The Four Kingdoms Hidden in the Words of Divine Anger

"My anger shall be kindled against him on that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them" (Deuteronomy 31:17). Rabbi Aha said: The kindled anger of the Holy One, blessed be He, lasts but a single day; had they repented, it would have cooled. Rabbi Tanhuma said: He pacifies and is pacified [reading the verse as measure-for-measure]. They acted, and I acted. They acted: "And he will forsake Me and break My covenant" (Deuteronomy 31:16). And I acted: "And I will forsake them and hide My face from them, and he shall be devoured" (Deuteronomy 31:17). "My anger shall be kindled against him"—this is in Babylon. "And I will forsake them"—in Media. "And I will hide My face from them"—in Greece. "And he shall be devoured"—in Edom [Rome], as it is said, "it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the remainder with its feet" (Daniel 7:7). "And many evils and troubles shall befall them"—these are the ninety-eight admonitions in the Torah. "And he shall say on that day, Are not these evils come upon me because my God is not in my midst?" (Deuteronomy 31:17)—had He been within me, they would not have come upon me; had He been within me, I would not have gone into exile. Yet Zion says, He has abandoned me, He has forgotten me, as it is written, "And Zion said, The LORD has forsaken me, and the LORD has forgotten me" (Isaiah 49:14).