The Mighty Seed

Parashat Lech L’cha, Genesis 12:1–17:27

David Wein, Tikvat Israel, Richmond, VA

Tired of creation descending into chaos, murder, and hatred? Does it seem like that flood didn’t quite clean out all the trash and you just can’t bring yourself to go through another flood (and Hashem promised not to send another one, anyways)? Then try ISRAEL, a unique way of blessing the whole creation through one particular people group! 

I know what you’re thinking: But won’t that people group get all high and mighty in their chosenness? And won’t the other nations continue to question this election even up to the distant year 2019? But think about the havdalah we perform at the close of Shabbat. It slices! It dices! It separates unique identities just as in the Creation Narrative—night and Day, Israel and the Nations! This covenant is not available in stores or anywhere else. You won’t find it in ancient Ugaritic texts! You’ve never seen distinction and mutual blessing like this! The covenantal love of God to work in and through one particular people group, the descendants of Avraham, has a shekel-back guarantee, so act now! Get up off that couch, and get yourself up to the land Hashem will show you. Avraham even left his land, his family, and his father’s house for this product! If that’s not a testimonial, I don’t know what is. Angels are standing by.  

(The fine print: Some aspects of this covenant are conditional on Israel’s faithfulness to the Torah. Offer valid especially in the land of Israel; if residing in the galut, long distance fees and taxes may apply. Call now, the kingdom of God is upon you!)  

Cheesy infomercials aside, one of the foundations of Messianic Jewish theology is found here in Parashat Lech L’cha: God mediating blessing through Israel. The seed of this idea (pun intended) is found in the word zera or “seed.”  

The first time this word appears is in the Creation account, thrice in some form: 

Then God said, “Let the land sprout grass, green plants seeding seed, fruit trees bearing fruit, each according to its kind with seed in it, upon the land.” And it happened so. (Genesis 1:11, literal translation)

Notice here on day three a departure from the usual formula of Creation. On day one: Let there be light. On day two: let there be an expanse. But on day three, let the land sprout. In other words, we see for the first time the mediating blessing and fruitfulness and life through the land, instead of the usual “let there be.” The land/earth is a conduit for the seed, which is itself a microcosm of mediating blessing. Everything needed for another plant is contained within that seed, to reproduce and bear fruit after its kind. Hashem is generous with his creative power, willing to bring life through the earth, to bring life through the intimate union of husband and wife, and ultimately to bring blessing through the seed of Avraham.  

The next time we find zera, it’s a promise that has been interpreted as perhaps the first messianic reference in Scripture. God, speaking to the infamous talking serpent, declares this: 

            I will put animosity

 between you and the woman—

 between your seed and her seed.

 He will crush your head,

 and you will crush his heel. (Genesis 3:15, TLV)

This is an enigmatic text, but some things are clear. In the midst of the consequences of eating the fruit and the curse on the land, we find a glimmer of messianic hope. The seed (descendant) from Havah will crush the head of the serpent and his “seed,” but will experience a bruising in the process. The serpent has been associated with the evil inclination, the accuser, and the sea dragon in later texts and in Jewish interpretation. Clearly, we are using the word “seed” in a looser way to imply two forces at odds with one another, with the good “seed” or descendant ultimately triumphing over the serpent’s team, but not without injury. The Brit Hadashah picks up on this motif by explaining that Yeshua the Messiah, by his death on the tree, triumphs over death, sin, evil, the sea dragon, and the evil inclination.  

In the parasha itself, the Adamic charge is now solidified into a covenant with a specific people in a specific land. It is the seed (descendants) of Avraham who inherit the land/earth, which was the conduit for the seed-bearing plants in Creation. Sounds like the imagery of a garden; isn’t it the charge of humanity to garden the earth into Eden? 

When I was an elementary teacher, we had a fundraiser every year for the courtyard, and the third graders would sell potted plants of different herbs. One year, I accidentally left the plants in the trunk of my car. What can I say? These were my bachelor days. Plants, of course, need a good seed, but also water, earth, and light, none of which these poor herbs received. I opened my trunk one day and looked down in dismay at my “trunk garden” of decay. As I recall, the following year I gave the plants from the fundraiser to my dad as a present: he’s an avid gardener.  

Perhaps it is in this sense that Yeshua confronts those who put their confidence in being the “seed” of Avraham (John 8:39). Rejecting the one who is living water and the light of the world is not a good prospect for a burgeoning seed. We also notice from John’s gospel that all those who trust in Messiah have these elements within them--we are the light of the world and we have living water bubbling up within us if we are from the seed of Messiah.  

Closing our tour of this Hebrew word, let’s stop by the haftarah portion:  

But you, Israel, My servant,

Jacob whom I have chosen,

descendant (seed, zera) of Abraham, My friend—

I took hold of you from the ends of the earth,

and called from its uttermost parts,

and said to you, “You are My servant—

I have chosen you, not rejected you.” (Isaiah 41:8–9, TLV)

Hashem has promised to mediate blessing through the descendants of Avraham. The fullness of this coming in Yeshua does not let the rest of the descendants off the hook. Avraham and Sarah experience much anxiety over their descendant(s), the inheritor and conduit of the covenant. Childlessness in the ancient Near East had a powerful emotional force in the narrative of Scripture. Thankfully, the election of Israel rests solely upon the faithfulness of God to redeem our missteps and anxiety.  

In the meantime, the gardening is up to us. Through the earth, through Israel, through Messiah, and through his followers, Hashem grows his seedlings and showers the blessings of light and water. But it’s the gardeners who have to plant the seeds.