Gog and Magog: Characteristics of the End of Days - Part 2 - Rabbi Yirmiyahu Ullman

[Music] Okay, good. So, we um yes, last time we met we uh discussed the end of days. The end of days, which is according to the uh wording in um in the scriptures or according to the language of the sages in the Talmud. And that was the period which is leading up to uh the period which is prophecied as uh Gog and Mog or the wars of Armageddon. Remember we said there are three general periods when there are three parts of the general period of the first one is going to be this uh period of that is the period that we're discussing yesterday in great detail where tensions in the world start to develop uh in the direction of their being resolved but the forces of heresy and of materialism and of indulgence cause a mass departure of mankind in general and of the Jewish people in particular from a belief in God from an allegiance to the Torah and it results in a type of hedonistic universal or universal culture of hedenism which is not directed at all towards God but but towards self-pleasure and we find associated with that greed and arrogance and indulgence and immorality and we try to point out that the Jewish sources which kind of prophesies this period already from thousands of years ago seem very palpably truly uh describing the times that we're living in that would all be would be the period which is on the heels of Msiah and could possibly develop into the second phase of which is the period of go the wars of Gumog the third period would be described by the coming of Msiah and the bringing of the redemption and ultimately the world to come. So if yesterday we discussed today we're going to be discussing the second phase which is go the intermediary phase between the raising of tensions in the world towards resolution but the culmination of those tensions in what's described as these battles these wars the wars of Armageddon. Um again what we mentioned uh yesterday is applicable here again and it's it's worth recalling which is that all of these prophecies do not indicate that it necessarily has to be this way. As we mentioned yesterday, when we're talking about these kind of uh catastrophic events that will happen, it's all only a function of whether the Jewish people and the world in general are willing to accept God in the world or not. If they are or to the extent to which they will be, then the redemption can come by in come by in a very peaceful uh miraculous uh miraculously peaceful way all of a sudden. However, if for whatever reason the Jewish people, the world in general is not interested in letting go in when he knocks. So then God will have to knock his way in. And that's what is prophesized when we're talking about uh go. Remember the the verse that I mentioned yesterday is discussed in the Talmud which says regarding the redemption in its appointed time I will speed it up and the know that seems to be self-contradictory if it's had it appointed time then it's not subject to speeding up if it's something that can be sped up its time can be modified then it can't be described rightly as having an appointed time so how do we reconcile this contradiction in the name of the prophet describing the end of days the coming the the redemption. So the more answers if the Jewish people will merit it then it will be I will speed it up and bring it even before the appointed time. What's the appointed time referring to? If the world does not merit it, God will cut the world slack until a final point, the end of the 6,000th year, which at that point, God will forcibly bring the redemption upon the world in order to have all of these tensions be resolved for the purpose of bringing godliness into the world. So again, it depends on us. If humanity in general, the Jewish people in particular, opens the door when God knocks, right, he'll enter like a welcomed guest. But if not, then God will have to knock his way in and that will be less pleasant. So this important qualification when we're talk even before we start describing what will happen regarding the the the wars of Gog and Mog because again it doesn't have to happen this way. It's in our power to prevent it from happening that way and we as a responsibility as Jews and as people to do as much as we can to prevent it from happening. However, the description here is what will what is prophesized as will happen if we don't bring it about through a merit but rather it's imposed upon us from God. The um Gomorrah in so the the Gomorra in Hedrin brings an interesting interesting midrash. It says that Levy was at the burial site of Rebish Bayai and there he had some type of an encounter with Ela Havi Elijah the prophet who of course had passed away much earlier. But the soul of Eliao appeared to this rabbi at the burial site of Rabbi Shimay. And Rabbi Shiman Bay asked Ela. He said, "Ela, you are the harbinger of redemption. You are going to proclaim the coming of Messiah. Messiah. Tell me Ela when is a Messiah going to come?" We want Messiah. So says, "You know what? Why ask me? Go ask Mashiach yourself. I should ask Mashiach. Yeah, where I'm going to find him. Mashia is sitting in the gates of Rome. Eli tells him the gates of Rome. What's he doing there? He's sitting among the poppers, the poor people, and the lepers. And there you'll find him. He said, "If there's so many lepers at the gate to the city of Rome, how am I going to know which one is Messiah?" He says, "You'll see all of the lepers remove their bandages and their uh uh yeah, the bandages in order to airrate their wounds all at once." So, you'll see they've taken the bandages off and their wounds are being airrated in in in the air. But Messiah is not like that. He takes off one bandage at a time. One bandage at a time. So, you'll see that one that leper who's taking out his bandage one at a time. That's Messiah. So Levy takes a journey all the way to Rome and there he finds among the lepers sitting in the city gates. Mashiach, are you Mashiach? Yes. When are you coming? Mash says today. Yeah. So Levi is very excited. He goes back home which happens to be quite a distance because he went from Rome to Israel. But by the time he got home he realized that Mashiah had not come. So he went back to the barrel side of and there he saw Ela. And Elia said, "What did Mashiah say?" He said, "Mashiah is a liar." Why? Cuz I asked him, "When are you coming?" He told me, "Today." And he never came. That was already two weeks ago. He never came. He said, "You didn't understand what he told you." He said, "Today, if you'll hearken to my voice." Meaning he was quoting a verse that God says, "I'll come today if you hear the voice of God." God. If you hearken to the voice of God, he'll come today. The Jewish people did not hearken to the voice of God. And for that reason, it didn't come. From here, we see that Mashiach can come at any time. And Messiah is so on on the other hand, Mashiach is waiting to come. Mashiach is described as being in a state of suffering like a leper and a poor person, the gates of Rome. And this is all because of the idea of Messiah, the idea of God, the idea of observance is trampled upon, disregarded, disrespected, dis despised as we spoke about. And that's like the leper with these wounds. Mashiah is nevertheless binding his wounds. And we see that he takes them off one at a time and puts them