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“The spirit of our nostrils, the Messiah of the L-RD, was captured in their traps; Of whom we said: ‘Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.’”
-Lamentations 4:20
“how Your enemies, O L-RD, have flung abuse,
-Psalms 89:52
abuse at Your Messiah at every step.”
At the end of Heikhalot Rabbati, a foundational text of Jewish Kabbalah composed between 100 BCE and 900 CE, and narrated primarily by Rabbi Ishmael, detailed descriptions of the Messiah and Redemption are given.
“And Zerubbabel said in haste: “Come upon me—where is the Rock of the worlds?” And he answered me from the doors of heaven and said to me: “You are Zerubbabel.” And I said: “I am.” And he answered and spoke to me as a man speaks with his fellow, and he spoke to me very many upright words. And I said to him: “Who are you, my lord?” And he said to me: “I am Metat-ron, prince of the host of the Lord; and He placed His name as his name.” And he showed me a man like a beautiful and adorned child (tinuk), and he Metat-ron said to me: “This is the Messiah of the L-rd, and this one was born to the house of David, and the L-rd hid him to be a ruler over Israel… and the spirit carried him and placed him in Nineveh, the city of blood—that is Rome—until the time of the end.”
-Heikhalot Rabbati 33
‘Tinuk’ (‘child’) is the same Gematria (numerical value) as, ‘Messiah son of Joseph’ (566) and the same Hebrew letters as ‘Vatican’ (in Rome). In other Jewish sources, the Messiah son of Joseph is called, ‘tinuk.’
“And thus, it is said that the two Messiahs are already revealed on Earth: Messiah ben Yosef and Messiah ben David. This is the statement of the Tanna from the house of Elijah: “The child (‘tinuk’) I resurrected is the Messiah ben Ephraim.””
-Alshich HaKadosh, Shoshanat HaAmakim on Song of Songs 2:10
“… one year before a week—the Holy One, blessed be He, sends a messenger [the Messiah] to Israel in security, tranquility, joy, gladness, and delight. It is a poor generation that has no merit; rather, they stand and protest against him. Robbers and apostates, they disgrace in the markets and in the streets, and they say about him things that the ear cannot hear. At that time the Holy One, blessed be He, says thus: ‘They have not yet been enslaved with enslavements, and they seek more!’ Immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, becomes angry and imprisons the Messiah… Again the Holy One, blessed be He, gives Israel even more an opening of the mouth against him [the Messiah], and they say to one another: ‘Know that That Man was mistaken and was leading Israel astray—did Pharaoh imprison Moses that this messenger was imprisoned?’
-Heikhalot Rabbati 33
Here it says that the people of Israel “stand and protests against” the Messiah when he is sent by G-d. As a result, G-d imprisons the Messiah. During his imprisonment, Israel says that the Messiah “was mistaken and was leading Israel astray.”
“In the first year that he [the Messiah] is confined, they proclaim about him in all the towns of Israel, and the mighty ones of Torah and the mighty ones of livelihood gather against him, and they conspire against him and mar his appearance, as it is said: ‘So marred was his appearance more than any man’ (Isaiah 52:14). And none stand for him except the sleepers of the dust, as it is said: ‘And many of those who sleep in the dust shall awaken’ (Daniel 12:2). And the dead of the world say to one another: ‘Perhaps our hope has passed and been annulled.’ A heavenly voice goes forth and says: ‘Do not fear; by his merit you stand.’ And in those years that he is confined, the mighty ones of Torah of the city gather, but the men of faith cease, and the towns of wisdom stop, and a generation stands empty: no heads of academies to protect you, nor faithful companions and pious men [chasidim] to nullify the decree. The heavens are locked and the gates of livelihood are closed…”
-Heikhalot Rabbati 33
“The first decree is this: the uprooting of mountains—whoever has a son, the son denies his father; whoever has a field, denies it. The first decree is that wicked Edom [Rome], which is destined to rule over Israel nine months, as it is said: ‘I have sworn to the house of Eli’ (I Samuel 3:14)—this teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, swore that wicked Edom would rule at the final end from end to end. And you must learn what their decrees are: they double the decrees upon the mighty of Torah elevenfold; whoever gives ten silver denarii, they demand from him ten denarii of gold; and whoever does not have, they cut from his flesh ten denarii of flesh. And they decree that they shall not circumcise their sons, nor observe the laws of menstruation, and whoever mentions the name of the Holy One, blessed be He—they cut off his head.
