Q&A: Messiah
Messiah
Question
Would we have needed the Messiah if the Second Temple had not been destroyed? Because if not, then one could say that the Messiah is only a post facto solution, and it’s hard for me to say that this concept—one of the fundamental principles of faith—is only post facto…
Answer
Good question.
It is possible that the original plan was for the Temple to be destroyed. This is the mode of divine conduct called “Awesome in plot,” which the author of Leshem discusses at length (Sefer Ha-De’ah, vol. 2, p. 223). The term is based on Midrash Yelamdenu, Genesis, section 10:
Page 5b (on Genesis 2:17: “you shall surely die”): “Come and see the works of God, awesome in plot toward mankind” (Psalms 66:5). Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha said: Even the terrible things You bring upon us, You bring upon us by way of a pretext. Come and see: when the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, from the very first day He created the Angel of Death, as it is said, “and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Genesis 1:2)—this is the Angel of Death. And Adam was created on the sixth day, and the pretext was pinned on him, that he brought death into the world, as it is said, “for on the day you eat from it, you shall surely die.” A parable: To one who sought to divorce his wife. When he set out to go home he wrote a bill of divorce. He entered his house with the bill of divorce in his hand and began looking for a pretext against her in order to give it to her. He said to her: Mix me a cup. She mixed it for him and gave it to him. He said to her: Here is your bill of divorce. She said to him: Leave my house, for you mixed me a lukewarm cup. She said to him: You already knew that I would mix you a lukewarm cup—you came with the bill of divorce in your hand. So too Adam said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe, before You created Your world, the Torah already existed, and in it is written, “if a man dies in a tent” (Numbers 19:14); rather, You merely pinned the pretext on me. Thus it says, “awesome in plot toward mankind.” And so too you find that it was said to Moses, peace be upon him, “Not one of these men…” (Deuteronomy 1:35)—and was it not also you and Aaron? When He said to them, “Listen now, you rebels” (Numbers 20:10), the Holy One, blessed be He, said: “Therefore you shall not bring [this assembly into the land]” (ibid. 20:12). Thus it says, “awesome in plot.” And so too with Joseph: “And his brothers saw that he loved him” (Genesis 37:4). Thus, “awesome in plot.” Yelamdenu, parashat Vayeshev.
Discussion on Answer
The secret of divine service being for a higher need?
I assume the sins are usually in our hands, but destruction can always come because of whatever sins we commit. Beyond that, even this is not necessarily correct. The midrash says that Adam’s sin was under the mode of “Awesome in plot,” meaning it was dictated in advance (the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted there to be breaking and repair). But clearly this is not true of all sins, only of major junction points (the coming of the Messiah is apparently such a junction point).
Shmuel, it’s not necessarily connected. Even if the divine service were for our sake, it could still be that there is a point to our sinning, repenting, and repairing.
The idea of the Messiah became necessary once it was understood that the story of the Exodus from Egypt still hasn’t really happened. We are still in Egypt. And someone is supposed to take us out of there, because on our own we won’t be able to leave.
With God’s help, 13 Tammuz 5781
After all, in the Amidah prayer instituted by the Men of the Great Assembly there is a whole blessing in which we ask for the coming of the Messiah: “Cause the offspring of David Your servant to flourish, and raise his horn through Your salvation…” The expectation for redemption is also mentioned in the earlier blessings. In the blessing of the Patriarchs: “and brings a redeemer to their children’s children for His name’s sake, in love,” and in the blessing of Divine Might: “the King who causes death and restores life and causes salvation to sprout.”
With blessing,
Nehorai Shraga Agami-Psisovitz
The Book of Maccabees also mentions that when Simon was crowned as leader he was not called “king,” because for that they were waiting until a true prophet would arise to appoint a king. And indeed, on Hasmonean coins there is mention of Yohanan/Yehudah the High Priest and the council of the Jews. Only King Yannai called himself in the Greek inscription on the coins “Basileus Alexandros” [= King Alexander], but in the Hebrew wording he continued to be called: “Yonatan the High Priest and the council of the Jews.”
What is the difference between the days of Shiloh, the First Temple, and the Second Temple? Because the power of Israel was not strong there most of the time?
I didn’t understand the question.
Why is the question specifically about the Second Temple and not about the Tabernacle at Shiloh or the First Temple, had they not been destroyed? After all, the question is what happens when the condition of the Children of Israel is good, and it assumes that then there is no need for the Messiah.
Yes, absolutely.
I don’t understand that comment. It really is the same thing.
