Legend of the Messiah

A star steps forth from Jacob (Numbers 24:17). It is taught in the name of our Sages: the septennial cycle wherein the Son of David comes [will transpire as follows]: [in] the first [year], there will not be food for all who need it; [in] the second [year], the arrows of famine (Ezekiel 5:16) will be unleashed; [in] the third [year], a severe famine; in the fourth [year], neither famine nor plenty; in the fifth [year], great plenty, and a star will emerge in the east. This is the star of the Messiah, and it will be visible in the east for fifteen days. Should it linger, it will be to Israel’s benefit. [In] the sixth [year], noises and sounds. [In] the seventh [year], battles. And at the end of the seventh [year], one will behold the Messiah.

The “people of the west” will behave arrogantly, and they will maintain sovereignty without opposition. They will come to Egypt and hold her entirely captive. In those days “the king strong of face” will rise up against the poor and impoverished nation (Zephaniah 3:12), and he will seize control of sovereignty by practicing deceptions (Daniel 11:21). And about that time Isaiah has spoken: Go, my people! Enter your rooms and lock your doors behind you! Hide for a short while until the danger is past! (Isaiah 26:20).

The Sages have taught: R. Ḥiyya instructed those of his generation, “When you hear that ‘the king strong of face’ has arisen, do not remain there. For he will decree: ‘Everyone who affirms that the God of the Hebrews is one will be put to death!’ He will also say: ‘Let all of us be of like expression and one people!’ He will abolish [observance of] the holidays, festivals, sabbaths, and new moons, and he will suspend the Torah[’s authority] over Israel, as scripture states: he will hope to change the appointed times and the religious law, and they will be given into his power for a time, two times, and half a time (Daniel 7:25). ‘Time’ means a year; ‘two times’ means two [years], and ‘half a time’ means half a year.” [ . . . ]

Then the Holy One, blessed be He, will go forth and do battle with them, as scripture says: and the Lord will go forth and wage war against those nations (Zechariah 14:3). The mountains will quake and the hills will shake, and the Mount of Olives will split across its middle when the Holy One, blessed be He, descends upon it. Israel will run away and escape, as scripture says: you will flee the valley of My mount . . . and this will be the plague (Zechariah 14:5–12). And Israel will go into exile into the [“desert of the peoples”] to forage among the salt-plants and broom-sage roots for forty-five days. Clouds of glory will surround them, and there Israel will be concealed. If anyone should harbor a wavering thought in his mind about the Holy One, blessed be He, the clouds will cast him out and the nations of the world will kill him. Many from Israel will go out to the Gentile nations, and [as a result] they will have no portion with Israel in the World to Come. Those, however, who [remain] must afflict themselves with salt-plant for forty-five days. [ . . . ]

The heavenly voice will come out a third time: “Treat it the same way that Joshua treated Jericho!” So they will circumambulate the city, blowing on their shofars, and on the seventh circuit, they will let forth a shout, Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God; the Lord is One! (Deuteronomy 6:4). Then the city wall will collapse. They will enter it [the city] and discover its young men sprawled dead in its plazas, for scripture says: therefore her young men will collapse in her squares (Jeremiah 49:26; 50:30). Afterwards they will help themselves to all her spoils.

Then Israel will search for their God and for David their king, and the King Messiah will forthwith be revealed to them. [ . . . ]

An eighth heavenly voice will announce and say: Speak to the heart of Jerusalem (Isaiah 40:2), [and] a ninth heavenly voice will say: Open the gates and let the righteous people enter! (Isaiah 26:2). A tenth heavenly voice will say: Raise your heads, O gates! (Psalms 24:7, 9), and the dead will be resurrected, as scripture promised: your dead will live again; they will raise up my body (Isaiah 26:19). Then the exiles will be ingathered, as scripture says: and it shall come to pass on that day that He will sound a great shofar [and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were dispersed in the land of Egypt will come] (Isaiah 27:13). Then will [the verse] a star steps forth from Jacob . . . (Numbers 24:17) be fulfilled, and thus may it be the will of our Heavenly Father to fulfill this verse during our lifetime and the lifetime of all Israel: and He will hoist a banner to the nations, and He will collect the dispersed ones of Israel and re-gather the scattered ones of Judah from the four corners of the earth (Isaiah 11:12).