“A third decree: they need not wage war, but by their appearance all die. They have seven eyes: two like every man, one on his head, one on his forehead, one between his shoulders, one in his heart, and one in his navel, as it is said: ‘Behold the stone… upon one stone are seven eyes’ (Zechariah 3:9). At that time Israel cries and says with one voice: ‘Happy is he who was not created; happy are the earlier generations that did not see this!’ And why all this? Because the mighty of Torah did not believe at first and did not remember the Lord… And even the Holy One, blessed be He, does not move from His place at that time. They surround the world from its four directions, and each one of Israel has nowhere to flee, as it is said: ‘Where shall I go from Your spirit?’ (Psalms 139:7). This is what they said: ‘Woe to the generation in which the messiah is revealed.’“
-Heikhalot Rabbati 34
While the Messiah is “hid, imprisoned in Rome until the time of the end,” Rome rules over Israel and decrees that Israel cannot circumcise their sons or practice their religion. Why did these terrible decrees fall on Israel and were “the Heavens locked?” Because in the “generation in which the Messiah is revealed,” “the mighty of Torah did not believe,” but “in all the towns of Israel… they conspire against him [the Messiah] and mar his appearance [Isaiah 52].” This is exactly what happened in the generation following Yeshua when harsh decrees befell the Jewish People at the hands of the Romans. Only the dead stand for the Messiah and they stand because of the Messiah’s “merit.”
“And the Holy One, blessed be He, stands to bring the Messiah himself out of prison, as it is said: ‘You went forth for the salvation (Yesha) of Your people’ (Habakkuk 3:13), and it is written: ‘From prison he came forth to reign’ (Ecclesiastes 4:14). But when he comes out of the prison and looks at all the armies gathered against him, he trembles and says: ‘Who can stand against all these armies?’ At that time he brings armies from Israel and comes to Babylon and seeks mercy; and all Israel disgrace him, turn away from him, and say: ‘Woe to the one who was imprisoned… —he says “I am a messenger,” and now that they brought him out of prison he stands and seeks mercy!’ At that disgrace with which they disgrace him, the Holy One, blessed be He, answers him, as it is said: ‘Now I know that the L-rd saves His Messiah’ (Psalms 20:7), and all fall beneath him, as it is said: ‘They have bowed and fallen’ (Psalms 20:9).”
-Heikhalot Rabbati 34
Even after G-d brings the Messiah out of prison, “all Israel disgrace him, turn away from him.”
“Afterward the Holy One, blessed be He, seats him in His bosom and embraces him and kisses him, and his radiance darkens from end to end, and the mighty of Torah and all Israel say to one another: ‘How much we erred; he bore our sins and we did not know,’ as it is said: ‘All we like sheep have gone astray’ (Isaiah 53:6). Afterward He comforts him and his mourners, as it is said: ‘I have seen his ways and will heal him’ (Isaiah 57:18), and ‘to proclaim the year of favor of the Lord’; and by Zechariah it is said: ‘Behold, a day comes for the Lord’ (Zechariah 14:1)… The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: ‘Ephraim, my righteous Messiah, I also desire to do so, but I spared your honor.’ Immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, takes two iron collars and places them upon the shoulders of the Messiah and says to him: ‘One for the sin of your generation, and one for the nations of the world.’ At that time Israel again turns to another opinion and disgraces the Messiah and says: ‘Woe to us that we followed this madman.’ The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: ‘Madman you call him? Now you will see his light that was going around him,’ as it is said: ‘A fire goes before Him, and around Him it storms greatly’ (Psalms 50:3), and whoever believed in him [the Messiah] is not erased from the Book of Life, as it is said: ‘At that time your people shall be delivered’ (Daniel 12:1).”
-Heikhalot Rabbati 35
Only after the Messiah is brought out of prison in Rome and wholly embraced by G-d do “the mighty of Torah and all Israel” recognize, “how much we erred; he [the Messiah] bore our sins and we did not know,” and, “whoever believed in him [the Messiah] is not erased from the Book of Life.” Still, the Messiah is “disgraced” and called a, “madman,” by Israel.
“when He looked at the suffering of the Messiah all those years, immediately ‘suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to His temple’ (Malachi 3:1)... Another explanation: ‘Thus said the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One’—toward whom did Isaiah say this verse? He said it only concerning Israel, whom the Holy One, blessed be He, separated from the seventy nations, as it is said: ‘Israel is holy to the Lord, the first fruits of His produce’ (Jeremiah 2:3). But because our iniquities have multiplied, they fell to the depths of the earth—‘The virgin of Israel has fallen; she shall rise no more’ (Amos 5:2). And who is destined to raise her up? The Messiah, who clothes all his enemies with shame and humiliation; and when the nations of the world see [this], they kneel and bow before him, as it is said: ‘Kings shall see and arise’ (Isaiah 49:7).