back on again. Why? Mashiah is ready at every moment, right, to come and redeem as quickly as possible. But it depends on us. The zora says that uh the um the mashiah can nevertheless come even if the Jewish people are liable, even if they don't merit redemption. And we mentioned that we mentioned that Mashiah can come at a final stage if the Jewish people don't merit it. However, he says that even in a state where they are not entirely meritorious, but they have at least some connection to God, that can also be enough merit to bring about the coming of the Messiah. The uh Zora says in paros when the Jews are in exile, if they are meritorious, God will have mercy on them and redeem them. If not, he will keep them in exile until the time appointed for redemption. If the time arrives and they are still not meritorious, he'll redeem them even if they don't merit it for his sake. There's a midterm which says, "I have a final time for the redemption whether they do chuver or not, its time will arrive and they will be redeemed even at that final state." Uh other commentaries say that this would be applicable as long as even if the Jews are steeped in transgression as long as they're not involved in idolatry. even if they don't serve God, as long as they're not involved in idolatry, that would also be enough merit for them to be redeemed, which at least is somewhat comforting because despite the fact that we seem to be seeing the fulfillment of the qualities of the which is a denial of God, denial of the Torah, a lack of observance, as long as it doesn't go so far as idolatry, God forbid, there is still hope that it will not have to wait till last minute. and other kind other sources say that even if it's in the merit of brisma circumcision that would also be enough for God to redeem the Jewish people before the final time and it's interesting nowadays we find that even among those Jews who do not believe and in God and do not practice Torah nevertheless by and large most Jews nowadays are still committed at least to that one mitzvah of Brit and it could be therefore in the merit of Brit that Jews will be redeemed even if they're lacking and other things. Yeah, just one point. And one other source uh that's mentioned, somebody brought it up yesterday, is the teaching that if the Jewish people would just keep one chabas, then they would be redeemed. Another source says two chabases. But the point is even if they are not observant, but in the merit of keeping just one chabas, that could also be a source for or a catalyst for the redemption. Yeah. What are you going to say? So my question is about uh idolatry. Why are we just so so focused and so anti-idolatry? What does it mean idolatry? You know, some people say, you know what, I believe in God, but you know, he probably wants me to do something else. And then can't you can you say that's idolatry? What do they interpret as God? Yeah. Yeah. The reason why uh uh idolatry is considered to be such a serious and grave transgression, one of the cardinal sins, is because that's tantamount to denying God. It's one thing to say, "I'm not going to vote on filling." So, I'm not going to listen to God. But idolatry is saying, "I don't believe in God." Yeah. Or I believe that there's something else other than God. So, that's like a that's a denial of God. There's a difference. The difference not believing. Yeah. Or not practicing. They're just refraining from believing or practicing. But to proactively worship another God is actually not only denying God, but it's make denying God. God in the sense of God does not exist, but it's saying there's something other than God, which is even worse. That would be that would be a doctrine. Atheism. Yes. Uh uh not not quite because agnostic is really saying is there a god? I'm not sure. Atheist saying there's no god. That's a d of god. A even worse form of in I suppose in some ways an even worse form of atheism would be not only the denial that god does not exist but saying that god does not exist because there's something else instead. That's even worse. That's even worse. So the uh Gomorra Center says that if God if the Jewish people will however have some merit or be involved in some form of choo and repentance that will bring about their redemption, fine. If not, the Gomorrah says, God says, I will bring upon them a wicked king and this wicked king will make terrible decrees against them and they'll be forced to do chuva and this will all be the purpose of catalyzing and bring about that redemption. The question is who is this king and what does he represent? And this brings us in connection with what's described as the the four empires. This king that is destined to be raised against the Jewish people is described as the brazen king from the wicked empire. The question is who is the brazen king and what is the wicked empire? The answer to the question lies in the Torah's description of the four empires. What are the four empires? There is a story in the book of Daniel where the Babylonian king Neuzar has a dream and he doesn't understand the meaning of this dream. So he calls upon Daniel to interpret for him the dream. The verses tell us how Neadzer witnessed and and and saw his dream. The trick here was that Neadzer wanted his dream interpreter not only to interpret the dream but also to tell the king himself what it is that he dreamed. None of his Babylonian dream interpreters could do that. They said, "King, that's not how it works. You see, you tell us the dream and we interpret it. That's how it works. He says, "No, this time you're going to tell me what I dreamed, and if you can ascertain and demonstrate that you're really truly dream interpreters by telling me the dream that I dreamt, then I'll hear the interpretation." None of them could do that. Finally, in order to save their skin, they reverted to uh Daniel. And Daniel came in front of the king and said, "Your king, I don't interpret dreams. The interpretation of the dreams is to God." The king says, "Well, let God tell you the dream." and then tell me what it means. So God revealed through a dream to Daniel what it is that the king himself dreamed and then Daniel gave him the interpretation. This is significant. Why may I make this distinction? Because we'll see it's important that Nebuchadnezzar's the way he saw the dream was different than the way Daniel saw his dream. Although the same thing I'm going to give we're going to read verses for um from I'm going to read you the verses for both dreams. This is the dream according to the way Nebuetzer saw it as described by Daniel. Oh king, you were watching in a dream and behold one great image, an image which had a large base with unusual splendor was standing opposite you and its form was frightening. The image had a head of gold. Remember head gold. It had a breast and arms which are made out of silver. Okay, think of torso silver. Its belly and thighs were of copper. Okay, let's think about legs of copper. And its legs, okay, the meaning the the the lower part of the legs were made out of iron. That's four. And then five, its feet were made of a mixture of iron and clay. Okay. So, Daniel tells the king, "What you saw was this very impressive figure, a large image of a man. The head was made out of gold. The torso was made out of silver. The thighs were made out of copper. The legs were made out of iron. And the