Sanhedrin 197

והיינו דא"ל ההוא מינא לרבי אבהו אימתי אתי משיח א"ל לכי חפי להו חשוכא להנהו אינשי א"ל מילט קא לייטת לי א"ל קרא כתיב (ישעיהו ס, ב) כי הנה החשך יכסה ארץ וערפל לאומים ועליך יזרח ה' וכבודו עליך יראה

And thus a <font>Min<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. p. 604, n. 12. ');">¹</span></font>

תניא ר' אליעזר אומר ימות המשיח ארבעים שנה שנאמר (תהלים צה, י) ארבעים שנה אקוט בדור רבי אלעזר בן עזריה אומר שבעים שנה שנאמר והיה ביום ההוא ונשכחת צור שבעים שנה כימי מלך אחד איזהו מלך מיוחד הוי אומר זה משיח

said to R. Abbahu: 'When will the Messiah come?' He replied, 'When darkness covers those people.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Alluding to the questioner and his companions. ');">²</span>

רבי אומר שלשה דורות שנאמר (תהלים עב, ה) ייראוך עם שמש ולפני ירח דור דורים ר' הילל אומר אין להם משיח לישראל שכבר אכלוהו בימי חזקיה

'You curse me, he exclaimed. He retorted, 'it is but a verse: <i>For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall shine upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee</i>.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. LX, 2. ');">³</span>

אמר רב יוסף שרא ליה מריה לרבי הילל חזקיה אימת הוה בבית ראשון ואילו זכריה קא מתנבי בבית שני ואמר (זכריה ט, ט) גילי מאד בת ציון הריעי בת ירושלים הנה מלכך יבא לך צדיק ונושע הוא עני ורוכב על חמור ועל עיר בן אתונות

It has been taught: R. Eliezer said: The days of the Messiah will last forty years, as it is written, Forty years long shall I take hold of the generation.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. XCV, 10: I.e., rule over them through the Messiah (rendered, 'I wearied') is connected with root 'to hold'. ');">⁴</span>

תניא אידך ר' אליעזר אומר ימות המשיח ארבעים שנה כתיב הכא (דברים ח, ג) ויענך וירעיבך ויאכילך וכתיב התם (תהלים צ, טו) שמחנו כימות עניתנו שנות ראינו רעה

R. Eleazar b. Azariah said: Seventy years, as it is written, And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. XXIII, 15. ');">⁵</span>

רבי דוסא אומר ד' מאות שנה כתיב הכא (בראשית טו, יג) ועבדום וענו אותם ארבע מאות שנה וכתיב התם שמחנו כימות עניתנו

Now, who is the one [uniquely distinguished] king? The Messiah, of course. Rabbi said: Three generations; for it is written, They shall fear thee with the sun, and before the moon [they shall fear thee], a generation and generations.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. LXXII, 5. The verse is thus interpreted: They shall fear thee when Messiah comes, who is referred to as a sun (cf. 17), and they shall fear thee on account of the reign of the house of David, which is likened to the moon (cf. LXXXIX, 39: He shall be established for ever as the moon) for a generation (one) and generations (two). ');">⁶</span>

רבי אומר ג' מאות וששים וחמש שנה כמנין ימות החמה שנאמר (ישעיהו סג, ד) כי יום נקם בלבי ושנת גאולי באה

R. Hillel<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [A brother of Judah II.] ');">⁷</span>

מאי יום נקם בלבי א"ר יוחנן ללבי גליתי לאבריי לא גליתי ר"ש בן לקיש אמר ללבי גליתי למלאכי השרת לא גליתי

said: There shall be no Messiah for Israel,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' But the Almighty will himself redeem israel and reign over them (Rashi). ['He may have been prompted to this declaration by Origen's professed discovery in the Old Testament of Messianic passages referring to the founder of Christianity' (J.E. VI, 401).] ');">⁸</span>

תני אבימי בריה דרבי אבהו ימות המשיח לישראל שבעת אלפים שנה שנאמר (ישעיהו סב, ה) ומשוש חתן על כלה (כן) ישיש עליך (ה') אלהיך

because they have already enjoyed him in the days of Hezekiah. R. Joseph said: May God forgive him [for saying so]. Now, when did Hezekiah flourish? During the first Temple. Yet Zechariah, prophesying in the days of the second, proclaimed, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, thy king cometh unto thee! he is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Zech. IX, 9. ');">⁹</span>

אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל ימות המשיח כמיום שנברא העולם ועד עכשיו שנאמר (דברים יא, כא) כימי השמים על הארץ

Another [Baraitha] taught: R. Eliezer said: The days of the Messiah will be forty years. Here it is written, And he afflicted thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. VIII, 3. ');">¹⁰</span>

רב נחמן בר יצחק אמר כימי נח עד עכשיו שנאמר (ישעיהו נד, ט) כי מי נח זאת לי אשר נשבעתי

whilst elsewhere it is written, Make us glad, according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. XC, 15: hence, just as they were afflicted forty years in the wilderness, so shall they rejoice forty years under the kingship of the Messiah. ');">¹¹</span>

אמר רבי חייא בר אבא א"ר יוחנן כל הנביאים כולן לא נתנבאו אלא לימות המשיח אבל לעולם הבא (ישעיהו סד, ג) עין לא ראתה אלהים זולתך (אלהים) יעשה למחכה לו ופליגא דשמואל דאמר שמואל אין בין העולם הזה לימות המשיח אלא שעבוד מלכיות בלבד

R. Dosa said: Four hundred years. It is here written, And they shall serve them,' and they shall afflict them four hundred years;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Gen. XV, 13. ');">¹²</span>

ואמר רבי חייא בר אבא א"ר יוחנן כל הנביאים לא נתנבאו אלא לבעלי תשובה אבל צדיקים גמורים עין לא ראתה אלהים זולתך ופליגא דרבי אבהו דא"ר אבהו (א"ר) מקום שבעלי תשובה עומדין שם צדיקים אינן עומדין שם שנאמר (ישעיהו נז, יט) שלום שלום לרחוק ולקרוב ברישא רחוק והדר קרוב מאי רחוק רחוק דמעיקרא ומאי קרוב קרוב דמעיקרא ודהשתא

whilst elsewhere it is written, Make us glad, according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us. Rabbi said: Three hundred and sixtyfive years, even as the days of the solar year, as it is written, For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redemption is come.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. LXIII, 4. This is interpreted: For it is in mine heart (I.e., intention) that the year (365 days) of redemption shall come, of which each day shall be as long as the day of my vengeance. God's day of vengeance is a year, as in the case of the Spies, on account of whom the Israelites were condemned to wander forty years in the wilderness, — a year for each day of their mission. Cf. Num. XIV, 34 (Rashi). Maharsha explains it in a simpler fashion: For each day of the year that they afflicted Israel, I will take vengeance a full year; as there was a year of days, so will my vengeance last 365 years. ');">¹³</span>

ורבי יוחנן אמר לרחוק שהוא רחוק מעבירה קרוב שהוא קרוב מעבירה ונתרחק ממנה

What is meant by 'the day of vengeance is in mine heart'? — R. Johanan said: I have [so to speak] revealed it to my heart, but not to my [outer] limbs.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., I have kept my intentions sealed in my heart, not giving expression to them with my tongue, that all my limbs should know thereof. ');">¹⁴</span>

וא"ר חייא בר אבא א"ר יוחנן כל הנביאים כולן לא נתנבאו אלא למשיא בתו לתלמיד חכם ולעושה פרקמטיא לתלמיד חכם ולמהנה תלמיד חכם מנכסיו אבל תלמידי חכמים עצמן עין לא ראתה אלהים זולתך

Abimi the son of R. Abbahu learned: The days of Israel's Messiah shall be seven thousand years, as it is written, And as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. LXII, 5. The bridegroom's rejoicing is seven days, and God's day is a thousand years. Cf. Ps. XC, 4: For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past. ');">¹⁵</span>

מאי עין לא ראתה אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי זה יין המשומר בענביו מששת ימי בראשית ר"ל אמר זה עדן לא ראתה עין מעולם וא"ת אדם היכן דר בגן ואם תאמר גן הוא עדן תלמוד לומר (בראשית ב, י) ונהר יוצא מעדן להשקות את הגן:

