“The God of Israel says,
The Rock of Israel speaks to me;
Behold, a Ruler over men, just,
a Ruler in the fear of God.”
-2 Samuel 23:3
In verse 3, notice how the Lord says this ruler of Israel will be a “Ruler over men.”
The word for “men” here is ADAM.
ADAM refers to mankind in general.
Now, here’s the thing.
The Jewish sages have struggled with the word ADAM being here.
Why?
Because the Messiah is NOT for the world, homies.
He is ONLY for Israel.
Yeshua himself declared that…
“I was sent only to
the lost sheep of Israel.”
-Matthew 15:24
So, what should we do with the word ‘Adam’?
Obviously, it cannot mean only the Israelites, right?
I believe our answer lies in the story of the Exodus.
Recall when the Israelites hightailed it out of Egypt, a gentile “mixed multitude” left with them.
These were non-Hebrews who decided to abandon their pagan gods of Egypt and place their bets with the God of Israel.
Later, they stood side-by-side with the native born Hebrews when the Law was given at Sinai.
In other words, they were fully grafted into the commonwealth of Israel.
So I believe this is one way to interpret the ADAM in this verse.
The Messiah will rule over both native-born Hebrews and gentiles who are grafted into Israel.
And if you think about it, this is really the heart of the gospel message.
Also, don’t forget that until God called Abraham, Abraham began life as a gentile.
Or as the Apostle Paul said…
“Is God the God of Jews only?
Is he not the God of Gentiles too?
Yes, of Gentiles too.”
-Romans 3:29
Finally, another, and I think simpler way to interpret this verse is that in the end times, we’re told the Messiah of Israel will indeed rule over the whole world from his throne in Jerusalem.
So in this sense, the Messiah will be a ruler over all of mankind or ADAM.
What will the characteristics of this ruler be?
We’re told he will be TZADEK (just).
And that he will be a Ruler who fears God.
This part about fearing God is important.
Because it means that this Ruler will not come in his own name…
Nor will he establish some new divine law of his own choosing.
Instead, he will come in the name of Yehovah, the Lord of Hosts.
He will be sent at the command of his Father in Heaven.
And the justice he administers will be based on the Torah given at Sinai to both native-born Hebrews and gentiles who were eventually grafted in.
Therefore, in the future, God’s Kingdom will indeed cover all of ADAM or mankind!
And one person will rule it all: the Messiah.
Done.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Yeshua came to them and said,
‘All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me.’”
—Matthew 28:18
“He must reign until he has put
all his enemies under his feet.”
—1 Corinthians 15:25
“And the seventh angel sounded,
and there were loud voices in heaven,
saying, ‘The kingdom of the world
has become the kingdom of our Lord
and of His Messiah,
and He will reign forever and ever.’”
—Revelation 11:15
“For there is one God,
and one mediator also
between God and men,
The man Messiah Yeshua.”
—1 Timothy 2:5
“And He ordered us to preach
to the people,
and solemnly to testify
that this is the One
who has been appointed by God
as Judge of the living and the dead.”
—Acts 10:42
“There is neither Jew nor Greek…
for you are all one
in Messiah Yeshua.”
—Galatians 3:28
“But now in Messiah Yeshua
you who formerly were far off
have been brought near
by the blood of Messiah.”
—Ephesians 2:13
“He is Lord of all.”
—Acts 10:36
In Exodus 19:6, God tells Moses that he is choosing the Jewish people to be his (God’s) nation of priests.
Now, the Levites were already chosen to be priests to the Jews, so if the Jews have their priests, but God makes ALL Jews priests.
Priests don’t administer to priests, they administer to the laity, so if the Jews are laity to the Levites, then who is the laity to the Jews?
The Nations of the world, that’s who!
And yes, as you say Rich, when a Gentile accepts Yeshua as his or her Messiah, and (this is important) lives as Yeshua did, which was a Torah obedient lifestyle, then they will be grafted in to the Tree of Life, which is the Torah>
People need to realize that the only pacein the entire Bible where God, himself, tells us how he wants us to orship him and to treat each other is in the Torah- God doesn’t give any other rules or commandments anywhere else.
And those rules were meant for the whole world’s population- to the Jew first, then to the Gentile.
In a way, Yeshua did come for the entire world because God doesn’t want anyone to die (Ezekiel 18:23), but the world must accept Yeshua and God’s Torah in order to be in that saved group.
Amen, Steven.