Halachic Vs Mystic Messiah/2
Rabbi Z Aviner
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Isaiah, and the Days of the Messiah
We learn to distinguish between the Halachic Messiah, based on the Torah and Halachah, and the Mystic Messiah, which is based on fascinating mysticism and Kabala, yet is not abiding.
Last class we studied the Torah view about the Messiah expressed by Bilaam. According to him the Messiah King will arrive in the Land of Israel through an historical process, that starts with Israel settling in the Land, developing Torah communities and Judges, building Jerusalem, and establishing David Kingship. The Rambam calls David the First Messiah King. From David House will arise the last Messiah King whom the prophet Bilaam calls the Star of Jacob. David will consolidate Israel and fight Israel wars, while the Last Messiah King will turn to the nations and teach them the knowledge of Hashem and to observe the Seven Commandments. He is the leader of Mankind towards the future, to win th
e End of Days Judgment.
Slide 2
Messiah leading to the future
ELKM 1-2-3-4-5-6————————– —YH/VH Sabbath
End of Days Judgment
Very Good
Adam Messiah Sheth
If necessary, the Last Messiah King will also fight with the enemies of Israel. No supernatural events and calamities are expected.
Slide 3
mystic vs halachic
Today’s world Sabbath
5-6———————————————YH/VH Sabbath
End of Days Judgment
Gog and Magog
Splitting of Mountains
Resurrection
Rabbinic Messiah Mystic Messiah
The Mystic approach to the Messiah skips those steps. The Messiah may arrive anytime, sent by Hashem, and start the process of Redemption from scratch. He will gather Israel to the Holy Land, He will build Jerusalem and restore the House of David, he will build the Holy Temple and change the world.
Moreover, the mystics tend to associate the Messiah coming, with the End of the Days Judgement. Hence his arrival will be preceded by calamities and wars, like Gog and Magog, by splitting of mountains, earthquakes and even the resurrection of the dead.
In that case, the role oof the Messiah as a teacher of Mankind is gone. It would be simply too late to teach the nations the knowledge of Hashem and the observance of the Seven Commandments, since the world would be engaged with the awesome and fearful calamities, as Malachi calls them. You would not find a discussion of the Seven Commandments among those who promote the Mystic Messiah.
Thus we have two opposing views about the Messiah, the Halachic one based on Billaam and the Torah, and the mystic one developed later
Today we will study Isaiah, who is known around the world as the foremost prophet regarding the Messiah.
In chapter 2, Isaiah presents his view on the Messianic days and the time of his arrival.
Let’s read the chapter and see for ourselves which view of the Messiah Isaiah holds. Is it the Rabbinic, like Bilaam, or is it the mystic view as people claim?
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ISAIAH CHAPTER 2
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz envisioned
concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
And it shall come to pass in the last days,
that the mountain of Ha-shem’s house shall be
established in the top of the mountains,
and shall be exalted above the hills;
and all nations shall flow unto it.
And many people shall go and say,
Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Hashem,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths:
for out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
And he shall judge among the nations,
and shall rebuke many people:
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruninghooks:
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isaiah 2: 1-4)
You can see here clearly what Isaiah had on his mind when he foresaw the Messiah King and his days.
Though he does not mention here the Messiah King by name, later in the Book he refers to the offshoot of David, who judges the nations. Here in chapter 2 Isiah describes vividly the Messianic era as a peaceful time, when people flock from all over the world to Hashem’s Mountain in Jerusalem to pray and worship Hashem. Clearly the Messiah is depicted here as a teacher and a leader of Mankind towards a rosy future. No unnatural events are foreseen, and no calamities of wars. In short, Isaiah concurs with the Halachic view of the Torah as shown by Bilaam.
To understand Isaiah better let’s ask,
Now who was Isaiah? When did he live? What prompt speak about the Messiah?
Slide 4 timeline
First Temple
David ISAIAH. destruction
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1000BC. 750 BC. 580 BC. 510. 70 A D
Return to Zion destruction 2nd temple
4 1 0 4 2. 0
Who was Isaiah?
Isaiah lived around 750 BC, while the House of David was in power, and the First Temple still stood. Jeremiah and the destruction of the Temple by Babylon would happen 200y after him. The destruction of the Second Temple by Rome would take place 820 y later. Most likely he prophesized about his own time.
Isaiah was King Hachaz brother, a member of David’s royal family. His brother the king was technically speaking a Messiah King, since he was anointed with the special oil of the Temple, like all other kings from David house before and after him.
But being anointed did not make him loyal to Hashem but rather one of the worst kings ever. Not only he was an idolater, who placed an idol in the Holy Temple, he also approved human sacrifices of children to the Molech in the Velley of Henom, so called Ge-Henom, a place cursed for posterity.
