Pre-exile Jewish eschatology (8th–6th cent. BCE)
The roots of Jewish eschatology are to be found in the pre-exile prophets, including Isaiah and Jeremiah, and the exile prophets Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah.[web 4] The main tenets of Jewish eschatology are the following, in no particular order, elaborated in the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel:[web 5]
- End of world (before everything as follows).
- God redeems the Jewish people from the captivity that began during the Babylonian Exile, in a new Exodus
- God returns the Jewish people to the Land of Israel
- God restores the House of David and the Temple in Jerusalem
- God creates a regent from the House of David (i.e. the Jewish Messiah) to lead the Jewish people and the world and usher in an age of justice and peace
- All nations recognize that the God of Israel is the only true God
- God resurrects the dead
- God creates a new heaven and a new earth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_in_Judaism#
The Mishneh Torah, is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law (Halakha) authored by Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon). The Mishneh Torah was compiled between 1170 and 1180 CE (4930 and 4940 AM), while Maimonides was living in Egypt.
Mishneh Torah consists of fourteen books, subdivided into sections, chapters, and paragraphs. It is the only Medieval-era work that details all of Jewish observance, including those laws that are only applicable when the Temple in Jerusalem is in existence, and remains an important work in Judaism.
Now, if a king should arise from the House of David who is versed in Torah and engages in Commandments, as did David his forefather, in accordance with both the Written and the Oral Torahs, and he enjoins all of Israel to follow in its ways and encourages them to repair its breaches, and he fights the Wars of G-d128I.e. he defends Israel., then he may be presumed to be the Messiah. If he succeeds in his efforts and defeats the enemies around and builds the Sanctuary in its proper place and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is definitely the Messiah.
It should not occur to you that during the days of the Messiah a single thing from the “ways of the world”135I.e. Nature. will be canceled nor will there be something novel in the Creation. Rather, the world will continue in its customary way. Now, that which is said in Isaiah, “And the wolf will live with the sheep and the leopard shall lie down with the kid” (Isaiah 11:6) is a parable and riddle. The substance of the matter is that Israel will dwell in safety with the wicked of the world who are compared to wolves and tigers, as it says, “a wolf of the deserts spoil them, a leopard watches over their cities” (Jeremiah 5:6). But, they will all return to the true religion and they will not steal and not destroy. Rather, they will eat of the permissible foods comfortably136I.e. in peace. like Israel, as it says, “and the lion will eat straw as does the ox” (Isaiah 11:7). And so similar matters written about the Messiah are parables. In the days of the King Messiah everyone will understand these parables and to what these matters were compared and to what was hinted.
Rav was wont to say:
The World-to-Come is not like this world.
In the World-to-Come there is no eating, no drinking,
no procreation, no business negotiations,
no jealousy, no hatred, and no competition.
Rather, the righteous sit with their crowns upon their heads, enjoying the splendor of the Divine Presence, as it is stated:
“And they beheld God, and they ate and drank” (Exodus 24:11), meaning that beholding God’s countenance is tantamount to eating and drinking.
What will resurrection be like?
Leah Leila Bronner, Journey to Heaven
...[the rabbis speculate] about the state in which the dead will arise. If there is to be actual physical resurrection, what shape will bodies be in? It is concluded that bodies are resurrected in the state in which they died, though it is possible for healing to take place after that. For example, a person identified as Queen Cleopatra asks Rabbi Meir whether the dead will be naked or clothed. Rabbi Meir answers that in the same way that wheat rises "clothed" [in its outer covering, the chaff], so will the dead (Sanhedrin 90b). Similarly, Resh Lakish and Rava both allege that people will be revived with the defects they had when they died, but will subsequently be healed. (Sanhedrin 91a)
Maimonides' Treatise on Resurrection (c. 1191)
https://books.google.com/books?id=tKYOW4_RdH0C&q=%22days+of+the+messiah%22#v=snippet&q=%22days%20of%20the%20messiah%22&f=false
iv. 21-24: the resurrection of the dead... is widely known and accepted among our people... [and] means that the soul will return to its body after its separation... it cannot be interpreted allegorically... [The Talmud implies] that those individuals whose souls return to their bodies (after death) will eat and drink... and sire children and die after an extremely long life like the life which will exist during the days of the Messiah... [however] in the world to come souls without bodies will exist like angels.
[Written in response to accusations in Yemen and Iraq that Maimonides denied bodily resurrection.]
