years);79 it would follow, that their domination would last 944 4/9 years.80 Again,
according to Jewish tradition, the rule of Babylon had lasted 70, that o f Medo-Persia 34,
and that of Greece 180 years, leaving 660 4/9 years for Rome and Ishmael. Thus the date
for the expected Advent of the Messiah would have been about 661 after the destruction
of Jerusalem, or about the year 729 of the Christian era.81
74. We put aside, as universally repudiated, the opinion expressed by one Rabbi, that
Israel's Messianic era was past, the promises having been fulfilled in King Hezekiah
(Sanh. 98 b; 99 a).
75. See, in Appendix IX. the extracts from Sanh.
76. Sanh. 97 b.
77. Pirqé de R. Ehes. 32.
78. u. s. 30.
79. Comp. Pirqé de R. El. 48.
80. Pirqé de R. El. 28. The reasoning by which this duration of the monarchies is derived
from Lament. i. 13 and Zech. xiv. 7, is a very curious specimen of Rabbinic
argumentation.
81. Comp. Zunz, Gottesd. Vortr. p. 277.
In the category of guesses we must also place such vague statements, as that the Messiah
would come, when all were righteous, or all wicked; or else nine months after the empire
of Rome had extended over the whole world;82 83 or when all the souls, predestined to
inhabit bodies, had been on earth. 84 But as, after years of unrelieved sufferings, the
Synagogue had to acknowledge that, one by one, all the terms had passed, and as despair
settled on the heart of Israel, it came to be generally thought, that the time of Messiah's
Advent could not be known beforehand,85 and that speculation on the subject was
dangerous, sinful, even damnable. The time of the end had, indeed, been revealed to two
sons of Adam, Jacob and David; but neither of them had been allowed to make it
known.86 In view of this, it can scarcely be regarded as more than a symbolical, though
significant guess, when the future redemption of Israel is expected on the Paschal Day,
the 15th of Nisan.87 88
82. Sanh. 98 b.
83. See Appendix IX.
84. Ab. Z. 5 a, Ber. R. 24.
85. Targum Pseudo-Jon on Gen. xlix. 1.
86. Midrash on Ps. xxxi. ed. Warsh. p. 41 a, lines 18 to 15 from bottom.
87. Pesikta, ed. Buber, 47 b. 48 a, Sopher. xxi. Hal. 2. Shir. haShir. R. ii. 8. ed. Warsh.
vol. iii. p. 15 a.
88. Solitary opinions, however, place the future redemption in the month Tishri (Tanch.
on Ex. xii. 37, ed. Warsh. p. 81 b, line 2 from bottom.)
6. We now approach this most difficult and delicate q uestion: What was the expectation
of the ancient Synagogue, as regarded the Nature, Person, and qualifications of the
Messiah? In answering it - not at present from the Old Testament, but from the views
expressed in Rabbinic literature, and, so far as we can gather from the Gospel- narratives,