“Her Seed” (Gen. 3:15): Does the Messiah Have a Human Father?
By
James Scott Trimm
Counter-missionaries often claim that Messiah must have a human father, and that Yeshua’s alleged lack of a human father, supposedly disqualifies him from being the Messiah. Not only is this not true, bur the Torah implies that Messiah would not have a human father at all. We read in the Torah:
14 And YHWH Elohim said unto the serpent: Because you have done this, cursed are
you from among all cattle, and from among all beasts of the field. Upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. They shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise their heel.
(Gen. 3:14-15 HRV)
This passage makes a very surprising reference to the seed not of a man, but of a woman. Targum Psuedo-Jonathan reads:
And it shall be that when the sons of the woman study the Torah diligently and obey its injunctions, they will direct themselves to smite you on the head and slay you; but when the sons of the woman forsake the commandments of the Torah and do not obey its injunctions, you will direct yourself to bite them on the heel and afflict them. However, there will be a remedy for the sons of the woman, but for you, serpent, there will be no remedy. They shall make peace with one another in the end, in the very end of days, in the days of the King Messiah.”
The Targum Yerushalami interprets as follows:
“And it shall be that when the sons of the woman study the Torah diligently and obey its injunctions, they will direct themselves to smite you on the head and slay you; but when the sons of the woman forsake the commandments of the Torah and do not obey its injunctions, you will direct yourself to bite them on the heel and afflict them. However, there will be a remedy for the sons of the woman, but for you, serpent, there will be no remedy. They shall make peace with one another in the end, in the very end of days, in the days of the King Messiah.”
Both of these targums interpret the “seed” of the woman as those who study the Torah and obey it, however in doing so they “make peace with one another” and these are described as “the days of King Messiah.” Thus the Targums identify Torah Observant Israel with the Messiah in this passage as the “seed” of the woman.
The Midrash Rabbah makes this identification of the “seed” of the woman as the Messiah clear in its comment to Gen. 23:5 referring to the naming of Seth it says:
“And she called his name Seth: For God has appointed me another seed, etc. R. Tanhuma said in the name of Samuel Kozith: [She hinted at] that seed which would arise from another source, viz. the king Messiah.”
(Genesis Rabbah 23:5)
There can be little doubt that the “seed which would arise from another source” here is Eve’s “seed” mentioned in Genesis 3:15, the seed of a woman, the Messiah.
Thus we may see from the Torah itself that Messiah would not have a human father, but would instead be the “seed” of a woman.
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