The Creation Of The Messiah

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has shone upon you; for behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but upon you the LORD will shine, and His glory will be seen upon you" (Isaiah 60:1-2). This is what was said by the holy spirit through David, king of Israel: "For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light" (Psalms 36:10). With regard to whom did David speak this verse? He spoke it only with regard to the community of Israel. They said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the universe, because of the Torah You gave me, which is called "a fountain of life," I am destined to take delight in Your light in the time to come. What is "in Your light we see light"? Which light does the community of Israel look forward to? This is the light of the Messiah, as it is said, "And God saw the light, that it was good" (Genesis 1:4). This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, gazed upon the Messiah and his deeds before the world was created, and He hid it away for His Messiah and his generation beneath His throne of glory. The Satan said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the universe, the light that is hidden beneath Your throne of glory, for whom is it? He said to him: For the one who is destined to turn you back and to shame you with disgrace upon your face. He said to Him: Master of the universe, show him to me. He said to him: Come and see him. And once he saw him, he was shaken and fell upon his face, and he said: Surely this is the Messiah who is destined to cast me and all the ministers of the nations of the world into Gehinnom, as it is said, "He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces" (Isaiah 25:8). At that hour the nations were agitated. They said before Him: Master of the universe, who is this into whose hand we are to fall? What is his name? What is his nature? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: He is the Messiah, and his name is Ephraim, My righteous Messiah, who raises up his own stature and the stature of his generation, and gives light to the eyes of Israel, and saves his people, and no nation or tongue can stand against him, as it is said, "No enemy shall exact upon him, and no wicked man shall afflict him" (Psalms 89:23). And all his enemies and adversaries flee, as it is said, "And I will beat down his adversaries before him" (Psalms 89:24). And even the rivers cease in the sea, as it is said, "And I will set his hand on the sea, and his right hand on the rivers" (Psalms 89:26). The Holy One, blessed be He, began to make a condition with him and said: These ones, whose iniquities are stored up with you, will in time bring you into a yoke of iron and make you like this calf whose eyes have grown dim, and they will choke your spirit with the yoke, and because of the iniquities of these ones your tongue is destined to cleave to your palate. Is this your will? The Messiah said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Perhaps that anguish is for many years. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: By your life and the life of My head, it is but one week that I have decreed upon you; if your soul is grieved, I will banish them from now. He said before Him: Master of the worlds, with the gladness of my soul and the joy of my heart I take it upon myself, on the condition that not one of Israel shall perish, and that not only the living shall be saved in my days, but also those who are hidden in the dust; and not only the dead shall be saved in my days, but also those dead who have died from the days of the first man until now; and not only these, but also the stillborn shall be saved in my days; and not only these shall be saved in my days, but every one whom it entered Your mind to create but who was not created. In this I take delight, this I accept upon myself. At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, appointed for him four living creatures who bear the throne of the glory of the Messiah. At that hour his enemies and the ministers of the kingdoms said: Come, let us slander the generation of the Messiah, that they shall never be created. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: How will you slander that generation, which is desirable and lovely, and in which I rejoice, and which I desire, and which I uphold, and which I want, as it is said, "Behold My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom My soul delights; I have put My spirit upon him" (Isaiah 42:1) and so forth? How will you slander him? Behold, I will destroy all of you. Sparks of fire, flashes of meteors; yet not one soul will I destroy. Therefore it is said, "For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light." In the week in which the son of David comes, they bring beams of iron and lay them upon his neck until his stature is bent low, and he cries out and weeps, and his voice rises to the heights. He said before Him: Master of the universe, how great can my strength be, and how great my spirit, and how great my soul, and how great my limbs? Am I not flesh and blood? Concerning that hour David wept and said, "My strength is dried up like a potsherd" (Psalms 22:16) and so forth. At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Ephraim, My righteous Messiah, already you accepted this upon yourself from the six days of creation; now let your anguish be like My anguish, for from the day that the wicked Nebuchadnezzar went up and destroyed My house and burned My sanctuary and exiled My children among the nations of the world, by your life and the life of My head, I have not entered My throne. And if you do not believe it, look at the dew that has gone up on My head, as it is said, "For My head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night" (Song of Songs 5:2). At that hour he said before Him: Master of the universe, now my mind is settled; it is enough for the servant that he be like his master. Rabbi Levi said: At the time when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to the community of Israel, "Arise, shine, for your light has come," she said before Him: Master of the universe, You stand at our head. At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, says to her: My daughter, you speak well, as it is said, "Because of the despoiling of the poor, because of the groaning of the needy, now will I arise, says the LORD" (Psalms 12:6) and so forth. Another interpretation: To what is the community of Israel likened in this world? To a lame person who cannot walk and come about, and the nations of the world taunt them and say to them every day: Where is your God? Why does He not save you? She says to them: I have one day on which my King is destined to be revealed over me, and He will strengthen me and stand me on my feet, as it is said, "My beloved answered and said to me: Arise, my love, my fair one, and go forth" (Song of Songs 2:10). Rabbi Isaac said: In the year in which the king Messiah is revealed, all the kings of the nations of the world provoke one another. The king of Persia provokes the king of Arabia, and the king of Arabia goes to Edom to take counsel from them, and the king of Persia turns back and destroys the whole world entirely, and all the nations of the world tremble and are terrified and fall on their faces, and pangs seize them like the pangs of a woman in labor. And Israel tremble and are terrified and say: To where shall we go and to where shall we come? And He says to them: My children, do not be afraid; all that I have done, I have done only for your sake. Why are you afraid? Do not fear: the time of your redemption has arrived. And this last redemption is not like the first redemption, for in the first redemption you had anguish and the subjugation of kingdoms after it, but the last redemption has for you no anguish and no subjugation of kingdoms after it. Our Rabbis taught: At the time when the king Messiah is revealed, he comes and stands on the roof of the Temple, and he proclaims to Israel and says to them: Humble ones, the time of your redemption has arrived; and if you do not believe, look at my light that has shone upon you, as it is said, "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has shone upon you"; and upon you alone has it shone, and not upon the nations of the world, as it is said, "For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but upon you the LORD will shine, and His glory will be seen upon you." At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, makes the light of the king Messiah and of Israel shine, while all the nations of the world are in darkness and gloom, and they all go to the light of the Messiah and of Israel, as it is said, "And nations shall walk by your light, and kings by the brightness of your shining" (Isaiah 60:3). And they come and lick the dust beneath the feet of the king Messiah, as it is said, "And they shall lick the dust of your feet" (Isaiah 49:23). And they all come and fall on their faces before the Messiah and before Israel and say to them: Let us be servants to you and to Israel. And each and every one of Israel shall have two thousand eight hundred servants, as it is said, "In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men from all the tongues of the nations shall take hold of the corner of the garment of a Jew, saying: Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" (Zechariah 8:23).