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said to Elijah: When will the Messiah come? Elijah said to him: Go ask him. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi asked: And where is he sitting? Elijah said to him: At the entrance of the city of Rome. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi asked him: And what is his identifying sign by means of which I can recognize him? Elijah answered: He sits among the poor who suffer from illnesses. And all of them untie their bandages and tie them all at once, but the Messiah unties one bandage and ties one at a time. He says: Perhaps I will be needed to serve to bring about the redemption. Therefore, I will never tie more than one bandage, so that I will not be delayed.
And Rabbi Yoḥanan says: The son of David will come only in a generation that is entirely innocent, in which case they will be deserving of redemption, or in a generation that is entirely guilty, in which case there will be no alternative to redemption. He may come in a generation that is entirely innocent, as it is written: “And your people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever” (Isaiah 60:21). He may come in a generation that is entirely guilty, as it is written: “And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no intercessor; therefore His arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness, it sustained Him” (Isaiah 59:16). And it is written: “For My own sake, for My own sake will I do it; for how should it be profaned? And My glory I will not give it to another” (Isaiah 48:11).
בעתה וכתיב אחישנה זכו אחישנה לא זכו בעתה
If they merit redemption through repentance and good deeds I will hasten the coming of the Messiah. If they do not merit redemption, the coming of the Messiah will be in its designated time.
אם היתה נטיעה בתוך ידך ויאמרו לך הרי לך המשיח. בוא ונטע את הנטיעה (ואח”כ צא והקביל).
Midrash Avot Derabbi Natan, Version B, Chapter 31
If you had a sapling in your hand and were told that the Messiah had come, first plant the sapling [and then go out to greet the Messiah].
Jewish Literacy, Joseph Telushkin, page 600-601
An old Jewish story tells of a Russian Jew who was paid a ruble a month by the community council to stand at the outskirts of town so that he could be the first person to greet the Messiah upon his arrival. When a friend said to him, "But the pay is so low," the man replied: "True, but the job is permanent."
Why do we want the Messiah to come?
Jonathan Sacks, "Future Tense," The Jewish Chronicle, April 1, 2008
Judaism is the only civilization whose golden age is in the future: the messianic age, the age of peace when ‘nation will not lift up sword against nation’ and ‘the Lord shall be one and His name One’. This ultimately was the dividing line between Judaism and Christianity. To be a Jew is to reply to the question ‘Has the messiah come?’ with the words ‘Not yet.’ In the fine phrase of Harold Fisch, the Jewish narrative is ‘the unappeased memory of a future still to be fulfilled’. Why? What does this tell us about Judaism?
At the heart of Judaism is a belief so fundamental to Western civilization that we take it for granted, yet it is anything but self-evident. It has been challenged many times, rarely more so than today. It is the belief in human freedom. We are what we choose to be. Society is what we choose to make it. The future is open. There is nothing inevitable in the affairs of humankind...
Judaism is a religion of details, but we miss the point if we do not sometimes step back and see the larger picture. To be a Jew is to be an agent of hope in a world serially threatened by despair. Every ritual, every mitzvah, every syllable of the Jewish story, every element of Jewish law, is a protest against escapism, resignation or the blind acceptance of fate. Judaism is a sustained struggle, the greatest ever known, against the world that is, in the name of the world that could be, should be, but is not yet. There is no more challenging vocation. Throughout history, when human beings have sought hope they have found it in the Jewish story. Judaism is the religion, and Israel the home, of hope.
To believe in the coming of Mashiach and to await it are two separate concepts. “To believe” is a doctrinal affirmation as for any other part of the Torah: affirming the principle of Mashiach who will come eventually, whenever that may be. “To await” means an active and eager anticipation of the redemption, that it occur speedily: “I await him every day…,” literally.
If he does come, what will he do?
והתועלת הגדול אשר תהיה באותם הימים הוא שננוח משעבוד מלכיות שהוא מונע אותנו מעשיית המצות כולם, ותרבה החכמה כמו שנאמר ”כִּ י מָ לְ אָ ה הָ אָ רֶ ץ דּעָה ]אֶת ה‘ כַּמַּיִם לַיָּם מְ כַסִּים[“, וישבתו המלחמות כמו שנאמר ”]וְ כִ תְּ תוּ חַ רְ בוֹתָ ם לְ אִ תִּ ים וַ חֲ נִ יתוֹתֵ יהֶ ם לְ מַ זְ מֵ רוֹת[ לֹא יִ שּ ָׂ א גוֹי אֶ ל גּ וֹי חֶ רֶ ב ]וְ לֹא יִ לְ מְ דוּ עוֹד מִ לְ חָ מָ ה[“, ויהיה נמצא בימים ההם שלימות רב ונזכה בו לחיי העולם הבא.
