Hakham Shaul’s School of Remes
- First Igeret to Timothy
- TS_NC-88 – Tebet 11, 5781 January 08, 2021
- Commentary to Hakham Shaul’s School of Remes
The Days of Messiah
1 Tim. 4.1-11[a]
The Oral Torah expressly states that at a fixed period of time[b] some will turn to unfaithfulness abandoning their post[c] being led astray by spirits inferior to man[d] attending instead to doctrines and seductions of shedim.[e] being misled by the hypocrisy of liars[f] whose consciences are seared as with a hot iron.[g] 3 forbidding marriage and extreme un-ordained fasting[h] which God created for-the-purpose of receiving with a brakhah (blessing of gratitude) and faithful to acknowledge the truth. 4 For all the original formation of God was created was good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude;[i] 5 for it is sanctified, consecrate set apart, connected to and dedicate to God by means of the word[j] of God and brakhah[k] (blessing).
Fatherly Guidance
6 If you inculcate instruct, educate these teachings[l] handing down to the brethren, you will be a good officer of Geburah[m] for Yeshua HaMashiach. You will be nourished on the themes of the faithful—the wholesome teaching you have followed closely. You will be a servant nourished on the themes of the faith—the wholesome teaching you have diligently obeyed. 7 Do not accept the foolish wife’s tales[n] and myths but train yourself to become a Tsaddiq.[o] 8 For the training of the body has some value, but our focus in life should be uprightness which profits in everything and has the promise of the eternal life in the Olam HaBa in the future. 9 Here is a lesson you can trust, one that fully deserves to be accepted. 10 (indeed, it is for this that we toil and strive): we have our confidence set on a living God who is the deliverer of all humanity, especially of those who are faithful. 11 Command and teach these things.
Sanhedrin 97a
During the generation in which the Messiah, son of David, comes, Torah scholars decrease; and as for the rest of the people, their eyes fail with sorrow and grief, and troubles increase. And the harsh decrees will be introduced; before the first passes the second quickly comes.
The Sages taught in a baraita: With regard to the seven-year period, i.e., the Sabbatical cycle, during which the Messiah, son of David, comes: During the first year, this verse will be fulfilled: “And I will cause it to rain upon one city and cause it not to rain upon another city” (Amos 4:7). During the second year of that period, arrows of famine will be shot, indicating that there will be famine only in certain places. During the third year there will be a great famine, and men, women, children, the pious, and men of action will die, and the Torah is forgotten by those who study it. During the fourth year there will be plenty but not great plenty. During the fifth year there will be great plenty and they will eat, and drink, and rejoice, and the Torah will return to those who study it. During the sixth year, heavenly voices will be heard. During the Sabbatical Year, wars, e.g., the war of Gog and Magog, will be waged involving the Jewish people. During the year after the conclusion of the Sabbatical Year, the son of David will come.
Rav Yosef said: Haven’t there been several Sabbatical cycles during which events transpired in that manner and nevertheless, the Messiah did not come? Abaye said: Have the phenomena: During the sixth year, heavenly voices, and during the Sabbatical Year, wars, transpired? And furthermore, have all these phenomena transpired in the order in which they were listed in the baraita?
The verse states: “That Your enemies taunted, Lord, that they have taunted the footsteps of Your anointed” (Psalms 89:52). It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yehuda says: During the generation that the son of David comes, the hall of the assembly of the Sages will be designated for prostitution, and the Galilee will be destroyed, and the Gavlan, i.e., Bashan, will be desolate, and the residents of the border who flee the neighboring gentiles will circulate from city to city and will receive no sympathy. The wisdom of scholars will diminish, and sin-fearing people will be despised. And the face of the generation will be like the face of a dog in its impudence and shamelessness.
And the truth will be lacking, as it is stated: “And the truth is lacking [ne’ederet], and he who departs from evil is negated” (Isaiah 59:15). What is the meaning of the phrase: And the truth is lacking [ne’ederet]? The Sages of the study hall of Rav said: This teaches that truth will become like so many flocks [adarim] and walk away. What is the meaning of the phrase: “And he that departs from evil is negated”? The Sages of the study hall of Rabbi Sheila said: Anyone who deviates from evil is deemed insane by the people.
The Gemara resumes its discussion of the messianic period. It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Nehorai says: During the generation in which the son of David comes, youths will humiliate elders and elders will stand in deference before youths, and a daughter will rebel against her mother, and a bride against her mother-in-law, and the face of the generation will be like the face of a dog, and a son will not be ashamed before his father.