feet were made out of a mixture of iron and clay. This is the dream and its interpretation we shall res recite before you. You are the head of gold. The prophet tells Nebuer. And after res and after you will arise another kingdom of silver lower than you and another a third kingdom of copper which will rule over the entire earth and a fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron for iron crumbles and flattens everything and like iron which shatters all these it will crumble and shat shatter all that came before it. The interpreter goes on to talk about the fifth part of the dream which was the feet mixing of iron and clay but we're going to put that aside for a minute and come back to that later. But what the prophet is telling Nebuchadnezzar is you had a dream which portends four world empires. You the king of Babylon are the first the head of gold. After will come another one. Yes. That corresponds to the Persian Empire. Yeah. The torso of silver. After that will come the Greeks corresponding to the belly of the thighs of copper. After that will come the fourth empire relating to iron. And this fourth empire will demolish and pulverize anything that came before it. Right? We're going to have to see what that empire would be. But uh Daniel's vision of the dream, the one that God actually revealed to him, describes it somewhat differently. I'm not going to read through the verses verbatim, but uh in Daniel's vision of the dream, what we see is that rather than rather than um um a man, what Daniel sees is a series of four beasts. He first sees a lion and then he sees a bear. Afterwards, he's a leopard and finally he sees this fourth terrible beast which he doesn't describe as being associated with any particular animal that we know, but it has horns and eyes and teeth and it devours and demolishes everything else. So the question is what are these four I don't know uh empires or animals what are they a reference to? So the uh there's a midrash in braces ra which says on the following verse and the earth was desolate and in turmoil and there was darkness and the face of the aby and the of the abyss and the spirit of god hovered upon the face of water. This is a verse from the creation story. The midra says this this suggests four future empires. Desolate refers to Babylon where the verse says turmoil that's a reference to Persia. The verses mention of darkness is Greece and the verses mention of the abyss is the wicked empire. So we've identified again three out of the four. Okay. Babylon, Persia, Greece, and then the fourth final wicked, ferocious, terrible empire. What is this? The the brazen king will presumably be the leader of this empire. What is this? Before we answer that question, there's one interesting point here that the Maharal makes and this is addressing the different versions of the dream that Nebader had on one hand and Daniel had on the other. The um the Mar says firstly that the fact that the midrash course relates this verse of creation to the four empires suggests that the progression of the four empires is actually built into creation. Everything that the world experiences by going through these phases of the influence of these different empires on the world is something that was from the outset from the time of creation. He makes the point that creation is described as taking place through the combinations of the letters yud and hey like it says in the purse and in the verse he creates and fashes fashions universes. So from here we see that the letters yud and he the combination of yud and he describe the creative impulse and yud the letter yud different than all other letters transcends above hovers above the space the baseline that all the letters are resting upon that shows that yud represents the transcendental elevated quality of God that yud has a point pointing upward into the infinite but a point going downward towards creation that yud which is the point of God and the synapse of creation is received and directed into the letter hey and that hey like a box delineates the space of creation. So that yud and he represent the power of God to create and the bringing of that power into fruition crystallizing in the physical finite world. Hey, boxing things in. That letter hey, however, the mar points out is actually a combination itself of two letters, daled and yud. Dalid and yud. The dalid, which has the numerical equivalent, the gamatria of four, alf one, bet two, gimmel three, daled four. The letter four, excuse me, the letter daled in the h represents the temporal quality of the world. Four corners of the earth, north, south, east, and west, right? up, down, and around. So that's temporality. Within that temporality, you still have a yud. There's an element of the divine of the yud which is actually contained within the temporality of the physical world. This is manifested in the peoples of the world as well. All of the nations correspond to the doalid in that hay, the temporality in the hay, the material aspect of the physical world of creation. The Jewish people represent that divine aspect, that divine point within creation. That's the extension of yud into the he that's the little yud within the dalid implying that just as God's presence is in the physical world, the Jewish people are also under the sovereignty under the control or can at least be under the control of temporality or temporal rules. Those are those those are the empires. However, even though the Jewish people's position might be downtrodden, it might be underneath and subjugated by that four by these four empires by temporality, still their spiritual status is more elevated. And he says this is the reason why, for example, when had the dream as a non-Jewish king who was steeped in idolatry and impurity, he saw this vision, this structure of the four empires like a human being. visav the king's lower materially oriented position. These empires were viewed as being something very elevated. Gold and silver and copper. Yeah. An iron, a head, a torso, and thighs and legs. But interesting enough, when Danielle sees the dream from his elevated spiritual status, he's looking down upon the influences of the empires, the temporally directed peoples of the world, and he sees them as bears, as lions, as leopards, and as ferocious beasts. Yeah, that's because he's seeing it from an elevated spiritual possession position as opposed to uh who was seeing it from within the box and therefore he was looking up to it as something which she is impressed with. In any case, let's look into a little more detail what the significance of these empires being identified in these different ways. Either as body parts, the metal that they're made out of, and the animal that it's associated with. The first case is Babylon. Babylon, the Mar says, is corresponding to the force of the soul in a human being. And it's that reason why the Bab why Babylon is described in the dream as being corresponding to the lion. Why the lion is like the king of the animal kingdom and the soul is the elevated part of a person. The um gold is also the highest and most precious metal and therefore the Babylonian Empire the first of the four was most elevated of the four and therefore it's described as being like a lion or with having the category the c the characteristic of gold. The next one is Persia. Persia corresponds to the physical