In chapter one, Isaiah describes how corrupt the regime was. The king and his officers coined false silver coins, thereby cheating the public, and also took advantage of the poor and socially weak. Even the Torah scholars abandoned the Torah Laws. A new king should rise and restore the dignity of David House, and from him the promised Messiah King may rise.
Indeed, that is what the Rambam writes:
“And if a king from David House will rise and indulge in Torah study and in the fulfilment of Hashem’s Commandments, like David his forefather, according to the written and the oral Torah, enforcing all Israel to walk in her ways, in small and large matters, and fight the war of Hashem against Israel enemies, he is considered a Messiah King.
“ And if he has done all that and re-built the Temple in its site and gathered all the exiles of Israel, he is a Messiah King for sure. And he will consolidate the world to worship Hashem, all the nations together, as it is said:
“I shall overturn their hearts of all nations to speak a clear language an call Hashem in the right name of Hashem and to serve Him as one shoulder.”
The Rambam hints that calling Hashem the right way WITH NO DISTORTION is a litmus test of knowing Hashem. As long they call Hashem wrongly as: Ye-ho-vah, or Ya-h-wa, and the like, they only show their ignorance of what Hashem is all about and what Hashem asks us to accomplish.
How does Isaiah perceive the talents and the character of the Messiah King?
Isiah delineates the Messiah King in the famous chapter 11:
Isaiah 11: 1-10
An shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of Hashem will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
and he will delight in the fear o Hashem.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will judge
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together;
and a little child will lead them.
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’snest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
Isaiah sees the Messiah King – whom he calls the offshoot of David – as a teacher and leader of Mankind. No sword is lifted, no army is marshalled, and no supernatural events are foreseen. He depicts the future by strong metaphors – the lion would not prey on the lamb, and the snake would not bit the child who plays with it.
By this, Isiah fully concurs with the Halachic view of the Messiah, as seen by Billaam and Moses.
Now, what prompted Isaiah to talk about the Messiah and the Mountain of Hashem?
The key is given in chapter one.
In chapter one, Isaiah describes the physical destruction of the land of Israel around him. The Assyrian army with its many allies had just destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel ,sending to exile the entire ten tribes. Even the kingdom of Judea was not spared. All the cities of Judea had been burnt to ashes, leaving intact only Jerusalem.
These are Isaiah words –
“Every head is sick, and every heart faint, from the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, and the daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a lodge ina garden of cucumbers, like a besieged city.” (1: 5-8)
On that background, we can understand what he says in chapter 2.
One day, he says, down the road, Jerusalem and the Mountain of Hashem will not be isolated anymore as it is now. The nations, instead of forming a coalition against Judea and against Hashem, will stream in throngs to this Mountain to worship Hashem and pray to Him. At that time, instead of constant wars, peace will prevail on Earth. All nations will melt their weapons and convert them to working tools. They will learn no more the art of War. They will learn, instead, the knowledge of Hashem and His Torah and keep the Seven Commandments.
When will that scenario happen? When will all nations enter a peaceful Messianic era?
Slide 5 End of the Days
Isaiah starts chapter 2 with the words “In the End of the Days,” – which sounds like End of history, close to the Judgment-day. The Mistics use it to associate the Messiah with the End of the Days fearful events. But that does not go along with the rosy picture of the peaceful Messianic era that Isaiah depicts at the rest of the chapter.
In fact, the prophet Bilaam uses that term when he refers to David and the Messiah.
When King Balak enrages the prophet saying go home, I will pay you nothing because Ive hired you to curse Israel but you have only blessed them, Bilaam turns to him in anger and say:
“Come and I will advise you what this nation
shall do to your nation in the End of the Days –
And he took up his discourse and said:
I see him and not now, I behold him and not near
A star shell set up from Jacob
And a scepter from Israel
And he shall smite the corners of Moab…” (Num. 23: 14-17)
Here Bilaam uses the “End of the Days” to describe David, waging war against Moab. This happened long way after Billaam, like 400 years, but it was not the end of history.
Similarly, when Jacob calls his sons to his deathbed, saying “come and I shall tell you what will happen at the End of the Days,” he might have referred to the end of the Exile in Egypt.
Yet most commentaries say that Jacob referred to the Messianic era.
The Ramban states this as a general rule – the End of the Days refers to the Messianic days.
So when Isaiah uses the term End of the Days, he invokes Bilaam words. That would happen in the future, close or far, but not at the End of History.
Other prophets concur with Isiah.
Hosea, a contemporary of Isaiah, also speaks about the End of the Days, in connection to the restoration of David House, as he says
“Afterwards the Children of Israel shall return,
And seek Hashem their God, and David their King” (3: 4)
Micha, another contemporary of Isaiah, uses the term End of the Days to describe the arrival of the Messiah King in our time, in our Universe.