It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Neḥemya says: During the generation that the son of David comes, arrogance will proliferate and the cost of living will corrupt people so they will engage in deceit. The vine will produce its fruit, and nevertheless, the wine will be costly. And the entire gentile monarchy will be converted to the heresy of Christianity, and there will be no inclination among the people to accept rebuke. This baraita supports the opinion of Rabbi Yitzḥak, as Rabbi Yitzḥak says: The son of David will not come until the entire kingdom will be converted to heresy. Rava says: What is the verse from which this statement is derived? It is the verse: “It is all turned white; he is ritually pure” (Leviticus 13:13). One is a leper and ritually impure only if he has a leprous mark, however small, but not if his skin is completely leprous. Similarly, the world will be redeemed only when the Jewish people reach their lowest point.
The Sages taught in a baraita: The verse states: “For the Lord shall judge His people and atone for His servants, when He sees that their power is gone and there is none shut up or left” (Deuteronomy 32:36). From the phrase “their power is gone” it is derived that the son of David will not come until informers will proliferate. Alternatively, the Messiah will not come until the number of students of Torah diminishes. Alternatively, the Messiah will not come until the peruta will cease from the purse. Alternatively, the Messiah will not come until they despair from the redemption, as it is stated: “And there is none shut up or left,” as though there were no supporter or helper for the Jewish people.
This is as in that practice of Rabbi Zeira, who, when he would find Sages who were engaging in discussions about the coming of the Messiah, said to them: Please, I ask of you, do not delay his coming by calculating the end of days. As we learn in a baraita: There are three matters that come only by means of diversion of attention from those matters, and these are they: The Messiah, a lost item, and a scorpion.
- Rav Ketina says: Six thousand years is the duration of the world, and it is in ruins for one thousand years. The duration of the period during which the world is in ruins is derived from a verse, as it is stated: “And the Lord alone shall be exalted on that day” (Isaiah 2:11), and the day of God lasts one thousand years. Abaye says: It is in ruins for two thousand years, as it is stated: “After two days He will revive us; in the third day He will revive us, and we shall live in His presence” (Hosea 6:2)
It is taught in a baraita in accordance with the opinion of Rav Ketina: Just as the Sabbatical Year abrogates debts once in seven years, so too, the world abrogates its typical existence for one thousand years in every seven thousand years, as it is stated: “And the Lord alone shall be exalted on that day,” and it states: “A psalm, a song for the Shabbat day” (Psalms 92:1), meaning a day, i.e., one thousand years, that is entirely Shabbat. And it says in explanation of the equation between one day and one thousand years: “For a thousand years in Your eyes are but like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night” (Psalms 90:4).
The school of Eliyahu taught: Six thousand years is the duration of the world. Two thousand of the six thousand years are characterized by chaos; two thousand years are characterized by Torah, from the era of the Patriarchs until the end of the mishnaic period; and two thousand years are the period of the coming of the Messiah.
97b
That is the course that history was to take, but due to our sins that time frame increased. The Messiah did not come after four thousand years passed, and furthermore, the years that elapsed since then, which were to have been the messianic era, have elapsed.
Elijah the prophet said to Rav Yehuda, brother of Rav Sala Ḥasida: The world will exist no fewer than eighty-five Jubilee cycles, or 4,250 years. And during the final Jubilee, the son of David will come. Rav Yehuda said to Elijah: Will the Messiah come during the beginning of the Jubilee or during its end? Elijah said to Rav Yehuda: I do not know. Rav Yehuda asked: Will this last Jubilee cycle end before the Messiah comes or will it not yet end before his coming? Elijah said to him: I do not know. Rav Ashi says: This is what Elijah said to him: Until that time do not anticipate his coming; from this point forward anticipate his coming. Elijah did not inform Rav Yehuda of the date of the coming of the Messiah.
Rav Ḥanan bar Taḥlifa sent a message to Rav Yosef: I found one man, and in his hand there was one scroll written in Ashurit script and in the sacred tongue, Hebrew. I said to him: From where did this scroll come into your possession? He said to me: I was hired to serve in the Roman army and I found the scroll among the Roman archives. It was clear that the scroll was written by Jews, not Romans. And it is written in the scroll: After 4,291 years have elapsed from the creation of the world, the world will end; during those years there will be the wars of the sea monsters between the leviathan and the animals, and among those years there will be the wars of Gog and Magog and the remaining years of the messianic period. Then the world will be destroyed. And the Holy One, Blessed be He, will renew His world only after the passage of seven thousand years. Rav Aḥa, son of Rava, says that it was stated: After the passage of five thousand years.
- It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Natan says: This verse penetrates and descends until the depths; just as the depths are unfathomable, so too, the period depicted in the following verse is unquantifiable. “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; and it declares of the end, and does not lie; though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come; it will not delay” (Habakkuk 2:3).
The Messiah will come not in accordance with the opinion of our Rabbis, who would interpret the verse: “For a period and periods and a half period” (Daniel 7:25), to mean that the duration of the ultimate exile will be three and a half times the duration of the period of the exile in Egypt.
