The Winter Is Past and the Four Redemptions of Israel

"My beloved answered and said to me" (Song of Songs 2:10). Rabbi Azariah said: the answering is not the same as the saying; rather, He answered me through Moses and said to me through Aaron. What did He say to me? "Arise" (ibid.) - gird yourself. "My love" [ra'yati] (ibid.) - daughter of Abraham who shepherded [ri'ah] Me in My world. "My fair one" [yafati] (ibid.) - daughter of Isaac who beautified [yipah] Me in My world when his father bound him upon the altar. "And come away" [u-lekhi lakh] (ibid.) - daughter of Jacob who obeyed his father and his mother, "and Jacob obeyed his father and his mother" and so forth (Genesis 28:7). "For behold, the winter is past" (Song of Songs 2:11) - these are the four hundred years decreed upon our fathers in Egypt. "The rain is over and gone" (ibid.) - these are the two hundred and ten. Another interpretation: "For behold, the winter is past" - these are the two hundred and ten; "the rain is over and gone" - this is the servitude. The rain and the winter are not the same. Rabbi Tanhuma said: the heart of the hardship is the rain; the servitude of Israel was only eighty-six years, from the time Miriam was born. And why is she called Miriam? Rabbi Yitzhak said: an expression of bitterness [meror], as it says, "and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar" (Exodus 1:14). "The blossoms appear on the earth" (Song of Songs 2:12) - this is Moses and Aaron. "The time of pruning has come" (ibid.) - the time has come for the foreskin to be cut, the time has come for the Egyptians to be cut down, the time has come for their idolatry to be uprooted from the world, "and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments, I am the LORD" (Exodus 12:12); the time has come for the sea to be split, "and the waters were split" (ibid. 14:21); the time has come for the song to be sung, "then Moses sang" and so forth (ibid. 15:1); the time has come for the Torah to be given. "And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land" (Song of Songs ibid.) - Rabbi Yohanan said: the voice of the good guide [tayar] is heard in our land, this is Moses, "and Moses said, thus says the LORD, about midnight" and so forth (Exodus 11:4). "The fig tree ripens its early figs" (Song of Songs 2:13) - these are the three days of darkness in which the wicked of Israel perished. "And the vines in blossom give fragrance" (ibid.) - these are those who remained, who repented and were accepted. Moses said to them: all this good fragrance is in you, and you sit here? "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away" (ibid.). Another interpretation: "My beloved answered and said to me" (Song of Songs 2:10). Rabbi Azariah said: He answered me through Joshua and said to me through Elazar. "For behold, the winter is past" (ibid. 2:11) - these are the forty years Israel spent in the wilderness. "The rain is over and gone" (ibid.) - these are the thirty-eight years of anger against Israel. "The blossoms appear" - these are the spies. "The time of pruning has come" - the time has come for the Canaanites to be cut down, the time has come for the land of Israel to be apportioned, "to these the land shall be divided" and so forth (Numbers 26:53). "And the voice of the turtledove" - the voice of the good guide, this is Joshua. "The fig tree ripens its early figs" - these are the baskets of first fruits. "And the vines in blossom give fragrance" - these are the drink offerings. Another interpretation: He answered me through Daniel and said to me through Ezra. "For behold, the winter is past" - these are the seventy years of the kingdom of Babylon. "The rain is over and gone" - these are the fifty-two years of the kingdom of Media. "The blossoms appear" - such as Daniel and his company, Mordecai and his company, Ezra and his company. "The voice of the turtledove" - this is Cyrus, "thus says Cyrus king of Persia, all the kingdoms of the earth" and so forth (Ezra 1:2). Another interpretation: He answered me through Elijah and said through the King Messiah. "For behold, the winter is past" - Rabbi Azariah said this is the wicked kingdom that misleads people. "The rain is over and gone" - this is the servitude. "The blossoms appear in the land" - Rabbi Yitzhak said it is written, "and the LORD showed me four craftsmen" (Zechariah 2:3), and these are they: Elijah, and the King Messiah, and Melchizedek, and the Priest of War. "The time of pruning has come" - the time has come for the wicked kingdom to be uprooted from the world, the time has come for the kingdom of Heaven to be revealed, "and the LORD shall be king over all the earth" and so forth (Zechariah 14:9). "The voice of the turtledove" - this is the King Messiah, "how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the herald" (Isaiah 52:7). "The fig tree ripens its early figs" - Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said, near the days of the Messiah a great pestilence will come and the wicked will be consumed by it. "And the vines in blossom give fragrance" - these are those who remain, "and it shall be that he who remains in Zion and he who is left in Jerusalem shall be called holy" (Isaiah 4:3). And the rabbis said concerning the seven-year period in which the son of David comes: in the first year, "and I will send rain on one city" and so forth (Amos 4:7). In the second, arrows of famine are sent. In the third, a great famine, and men, women, and children die, and the Torah is forgotten from Israel. In the fourth, plenty that is not plenty. In the fifth, great abundance, and they eat and drink and rejoice, and the Torah returns to its freshness. In the sixth, voices. And in the seventh, wars. At the close of the seventh, the son of David comes. Rabbi Abaye said: how many such seven-year periods there have been like this one, and yet he has not come. Rather, it is as Rabbi Yohanan said: the generation in which the son of David comes, the scholars die, and the eyes of those who remain fail with grief and groaning, and many evil troubles come upon the community, and harsh decrees are renewed; before the first has passed it brings another joined to it. Rabbi Abun said: the generation in which the son of David comes, the meeting house will become a brothel, the Galilee will be laid waste, the Gablan will be desolate, and the people of the Galilee will wander from city to city and find no favor; the people of truth are gathered up and truth is taken away. To where does it go? The house of Rabbi Yannai said: it goes and dwells in flocks upon flocks in the wilderness, as it says, "and truth is taken away" and so forth (Isaiah 59:15). Rabbi Nehorai said: the generation in which the son of David comes, the young will shame the faces of the old, and the old will rise before the young; a daughter rises against her mother, a bride against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house; a son will not be ashamed before his father; the wisdom of the scribes will rot, and the vine will give its fruit but the wine will be costly. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: the son of David comes only in a generation deserving of destruction. Rabbi Yannai said: the son of David comes only in a generation whose face is like a dog's. Rabbi Levi said: if you see one generation after another blaspheming, look for the footsteps of the King Messiah, and what is the reason? "With which Your enemies have taunted, O LORD, with which they have taunted the footsteps of Your anointed" (Psalms 89:52), and what is written after it? "Blessed be the LORD forever, amen and amen" (ibid. 53).