Daniel, after the destruction of the first Temple, actually uses Bilaam’s words literally when the angel notifies him about the Messiah –
“And I have come to tell you what will
happen to your nation at the End of the Days.” (14)
The Rambam writes in the code of laws – The Messiah King will come in our world, with no change in nature, unconnected to the End of Days Judgment.
The only change expected in the Messianic era , the Rambam writes – is Israel becoming independent from any foreign ruler, a stage called REDEMPTION. Like the redemption from Pharaoh rule.
Bad Days,
But sometime the expression “End of the Days” is used to designate bad events coming in the foreseen future, not associated with the Messiah –
Thus
Jeremiah says about the foreseen destruction of the First Temple:
The fierce anger of Hashem will not turn back
until he fully accomplishes
the purposes of his heart.
In the End of the days
you will understand this.
Ezekiel says about the war of Gog and Magog:
And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel,
as a cloud to cover the land;
it shall be in the End of the Days,
and I will bring thee against my land,
that the heathen may know me,
when I shall be sanctified in thee,
O Gog, before their eyes.” (38: 16)
Those prophecies see bad things happen with no connection to the Messiah King.
Isiah, however, have. A special term for bad days –
Slide 6
Very bad day
The Day of Hashem, the Day of the LORD
Let’s read more from Isaiah chapter 2.
For the Day of Hashem, the Day of the Lord of hosts,
shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty,
and upon every one that is lifted,
and he shall be brought low.
And upon all the cedars of Lebanon,
that are high and lifted, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
and upon all the high mountains,
and upon all the hills that are lifted,
and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall,
And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
and the haughtiness of men shall be made low:
and the Lord alone – Ha-shem alone
-shall be exalted in that day.
and the idols he shall utterly abolish. (1: 12-17)
Here Isaiah changes his tone, and introduces a new term –
Hashem’s Day, the Day of the Lord. It is a harsh day of Judgment, where all the haughty and arrogant will be humiliated.
Joel uses the same term to designate very bad news –
Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the Day of Hashem is coming.
It is close at hand—
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times
nor ever will be in ages to come.
3 Before them fire devours,
behind them a flame blazes. (2:’ 1-4)
Joel refers to the Army of Locus that plagued Judea
And to an army of enemies that will attack Israel.
Amos says:
Woe unto you that desire the Day of Hashem
to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
Shall not the day of Hashem be darkness, and not light?
Even very dark, and no brightness in it?
Amos uses the term Day of Hashem to designate the coming destruction of the First Tempe. It is definitely unassociated with the coming of the Messiah, Rabbinic or Mystic.
Zechariah uses this term extensively to designate events of the final Judgment Day, when Hashem Herself will execute judgment saying –
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people…and all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
In that day, says Hashem, I will smite every horse with astonishment, andhis rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
In that day will I make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf;
and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left…
In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day, shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God…
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem…
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon
Chapter 14: 1-14
A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.
2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.
3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle.
4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two
from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.
Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness.
It will be a unique day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light.
This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
13 On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another
These calamities are NOT associated with the coming of the Messiah King but rather related to the JUDGMENT DAY when Hashem Himself will intervene, like He did in Sodom and Gomorrah and in Egypt.
The emphasis here is on Hashem, the Attribute of MERCY, COMPASSION and FORGIVENESS.
How evil a person should be to enrage the Attribute of MERCY!
That can happen only when Man does the opposite of her MERCY, COMPASSION and FORGIVENSS.
Like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
They knew Hashem and yet rebelled against Him. That is why they are described as people who were “exceedingly evil to Hashem.” They knew Abraham and his faith, and performed the exact opposite. They practiced the opposite of the Seven Commandment with mockery and fun, which betrayed the fact that they were aware of what they were doing.
Isaiah is saying here that even after the coming of the Messiah King, there would be those who reject his teaching, like the Sodomites who rejected Abraham’s teaching.
This Judgment day of Hashem can happen at the very end of history, or on any other day in which Hashem would exercise Her judgment against Evil people.
Why then does Isaiah connects in chapter 2 the Messianic time with the Day of the LORD Judgment?
To tell us that even after the Messiah arrival, there is no guarantee that all Mankind would accept his message. Knowledge of Hashem does not guarantee that all people would accpt it.
Take the people of Sodom and Gomorrah for example.
In summary
Isiah 2 presents three concepts inregards to the Rabbinic, Halachic Messiah-
Slide 7
- The Messiah’s days
- His arrival at the End of Days
- The intervention of Hashem in the Day of the LORD
Three major concepts in a single chapter!