force of man. Not the spiritual force of the man but the physical force of man. And it's described therefore as a bear. A bear is very strong. A lion is ferocious but the bear is strong. The Gomorrah says that uh the Persian people, the Persian non-Jews that is are compared to bears. They are hungry like bears. They're voracious like bears. They are angry like bears. And therefore you have to be very careful of these Persian non-Jews. The Gomorrah says um and uh it's this reason that Persia is described as corresponding to the metal silver. Why? Silver in Hebrew is No. What? No. Silver. The silver. You're right. The Persian is paras. Yeah. Silver is silver. The word in Hebrew means to desire. People desire money, which is why it's called. Yeah. But but but really the root is kisuim, which is desire. And that's the point here that the Gomorra is describing the Persian Empire, the Persian people of having this type of uh uh bodily desire for for for pleasures and things like this. And it's not coincidental therefore that we find in in the book of Esther these feasts that are taking place in Persia under the opaces of King Aash where they're having 180 days consecutive of wine drinking and eating meat and all of these things. Yeah. because they are immersed in in these uh in these tabs. Yeah. Rabbi, we just called that shabbat. Say that again. We just called that. We just called the Yeah, it was only one. It's only one day. That was 100 days. No, but clearly they those were serious feasts. Yeah. Wine drinking and meeting and all the things. The third empire, Greece. Greece uh corresponds to the human power of the mind. The Greeks of course were very intellectual. They were very academic. They most of modern science is rooted in in the in the discoveries of the ancient Greeks and therefore they were very intelligent people. They're corresponding to the lion the the leopard the leopard is fierce and agile which is uh the way the mind is described being fierce and agile. The gore actually says that the Jewish people are a kenome. They're ferocious like a leopard. Why? Because their minds it's talking about their minds are ferocious as a leopard. the association of leopard with a mental ability and this then would be the description of the third empire that's Greece the leopard and copper in the in Torah sources is also viewed as being like azut which is um a type of ferocity and this would correspond to the third empire the Greek the uh fourth empire this is the one that really needs to be clarified a bit more what is it referring to we see that it's the fourth. We see that it seems to be the strongest. It's compared to iron which is the strongest metal. It's described as pulverizing anything that came before it. And that according to the midrash is uh identified as the empire of Rome. The Roman Empire is the fourth empire, the one that's referred to as the wicked empire. And in fact, the Roman Empire was the largest empire of any of those four, extending them as the largest territorial area of any of the others. And more than any of those cultures, Rome imposed either directly or indirectly the particular western approach which is the which evolved into most of what we were describing yesterday in the talk about aim and that's the quality of Rome that power to pulverize and reduce everything and to subjugate it and to overcome it and to establish its hedgeimonyy over the world. That's the quality of Rome. It's this empire that the Jewish people are going to have to butt heads with at the time of Armageddon. The wars of Gogog. That being said, there is yet a fifth empire which is also going to be reckoned with and that's described as the empire of Ishmael. The empire of Ishmael, that is the empire that is referred to in the dream as the clay, the earth, the sand. Um the reason why it's not addressed in directly in the sources and in these verses is because the commentaries note that while all of these other empires for example Persia uh Greek Greece um um excuse Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. All of these empires usurped their ability to rule from Israel. They took their power of rule from Israel. To extent to which they subjugate Israel, these four empires subjugate the Yud, that gives them the power to rule. Ishmael is something different. They have their own independent right to rule which is not as a result of usurping any power from Israel. Where does that come from? That right to rule from Avan. Ishmael got a special blessing from Ishmael got a special blessing from Av. Yes. through Ara that he should rule over the world, be a father of many nations. His seed should also be numerous like the sand. And therefore, even after we reckon with the four empires culminating in the fourth, that is of Rome, we're still going to have to deal with the parallel empire empire of Ishmael. But before we reckon with Ishmael, right, let's see how things are described as resolving themselves regarding the fourth empire that is the empire of of uh of Rome. The um midter says that the um in the end of days those of the west will become elevated meaning the nations of the western part of the world will become elevated and hotty and they're going to invade the near east until Egypt. In those days a brazen king will rise over the impoverished Jewish people and he will reign through the power of rhetoric. Regarding that period, the prophet Isaiah said, "Hide my people in your rooms." said, "When you hear of a brazen king who comes to power, don't stay there, for he will kill anyone who dares profess his faith in the one God of Israel. He will nullify times, festivals, Sabbath, Torah from Israel." And this and the mid says this is in fulfillment of the verse in Danielle, which says that this will take for a take place for a period of a year, two years, and a half year. which means a year and two years, another half year or three and a half years. There are those who make the interesting observation that this description would seem to describe what was happening in the world in World War II. The nations of the West became elevated. They rose to power. There was one brazen king who ruled over everybody through the power of rhetoric. And everybody knows, right, that Hitler's power of rhetoric was mesmerizing, hypnotizing, and he gained the ardent support of millions of Germans and ultimately the support of other nations as well outside of Germany. And he rose against the Jewish people in order to nullify their times, their Torah, their festivals, and their observances. Anybody, any Jew who would profess the belief in God had to flee. And if he didn't, it would be guaranteed to die. A fulfillment of this midish from so many years ago. And there are those who say that this is an indication that the wars of go already took place. And that was actually what we went what the world experienced in World War II, which would mean from World War II on after the war after the war of of Armageddon, the world is actually supposed to be getting better. And one could argue perhaps that's the case. Afterwards, the Jews started returning to the land of Israel. There is a Jewish renaissance, interest in Jewish culture, Jewish practices, even Jewish religion, and things might be moving in in in a better direction. So perhaps we've already been perhaps we've gone through the worst and it's only get better. But in case