Rab Judah said in Samuel's name: The days of the Messiah shall endure as long as from the Creation until now, as it is written, [That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give to them,] as the days of heaven upon the earth.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. XI, 21: I.e., as long as the world has already existed. Since they were not settled so long in their land, it will be completed in the Messianic era. ');">¹⁶</span>

והאומר אין תורה מן השמים וכו': תנו רבנן (במדבר טו, לא) כי דבר ה' בזה ומצותו הפר הכרת תכרת זה האומר אין תורה מן השמים ד"א כי דבר ה' בזה זה אפיקורוס

R. Nahman b. Isaac said: As long as from Noah's days until our own, as it is written, For this is as the waters of Noah, which are mine, so I have sworn etc.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. LIV, 9. The time that had elapsed since the days of Noah until the moment when this promise was made is regarded as God's, and he swears that for an equal period he will not be wroth with Israel, I.e., when Messiah reigns over them. ');">¹⁷</span>

ד"א כי דבר ה' בזה זה המגלה פנים בתורה ואת מצותו הפר זה המפר ברית בשר הכרת תכרת הכרת בעולם הזה תכרת לעולם הבא מכאן אמר רבי אליעזר המודעי המחלל את הקדשים והמבזה את המועדות והמפר בריתו של אברהם אבינו והמגלה פנים בתורה שלא כהלכה והמלבין פני חבירו ברבים אף על פי שיש בידו תורה ומעשים טובים אין לו חלק לעולם הבא

R. Hiyya b. Abba said in R. Johanan's name: All the prophets prophesied [all the good things] only in respect of the Messianic era; but as for the world to come 'the eye hath not seen, O Lord, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. LXIV, 3. ');">¹⁸</span>

תניא אידך כי דבר ה' בזה זה האומר אין תורה מן השמים ואפילו אמר כל התורה כולה מן השמים חוץ מפסוק זה שלא אמרו הקדוש ברוך הוא אלא משה מפי עצמו זהו כי דבר ה' בזה ואפילו אמר כל התורה כולה מן השמים חוץ מדקדוק זה מקל וחומר זה מגזרה שוה זו זה הוא כי דבר ה' בזה

Now, he disagrees with Samuel, who said: This world differs from [that of] the days of the Messiah only in respect of servitude to [foreign] powers.

תניא היה רבי מאיר אומר הלומד תורה ואינו מלמדה זה הוא דבר ה' בזה רבי נתן אומר כל מי שאינו משגיח על המשנה ר' נהוראי אומר כל שאפשר לעסוק בתורה ואינו עוסק

R. Hiyya b. Abba also said in R. Johanan's name: All the prophets prophesied only for repentant sinners; but as for the perfectly righteous [who had never sinned at all], 'the eye hath not seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.' Now he differs from R. Abbahu, who said: The place occupied by repentant sinners cannot be attained even by the completely righteous, for it is written, Peace, peace, to him that is far off and to him that is near:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. LVII, 19. ');">¹⁹</span>

רבי ישמעאל אומר זה העובד עבודת כוכבים מאי משמעה דתנא דבי ר' ישמעאל כי דבר ה' בזה זה המבזה דבור שנאמר לו למשה מסיני (שמות כ, ב) אנכי ה' אלהיך לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים וגו'

thus, first he that is 'far off', then he that is 'near'. Now what is meant by 'far off'? — originally far off;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., a sinner who is far from God. ');">²⁰</span>

רבי יהושע בן קרחה אומר כל הלומד תורה ואינו חוזר עליה דומה לאדם שזורע ואינו קוצר רבי יהושע אומר כל הלומד תורה ומשכחה דומה לאשה שיולדת וקוברת

and what is meant by 'near'? — originally near [and still so].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' One who has never sinned. Thus he assigns a higher rank to the repentant sinner than to the completely righteous. ');">²¹</span>