With God’s help, Thursday, the weekly portion of “I see him, but not now,” 5781
The vision of the future redeemer, who will not only bring independence to the Jewish people and “give them rest from all their enemies around them,” but will also guide all humanity to walk in God’s ways, is already expressed in Jacob’s blessing to his sons: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes (= his descendant, from the language of ‘afterbirth’), and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” “Obedience” means “gathering,” according to Rashi, or “obedience” according to Radak. All the nations will gather and accept the authority of the king who will emerge from Judah.
Jacob’s sons saw a foreshadowing of a ruler from Israel who would lead the world in their brother Joseph, who in practice ruled the “superpower” of that time. But Jacob tells his sons that in the future this universal influence will come through the independent kingdom of the Jewish people under a king from the tribe of Judah, whose leadership all the nations will accept.
Shortly before the Israelites entered their land, they received a reminder of their universal mission, from Balaam as well, who told Balak that “in the end of days” the policy of the Jewish people—who were now commanded not to provoke Moab, Ammon, and Edom—would change. In the future, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near”—a “star shall come forth from Jacob” who will crush the edges of Moab, break down the children of Seth, inherit the field of Edom, and at the ‘end of the day’ subdue and destroy Assyria and the Kittim as well.
In contrast to Balaam, who prophesies the takeover of the “star from Jacob” through war, Moses in his blessing foretells the victory of the spirit of the Jewish people, through peaceful influence. The vision that “they shall call peoples to the mountain; there they shall offer righteous sacrifices” will be fulfilled specifically through Zebulun, who will draw from and bestow upon the world “the abundance of the seas” and “the hidden treasures of the sand.” Material abundance will draw the hearts of the nations to the mountain of God.
Hannah expresses the expectation for the Messiah in her prayer: “He will give strength to His king and raise the horn of His anointed one.” And indeed David, who was anointed by Samuel, repeatedly expresses in his psalms the expectation for the raising of the horn of the Jewish people, and through it their influence of faith upon all humanity.
Already when he brought the Ark of the Covenant of God to his new capital, David expressed his hope of bringing all the nations under the wings of faith, and he proclaimed: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name, make His deeds known among the peoples… Sing to the Lord, all the earth… Declare His glory among the nations… Ascribe to the Lord, families of peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name, bring an offering and come before Him, bow to the Lord in holy splendor, tremble before Him, all the earth… Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad, and let them say among the nations: The Lord reigns” (I Chronicles 16).
David was aware of the great resistance of the nations to the message of faith, and he describes in Psalm 2: “Why do nations rage and peoples mutter vanity? The kings of the earth stand up, and rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed.” But he is confident of victory in accordance with the divine promise: “The Lord said to me: You are My son; today I have begotten you. Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession…” And he calls to the nations: “And now, O kings, be wise; be admonished, judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with awe and rejoice with trembling.”
The final six psalms of the Book of Psalms also constitute David’s “plan of redemption.” In chapter 145 David concludes with the hope that “all flesh will bless His holy name.” In Psalms 146–147 the path is laid out: the choice of Zion as the base for God’s kingship in the world, and the choice of Israel to bear God’s statutes and laws. In Psalms 148–149 the raising of the horn of the Jewish people and the punishment of its enemies are described, and at the end of the process, in Psalm 150: “Let every soul praise the Lord, hallelujah.”
The beginning of the realization of the vision was in the days of Solomon, when in establishing his Temple he set forth in his prayer the vision that even “the foreigner who comes from a distant land” would pray to God “toward this House” and be answered. Solomon’s wisdom, too, drew the kings of the nations to come and delight in it. But sin caused it, and his kingdom split, and his influence dissipated.
Yet the vision continued to burn on a low flame, and at the end of the First Temple period Isaiah and Micah prophesied about the House of God that would be raised above the mountains, to which all the nations would stream to learn His ways. And the king who would dwell in Zion would spread his teaching to all the nations and establish peace in the world, until “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” The Sages say that there was a possibility that Hezekiah would realize the vision, but we did not merit it, and the hope remained a longing for future fulfillment.
In other words: the Messiah will not only bring independence and build the Temple—he will elevate the spiritual state of the Jewish people and of all humanity, and will call everyone to faith in the Torah and its values, until all humanity unites to call upon the name of God in peace and brotherhood.
All this does not come all at once, but requires long-term, deep processes. God “causes death and restores life,” but salvation He must “cause to sprout,” in a prolonged and gradual process.
With blessing,
Amioz Yaron Shnitzelr
Very interesting and very enlightening, many thanks.
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Shortly before their entry…
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Already when he brought the Ark…
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…confident of his victory in accordance with the divine promise: …
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All this does not come all at once. Rather…
It may be that the plan itself was fixed in advance, but the factual circumstances of that plan—that is, the sins of the Jewish people—were not fixed in advance, right? Otherwise there is no free choice.