A Jewish Perspective

Another time, [Rabban Gamaliel, R. Joshua, R. Eleazar ben Azariah, and R. Akiva] were ascending to Jerusalem. On reaching Mount Scopus, they tore their garments. When they reached the Temple Mount and saw a fox coming out of the holy of holies, they began to cry, but R. Akiva was laughing. They said to him, “Akiva, you are always so surprising! You are laughing, but we are crying.” He said to them, “And you, why are you crying?” They said to him, “And why would we not cry over the place of which it is written, an outsider who encroaches shall be put to death (Numbers 1:51), and see, a fox is coming out from it! The fulfillment of [the passage] Because of this our hearts are sick; because of these our eyes are darkened. Because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate; foxes prowl about (Lamentations 5:17–18) is upon us.” He [Akiva] said to them, “So too am I laughing for that reason. For it [scripture] says: and call for Me reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah (Isaiah 8:2). And what does Uriah have to do with Zechariah? What did Zechariah say? There shall yet sit old men and women in the squares of Jerusalem, each with his staff in his hand because of their great age. [And the squares of the city will yet be full of boys and girls playing in the squares] (Zechariah 8:4–5). What did Uriah say? Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the Temple Mount a shrine in the woods (Micah 3:12). The Omnipresent said to him [Isaiah]: ‘See, I have these two witnesses. If the words of Uriah are fulfilled, then the words of Zechariah [will be] fulfilled. And if the words of Zechariah are annulled, the words of Uriah are annulled.’ I rejoiced that the words of Uriah were fulfilled, for [this means that] in the end, the words of Zechariah will be fulfilled.” And they said to him these very words: “Akiva, you have comforted us!”

Translated by Matthew Goldstone.