that but but but but if that's not the case, we'll still have to locate who the wicked king would be, what the wicked empire would be, and when in the future will the Jewish people um um uh uh clash with uh with this with this ruler of the wicked empire and where that's ultimately going to pan out regarding um the Ishmael's parallel right to rule as well. And that's where we're going to go shortly. What were you going to say? I was going to say that during World War II, they weren targeting those who profess their Judaism in any way, even those that assimilated and wanted to be just part of uh other nations. Yeah. Yeah, that's also true. Yeah, that's also true. Yeah, that's also true. That didn't count. Even if you had a little bit of a trace of Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Maybe the point here would be that um his his real animosity is directed against those who profess the faith or represent the profession of the the the the you know, the expression of that faith. even if any individual does not. But he was against the Jews, against the people of Israel. If you're a member of Israel, scat, get out of there as soon as you can because what are you gonna say? So earlier you said that um the Messiah would would come back if all the Jews would be able to keep Shabas for one or or two days depending on the interpretation. So um as a consequence of World War II, obviously you know the Jewish um population united um behind the you know coming back and making aliyah to Israel. And so, um, the another rabbi, Rabbi Mandel, was making the point the other day where we're experiencing kind of like a cultural holocaust throughout the world in terms of like Jews who are moving away from Judaism. So from the point of like the Messiah returning, would that be almost I don't want to say positive, but more um in the direction of the Msiah returning, if we're just left with um the religious Jews who are in Israel as opposed to like the ones who are, you know, not associating themselves as Jewish but not like, you know, keeping the mitzvah. I wouldn't uh think that we should go so far as to say that there's a uh weeding out process where the Jews are becoming uh less less in numbers but but better quality Jews than those who are not because um what we actually see in the sources that um ultimately when Msiah comes there's going to be a redemption not only of the entire Jewish people observant and observant there's actually going to be a redemption of the lost tribes who are intermingled among the non-Jews for millennia and are described as even being idolattors, they'll nevertheless be identified by Mashiach as a descendant of the Jewish people, a remnant of the 12 tribes come back. So if the lost tribes are going to be drawn back, I would imagine all the more so the the the the identifiable Jews and even those Jews who identify all the more so those Jews which identify with Judaism, even if they're not observant, they're all going to be brought back as many as possible. They were lost to due to intermarriage. Yeah. The tribes. Yes. They they lost. How do we not recognize them as Jewish? Who's they? People who are born from inter marriage. Uh they're not. Oh, so in the case of the Messiah's bringing back the lost tribes, they'll have to go through conversion. Yes, they are considered to be holically not Jewish, but they're remnants of the tribes and they will be drawn back to Judaism. And in that case, they they'll have to go through conversion. The word discusses that. It's a good point. Grand grand. Yeah. Way way way. Yes. But Messiah is going to have that spiritual insight and be able to see that guy has got the spiritual genes of the tribe. He's one of the tribes. Yeah. Where's the beginning? He said something about 6,000 years. Where's the beginning of what the 12 tribes? Is that I was wondering what No, I I felt like I missed that a little bit. Um uh oh well yet remember yes yesterday we discussed how um the from creation let's say we mark the the year zero and um all of world history that we've been discussing now is described as taking place within 6,000 years and Messiah should come before then. If he doesn't then it'll then Mashiach will come and the redemption will occur even uh um um will occur by the no later than the year 6000. And right now we're in the year 5,775. So you guys made a calculation yesterday. You can do it yourself. 225 years. Mashia is coming in the next 200 years. The Mashiah is going to come because the Gmorrah says that Mashiah will come by the end of the 6,000th year. Says in the Torah, not in the Torah, but in the Gmorrah in the translation and uh which means we got 225 years left. Rabbi, we have to increase the life expectancy. Well, we have to work really hard because we want Msiah. What are you going to say? I wasn't. Oh, is this the first prediction? So, meaning because we hear so many predictions about when the world's going to be over and stuff. So, is this the first Jewish prediction to say or kamora prediction to say when it's coming? The the Gora doesn't tell us a specific time when it will come. It just tells us when the the the specific time, yes, the maximum time by which it will the Mishia will come. So, it doesn't tell us doesn't pinpoint a specific time when it will come, but it tell us a time when certainly by then it will come. The end time. professed previous and been wrong. Oh, so we discussed that yesterday. Yes, there has been um um what's the word what I'm looking for? Projections uh and but they were not fulfilled. And I just made the point that uh we don't necessarily have to say that they were wrong, but rather they foresaw junctures in time which were propitious for the coming of Messiah, but the generation didn't actually merit it. So, it didn't take place. And what about this one with 6,000? So that that like like I said here whether they mer it or not it's going to happen until that time right they may merit they might they might merit we might merit it coming right we might merit the bringing of the Msiah at any time we want Mashiah now but if we don't merit it and the Mashiah doesn't come it'll come no mashia will come no later than the year 6000 which means no later than 225 years generations down doesn't happen then well so so we said yesterday whoever's alive then is going to have to deal with Yeah, but it's but it's our belief that that that it will happen. This projection is different from the other projections. Yes. Because not only that, that's one point. And the other point is that the is telling you the final time. It's not it's not pinpointing a specific time. It's just telling you it can't mashia will come no later than that. Anywhere before that. It can I mean it can happen anywhere before that, but no later than that. That's a final time. Yeah, that's a final time. So in the remaining time that we have left be riots. What's that? There's going to be riots. There could very well be riots and that would be that that that would be nothing compared to what there could be. If things play out in the negative way like we saw yesterday the sources say that things will be even worse than any of the calamities that the Jewish people ever experienced. Said maximum 10 more years instead of 200. Is it 10 more years? I would be doing two lectures a day. I did two thing. I do two lectures a day instead of one. Yeah. Everybody has