Another matter, “my beloved is like a gazelle,” Rabbi Yitzḥak said: The congregation of Israel said to the Holy One blessed be He: ‘Master of the universe, You said to us: Come, come. You come to us first.’ “My beloved is like a gazelle,” just as this gazelle appears and is then obscured, appears and is then obscured, so too, the first redeemer [Moses] appeared, was obscured, and appeared again. How long was he obscured from them?
Rabbi Tanḥuma said: Three months. That is what is written: “They encountered Moses and Aaron” (Exodus 5:20).105This verse, written about the Israelite foremen, implies that they had not seen Moses and Aaron for some time. This is because they were in Goshen, where most of the Israelites lived, whereas Aaron was in the Egyptian capital and Moses had returned briefly to Midian (Etz Yosef). Yehuda ben Rabbi said: [They encountered Moses] from time to time.
So too, the ultimate redeemer will appear to them and will then be obscured from them. For how long will he be obscured from them? Forty-five days; that is what is written: “From the time of the abolishing of the continual offering, and the setting of the desolating detestable thing, there will be one thousand two hundred and ninety days” (Daniel 12:11), and it is written: “Happy is one who waits, and reaches one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days” (Daniel 12:12).
These extra days, what are they? Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Ketzarta said in the name of Rabbi Yona: These are the forty-five days that he will be obscured from them, and during those days Israel will pick saltwort and juniper roots as food. That is what is written: “Who pick saltwort from bushes, and the roots of the broom are their food” (Job 30:4). To where will he lead them?
There is one who says: To the wilderness of Judah, and one who says: To the wilderness of Siḥon and Og. The one who says to the wilderness of Judah; that is what is written: “I will yet settle you in tents as in the days of old” (Hosea 12:10). The one who says: To the wilderness of Siḥon and Og [derives it] from what is written: “Therefore, behold, I will seduce her, and I will lead her to the wilderness and I will speak to her heart.
I will give her her vineyards” (Hosea 2:16–17). Anyone who believes in him, follows him, and waits; he will live, and anyone who does not believe in him, and goes to the nations of the world; ultimately, they kill him. Rabbi Yitzḥak bar Maryon said: At the conclusion of forty-five days, he will appear to them and cause manna to fall for them; “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).