The Pangs Of The Messiah

"the fallen booth of David" (Amos 9:11). He said to him: Thus said Rabbi Yochanan: In the generation in which the son of David comes, Torah scholars will diminish, and as for the rest, their eyes will fail from sorrow and sighing, and many troubles and harsh decrees will be renewed; before the first one has run its course, a second hastens to come. Our Rabbis taught: In the seven-year period in which the son of David comes, in the first year this verse will be fulfilled: "And I will cause it to rain upon one city, and upon another city I will not cause it to rain" (Amos 4:7). In the second, the arrows of famine will be sent forth. In the third, a great famine, and men and women and children will die, the pious and the men of good deeds, and the Torah will be forgotten by those who study it. In the fourth, plenty that is not plenty. In the fifth, great plenty, and they will eat and drink and rejoice, and the Torah will return to those who study it. In the sixth, sounds. In the seventh, wars. At the conclusion of the seventh year, the son of David comes. Rav Yosef said: But there have been many seven-year periods like this, and yet he has not come! Abaye said: Were there in the sixth sounds and in the seventh wars? And furthermore, did they occur in this order? "With which Your enemies have taunted, O LORD, with which they have taunted the footsteps of Your anointed" (Psalms 89:52). It was taught: Rabbi Yehudah says: The generation in which the son of David comes, the house of assembly will be given over to harlotry, and the Galilee will be laid waste, and the Gablan will be made desolate, and the people of the frontier will wander from city to city and find no favor, and the wisdom of the scribes will rot, and those who fear sin will be despised, and the face of the generation will be like the face of a dog. "And truth is lacking" (Isaiah 59:15), as it is said: "And truth was lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey" (Isaiah 59:15). What is "and truth was lacking"? The school of Rav said: This teaches that it is made into many flocks (adarim) and goes off [the plain sense being that truth is absent]. What is "and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey"? The school of Rabbi Sheila said: Anyone who departs from evil is treated as a madman by people. It was taught: Rabbi Nehorai says: The generation in which the son of David comes, the youths will shame the faces of the elders, and the elders will stand before the youths, and a daughter will rise up against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and the face of the generation will be like the face of a dog, and a son will not be ashamed before his father. It was taught: Rabbi Nechemyah says: The generation in which the son of David comes, insolence will increase, and high cost will be distorted, and the vine will yield its fruit yet the wine will be costly, and the whole kingdom will be turned to heresy, and there will be no rebuke. Our Rabbis taught: "For the LORD shall judge His people... when He sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left" (Deuteronomy 32:36). The son of David does not come until informers multiply. Another interpretation: until the students diminish. Another interpretation: until the last coin is gone from the purse. Another interpretation: until they despair of the redemption, as it is said: "and there is none shut up or left" (Deuteronomy 32:36); as it were, there is none to support or help Israel.