And the Messiah will come not in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Simlai, who would interpret the verse: “You have fed them with the bread of tears and have given them tears to drink in great measure [shalish]” (Psalms 80:6), to mean that the duration of the ultimate exile will be three times the duration of the period of the exile in Egypt.
And the Messiah will come not in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, who would interpret the verse: “Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth” (Haggai 2:6), to mean that the redemption would transpire soon after the destruction of the Temple.
Rather, the first, great, Hasmonean monarchy ruled seventy years. The second kingdom, of Herod and his descendants, ruled fifty-two years, and the duration of the monarchy of bar Koziva, or bar Kokheva, was two and a half years. The duration of the exile that follows is unknown.
The Gemara asks: What is the meaning of the phrase “And it declares [veyafe’aḥ] of the end, and does not lie”? Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani says that Rabbi Yonatan says: May those who calculate the end of days be cursed [tippaḥ], as they would say once the end of days that they calculated arrived and the Messiah did not come, that he will no longer come at all. Rather, the proper behavior is to continue to wait for his coming, as it is stated: “Though it tarry, wait for it.” Lest you say we are expectantly awaiting the end of days and the Holy One, Blessed be He, is not awaiting the end of days and does not want to redeem His people, the verse states: “And therefore will the Lord wait, to be gracious to you; and therefore will He be exalted, to have mercy upon you; for the Lord is a God of judgment; happy are all they who wait for Him” (Isaiah 30:18).
And seemingly, since we are awaiting the end of days and the Holy One, Blessed be He, is also awaiting the end of days, who is preventing the coming of the Messiah? It is the divine attribute of judgment that prevents his coming, as it is written: “For the Lord is a God of judgment,” and we are not worthy. And since the attribute of judgment prevents the coming of the Messiah and we are not worthy of redemption, why do we await his coming daily? We do so in order to receive a reward for awaiting his coming, as it is stated: “Happy are all they who wait for Him.”
Apropos that verse, Abaye said: The world has no fewer than thirty-six righteous people in each generation who greet the Divine Presence, as it is stated: “Happy are all they who wait for Him [lo]” (Isaiah 30:18). The numerical value of lo, spelled lamed vav, is thirty-six. The Gemara asks: Is that so? But doesn’t Rava say: The row of the righteous before the Holy One, Blessed be He, extends eighteen thousand parasangs, as it is stated with regard to the city of God at the end of days: “It shall be eighteen thousand reeds round about, and the name of the city from that day shall be: The Lord is there” (Ezekiel 48:35)? The Gemara answers: It is not difficult; this statement of Abaye refers to the thirty-six righteous people who view the Divine Presence through a luminous crystal [be’ispaklarya], and that statement of Rava refers to the multitudes who view the Divine Presence through a crystal that is not luminous.
The Gemara asks: And are those who view the Divine Presence through a crystal that is luminous so numerous? But doesn’t Ḥizkiyya say that Rabbi Yirmeya says in the name of Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai: I have seen members of the group of the spiritually prominent, who are truly righteous, and they are few. If they number one thousand, I and my son are among them. If they number one hundred, I and my son are among them; and if they number two, I and my son are they. Apparently, it is conceivable that there are no more than two who view the Divine Presence through a luminous crystal.
The Gemara answers: It is not difficult. This statement of Abaye is referring to those who may enter to view the Divine Presence only by requesting and being granted permission [bar] from the angels. That statement of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai is referring to the select few who may enter to view the Divine Presence even without requesting permission, for whom the gates of Heaven are open at all times.
- Rav says: All the ends of days that were calculated passed, and the matter depends only upon repentance and good deeds. When the Jewish people repent, they will be redeemed. And Shmuel says: It is sufficient for the mourner to endure in his mourning to bring about the coming of the Messiah. Even without repentance, they will be worthy of redemption due to the suffering they endured during the exile. The Gemara notes: This dispute is parallel to a dispute between tanna’im: Rabbi Eliezer says: If the Jewish people repent they are redeemed, and if not they are not redeemed. Rabbi Yehoshua said to him: If they do not repent, will they not be redeemed at all? Rather, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will establish a king for them whose decrees are as harsh as those issued by Haman, and the Jewish people will have no choice but to repent, and this will restore them to the right path.
It is taught in another baraita that Rabbi Eliezer says: If the Jewish people repent they are redeemed, as it is stated: “Return, wayward children, I will heal your iniquities” (Jeremiah 3:22). Rabbi Yehoshua said to him: But isn’t it already stated: “So says the Lord: You were sold for naught, and without money you shall be redeemed” (Isaiah 52:3)? Rabbi Yehoshua explains: “You were sold for naught” means you were sold for idol worship, which is a sin with no basis. “And without money you shall be redeemed” means you will be redeemed not through repentance and good deeds, but through the will of God.