The Rambam advises against discussion of the Mystic Messiah, since it has no base in the Torah or the prophets, and since no one knows for sure the meaning of the Fearful calamities at the End of Time.
The Messiah will come in our days, to teach humanity the knowledge of Hashem and to observe the Seven Commandments.
The Rambam explains: The Day of Hashem designates a day of any calamity. I
In the culture of the Middle east, when an army invades a city and destroy it, the poet who describes it would say The Sun was Darkened, or The Moon was Red and Bloody. It is a mistake for a foreigner in the West to assess that poetry without being aware of its cues, symbols and styles.
A Psalm song for the Sabbath.
Let’s continues with –
Isaiah 7: 13-17
4 Therefore Hashem Himself will give you a sign:
Behold, the young woman (alma)
shall conceive and bear a Son,
and shall call His name Immanuel.[a] 15
Curds and honey He shall eat,
that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16
For before the Child shall know to refuse
the evil and choose the good, the land
shall be left from the two kings whom you
dread so much from them,
Hashem bring upon you and your people and on your father’s house—days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah.” (7:
The context: two kings formed an alliance against David’s House, invading Judea and attempting to replace Hachaz – Isaiah’s brother – with another person not from David House. The prophet informs Hachaz that Hashem would not allow that to happen. As a sign for his sincerity, the prophet says
Behold, here is a young woman who is pregnant with a son, and she would name him Emanuel. Before he would know good from evil, meaning withing few years (13?) you will see that those two kings that you dread so much, will disappear from the land. After that you will see good days like no one else has seen before.
You can now cut with scissors the section, replace in it the Hebrew word Alma – young woman – with Betulah, virgin, and you would have a new religion.
Here Isaiah describes why the Messiah King would be so successful. The Spirit of Hashem, which means the Wisdom and all other talents that Hashem would endow him with, would make him a successful leader of Mankind. No sword is lifted, no army is assembled to conquer the earth, only the words of Hashem. And no unnatural evens are seen!
Isaiah 52: 13-15, 53:1-12
13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
53 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Who is Hashem’s servant (slave)?
Early in chapter 49 Isaiah says in the name of Israel –
“And He said to me
You are my servant (slave)
Israel, in whom I shall be glorified ( 49: 5)
Isaiah worlds from chapter 40 onwards are so different in style that many Rabbis have proposed that there are in fact two prophets by the name of Isaiah, the first one lived around 750 BC, while the House of David was still in power, the second one lived around the Temple destruction in 580 BC. That is why the second one calls the Persian King Cyrus a Messiah (45:1) , for allowing the exiles in Babylon to return to the land of Israel. That places him around 510 BC.
The style of the Second Isaiah doffers. He repeatedly calls the people “Listen to me.” He also tends to speak in leu of others – like in the name of Zion , or the name of the people of Israel. The issues and the spirit of the time differs. Earlier he says to the people of Israel that are so despair that they want to break the covenant between Israel and Hashem. The covenant doesn’t work, they tell the prophet, let Hashem chose another people. To them the prophet says:
“show me the divorce document I gave to your mother!”
Then through he chapters 49-53 the prophet aspire to lift up the fallen spirit of the people of Israel. He promises the people that Jerusalem had suffered enough, and Hashem would like to see it re-built again.
Many scholars have observed that He fails to mention the House of David or the Messiah King even once. He seems to focus on the people of Israel only. And he expresses their wonder – how is it that the servants of Hashem, the people in whom Hashem is glorified, are so down treated by the nations?
In chapter 53 he says that the nations would one day recognize their faults in mistreating Israel. They would say we’ve thought that this servant is wicked and that his master has thrown him away, that is why he is so bitten, wounded, sick. Now we understand that he apparent malady is our making, our own mistreating him. As a compensation, says Isaiah, the Master would reward the servant with enormous pay, for all the self sacrifice the servant has shown for Him.
Again, you can take a scissor and cut the section from its context, and insert in it new theology that is completely against the Torah and then claim that you quat Isiah.
Why indeed does Isaiah focus on Israel people?
As we recall, the Messiah who is so needed to Mankind, would not come unless the peole of Israel return to the Land, settle there, rebuild Torah society, rebuild Jerusalem ,restore the Kingship of David and the Holy temple. Those steps are mandatory for the Messiah King to appear. The prophet therefore is keen about lifting Israel spirt, enforcing their believe in the strength of Jerusalem, also believing that the nations are turning around to support Isrsael like the persian Cyrus.
The contemporary rabbis who have returned to the Land, at Ezra time, coined the prophet aspirations in the Amidah prayer we still recite towday tewice daily.
In the Amida they count step by step the necessary phase that the Tree oof Israel should undergo in trhe lalnd.