And you must learn: when the Messiah reveals himself, does he reveal himself as flesh and blood, or does he reveal himself as an angel? It is already explained by Daniel: ‘And behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man came’ (Daniel 7:13). This teaches that they hand over to him five hundred myriads of wheels of light, and with him the holy living creatures, seraphim, and cherubim [angels]. And when the nations of the world see him, at that moment they say to one another: “Perhaps this is the one of whom they say that he is the Messiah?” And he says to them: “I am he, the Messiah,” and all of them fall beneath the soles of his feet, as it is said: ‘And I will crush before him his adversaries, and I will strike those who hate him’ (Psalms 89:24). ‘And I will crush before him his adversaries’—these are the Persians, who boil the spirit of Israel like flesh within a pot; ‘and those who hate him I will strike’—these are the kings of wicked Edom, whose recompense the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to return upon their own heads, as it is said: ‘I will render vengeance to My adversaries, and will repay those who hate Me’ (Deuteronomy 32:41).”
… Immediately they say to one another: “Now what remedy do we have? Come, let us bring a gift to the Messiah; perhaps he will be favorable to us.” Immediately they bring a gift and come before him, as it is said: ‘The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts’ (Psalms 72:10). He says to them: “What am I, and what is my kingdom? Go and present [it] to the Holy One, blessed be He.” They say to him: “Does the Holy One, blessed be He, accept a bribe? Does He not punish one who accepts a bribe? Why did you transgress the command and accept a bribe?”
They say to him: “Now what remedy do we have?” He says to them: “There is a remedy—Gehinnom is there.” They say to him: “What is it like, and what is it comparable to?” He says to them: “There are good gifts in it—fire and brimstone, darkness and gloom.” They say to him: “Is there no mercy in your judgment? Is the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, too short?” He says to them: “I too judge you on mission [from Him]. In the measure that you did to My children, so I do to you.” At that moment the prince of Gehinnom [Hell] calls to him and says: “Ephraim, my righteous Messiah, enough conversation with them.” Immediately the Messiah grasps the four corners of the earth and shakes them into Gehinnom, like a person who shakes his garment from dust, as it is said: ‘To grasp the corners of the earth…’ (Job 38:13).
-Heikhalot Rabbati 36, 38
After the Messiah’s suffering in prison, he comes with clouds and angels to raise Israel, who has fallen “because our iniquities have multiplied,” and cast the wicked of the world into Hell.
“And forty years before the Messiah, son of David, whose name was Menahem son of Ammiel, came, Nehemiah son of Hushiel, a man of Ephraim son of Joseph, came and stood in Jerusalem, and all Israel gathered to him. There, each man with his household gathered, and the children of Israel offered a sacrifice and made a vow to the Lord, and the children of Israel related themselves to their families. And forty years after Nehemiah son of Hushiel, Shiddowei king of Persia came up and stabbed Nehemiah son of Hushiel in Jerusalem, and all Israel mourned him with great mourning and weeping. And after that, the wife of Nathan the prophet son of David came, Cheftziba. And these signs come in the month of Av, on the sixth day of the month, Shiddowei king of Persia stabbed Nehemiah in Jerusalem, and he afflicted Israel with mourning and great distress, and they were scattered into the wilderness of Jerusalem to fulfill the mourning of Nehemiah alone and for forty days his corpse would be thrown out at the gates of Jerusalem, and man, beast, animal, and bird would not be able to touch him. And after forty days, the Holy One, blessed be He, buried him in the tombs of the house of Judah.
“And I, Zerubbabel, continued to ask Metat-ron and Michael, prince of the host of the Lord, concerning the covenant with the holy ones. And he said to me: ‘This calf—there it shall lie down and consume its branches [clear acronym of ‘Yeshu, Yeshua’]’ (Isaiah 27:10). And this fortress was the city of Nineveh, the city of blood—it was great Rome.
