How was the Messiah taken from Sedom?

Genesis 19:21 – 21:4

Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

(Gen. 19:36-38 ESV)

How was the Messiah taken from Sedom?

The Eternal doesn’t want anybody to perish but that all are saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He doesn’t take pleasure in the death of the wicked. He always desires the repentance of the sinner in order to rescue him from his misery and give him a new life.

When the children of Israel came into the promised land, they received orders to destroy the seven nations who were descendants of Kenaan, because of their depravation. But there was an exception among them: a prostitute named Rachav (Rahab) repented of her sins (Heb. 11:31, Yaacov (James) 2:25) and was received in the people of Israel in such a way that she became one of the mothers (women in the genealogy) of the Messiah. (Matt. 1:5)

This teaches us that the door wasn’t closed for Kenaan’s descendants to enter into the people of the salvation, Israel. Through repentance and faithfulness to the Elokim of Israel, any gentile, no matter how far away from the Eternal he is, can receive an inheritance among those who are sanctified.

Rachav, descendant of a cursed and depraved people was honoured to be mentioned in the genealogy of the Messiah, Yeshua. How great is the Eternal’s grace to a repented person!

This means that there are Kenaan’s genes in the Messiah. When the body and soul of the Messiah were formed, a part had to come from the people of Kenaan in order to be able to redeem them of their sins, because he is not only the redeemer of the Jewish people, but of the whole world (1 Jn. 2:2). The Messiah had to reunite in his own being, all men on earth and Rachav’s example shows that the most cursed people in history were also included in the salvation plan that takes effect through the Messiah, Yeshua. If these people could fit in the Messiah, also all the other peoples can.

Now, there is more in this sense. Lot’s daughters had a mother from Sedom, also a daughter (descendent) of Kenaan. Both of them got pregnant of their father after making a drinking plot taking advantage of him. In spite of not having a high moral standard, they had a good motivation behind that act of fornication. They wanted to have descendants and that’s why the Eternal granted them to be mothers of two peoples. The oldest had a child and shamelessly named him Moav – from the Hebrew meav

מאב

“from father”. The younger one, a bit more discreet, called her son Ben Ammi – בן עמי “son of my people”. From Moav came the Moabite people and from Ben Ammi, the Ammonites.

Further on, we find a Moabite woman, Ruth, that makes the decision of leaving her gods and her people and enter the people of her mother in law, Naomi, the people of Israel where salvation is found. Ruth the Moabite was accepted by the judges, because they had established the halachah – practical law – that the prohibition of entering the people of Israel against the Ammonites and Moabites applied only to men, and not to women (Deut 23:3). Boaz was the head judge in Israel at that time and he established this halachah. This also teaches us that a large part of the written Torah has to be interpreted and understood by the oral torah, transmitted from leader to leader of the people of Israel throughout history.

Ruth came from the Moabites, who in turn came from Lot’s wife, who came from Sedom that came from Kenaan (Gen 10:19), the cursed people.

Later on, there was a king, Rechavam (Rehoboam), son of king Shlomo (Solomon) who was born from Shlomo and an Ammonite woman named Naamah (1 Kin. 14:21, 31; 2 Cron. 12:13). This king Rechavam is also one of the ancestors of the Messiah Yeshua (Matt. 1:7).

In other words, we see that through three women, genes from Kenaan came into the Messiah Yeshua and that by his merit, his suffering and atoning death, these women were rescued from curse and death that had befallen upon their peoples. Repentance and faithfulness toward the Elokim of Israel set on this redemption plan for them. All the descendants of Kenaan had this opportunity to repent but very few took advantage of it.

This shows us that there is no curse too big that cannot be removed through the work of the Messiah. He became a curse in order to redeem from the curse those who trust the Eternal and his redemption plan in the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord (Gal. 3:13).

This is why we understand that the angels had to take Lot and his daughters out of Sedom, because indirectly, they were taking the Messiah from there. He needed part of the genes from that people in order to be able to represent them before the Almighty and take them in his body to rectify what they had twisted.

How wonderful are the plans of the Eternal! He can use evil and wickedness to carry out His purpose and He can deliver us from all consequences of sin through His Anointed one Yeshua. Blessed be His name forever!

Yom tov – have a good day,

Ketriel. www.messianictorah.org