Rabbi Eliezer said to Rabbi Yehoshua: But isn’t it already stated: “Return to me and I will return to you” (Malachi 3:7)? Rabbi Yehoshua said to him: But isn’t it already stated: “For I have taken you to Myself; and I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion” (Jeremiah 3:14), unconditionally?
Rabbi Eliezer said to him: But isn’t it already stated: “In ease [beshuva] and rest shall you be saved” (Isaiah 30:15), indicating that redemption is dependent upon repentance [teshuva]? Rabbi Yehoshua said to Rabbi Eliezer: But isn’t it already stated: “So says the Lord, Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to him who is despised of man, to him who is abhorred of the nation, to a servant of rulers:
- [a] Literal Equivalent translation by H. Em. Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu ben Abraham
- [b] Friberg, Analytical Greek Lexicon καιρός, οῦ, ὁ time; (1) as a measure of time, either as a point of time, past, present, or future time, moment (MT 11.25), or as a fixed period of time marked by suitableness season, (favorable) time, opportunity (2C 6.2); (2) as a specific and decisive point, often divinely allotted time, season (MK 1.15); (3) as a future period of time marked by characteristic circumstances (the) last times, (the) end-time, (the) messianic times (MT 16.3; 1T 4.1)
- [c] These men turned away from truth and fidelity to G-dly teachings to follow the lies of man controlled by lying spirits (demons)
- [d] Shedim The Shedim which the talmidim have “authority” over represent those obstacles to the Nazarean Community’s stability.
- [e] Synonymous with the Hebrew שדים “shedim” pl. שׁד shad. Shedim or ruḥot are considered “harmful spirits” therefore we can often see that the spirit (s) “throws a fits” causing harm convulsing his victim. See Mark 9.14-29. The question “what were you discussing with them” seems to be the Master inquiring from his talmidim. Perhaps they were slow to answer or the father of the boy with the shade (demon/spirit) was the source of the discussion. Meaning here that the discussion was on the topic of shedim (demons/spirits).
- It is noteworthy to mention that the “alien” mind is in direct opposition against the Torah, as a way of life. And this is the mission of two-thirds of the shedim / fallen angels. Therefore, darkened minds refer to those Gentiles who are either simply ignorant of the Torah as a way of life. And those who are vehemently opposed to it because of their “unyielding obstinacy of mind.”
- To be “alien” is to be morally bereft of all sensible mores. The depth of this statement is only understood from a Hebraic mindset. To be כָּרַת “cut off” means completely estranged from G-d’s presence and protection. Those who were “cut off” while traveling through the wilderness were subjected to every evil influence, without G-d’s protection or chesed/grace. Therefore, this is a crime of excommunication by Divine Decree.
- [f] pseudologos – inspired by or filled with a spirit (of lies) see Kittel, Gerhard, Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1964. V.3 p. 496
- [g] Making them incapable of any morality. Kαυτηριάζω kautēriázō; fut. kautēriásō, from kautḗrion (n.f.), a red–hot iron, which is from kaíō (2545), to burn. To cauterize, brand with a hot iron; used in the pass. in 1 Tim. 4:2, meaning branded or having the marks of their guilt burnt in upon their own consciences, making them seared or hardened in their consciences. Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.
- [h] This can also be a reference to not eating meat. However, its basic meaning is food. βρῶμα brṓma; gen. brṓmatos, neut. noun from bibrṓskō (977), to eat. That which is chewed such as meat or vegetables in opposition to milk which is liquid (1 Cor. 3:2). Used with its primary meaning as food. Ibid.
- [i] Here the caveat is that he does not or is not referring to animals that are not permissible. Everything created by G-d is good, but not everything created by God is food. Therefore, this verse does not abolish the Jewish dietary laws; see Ac 10:11–19&NN, Ga 2:12b&N). Stern, D. H. (1996). Jewish New Testament Commentary: a companion volume to the Jewish New Testament (electronic ed., 1 Ti 4:3). Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications.
- [j] Here λογου – means the message of G-d an this refers to the Oral Torah as the Mesorah and message of G-d.
- [k] Mark 6:41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, looking up to Heaven he blessed G-d for the bread and the fishes and broke the loaves and giving out to his disciples to place before them (the many groups of people). Here we have translated the verse accurately. Yeshua did not “bless” the bread and fish. He “blessed G-d” for the bread and fish. “Blessed are you Oh Lord God who brought bread forth from the earth.” See Tractate Berakhot for appropriate blessings.
- [l] Teaching, instruction is a constant bathing in the Torah.
- [m] See my translation of 1 Tim3.8-18.
- [n] Superstitions handed down by old women.
- [o] Train your self with the goal of becoming a Tsaddiq (a person of true piety).