Eschatology and Apocalypticism Part 2 - Post Biblical Texts

(1) All Jews have a share in the World to Come, as it says, (Isaiah 60:21), “Thy people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.” These have no share in the World to Come: One who says that [the belief of] resurrection of the dead is not from the Torah, [one who says that] that the Torah is not from Heaven, and one who denigrates the Torah. Rabbi Akiva says: also one who reads outside books, and one who whispers [an incantation] over a wound, saying, (Exodus 15:26) “I will bring none of these diseases upon thee that I brought upon the Egyptians for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Abba Shaul says, also one who utters the Divine Name as it is spelled.

Rava said, "On the day you enter into judgment you will be asked these six questions:

1. Did you deal with people faithfully?

2. Did you fix time for study?

3. Did you engage in procreation?

4. Did you hope for salvation?

5. Were your arguments for the sake of heaven?

6. Did you seek deeper meaning in life?

It was taught in the House of Elijiah: 6,000 years the world will exist. 2,000 of chaos, 2,000 of Torah, 2,000 Messianic Age.

Rabbi Hiyya bar Joseph said: A time will come when the righteous will break through [the soil] and rise up in Jerusalem, for it is written, Let men sprout up in towns like country grass...(Psalm 72:16). Rabbi Hiyya bar Joseph also said: the righteous will rise in their own clothes. [This is deduced]... from a grain of wheat. If a grain of wheat that is buried naked [i.e., sown] sprouts up with many coverings, how much more so the just who are buried in their shrouds.

You are eternally mighty, O Lord. Your revive the dead; great is Your power to save.

(You make the wind blow and the rain to fall.)

You sustain the living with compassion; You revive the dead with abundant mercy. You support the falling, heal the ailing, free the captive; and maintain faith with those who sleep in the dust. Whose power can compare with Yours, who is comparable to You O King Who brings death and restores life and causes salvation to sprout!

You are faithful to restore life to the dead. Praised are You, Lord, Who restores life tot he dead.

(1) The King the Messiah (lit. the annointed) will stand up and return the Kingdom of the house of David to its old [glory], to the first rule, and build the Temple (lit. holy), and gather the scattered ones of the Israel, and return all of the laws in his days as they were before; bringing sacrifices, and making shmitahs (leaving the land fallow on the seventh year) and jubilees like all of the commandments that it says in the Torah. And any who does not believe in him, or does not anticipate his arrival, it is not only in the other prophets that he is denying but in the Torah and in Moses our teacher; because the Torah testifies on him [the Messiah] as it says "and Hashem your Lord will return your captives and your pitied ones, and return and gather . . . if you scattered ones are at the end of the heavens . . . and Hashem will bring them to you." And these express words in the Torah they include all of the things that were said by the hand of all of the prophets.

(3) And don't think that the King Messiah needs to do wonders and signs and create a new reality in the world or resurrect the dead, or similar things. This is not the point (of The Messianic redemptive process). For Rebbe Akiva, the wisest of the Mishnaic sages, was the "weapons bearer" of The King Ben Kuziba (aka Bar Kochba). And he said concerning him (Ben Kuziba), that he was The King Messiah. And all the sages of the generation were in agreement until he was killed due to his sins. Since he was killed they (then) knew that he was not (the Messiah). The sages did not request from him, neither a sign nor a wonder (i.e. miraculous actions) .The main thing is that the Torah and its laws and statutes are everlasting for ever and ever, and we do not add or subtract from them....

(4) And if a King arises from the House of David who is fitting in (observance) of the Torah and fulfilling its commandments, and he compels all of Israel to follow it, and he strengthens it diligently, and he fights the was of God. Then, he is assumed to be the Messiah. If he fights and is victorious and defeats all of the surrounding nations, and builds The Temple in its place, and gathers all the scattered remnants of Israel, then he is definitely the Messiah.

In that era, there will be neither famine or war, envy or competition for good will flow in abundance and all the delights will be freely available as dust. The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know God.

Therefore, the Jews will be great sages and know the hidden matters, grasping the knowledge of their Creator according to the full extent of human potential, as Isaiah 11:9 states: 'The world will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the ocean bed."

... 12) I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Moshiach, and even though he may tarry, with all this I will wait for him every day that shall come.

13) I believe with perfect faith that there will be a resurrection of the dead at a time which shall arise in the Will of the Creator whose Name is blessed, and consciousness of Him will arise forever and ever.

Why is there a righteous person who has good, and [another] righteous person who has evil? This is because the [second] righteous person was wicked previously, and is now being punished. Is one then punished for his childhood deeds?... I am not speaking of his present lifetime. I am speaking about what he has already been, previously... Go and see. What is this life? A person planted a vineyard and hoped to grow grapes, but instead, sour grapes grew. He saw that his planting and harvest were not successful so he tore it out. He cleaned out the sour grapes vines and planted again. When he saw that his planting was not successful, he tore it up and planted again...