to do everything they can to salvation for everything. Well, we don't want it to happen in a bad way. That would be taken in a bad way by a lot of people. That that would be very likely. We don't want it to happen that way. We want to bring it about in a good way. We don't want it to be forced upon us in in a harmful way. So, what do you do? You prevent that. No, not for yourself, for others. everybody if you know that there's a high possibility that other people are oh well I'm forgiven for everything in five years they won't be not every not necessarily will be and in fact I think we should at this point go on in in order to see what actually is prophecied as what will be if it turns out to be in the bad way and then we can discuss it more once we actually see what the sources say about that. So the sources actually go on to say that this brazen king of the fourth empire is described as Gog. The verses refer to Gog as the leader of an empire which is called Mog. So the wars of Gog and Mog are not the wars between Gog and Mog, but actually it's the wars of Gog, who's the ruler, and Mog, his people, against the Jewish people. It might involve a war with other nations first, but the purpose is ultimately to get to the Jewish people. And this, remember, is a this is a divinely appointed king and nation directed specifically against the Jewish people in order to persecute them with the purpose of giving them no other choice but to turn back to God. Okay. Who is this Gog and who is this Mog? Gogo, Gog and Mog. In addition, in addition to this king being described as Gog, leading Mog, he's also referred in the verses as the king of the north, which would suggest that Gog is the leader of a nation somewhere in the north of Israel, which would be located at somewhere in the area of Central Asia, maybe a little bit to the west, Europe, Eastern Europe. Yeah, maybe a little bit to the east towards Afghanistan or Iran. Yeah, somewhere to the north of Israel. Another term that's used to refer to this king is Arlus. Arlus is described as being a um a a a a form of the of the of the term Romulus, Ramulus would be the leader of Rome. And the explanation here is just as the leader of the Jewish people in the future is Messiah and we refer to Messiah as Ben Davidid, the son of David. So this wicked king, the king of the north, this Gog is described as Ramulus establishing his connection to Rome, his forefather. Okay? So wherever this king is, wherever the nation is, it's somehow an extension of ancient Rome, which would like I said somewhere either in in Europe or central Asia or something like this. What are some of the more what are some more details about this? We find in Yez 38:3 the following. Behold, God says, "I am against you, Gog of Mog, the head of a place called Meek and Tuval. And I shall unbridle you, and I shall put hooks into your jaws and bring you forth, and all of your enemy, excuse me, all of your army, your horses, and your riders, all of them clothed in finery, a great assembly with accompanying shields, all of them grasping swords. And it's also going to include Paras and Kush and Put all of them with armaments and helmets. And then there's Gome and another place called Togma. So we have here a description of Gog and his coalition. Gog is the leader of Mog and a coalition of other nations. Let's see what some of the sources do in terms of identifying what this coalition of nations are who is being described as being drawn by God with a hook in its mouth towards Israel in order to wage war. Like I said before, the purpose if the world turns out in this event, right? The purpose is to bring this coalition against the Jewish people in order to give them no option other than to return. So who are these people? So first of all Mog the midish in bracious Rabba says that Mog is Gamia Gamia Germany. Yeah. So here have a source now already from 2,000 years ago which identifies Gog Mog as Germany. And that would lend credence to what we said before about the possibility of Hitler and Nazi Germany uh being Gog and and and leading leading the the nation of Mog which was actually the head of a coalition of nations against who? The Jewish people. The usual also says the US also identifies Mog as a Germanic people. That's an interesting point. Um, Meek is described by the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmet as a place called Musa or Musa. And there are those who say that Musia is located in the area of central Europe. And some make the connection between Musia and Rousia, Russia or Musia and Moscow, right? Which would seem to suggest that somehow Russia either was or will be part of this coalition. Tuval is another nation that mentioned there the Midash and also the Talmud Babli the Babylonian and the Jerusalem Talmud all identify this place as Turkey. Uh unfortunately uh Turkey is not one of our greatest friends nowadays either and who knows uh whether the relations will deteriorate any further or not but Turkey is also described as being part of this coalition and then of course Paras is obviously Persia. Yeah, that's interesting one. Yeah, Iran. Yeah, Iran is certainly part of the coalition of nations against the Jewish people today. And then there's Kush. Kush is generally identified as Africa. Uh but it might not be subquitarian Africa. It might be a reference to northern Africa and nations like Egypt or Tunisia or Morocco or Somalia or I don't know any of those other nations who might be um uh interested in turning hatred against the Jews. And then put is also described as being North Africa. Gomer Gomer is also described as being either North Africa or Germany. So you see this list of this coalition is identified as being nations that might have to do with Germany or Russia or Turkey or Iran or North Africa or North African countries. This coalition of nations which is poised to attack the people of Israel. What's going to happen once this coalition amasses in order to attack Israel? They're going to first have to interact with the empire which rules this part of the world which is Ishmael. So, the forces of Gog and Mog are going to have to interact with the empire of Ishmael before they're able to exact their punishment or their wrath against the Jewish people. Where does Ishmael fit into this? The zora says in the future the children of Ishmael just as their circumcision is empty and incomplete. What this means to say is that according to Islam there is a commandment to circumcise based on the practices of Abraham's circumcising Ishmael but they do not do a complete circumcision as Jews do. They remove the foreskin but not the subcutaneous layer of skin underneath that as well. The Jews require both what's called ma and priya. a cutting of the skin and a tearing of the subcutaneous layer of skin. They're not particular about doing this. So just like their mitzvah of mil is incomplete, their rule over the land will also take place when the land is incomplete, when it's desolate and uninhabited. A prophecy of the fact that when the Jews are exiled, the descendants of Ishmael, the Arabs, will come and invade and inhabit the land of Israel. And we're told here in the zor already from so long ago that they will hinder the Jews return to the land of Israel. And we see that certainly was fulfilled. The prior makes another another a midash also preceding Islam makes the following observation. The descendants of Ishmael are destined to do 15 things in the land of Israel in the end of days. Measure the land with ropes. And the Ottoman Empire was the first modern empire that did anything about ctography and trying to organize and measure the land of Israel. They're going to make Jewish cemeteries a place of pasture and refugees. We know that's certainly true. Even in own times after the war of independence, the Arab occupied areas of Israel uh use Jewish cemeteries and synagogues as places of pasture for their animals. They're going to measure the tops of the hills, increase lies, propaganda, suppress the truth, deny the law of Israel, which grants the land of Jews, grants the land to the Jews. All of this is already prophesied from so long ago. Increase the transgressions of Israel. Meaning they're going to magnify the transgressions of Israel, saying the Jewish the Jews are doing this and the Jews are doing that. The pen and paper will wither on account of their fraudulent claims. The stone of kingship will be nullified. They're going to build the destroyed cities. Yeah. And so much of Jewish archaeology archaeology depends on locating Arab villages. And once you find Arab villages, you can actually very often use the Arabic names to find what ancient Jewish city was on that spot. The Arabic na version of it, right, indicates that it was actually built on the foundations of the Jewish city. They're going to plant gardens and orchards, repair the walls of the temple mount in the city. and King Sulleane, right, rebuilt all of the old city. The magnificent walls we see today of the old city is all because of of that. And here it was prophesized they're going to build a building on the site of the temple and two princes will rule over them in the end. I don't know who they will be, but the mid tells us after that Messiah will come. So what we're told is that ultimately Ishmael who has gained ownership rulership over the land of Israel is going to make a pact with Gog and Mog. And this pact is going to initially be directed against the Jewish people. Daniel says, and this is a reference to the the the prophecy we saw earlier, and what you saw, the feet and the toes, which were partly of clay and partly of iron. Remember in the vision, the feet of iron and clay? So, it will be a divided kingdom. Meaning this pact that's made between the European powers and the Middle Eastern powers will be a divided kingdom. Why? Because the part of the kingdom will be strong corresponding to the iron and part of it will be fragile which will be the sand the clay and what you saw iron mixed with clay that reveals that they will mingle but they will not cleave one to the other as iron does not mix with clay. The question is why does iron the European powers have to find make any type of a pact with the kingdoms of Ishmael which are clay? They're powerful and wealthy and what is clay? What is sand? It's nothing. What's what's the impetus behind that pact? The answer is in order to fuel all of that iron, you need what's underneath the sand? Oil. Oil. So our sources from so long ago are already prophesizing the fact that there will be a pact between the powerful nations of iron which need the fuel which is underneath the lands of Ishmael. And that will create a temporary fusion where they won't mix but there'll be some type of pact where they need each other. The one needs the one's fuel and the other needs the other's iron. And the fuel and the iron will make this pact. But just as iron and clay don't mix. It crumbles and falls apart. So this union ultimately will be fragile and it'll fall apart and that's going to initiate a period of war and conflict between Europe and the Middle East. And the midrish in Pirzar says the following. At this time Ishmamail will launch three startling attacks at the end of days. Three startling attacks at the end of days. Let's see if we can perhaps identify these attacks as having taken place in our times. one in the forest regions of Arabia. Arabia has sand, not forest. If you identify a forest region in Arabia, what would you identify? I would suggest perhaps Afghanistan and all the wars between the Western powers in Afghanistan. One attack is going to be by sea, the Gulf War perhaps, and one in a major city of Adom. Adom is a general reference to a Europeanbased nation, right? What major city has been attacked by the forces of Ishmael? New York. The Twin Towers. Interesting. European. Yeah. I mean, the United States is an extension of Europe. Yeah. So, after this last one, Msiah will come. So, if if we've identified the world events properly, Msiah is not far away. Uh um what is what's that? Um okay. So the the mixture of iron and clay that's the last empire before. Yes. So um that's the last right historical period. Right. Right. So if if we were trying to identify which three events were were making up you know this last empire then then obviously you know we still haven't hit those um events yet if if the mashia hasn't appeared. Well I mean it's not necessarily going to be automatic. You're talking about you're talking about history which is spanning over thousands thousands of years. Well, okay. Okay. So, um so we're in this we we're in this period of the intermingling of power of Rome on one hand mean the power of Europe, Western powers and the Middle Eastern powers. I guess where I'm lost is that that's the last empire and then there's no more empires after that. Well, we have to see. I I see because there's nothing left in the Gomorrah, right? What's that? There's nothing left in the Gammora about like another empire after. That's right. This is the this is the final stage. This is driving the final stage. But that doesn't mean which would which would also well well since this period described in the end of days and we're 225 years away from the year 600, right? There seems to be a a coincidence. So like the gap is getting smaller essentially. Yes. Yes. Yeah. This would be an indication that we are in the end of days. We are approaching the end. It could be any time now. It could be any day. It could be any year. It could be any decade. It could be in a century. But the point is it's not a thousand years away. It's not a millennia. This is this is the final this is the final stage, right? Given the larger scam scheme of things, 10 years or even 100 years is not that long. Yeah. Now um the um um the zor says similarly in the future the children of Israel will instigate strong wars in the world and the children of Edom will gather against them and wage war against them. Meaning the Arabian countries will attack the western countries and those western countries that have been attacked will wage war one by sea. again per perhaps suggesting the Persian Gulf, one by land perhaps Afghanistan, and one near the land of Israel. And Edom will rule over them, but they will not yet possess the land of Israel. Meaning the European countries will overcome the Arab countries, but they will not gain entry into the land of Israel. At that point, what happens is these attacking European nations, these coalition of nations which are intending to attack Israel will falter. They're going to falter. Gog, it says in Daniel, tidings will terrify him from the east and from the north. What does it mean from the east? meaning Gog with his coalition which is poised to attack Israel, the Jewish people, land of Israel is he falters. He stops. Why? Because he hears tidings from the east and from the north. Ramban explains the tidings that he hears from the east is a reference to the returning of the lost tribes of Israel that have been exiled into the far east. That's where they're located. And the point here is as follows. That even though we've been talking about Messiah, that's Messiah Ben David. But there's another Mashiach called Mashiach Ben Yseph. And this is because David is from the tribe of Judah who turned out to be the primary son of Leia. But Jacob had another primary wife, as we mentioned yesterday, who was Rachel. And her primary son was Joseph. Which means that each of these primary wives, Leia and Rachel, had a primary son who has right to rule. The one is expressed in Mashiach Ben Davidid coming from the tribe of Judah. But there's also Mashiach Ben Yseph. The difference is that Mashiach Ben Yosesef is going to arouse the Jewish people in a physical sense. And that's going to preede Mashiach Benelid's arousing of the Jewish people in a in a spiritual sense. It's at this period then when Gog and his coalition are gathered and poised to attack the Jews in Israel that Mashiach Ben Yosesef is going to bring those lost Jews from the lost tribes in the east back towards Israel and all of a sudden Gog and his coalition are going to see all of these returning Jews and their flanks and he falters. He's also going to falter from the north. What is the north? The zora says that there will be a nation which comes from the other end of the world in defense of the Jewish people who have now been encircled by this coalition and this great nation from across the globe that comes to the Jewish people's defense will cause GOG to falter. I would perhaps submit that that's a reference to the involvement of the US. Yes. The United States is coming to Israel's defense. But what's going to happen, our sources say, is that ultimately that faltering of Gog is only temporary. But really what's going to happen is Gog is going to rally. And to take your point in a minute, Gog is described as nevertheless gathering forces. He attacks the returning Jews under the leadership of Mashiach Ben Yoseph. and Arlus who is Gog the king of the north kills Mashiach Ben Yseph. That's one thing and the second thing is he then turns his forces against the evading army from across the world and defeats them as well. So now Israel has got its back to the wall. They can't go anywhere. They can't do anything. And then the verse in Daniel says, "And Gog will pitch his palial tents between the seas and the beautiful holy mountain, and Israel will come to his end, and no one will help him. Israel will be surrounded. And they have no one to rely upon whatsoever." At that point, they can't go forward, they can't go backwards, they can't go this way, that way, they can't go up, they can't go down. Which way are they going to go? Where will they direct their hopes for salvation? Hashem. At that point, Daniel says, "Miko, the great prince, the angel of God who stands over the children of Israel shall stand up. And at that time, your people will escape everyone who is found is inscribed in the book." Who are those who are inscribed in the book? Those who inscribe themselves in the book. How so? By expressing their belief in God and their commitment to the book. The book is the Torah. Those people will be saved. And then the verse in Zakaria says, "The houses shall be plundered, the women shall be ravished, and half of the city of Jerusalem shall go forth into exile, and the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city." Meaning only half of the Jewish people remain. Those who are obstinately, brazenly deniers of God will be cut off. But those who will return and will accept the sovereignty of God, they will be miraculously saved. Then we're told that God destroys Gog and his coalition. The verse in Yez chapter 38 that he says, "And I chapter 38, and I will judge against Gog with pestilence and with blood and rain bringing floods and great hailstone and fire and brimstone will I rain down upon him and upon his hordes and upon the many peoples that are with him. And I will reveal myself in greatness and in my holiness and will be recognized in the eyes of many nations and they will know that I am the Lord God." So God intervenes here on the Jewish people's behalf and the glory of God is proclaimed through destruction of Gog and his coalition to the rest of the nations. Continues and says in chapter 39, then the inhabitants of the cities of Israel will go forth and make fires and heat up with weapons and bucklers and encompassing shields the bows and the arrows and the hand saves and the spears and burn them as fire for seven years. Meaning there's going to be so much munitions that were brought by this coalition against the Jewish people that after the war when the Jews collect these weapons, they're going to burn them to destroy them for seven years. It's going to take seven years to destroy all those weapons. And there'll be and there they're going to bury Gog and all of his hordes. And they shall call it the valley of of of of Hong And seven months will it take for Israel to bury this dead in order to purify the land. Not only take seven years to burn the weapons, it's going to take seven years to burn all of the hordes of Gog and Mog who were left dead in their attack against the Jews in the land of Israel. And all this is for the purpose of purifying the land of Israel from the defilement of these dead bodies. And then we're going to see the uh fulfillment the final fulfillment of this prophecy. Nebuchadnezzar concludes by saying you were watching until a stone was heuned without hands. This is the end of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar which we haven't seen yet. There he says you saw here an image and on the image it struck its feet. Iron and clay crumbled them. Then the iron, the clay, the copper, the silver and the gold, they crumbled together and they were like chaff from the threatening fors of the summer. And the wind carried them off. Meaning a reference to the removal of all of these world empires, Greece and Rome and Babylon and Persia. And in those days, the kings, the God of heaven, will set up a kingdom forever, and it will not be destroyed. And the kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crumble and destroy and all these kingdoms and it will stand forever. And that corresponds to a reference in the dream where Nebuchadnezzar saw hands coming out of air, making a stone and using that stone to crumble this image, this image of the four parts. And that's a reference to the God, the hands of God being introduced back into the world, bringing in that stone, the stone tablets, the tablets of Torah that were revealed at Sinai. And the power of Torah is going to crumble all of these impure non-Jewish influences which had sway over the world. And at that point, there's going to be a reintroduction of the spirit of God into the world. The Jewish people will then become ignited as the light of the nations. And that will bring about ultimately the final redemption. In the next part of the series, we're going to be talking about that stage on what happens when you have Messiah and the ushering in of the world to come. That'll be uh the continuation of the series. [Music]