messiah has been born!” The Jew asked him, “What is his name?” The Arab answered, “Menachem.” He asked him, “What is his father’s name?” The Arab answered, “Hezekiah.” He asked him, “From where is he?” He answered, “From the Birat Malka of the Bethlehem of Judah.” He went and sold his ox and plow, and became a seller of infant’s clothing. He went from town to town until he came to that place. All the women bought clothes from him for their babies, but the mother of Menachem did not. He heard the women saying, “Mother of Menachem! Come, buy clothes for your son!” She said, “I wish to strangle enemies of Israel (ie., my son), for on the day on which he was born the Temple was destroyed.” The man said to her, “We can be sure that if the Temple was destroyed because of his coming, it will be rebuilt with his coming.” Then she said to him, “I have not a penny.” He said to her, “What does that matter to me? Come and buy for him. If you have no money today, I will return and get it another day.” Several days later he returned to that town and asked her, “How is your baby doing now?” She answered, “Since you last saw me, winds and storms came and snatched him from my hands.”’
The timing of this legend, with the birth of Messiah taking place at the end of the second Temple period, is consistent with the timing of Yeshua of Nazareth, him being active in Judea during the last generation before the destruction of the temple. The legend depicts the birth of Messiah with the destruction of the temple, and the reappearing of Messiah with the rebuilding of the Temple, the same things we depict the birth of Yeshua and his return with. In addition to all this, the legend has a striking similarity to Revelations 12:5, “She gave birth to a son, a male child, the one who will rule all the nations with a staff of iron.[a] But her child was snatched up to God and his throne;”
In both the legend and the verse of Revelations, the mother of Messiah symbolizes the people of Israel. In the talmudic legend, the destruction of the Temple leaves the nation too distraught to rejoice in the birth of her son, so much so that she resents him. Israel is the mother of the Messiah. How much more so are the Matriarchs, the mothers of Israel, mothers of Messiah.
In Genesis 25:23 it says,
“And the Lord said unto her, ‘Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy body; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger.’”
The Targum says, “The children fought in her womb like men doing battle.” When Rivkah went to ask God why the twins in her womb were fighting, God told her that there were two nations in her womb. The Midrash states that the two nations refer to the Kingdom of the son of David and the Kingdom of Edom. It also says that the nation of Israel (the younger) will prevail over Edom (the older) in the days of the Messiah, just as David’s kingdom prevailed over the Edomites.
Yeshua sometimes used the term “this world” as a way of referring to the Roman empire, the “kingdom of this world.” In John 18:36 he told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” He referred to Satan as the ruler of this world, as it says in John 12:31, “Now judgement is upon this world, and the ruler of this world will be cast out.”
The sages also had a way of referring to the Roman empire: The people of Edom. This is probably derived from Psalms 137:7, in which the Edomites are connected with the destruction of Jerusalem:
“Remember, O Lord, against the people of Edom the day of Yerushalayim’s fall, how they cried, ‘Tear it down! Tear it down! Raze it to the ground!’”
The Roman Empire was a Satanic counterfeit of the Messianic Kingdom. The Romans brought all known nations into servitude and enforced “Pax Romana”, a kingdom of peace. The Roman emperor acted as a false Messiah, as it says in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, “The son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship.”
In view of the Sages’ and Yeshua’s view of the Roman empire, the battle between Ya’akov and Esav can be likened to the battle between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. When Messiah comes, the older (the Roman empire) shall serve the younger (the kingdom of heaven).
Ya’akov’s name comes from the same root as the word “heel”, and points back to the verse in Genesis where God says that the seed of the serpent will bruise the “heel” of the seed of the woman. The “seed of the woman” is the Messiah. In Psalms 89:52 it talks about the “heels of Messiah”, “Your enemies have reproached, O Lord, they have reproached the heels of your Messiah.”
The rabbis understood that “the heels of Messiah” meant the final generation that will see the coming of Messiah. “The heels of the Messiah” can be translated a different way: “The footsteps of the Messiah.” When things seem darkest, we should listen for the footsteps of Messiah, As it says in the Mishnah:
“In the footsteps of the Messiah, insolence will increase and the cost of living will go up greatly; the vine will yield its fruit, but wine will be expensive; the government will turn to heresy, and there will be no one to rebuke; the meeting-place [of scholars] will be used for licentiousness; the Galilee will be destroyed, the Gablan will be desolated, and the dwellers on the frontier will go about [begging] from place to place without anyone to take pity on them; the wisdom of the learned will rot, fearers of sin will be despised, and the truth will be lacking; youths will put old men to shame, the old will stand up in the presence of the young, “For son spurns father, daughter rises up against mother, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law a man’s own household are his enemies” (Micah 7:6). The face of the generation will be like the face of a dog, a son will not feel ashamed before his father. Upon whom shall we depend? Upon our father who is in heaven.”
The life of Ya’akov and his struggle with Esav are a precursor to the trials and tribulations that the people of Israel will have to endure before the coming of Messiah.
In Toldot, this week’s Torah portion, we learned about how the word “toldot” can mean “genealogies” or “stories”. We learned just how important the matriarchs are in the generations that lead to the Messiah. We learned about the connection between Ya’akov and Esav, what that connection means in respect to today’s world, and what that connection means in respect to the coming of Messiah.
Join our email list to stay connected and learn more about Torah, Biblical Hebrew, the Jewish Yeshua, & Conversion to Judaism
Benei Avraham, Dallas Messianic Jewish Congregation | All Rights.Reserved.