This one comes to us from a letter written in the fall of 1665 by Nathan of Gaza, the prophet of Shabbatai Zevi, a figure who stirred up messianic fervor like few others. It's a vision of the Messiah's return, and it's... well, it's something.
Imagine this: in the shmita, the sabbatical year, King Shabbatai – the Messiah himself – will come roaring back. Not on a humble donkey, mind you, but astride a celestial lion! And his bridle? A seven-headed serpent breathing fire! All nations will bow before him, says the prophecy.
He’s not alone, of course. He’ll be accompanied by his destined bride. And on that very day, something incredible happens: the Kibbutz Galuyot, the Ingathering of the Exiles, will occur. All Jews, from every corner of the earth, will be brought back to the Holy Land. And the Beit Hamikdash, the holy Temple in Jerusalem? It won’t be rebuilt by human hands. Instead, as the prophecy states, a fully constructed, heavenly Temple will descend from above!
And the dead? They won’t be left out. According to this vision, those who died in the Holy Land will be resurrected immediately. Those who passed away outside of it will have to wait a bit – forty years, to be precise.
Now, where does Shabbatai Zevi make his grand entrance from? From the Sambatyon, a mythical river described elsewhere (p. 475 in Schwartz's Tree of Souls) as raging wildly for six days of the week, only to rest on Shabbat, trapping the Ten Lost Tribes on the other side. It's a powerful image, emphasizing the supernatural aura surrounding Shabbatai Zevi. The Zizat Nobel Zevi backs this up.
This prophecy, as outlined by Nathan of Gaza, speaks to the three essential tasks of the Messiah: the Ingathering of the Exiles, the resurrection of the dead, and the rebuilding (or in this case, the descending) of the Temple. It's interesting to note that the Temple's arrival is debated in Jewish tradition; some believe it will be rebuilt on earth, while others, like this prophecy suggests, envision a Temple descending from heaven. You can read more about this difference on page 512 of Tree of Souls.
So, what happened? Did the prophecy come true? Well, history took a rather unexpected turn. In September 1666, at the very height of the messianic fervor he'd ignited, Shabbatai Zevi abruptly converted to Islam. The messianic dream, at least as it was embodied by him, shattered.
It’s a potent reminder that even the most fervent beliefs and seemingly undeniable prophecies can be subject to the unpredictable currents of human history. And it leaves you wondering: what does it mean to believe in something, even when reality takes a completely different course?