And I said to him: ‘My lord, until when is the end of the wonders?’ (Daniel 12:6). And he clung to me and seized my hand and brought me to the house of disgrace, and he showed me there a stone which had a face like the appearance of a virgin who had not known a man, and exceedingly beautiful. And he said to Zerubbabel: ‘What do you see?’ And I said to him: ‘I see a statue of stone, and the likeness of its face is like a beautiful woman.’ And he answered and said to me—the man who was speaking with me said: ‘This statue was the wife of Belial; and when Belial knew the statue, she conceived and bore—this is Armilus. And he will be the head of all idolatry. And he will be entirely deformed on one side, for half of him is from the stone and half of him from Belial; and the half that is from the stone will be sealed like the appearance of stone.’
And this matter was in the prophecy of the Lord to Zerubbabel, and my soul was greatly distressed. And I arose and went to the head of the waters, and there was an appointed place for the Lord, God of Israel—and He is the God of all flesh—and He sent His angel. And still prayer was in my mouth, and I did not cease; and I saw that He was speaking with me all the former words. And I knelt and bowed to the Lord. And He answered and said to me: ‘Ask for yourself before I go from you.’ And I continued to ask him about the Messiah of the Lord. And I said to him: ‘When will Israel come?’ And he answered and said to me: ‘As the Lord lives, who sent me and who appointed me over Israel, now I will tell you the work of the Lord; for the holy God said them to me: Go and inform Zerubbabel My servant of what he asks.’
And he said: ‘Draw near to me, and I will speak to you a word of G-d. Know that Menahem son of Amiel will come on the fourteenth of Nisan, and he will stand upon the valley. And Menahem son of Amiel will answer and say to the elders: I am he—the Messiah of the L-rd—who has sent me to bring you good tidings.’”
And the elders looked, for he was despised and dressed in rags, they scorned him as she had scorned the elders, for he was despised, and his anger burned within him. And he removed his garments from upon him and wore garments of vengeance, a costume. And the prophet Elijah came with him, and they went to Jerusalem. And he revived Nehemiah son of Hushiel, who was buried in the gates of Jerusalem. And they went to the congregation of Israel, and the children of Israel saw him, that Nehemiah was with him, and they believed in Menahem son of Amiel, the word of Metat-ron and Mikael, the prince of the host of the Lord. In truth, Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah (Isaiah 11:13), and a counsel of peace will be between them (Zechariah 6:13)...
And Menahem son of Amiel went out, whose Gematria is Armilus, and he and Nehemiah son of Hushiel and Elijah the Prophet son of Eleazar son of Aaron the Priest went, and they stood together on the Great Sea. And they made and brought up the corpses that had fallen into the hands of their enemies. And the waves of the sea rose and cast them into the Sut’ar stream, for there will be judgment for the wicked and joy for the righteous. And in the second month mentioned, the congregation of Korah, which the earth opened its mouth and swallowed, will ascend. And in this matter, he was answered, and it was a key of names like a translator, each one by his name, a name of a crown, a name of a seal.”
-Heikhalot Rabbati 39-40
Jewish tradition provides many different names for the Messiah (Shiloh, Yinon, Chaninah, Tzemach, Nehira, son of Chizkiyah, etc.). This book primarily uses the names, ‘Menachem son of Amiel,’ and, ‘Ephraim,’ which is usually associated with Messiah son of Joseph. Curiously, here the Messiah son of Joseph is “buried in the tombs of the house of Judah,” as though he was of the Tribe of Yehuda (not Joseph) like David.
According to many Jewish sources, including this one, the Messiah son of Joseph is killed in Jerusalem and Messiah son of David (in addition to Elijah the Prophet) resurrects him from the dead. The fulfillment of, “Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah (Isaiah 11:13),” is that Messiah son of Yosef will not be jealous of Messiah son of David, but “a counsel of peace will be between them” (Zechariah 6:13). Again, the Messiah is “despised” and “scorned” when he brings “good tidings” (‘gospel’), but only once the Two Messiahs join together does it say that “the children of Israel believed in” him.
Without explanation, we are told that “Menahem son of Amiel is the Gematria of Armilus,” the Jewish name for the Antichrist. Why would the names of the Messiah and Antichrist have the same Gematria? Perhaps it is because the Antichrist is really just the shadow side (kelipah) of the true Messiah. ‘Armilus’ comes from Romulus, the father of Rome. Now we can understand why Armilus’ mother had “the appearance of a virgin who had not known a man.” When the Messiah was “despised” and “imprisoned in Rome,” “because of our iniquities,” he was turned into “the head of all idolatry.” To this the Messiah replies, “What am I, and what is my kingdom? Go and present to the Holy One, blessed be He.”
Eye To Zion 