Rambam on the Mishnah, Sanhedrin 10
The great benefit which will be in those days [of the Mashiach] is that we will rest from our subjugation to the non-Jewish governments, which is what prevents us from fulfilling all the mitzvot. Wisdom will increase... War will cease, as the verse states, “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and neither shall they learn war any more”. In those days there will be ultimate perfection and we will merit the life of the World to Come.
הַמֶּלֶךְ הַמָּשִׁיחַ עָתִיד לַעֲמֹד וּלְהַחְזִיר מַלכוּת דָּוִד לְיָשְׁנָהּ לַמֶּמְשָׁלָה הָרִאשׁוֹנָה. וּבוֹנֶה הַמִּקְדָּשׁ וּמְקַבֵּץ נִדְחֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. וְחוֹזְרִין כָּל הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים בְּיָמָיו כְּשֶׁהָיוּ מִקֹּדֶם. מַקְרִיבִין קָרְבָּנוֹת. וְעוֹשִׂין שְׁמִטִּין וְיוֹבְלוֹת כְּכָל מִצְוָתָן הָאֲמוּרָה בַּתּוֹרָה. וְכָל מִי שֶׁאֵינוֹ מַאֲמִין בּוֹ. אוֹ מִי שֶׁאֵינוֹ מְחַכֶּה לְבִיאָתוֹ. לֹא בִּשְׁאָר נְבִיאִים בִּלְבַד הוּא כּוֹפֵר. אֶלָּא בַּתּוֹרָה וּבְמשֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ.
The King Messiah will arise and re-establish the monarchy of David as it was in former times. He will build the Sanctuary and gather in the dispersed of Israel. All the earlier statutes will be restored as they once were. Sacrifices will be offered, the Sabbatical and Jubilee years will be observed, as commanded in the Torah. Anyone who does not believe in him or one who does not anticipate his coming not only denies the Prophets, but also the Torah and Moses our Teacher.
Sounds good. Anything else? Anything mystical?
At that time there will be no famines and no wars, no envy and no competition. For the Good will be very pervasive. All the delicacies will be as readily available as is dust. The world will only be engaged in knowing God. Then, there will be very wise people who will understand the deep, sealed matters. They will then achieve knowledge of the Creator to as high a degree as humanly possible, as it says, “For the Earth shall be filled of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).
Different Modern Perspectives on the Messiah
Adapted from: The Messiah and the Jews: Three Thousand Years of Tradition, Belief and Hope
Traditional Jewish views on the Messiah could not, Reformers believed, withstand the changes of Emancipation. Reform Jews prized an intellectual outlook on Judaism and valued religious tenets that could be upheld even in a rational, secular milieu. They did not, therefore, embrace traditional messianism – rooted in complicated Scriptural allusions and folklore, filled with images of apocalyptic battles, a superhuman deliverer, and even a physical resurrection of the dead. And with its emphasis on Jewish triumph over the enemies of Israel, messianism also sharply contradicted Emancipation tenets of equality and universalism. Finally, traditional Jewish messianism expressed a yearning to return to Zion, to rebuild the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, and to restore rule over Israel to the descendants of King David. Such hopes undermined the Jews’ new status as loyal citizens of Germany.
Perhaps the most powerful reason to jettison traditional messianic belief, the Reformers argued, was that it was simply not needed anymore. Human beings – guided not by a Messiah but by their own intellect – had already begun the work of redemption. Reformers believed that the principles of Emancipation would inspire every nation and bring liberation to the entire world. Spreading from Germany and taking especially strong hold in the United States, Reform Judaism abolished the concept of a divinely-sent Messiah and promised instead that humanity would accomplish its own redemption.
Rabbi Arthur Green, Seek My Face, Speak My Name
Instead of bringing about the onset of redemption, messiah will herald its completion. The actual work of redeeming the world is turned to us in history, and is done by all of us, day by day. Messiah has been waiting in the wings, as it were, since the very beginning of history, ready to come forth when the time is right. According to one legend, he sits among the lepers at the gates of Rome–today we would be likely to find him in an AIDS hospice–tending to their wounds. Only when redemption is about to be completed will messiah be allowed to arrive. Rather than messiah redeeming us, we redeem messiah.
How can we "redeem the messiah"? How can we help to bring about the messianic age?