רבי עקיבא אומר

But R. Johanan interprets: 'him that is far off' — that is [and has been] far from sin; 'him that is near' — that was near to sin, but is now far off. R. Hiyya b. Abba also said in R. Johanan's name: All the prophets prophesied only in respect of him who marries his daughter to a scholar, or engages in business on behalf of a scholar,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [I.e., assigns him a share in his business as sleeping partner.] ');">²²</span> or benefits a scholar with his possessions; but as for scholars themselves, — 'the eye hath not seen, O God, beside thee etc.' What does 'the eye hath not seen' refer to? — R. Joshua b. Levi said: To the wine that has been kept [maturing] with its grapes since the six days of Creation. Resh Lakish said: To Eden, which no eye has ever seen; and should you demur, Where then did Adam live? in the Garden. And should you object, The Garden and Eden are one: therefore Scripture teaches, And a river issued from Eden to water the garden.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Gen. II, 10. ');">²³</span> AND HE WHO MAINTAINS THAT THE TORAH WAS NOT DIVINELY REVEALED. Our Rabbis taught: Because he hath despised the word of the Lord, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XV, 31. ');">²⁴</span> this refers to him who maintains that the Torah is not from Heaven. Another rendering: Because he hath despised the word of the Lord, refers to an epikoros. Another rendering: Because he hath despised the word of the Lord, refers to one who gives an interpretation of the Torah<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Or, 'who acts insolently against the Torah', the phrase ohbp vkdn being similar to the English 'bare-faced'. This, and epikoros, are discussed further on.] ');">²⁵</span> [not according to the <i>halachah</i>]. And hath broken his commandment: this means one who abolishes the covenant of flesh.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., who neglects the precept of circumcision. Weiss, Dor. II. p. 8 states that the Rabbinic teachings in praise of circumcision and their emphasis on the penalty of its neglect were directed against the Christians, who substituted baptism for it; v. also n. 5 for another interpretation. ');">²⁶</span> That soul shall utterly be cut off [hikkareth tikkareth]: 'hikkareth' [to be cut off] implies in this world; 'tikkareth' [it shall be cut off], in the next.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra 90b. ');">²⁷</span> Hence R. Eliezer of Modi'im taught: He who defiles the sacred food, despises the festivals,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The reference is to the intermediate days of Passover and Tabernacles, called [H], the week-days of the festival. ');">²⁸</span> abolishes the covenant of our father Abraham,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Graetz. Gesch., IV, p. 73, n. 1. suggests that this refers to epiplasm, I.e., drawing a skin over the circumcision so as to hide it. This was resorted to by the Judeo-Christians in order to evade the Fiscus Judaicus, I.e., the Temple Tax which Vespasian converted into a per capita tax for the upkeep of Jupiter's Temple. The galling nature of such conversion, added to the fact that it singled out the Jews as definitely not being full citizens of the Roman Empire with all the privileges and exemptions appertaining thereto, and the severity with which Domitian, a later emperor, applied it, combined to induce a number of these semi-Jews to deny their Judaism altogether and to hide the marks of their circumcision. ');">²⁹</span> gives an interpretation of the Torah not according to the <i>halachah</i>, and publicly shames his neighbour, even if he hath learning and good deeds to his credit, hath no portion in the future world.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Aboth III, 15. ');">³⁰</span> Another [Baraitha] taught: Because he hath despised the word of the Lord — this refers to him who maintains that the Torah is not from Heaven. And even if he asserts that the whole Torah is from Heaven, excepting a particular verse, which [he maintains] was not uttered by God but by Moses himself, he is included in 'because he hath despised the word of the Lord.' And even if he admits that the whole Torah is from Heaven, excepting a single point, a particular ad majus deduction or a certain <i>gezerah shawah</i>, — he is still included in 'because he hath despised the word of the Lord'. It has been taught: R. Meir used to say: He who studies the Torah but does not teach it is alluded to in 'he hath despised the word of the Lord'. R. Nathan said: [it refers to] whoever pays no heed to the Mishnah.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Rabbi's compilation was held in such high esteem that to disregard it was considered a sin. ');">³¹</span> R. Nehorai said: Whosoever can engage in the study of the Torah but fails to do so. R. Ishmael said: This refers to heathens. How is this implied? — Even as the school of Ishmael taught: Because he hath despised the word of the Lord — this applies to one who despises the words spoken to Moses at Sinai, viz., I am the Lord thy God&nbsp;… Thou shalt have no other gods before me.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ex. XX, 2f. ');">³²</span> R. Joshua b. Karha said: Whosoever studies the Torah and does not revise it is likened unto one who sows without reaping. R. Joshua said: He who studies the Torah and then forgets it is like a woman who bears [a child] and buries [it.] R. Akiba said: