Acharit HaYamim
A Closed Book
Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, "Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come." (Genesis 49:1)
What’s going to happen in the last days? Bible prophecy can give us glimpses of that future, but peering into prophecy is like studying a poorly reflected image in a mirror of tarnished brass, "for now we know in part, and we prophesy in part" (I Corinthians 13:9-12). Even if the prophet sees his vision clearly, he's not always able to communicate it clearly. Apocalyptic visions sometimes contain revelations and "inexpressible words" impossible to distill into human language. Sometimes they convey things "which a man is not permitted to speak" (2 Corinthians 12:4). Sometimes they communicate prophetic messages that cannot be interpreted because the meanings remain sealed until their fulfillment.
The vision on Patmos revealed a scroll sealed with seven seals in the hand of the One who sits upon the throne. The scroll contained the story of the final redemption, the end of days, and how it would all come to pass. The angels asked, "Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?" (Revelation 5:2). John wept because none was found worthy to break the seals, unroll the scroll, and read the contents.
The Spirit of the LORD sometimes instructs the prophet or seer to keep a matter secret. For example, the LORD said to Isaiah, "Bind up the testimony, seal the Torah among my disciples" (Isaiah 8:16). The end of the book of Daniel says, "These words are concealed and sealed up until the end time," implying that the ultimate meaning of the prophecy has been withheld (Daniel 12:9). Certain parts of the apocalyptic book of Revelation remain sealed, and some parts of the vision were not even recorded, as it says, "Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them" (Revelation 10:4). God closed the interpretation of those particular prophecies. Likewise, the rabbis regard Jacob's prophetic blessings over his twelve sons as part of a "closed" passage of scripture (Genesis 49).
In the Torah scroll, the last section of Genesis (Vayechi) is formatted as a continuous narrative with no extra space between it and the preceding Torah portion. Ordinarily, a new section of Torah begins on a new line or, at the very least, a space separates it from the previous reading. No extra space separates the first word of this Torah portion from the last word of the previous. For that reason, the rabbis referred to this portion as "closed."
They took the closed format of the passage as an indication that the meaning of Jacob's prophecies over his sons has not been disclosed:
Why is this section more closed than all other sections of the Torah? ... Jacob wished to reveal the end of days, but the matter was closed (i.e., hidden) from him. (Genesis Rabbah 96:1)
In Genesis 49, the elderly patriarch summoned his twelve sons. He said, "Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come." The Hebrew behind the phrase "days to come (Acharit HaYamim, D'n 1'7nX)" is the term usually used to refer to "the latter days" or "the last days," that is to say, "the end times." That term gives the blessings and oracles in Genesis 49 an eschatological spin, inviting end-times interpretations on Jacob's blessings over his sons.
The rabbis believed that, through the Spirit of prophecy that rested upon him, Jacob could see the future clearly. He originally intended to tell his sons everything that was going to happen to the Jewish people in the end of days and at the time of the coming of the Messiah. However, as soon as he began to describe the end times and the coming of the Messiah, the Spirit of the LORD withdrew from him, and he lost the vision:
Jacob wanted to reveal the end of the days to his sons, but as he began, the Shechinah departed from him. (b.Pesachim 56a)
Jacob found himself unable to tell his sons all that would befall them in the end of days. His oracles came out as partial glimpses of what, only moments earlier, had been to him a clear vision. His blessings over his sons came out like scenes from a half-remembered dream. Nevertheless, the prophecies and blessings over his sons contain allusions to the future destiny of the tribes in the land of Israel and also hints and clues about the Messiah and the end times:
Rabbi Shimon said, "He showed them the downfall of Gog and Magog ..." Rabbi Yehudah said, "He showed them the rebuilding of the Temple.." The rabbis said, "He was about to reveal the end of days to them, but it was hidden from him." Rabbi Eleazar bar Avina said, "Two men had the end revealed to them, but it became hidden away from them later on; they are Jacob and Daniel." To Daniel it was said, "Conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time." Jacob was about to reveal the end to them, when it was hidden from him. (Genesis Rabbah 98:2)
Unrolling the Scroll with Seven Seals
Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob; and listen to Israel your father. (Genesis 49:2)
Closed books, sealed scrolls, and concealed words inspire curiosity. It seems like Bible prophecy presents us with riddles begging to be solved. It's tempting to pry open the remaining seals on the scroll with seven seals and read the contents of the book all the way to the conclusion so that we can see how the end times will play out in our day and age. Everyone wants to figure out how the world ends. But we have not been found worthy to open the book and to break its seals or even to look into it (Revelation 5:3-4).
Many people suppose that, by studying the book of Revelation carefully enough and comparing it with current events, we should be able to accurately predict the identity of the antichrist, the movements of global powers, and the day and hour of the Messiah's coming. That's not how Bible prophecy works. Prophetic oracles are more like poetry than prose. It's not a film strip of the future. For example, Jacob's oracles over his twelve sons contained hints and clues about the future, but they did so in obscure terms. The general gist of his words was clear enough, but the precise details of future events fulfilling his words were not.
Hindsight is twenty-twenty, but the future is blurry. Jacob said that Reuben "shall not have preeminence" (Genesis 49:4). In hindsight, it's easy to see how this played out. The tribe settled east of the Jordan. The sons of Reuben did not lead in the conquest of the land. They never produced a king. Ephraim and Judah ultimately eclipsed them in the period of the Judges. Jacob said Simeon and Levi would be scattered and dispersed (Genesis 49:7).
Only by hindsight do we understand that the prophecy took entirely different forms for the respective tribes. The tribe of Judah absorbed Simeon's territory under the Davidic monarchy. The members of the tribe of Simeon assimilated into other tribal identities. The tribe of Levi, however, retained their identity. They became priests and Levites with Levitical cities in each tribal territory, but without territory of their own.
Jacob said that Judah would rise above his brothers, take leadership, and prevail over his enemies like a dangerous lion (Genesis 49:8). The meaning of his words remained obscure until the Prophet Samuel anointed a shepherd boy from Judah. In like manner, Jacob hinted about the future of each tribe.
It turns out that Jacob's words in Genesis 49 are less about the end times than they are about the destiny of the tribes within the land of Israel through the First Temple Era. It would be a big mistake to try to force Jacob's blessings into a description of current events and the end of days. Whatever secrets about the end of days that Jacob intended to spill remain closed.
The book of Revelation is also a closed book. The last two seals on the scroll with seven seals have not yet been opened. Until they are broken, we cannot really know the final contents or understand how things will play out. It might be a big mistake to force the interpretation into a description of current events.
Things Which Must Soon Take Place
The Revelation of Yeshua the Messiah, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place. (Revelation I:1)
Until the last two seals are broken and history reveals the course of the end of days, the best way to make sense of the book of Revelation is to remember that it was not written to us. John did not write it for readers in the twenty-first century but rather to first-century Christians and Jewish believers living in the seven cities of Asia Minor mentioned in the first three chapters. Of what use would it have been for Yeshua to send them a long and bizarre vision about things that were not going to happen for two thousand years?
Here's the simple rule of thumb for reading Revelation. Whenever trying to interpret something from the book, first ask yourself, "How would a believer living at the end of the first century have understood this?"
Imagine we are Christians in Smyrna at the end of the first century. Two disciples of John arrive in our community. They have news from the apostle. He has received a vision from Yeshua. He sent us a message from Yeshua. We gather together and read the book of Revelation. Taking the sequence of events in the book of Revelation at face value, we quickly locate ourselves in the chronology of the scroll with seven seals. We realize that we live during the period of the dragon's wrath (Revelation 12:9), at some point subsequent to the breaking of the fifth seal but before the breaking of the sixth (Revelation 6:9-II). We realize that the current persecution we are enduring under Domitian poses serious mortal danger. We might soon find our souls added to the number of those who wait beneath the altar, petitioning God to avenge our blood (Revelation 6:10). We anticipate that, in the next months and years, the rest of the story in the book is going to play out (Revelation 6:12-20:6). We assume that the Emperor Domitian or his equivalent in a revived Nero will become the Beast (Revelation 13:4). We believe that we are the last generation and that, very soon, the Messiah will arrive, as He clearly states at the end of the book, "Behold, 1 am coming quickly" (Revelation 22:12). Therefore, we feel encouraged to persevere through what persecution may come. We want to be counted among those who cling to the commandments of God and the testimony of Yeshua, even if it costs us our lives. We prepare ourselves to face a great tribulation, but we are confident that, very soon, Rome will fall (Revelation 18), the Messiah will arrive from heaven, defeat the nations, and commence with his thousand-year kingdom on earth (Revelation 19:II, 15, 20:2). And we are wrong.
Not wrong about the meaning of the book. That's how the story would have gone at the end of the first century if the Lion of the Tribe of Judah had continued to break open the seals on the scroll with seven seals so that He could unroll the scroll to the end. But He did not. Instead of becoming the Beast, Domitian died, and all of his oppressive policies of pogrom and persecution were canceled. No mark of the Beast. No great tribulation. No fall of Rome. No second coming of the Messiah. No resurrection of the dead. No thousand-year kingdom on earth. History took a different course.
To be as clear as possible, the book of Revelation needs to be understood as a description of what would have happened if the end times and the final redemption had occurred at the end of the first century. It represents an end-of-days scenario that existed in potential at the time of John's vision. If you keep that perspective in mind, you will find little difficulty understanding the book. The fact that history changed course and took an alternate path does not mean the book of Revelation is any more in error than Jonah's prophecies over Nineveh were in error. Eventually, Nineveh did fall, but it didn't happen within forty days as Jonah predicted.
We can anticipate that, as the end of days resume in our own day, the remaining seals on the scroll will yet be broken. The story will not play out exactly as it would have in John's day, but neither will it be wholly different. New actors will take the stage and fill the roles; revisions will be made to the script, but the last seals will yet be broken. Seven trumpets wait to be sounded, and seven bowls of wrath wait to be poured out.
Lion of Judah
Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up? (Genesis 49:9)
The Apostle John was told, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals" (Revelation 5:5). The title Lion of the Tribe of Judah derives from Jacob's blessing over his son Judah. It's a title for the Messiah son of David, who belongs to the tribe of Judah.
Rabbinic literature unanimously agrees that the blessings over Judah foretell the rise of the Davidic dynasty and the coming of the Messiah as the capstone of that dynasty. Jacob predicts that Judah will become the preeminent tribe. His brethren will bow before him, and he will defeat his enemies. A king is destined to emerge from Judah. Like a dangerous lion, the king from Judah will inspire fear in the surrounding nations. The right of kingship, "the ruler's staff from between his feet," shall not depart from his family (Genesis 49:10). They will retain the right to rule throughout the generations, ultimately culminating in the Messiah, a king called "Shiloh" who prevails over the nations. "To him shall be the obedience of the peoples" (Genesis 49:10). In those days, agricultural prosperity will abound to such an extent that grapevines will be used for common purposes, such as a hitching post for a donkey. The abundance of wine will render it no more valuable than laundry water (Genesis 49:II). The Lion of the Tribe of Judah is King Messiah. (For more discussion on the Jewish interpretation of Jacob's blessing over Judah, see Shadows of the Messiah on Genesis 49:9-12.)
Testaments of the Patriarchs
The story of Jacob's deathbed blessings over his twelve sons inspired a genre of similar writings purporting to record the parting words of biblical characters. For example, apocryphal Jewish and Christian literature gives us a Testament of Adam, a Testament of Abraham, a Testament of Isaac, the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, a Testament of Moses, a Testament of Job, and so forth. None of them is authentic. Most of them seem to be Jewish books from the late Second Temple Era, often poorly redacted and interpolated by Christian editors. They are works of pious fiction that follow the basic pattern of Jacob's testament to his sons in Genesis 49.
The apocryphal testaments provided writers with a format for conveying blessings, amplifications on Bible stories, commentary on history, sober warnings, and moral admonitions. They also used them to transmit hints and clues about the Acharit HaYamim-the latter days. The testaments are valuable to us because they preserve early Jewish and Christian expectations about the end times. Some include apocalyptic passages in which the patriarch describes visions that reveal glimpses of things behind the curtain, heavenly domains, the reward and punishment of the afterlife, the coming of the Messiah, and the like.
Several of the testaments warn about the wickedness of the last generations before the redemption. In those days, people will turn to apostasy and idolatry. Baseless hatred and violence will run rampant. Children will rebel against the faith of their fathers and stray after the deceits of the devil. The reader is warned not to fall into such deceits because a day of judgment is coming. Such warnings are often coupled with prescriptions for repentance and godliness in anticipation of the Day of the LORD and the final judgment.
Glimpses of the coming kingdom appear here and there in the testa-ments. For example, the "Messiah Hymn" in Testament of Levi leaps off the page:
Then shall the Lord raise up for Himself a new priest, To whom shall be revealed all the word of the Lord; And he shall execute a righteous judgment upon the earth for many days.
And his star shall rise in heaven like that of a king; It shall shine forth as the sun upon the earth, And shall dispel all darkness from beneath the heavens; And there shall be peace in all the earth.
The heavens shall rejoice in his days, And the earth shall be glad; The clouds shall exult, And the knowledge of the Lord shall be poured out upon the earth As the waters cover the sea.
And the angels of the presence and of the glory of the Lord shall rejoice in him. The heavens shall be opened, And from the temple of glory shall sanctification come upon him, And the voice of the Father shall be heard over him— Even as He spoke to our father Abraham, Blessing his son Isaac.
And Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob shall exult; And 1 myself shall rejoice, And all the holy ones shall be clothed in joy. (Testament of Levi 18:3-7, 14)
Then shall the saints find rest in Eden, And the righteous shall rejoice in the New Jerusalem. And this shall be for the glory of God forever and ever. And no longer shall Jerusalem be laid waste, Nor shall Israel again be led into captivity; For the Lord Himself will dwell in her midst. (Testament of Dan 5:12-13)
Stages for Redemption
Like the patriarch Jacob attempting to tell his sons all that would befall them in the Acharit HaYamim (the latter days), the rabbis attempted to organize the Bible's montage of prophecies about the end times into a complete picture. Jewish eschatology envisions the end of days unfolding in successive stages. The rabbis disagreed about the precise details and order of events, but the commentators derived a broad chronology of key periods from the Bible, Talmud, and later rabbinic literature. Here's a general rundown of the sequence in Jewish eschatology:
THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE MESSIAH: the final generation before the Messiah's arrival.
THE BEGINNING OF REDEMPTION: Early indications of the redemption and fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
THE BIRTH PAINS OF THE MESSIAH: A time of suffering and upheaval preceding redemption, compared to the pain of childbirth.
THE WAR OF GOG AND MAGOG: A great apocalyptic war involving the nations of the world against Israel.
THe COMING OF ELIJAH: The Prophet Elijah returns to inspire repentance and herald the Messiah.
THE COMING OF MESSIAH SON OF DAVID: The Messiah from the line of David is revealed and defeats Gog and Magog and subdues the nations, establishing world peace.
THE INGATHERING: The Messiah gathers the Jewish people from the nations and returns them to the land of Israel.
THE DAYS OF THE MESSIAH: The Messiah takes the throne of David in rebuilt Jerusalem and extends His government globally, ushering in a utopian era of world peace, divine revelation, and miraculous abundance. The Temple is rebuilt, the Torah is restored, and the evil inclination is abolished.
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD: At some point, the dead are raised for the final judgment on the Day of the LORD, some to everlasting life, but others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
THE WORLD TO COME: After the days of the Messiah, this current age (world) comes to an end, and a paradisical new heaven and a new earth arise for the bliss of the righteous resurrected.
In previous lessons, we have already introduced the birth pains and the ingathering. As we continue our studies in future lessons of End of Days, we will be working through the details of the rest of these periods somewhat sequentially, as if following an unfolding narrative of "things which must soon take place" (Revelation I:1). Nonetheless, we should keep in mind that every interpretation of end times prophecy involves speculation and uncertainty. Each of the above stages contains various elements and details that need closer examination. There is no strict order of events. Even the above, broad outline, is contradicted in various sources and opinions. We are warned against falling into dogmatism when attempting to unravel Bible prophecy about the end of days:
No man knows how all these matters and their likes will unfold until they do, for they are obscure in the writings of the Prophets. Neither do the sages have a firm tradition about these things. They depend upon debatable interpretations of the biblical verses. Therefore there is a disagreement among the sages regarding these matters.
And in any case, the specific details are not essential for faith. One should not obsess over legends and interpretations derived from midrash that deal with these and similar matters, nor should one deem them to be essentials. For they bring one neither to the fear of God nor to the love of God.
Neither should one calculate the arrival of the end times. The sages said, "May the bones of those who calculate the end be blasted away." Instead, let him wait and believe in the matter, as we have explained. (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Melachim II:4)
Antichrist from Dan
Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that bites the horse's heels, so that his rider falls backward. (Genesis 49:16-17)
Jacob blessed his sons with prophetic words through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The prophecies granted him glimpses into the future of each tribe. The rabbis suggested that he used the opportunity to search for hints about the Messiah (Genesis Rabbah 98:14, 99:11). As he turned to bless his son Dan, he foresaw Samson, Dan's most famous scion and the strongest man in the world. He must have been thinking, "Surely, this is King Messiah!" He uttered the words, "Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel." A moment later, he changed his tune about the Jewish superman. He said, "Dan shall be a serpent in the way." Why a snake? That doesn't sound like a good thing! Did Jacob bless or curse the tribe of Dan?
Perhaps Jacob changed his tune when he foresaw the waywardness of Samson, his moral failures, and his tragic demise. Perhaps he also foresaw the idolatry introduced into Israel by the tribe of Dan (Judges 17-18), which would ultimately culminate with a golden calf and an idolatrous sanctuary in the city of Dan (I Kings 12:28-29). Jacob lamented, "Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that bites the horse's heels, so that his rider falls backward."
The "serpent in the way" and the "horned snake" suggest something sinister. Early Christians also noticed the tribe of Dan unexplainedly missing from the list of the 144,000 "sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel" (Revelation 7:4). There are thirteen tribes, not twelve, because Jacob adopted Ephraim and Manasseh in the place of Joseph (Genesis 48). When the Bible lists out the names of the tribes, it usually retains the significant number twelve by omitting the tribe of Levi (because the Levites stand apart as the priestly tribe) or by collapsing the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh into "the tribe of Joseph." Strangely, when the book of Revelation recites the twelve tribes, it lists both Manasseh and "the tribe of Joseph," but omits Dan (Revelation 7:4-8). Go figure.
Early Christians did go figure. They supposed there must be a reason for the omission. Irenaeus, the second-century bishop of Lyons, believed that the text intentionally omits the tribe of Dan to indicate that the antichrist will come from that tribe (Against Heresies 5.30.2). He cites a passage from Jeremiah as further evidence:
"From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses; at the sound of the neighing of his stallions the whole land quakes; for they come and devour the land and its fullness, the city and its inhabitants. For behold, 1 am sending serpents against you, adders, for which there is no charm, and they will bite you," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 8:16-17)
That's not a very persuasive argument. Jeremiah was talking about the invading force of a conquering army (Babylon) entering the land from the north, i.e., from the territory of Dan, the northernmost tribe. In that prophecy, the tribe of Dan is the invaded, not the invader. Nevertheless, the late second-century church writer Hippolytus followed the suggestion of Irenaeus and offered up a crisscross of biblical references to connect the dots, attempting to prove that the antichrist must come from the tribe of Dan (Genesis 3:1, 49:17; Deuteronomy 33:22; Jeremiah 8:16; On Christ and Antichrist). Maybe he's right, but it's not the slam dunk he thinks it is.
The theory does not explain the omission in Revelation 7, which offers no hint of association with the antichrist. Even if the antichrist does have Danite ancestry, why exclude the entire tribe? Nevertheless, ever since Irenaeus and Hippolytus presented the idea of an antichrist from the tribe of Dan, it has become a common feature in Christian eschatology. It's a favorite topic for antisemitic conspiracies and for teachers with anti-Jewish theology who build on the idea to proclaim that the antichrist is Jewish and that Judaism is his false religion.
It's far more likely that the tribe of Dan was omitted from Revelation 7 due to a scribal error.
As mentioned above, the tribe of Manasseh is accidentally counted twice in Revelation 7 because it says "12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh" and "12,000 from the tribe of Joseph," but the term "tribe of Joseph" includes both Ephraim and Manasseh. In his Hebrew commentary on the New Testament, Rabbi Yechiel Tzvi Lichtenstein suggests that Revelation 12:6 originally read, "12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Dan," but a later copyist of the scroll misread the uppercase Delta A of Dan (AAN) as an uppercase Mu M, spelling man (MAN). The copyist then assumed that MAN was an abbreviation for Manasseh, which he spelled out fully in his copy of the text without noticing the omission of Dan. The scribal error has been in the Greek text ever since. That's very possible, probable even. The letters in handwritten Greek texts were often defective, pressed together, and poorly legible. Early textual transmission of Revelation is notoriously unstable. The few early manuscripts of the book of Revelation we do possess contain an enormous number of textual variants and conflicts.
The Apostasy Comes First
It will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed. (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
Contrary to the idea that the antichrist is Jewish and Judaism is his religion, the Apostle Paul refers to the antichrist as "the man of lawlessness." You could say "the man of Torah-lessness." Paul warned the Thessalonian believers that the antichrist would be a monarch like Antiochus Epiphanes, the villain of the Hanukkah story, who made Torah observance illegal. Antiochus wanted Jews to abandon their allegiance to God. He forced them to violate the Torah. He persecuted and killed the Jewish people for observing commandments such as dietary laws, Sabbath observance, and circumcision. He placed an idol of Zeus, fashioned in his own image, in the Temple in Jerusalem, and he forced priests to sacrifice pigs to it on the altar of God. The book of Daniel refers to that idol as "the abomination of desolation" (Daniel II:31). Paul anticipated that type of antichrist. In Paul's view, the antichrist is not Jewish. He's a persecutor of the Jewish people. His religion is not Judaism; it's apostasy:
It will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4)
The word apostasy (apostasia, anotadía) does not refer to the rapture or a catching away of believers as some eschatology teachers wishfully suggest. It should not be translated as "departure." It means defection: to forsake loyalty. In a Jewish context, it means abandoning the Torah. The term is used only one other time in the New Testament, where it means precisely that: "Teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake (apostasia) Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs" (Acts 2I:21).
The same word is used in I Maccabees to describe the apostasy committed by those who obeyed the edicts of Antiochus Epiphanes against Torah observance: "Then the king's officers who were enforcing the apostasy (apostasia) came to the city of Modiin to make them offer sacrifice [to Zeus]" (I Maccabees 2:15, my translation). Mattathias, the priest in Modiin, adamantly refuses: "I and my sons will live by the covenant of our fathers. Far be it from us to desert the Torah and the ordinances" (I Maccabees 2:21-22).
Paul warned, "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock" (Acts 20:29). "The Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons" (I Timothy 4:1). Yeshua said, "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness (Torah-lessness) is increased, most people's love will grow cold" (Matthew 24:II-I2).
A similar teaching in the Talmud states that the Messiah will not come until the entire kingdom is infected with heretical belief. It compares the end-times apostasy to leprosy, which slowly advances until it covers the entire body, "The Son of David will not come until the entire kingdom will be converted to heresy" (b.Sanhedrin 97a, cf. Leviticus I3:13). It's not entirely clear what the Talmud means by "the entire kingdom" or which "heresy" the sages had in mind. Some scholars think it alludes to the Christianization of the Roman Empire under Emperor Constantine.
The Son of David Will Not Come Until
This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)
Paul insisted that the Messiah would not come until after the apostasy and the revelation of the antichrist. As stated above, the Talmud holds that the Messiah will not come before the entire kingdom is converted to heresy (b.Sanhedrin 97a). Yeshua taught that the end will not come until "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations." All three statements are examples of a common type of Jewish adage about the end times: "The Messiah will not come until such and such happens." Alternatively, "When you see such and such, look for the Messiah." Let's take a look at a few other examples that appear in the Talmud (b.Sanhedrin 97a).
"The Son of David will not come until informers will proliferate." The "informers" are the traitors who betray the community during times of state-sponsored persecution against the faith. Informers inform government officials of the names and locations of the faithful. Yeshua said that people's love for one another will grow cold because of the apostasy of lawlessness. "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death" (Matthew 10:21):
The sheep will be changed into wolves, and love will be changed into hate. Because of the increase of lawlessness, those who have fallen away will hate one another, they will also persecute one another, and they will even betray one another. And then the deceiver of the world will appear as a son of God. (Didache 16.3-4)
The Talmud says, the Son of David will not come "until the disciples diminish." The Talmud has Torah scholars in view. Bible teachers diminish as informers increase.
The Son of David will not come "until the last cent is gone from the purse." Similarly, in reference to the term of the exile, Yeshua says, "You will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent" (Matthew 5:26).
The Son of David will not come "until they despair of hoping for the redemption." Yeshua asks, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).
Several other examples:
The Son of David will not come until a fish will be sought for an ill person and will not be found ... The Son of David will not come until the despicable kingdom (i.e., Roman tyranny) has ceased from Israel ... The Son of David will not come until all the judges and officers will cease from Israel... The Son of David will come only in a generation that is completely innocent or completely guilty... The Son of David will not come until the evil kingdom (i.e., Rome) occupies the land of Israel for nine months [of gestation] as it says, "He will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren will return." (b.Sanhedrin 98a, Micah 5:1-2[2-3])
The Waiting
For your salvation I wait, O LORD. (Genesis 49:18)
After his disappointment over the tribe of Dan and the judge Samson, Jacob exclaimed, "For Your salvation I wait, O LORD." The midrash explained that Jacob was speaking about his longing for the Messiah - the true judge of Israel and ultimate salvation.
Our father Jacob foresaw Samson and thought that he was the Messiah. But when he saw him dead he exclaimed, "He too is dead! Then for your salvation I wait, O LORD." (Genesis Rabbah 98:14)
Religious Jews turn Jacob's words into a prayer for the coming of the Messiah that is recited three times daily. Notice how the name of Messiah (veshuah, nyaw?) finds its way into the blessing:
Cause the branch of your servant David to blossom forth speedily, and lift up his horn through your salvation (yeshuah), for we await your salvation (yeshuah) every day. Blessed are you, LORD, who causes the horn of salvation (yeshuah) to blossom forth. (Shemoneh Esrei 15)
How does one "await" salvation? What does it mean to wait for the coming of the Messiah? It's a topic that Yeshua addressed frequently in His parables (Matthew 24:43-25:30; Luke 12:35-46). He tells several stories about servants left in charge of the household in their master's absence. Those who execute their duties faithfully in anticipation of their master's return receive a reward. Those who do not "wait" for their master's return are punished. When the bridegroom is unexpectedly delayed, the five foolish virgins are not prepared to wait and, consequently, find themselves barred from the wedding. He tells His disciples to stay awake, alert, and watchful, always anticipating the Messiah's coming: "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour" (Matthew 25:13).
In the book of Revelation, the waiting entails "overcoming" by persevering through persecution, holding fast to the faith of Yeshua, and practicing deeds of repentance that lead to reward: "deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance" (Revelation 2:19). Yeshua urges the indolent to "wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for 1 have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God" (Revelation 3:2). He praises those who have "perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary" (Revelation 2:3). He says, "Do not fear what you are about to suffer... be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10). Those who remain faithful through suffering are the overcomers who will receive the reward of eternal life "as 1 also overcame and sat down with My Father" (Revelation 3:21). "To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God" (Revelation 2:7).
Waiting for Messiah requires perseverance through suffering, even to the point of enduring martyrdom, if necessary. The following discussion about the reward of waiting for the Messiah accords well with the hope set forth in the book of Revelation:
Rabbi Yitzchak said, "Everything is bound up with waiting. Suffering is bound up with waiting, martyrdom with waiting, the merit of the fathers with waiting, and the desire of the World to Come with waiting. Thus it is written, 'Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O LORD, we have waited for You eagerly; Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls' (Isaiah 26:8).
'We have waited for you eagerly' refers to suffering. We have waited for Your Name' refers to martyrdom, [which is called] the sanctification of the Divine Name.
'We have waited for your memory' refers to the remembrance of the promises made to the patriarchs.
We have waited for 'the desire of our souls' refers to the World to Come.
Even grace comes through waiting, as it is said [in Isaiah 33:2], 'O LORD, be gracious to us; we have waited for You. Be their strength every morning, our salvation also in the time of distress.'
Forgiveness also comes through waiting, as it says [in Psalm 130:4-5], 'But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope." (Genesis Rabbah 98:14)
Habakkuk 2:3 uses a different word for waiting (chakah, пэп): "Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay." How should this kind of waiting be understood? Maimonides explains that it means we should live in constant anticipation of the Messiah's arrival: "Though he tarry, l await him every day."
The Talmud warns that waiting for the Messiah does not mean calculating the years according to Bible prophecies or making predictions about the day and hour of His arrival: "May those who calculate the end of days be cursed! If the day of Messiah does not come on the day they predicted, they despair, 'He will not come at all." Instead of setting dates or feeling disappointed when a predicted date comes and goes, a person should remember what it says in Habakkuk: Even if He tarries, wait for Him; for He will certainly come! Even God Himself waits to bring the redemption, as it says in Isaiah, "The LORD [waits] to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you."
But if we are waiting for the Messiah and God is also waiting, why the long delay? What's the benefit of all this waiting? "To receive the reward, as Isaiah says, 'How blessed are all those who [wait] for Him'" (b.Sanhedrin 97b, Isaiah 30:18).
Waiting in Egypt
By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones. (Hebrews II:22)
By the time Joseph was dying, the darkness had already begun to descend on the children of Israel in Egypt. Joseph could see it coming. He told his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob" (Genesis 50:24).
Joseph knew that Egypt was not the end of the story, that there must be a coming redemption. How else could the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and his father Jacob be fulfilled? He looked toward the future and predicted a day of redemption when God would intervene and rescue His people. He so longed for that future redemption that he was not even willing to let his bones remain in Egypt. Like his father Jacob before him, Joseph's hope did not rest in Egypt but in the land of promise. He told his brothers and his sons, "God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here" (Genesis 50:25).