The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

III. Similar Expositions From Rashi to Maimonides

1. RASHI-EXPECTS MESSIANIC KINGDOM TO FOLLOW ROME

[10] RASHI (SOLOMON BEN ISAAC) (1040-1105), the most celebrated rabbi of the French schools, is often called “The Exegete,” his Midrashic and legal commentary on the law (in the Talmud) being considered standard among the Jews, ²⁷ though it came under the ban of the Inquisition. His was the first Jewish book to be printed (1470). ²⁸ He witnessed the beginning of the period of the Crusades, terrible tragedies coming upon the Jewish communities in northwestern Europe in their wake. PFF2 209.3

In the field of prophetic interpretation he believes the four monarchies of Daniel 2 and 7 to be Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, followed by the Messianic state. ²⁹ He has Daniel 8:14 begin with the Egyptian captivity, and Daniel 12:11, 12 terminate in 1352 C.E., as the Messianic year ³⁰ 1290 years after the cessation of the burnt offering in 62 C.E., shortly before the destruction. ³¹ He interprets the seventy weeks as 490 years. ³² PFF2 210.1

On Daniel 2, Rashi makes the usual Jewish application to the four kingdoms by name, ³³ followed by Rome’s weakness and division. It is while these kingdoms are still in existence, he contends, that the eternal Messianic kingdom-the fifth-will be set up, and it will consume all others. ³⁴ In Daniel 7 the same four kingdoms are portrayed, the ten horns being ten Roman kingdoms, with Titus as the little horn. ³⁵ Rashi makes the three and a half times, however, the same as the “1335 years,” reckoned from the cessation of the perpetual sacrifice, ³⁶ when the abomination of desolation is removed. PFF2 210.2

Rashi has recourse to Gematria, ³⁷ however, and adds 574 to the 2300, making 2874, when the sanctuary shall be “victorious” ³⁸ -dating it from the time when Israel went down into Egypt until the “continual offering” was removed, shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem. This arbitrary date Rashi admits is without “specific proof.” ³⁹ He apparently believes that the forty-five years beyond the 1290 will yield the 1335, when the Messiah will reveal Himself; but his statement is couched very vaguely. The seventy weeks are sabbatical weeks of years, and are therefore 490 years-the Babylonian Exile seventy years, and the Second Temple 420 years. ⁴⁰ Despite it all, the year-day principle was acknowledged and applied. PFF2 210.3

2. BAR HIYYA SEEKS DATE OF END FROM TIME PROPHECIES.

[11] ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA HANASI (c. 1065-1136), Spanish astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher, was surveyor for the state, writer of a textbook on geometry, and interested in calendation. His is the first eschatoiogical work—Megillath Hame-galleh (The Scroll of the Revealer)—of a European rabbi, and it later influenced Nahmanides and Abravanel; his is also the most extensive attempt at Messianic calculation thus far essayed, digesting all the literature up to his day. He sought to determine the apocalyptic end. ⁴¹ His calculations were derived from the date of creation, as he believed that the world would last 6,000 years, with the seventh as the millennial sabbath. ⁴² PFF2 211.1

Bar Hiyya makes the 2300, the 1290, and the 1335 terminate at different dates—with the 2300 from the erection of the First Temple (2928 B.C.E.), which would end these periods in 1468 C.E., with the sanctuary “victorious”; the 1290 he dates from the destruction of the Second Temple, which he placed in 68 C.E., therefore bringing 1358 C.E. as the Messianic year; the 1335 lasts forty-five years longer, for the wars of Gog and Magog. ⁴³ He also invoked astrology—the conjunctions of the planets. ⁴⁴ PFF2 211.2

3. IBN EZRA-TITUS LITTLE HORN ON ROMAN FOURTH BEAST

[12] ABRAHAM IBN EZRA (1092-1167), noted exegete with Karaite leanings, was famous for his scientific discoveries. Born in Spain, he traveled in Northern Africa, Babylonia, Persia, India, France, and England. He was interested in philosophy, medicine, mathematics, philology, and theology. His commentaries on the Old Testament developed the literal sense, distrusting allegory. The writings of Jephet ibn Ali Halevi, the Karaite, exerted a marked influence upon him, and he quoted from Jephet more frequently than from any other. ⁴⁵ Declaring that the book of Daniel contains Messianic prophecies, he deplored astrological attempts to nullify them. PFF2 211.3

Ibn Ezra distinguished between the five methods of Jewish Biblical exegesis, and chose the last. These were: (1) Verbal—expounding each separate word; (2) subjective—paying no attention to tradition; (3) allegorical—reading mysteries into the sacred text; (4) cabalistic—developing secrets out of letters, numbers, and syllables; and (5) literal—confined to the actual meaning of the writers. ⁴⁶ Like many others, he stressed the four empires of Daniel 2 and 7, with the eternal kingdom of the Messiah to follow. ⁴⁷ PFF2 212.1

The seventy weeks Ibn Ezra holds to be seventy septinates, or 490 years, ⁴⁸ and cites Saadia in support of the year-day principle. ⁴⁹ But he is not clear regarding the 2300, 1290, and 1335 numbers. ⁵⁰ Believing them to be literal days, he says that they may, however, represent that number of years. ⁵¹ PFF2 212.2

In Daniel 2, after enumerating the first three powers as Babylonia, Medo-Persia, and Greece, Ibn Ezra avowedly follows Saadia Gaon in bringing Ishmael into the fourth empire, as the clay, mingled with the Roman iron. ⁵² In Daniel 7 the Persian element is predominant in the second kingdom, and the three ribs are the three provinces. The four heads of the leopard are the four divisions of Alexander’s kingdom. The ten horns of the fourth, or Roman, beast are “ten kings which arose in Rome before Vespasian, who destroyed the Temple.” ⁵³ The Little Horn is “the last king.” ⁵⁴ The words of presumption in the mouth of the Little Horn were spoken by Titus. ⁵⁵ “The explanation of these 70 weeks is very difficult,” Ibn Ezra declares. ⁵⁶ PFF2 212.3

So he contents himself with simply repeating the exposition of Saadia Gaon—that they are weeks of years, and the sixty-two weeks are the years of the Second Temple. Ibn Ezra’s curious explanation of the seventieth week, and its midst, follows: PFF2 213.1

“It is well known that Titus made a covenant with Israel seven years, and for three years and a half the continual offering was abolished in the Second Temple before the destruction of the Temple, and thus it is written in the book of Joseph ben Gorion ... and it is written in the fourth prophecy, And they shall profane the sanctuary, the fortress, this is the day on which Jerusalem was captured in the days of Titus, and they had removed the continual offering before this, and set up there the abomination of desolation, and thus it is written: And from the time when the continual offering was removed, and the abomination of desolation was set up, 1,290 days.” ⁵⁷ PFF2 213.2

“According to their number, will be the days which Israel will be in great trouble before the coming of the redeemer, and behold it has been made clear according to the explanation that when the king of the north will go out and take Egypt after three and a half years, the redeemer will come to Israel, but we do not know until now when this will be.” ⁵⁸ PFF2 213.3

4. TOBIAH BEN ELIEZER-MESSIANIC EPOCH AT END OF 1335.

[13] TOBIAH BEN ELIEZER (llth century), of Bulgaria, in his Midrashic commentary, Lekah Tob, looked for the ending of the 1335 year-days of Daniel 12:12 to bring the Messianic epoch, but did not know their terminus. ⁵⁹ PFF2 213.4

5. JUDAH HALEVI SETS 1358 FOR END OF PERIODS

[14] ISAAC BEN JUDAH HALEVI (13th century), of Sens, France, in revolt against contemporary philosophy, held that the 1290 and 1335 represent year-days. Beginning with the destruction of Jerusalem, they would probably end in 1358 and 1403, respectively. ⁶⁰ PFF2 213.5

6. GALIPAPA THROWS ALL FULFILLMENTS BACK INIO PAST.

[15] HAYYIM GALIPAPA (c. 1310-1380), Spanish rabbi who fought against the severities of the Talmudists, sought to throw all fulfillments back into the past; he applied the Little Horn of Daniel 7 to Antiochus Epiphanes. ⁶¹ In this he is unique among all Jewish expositors—a Jewish preterist in verity!—and ante dates the Catholic preterist Alcazar by three centuries. PFF2 214.1

7. RATIONALISTIC MAIMONIDES HAZY ON PROPHECY

[16] MAIMONIDES, or MOSES BEN MAIMON, sometimes called RAMBAM (1135-1204), illustrious Jewish scholar, philosopher, physician, and astronomer, was born in Cordova, Spain. After the Mohammedan invasion he wandered, with his family, throughout Spain, Palestine, and Northern Africa, settling at Cairo in 1165. Forced conversions were common, and Maimonides’ family had conformed outwardly to Mohammedanism. So Maimonicles became court physician to the reigning sultan. Called the “Light of the West,” he was the leading Jewish scholar and philosopher of the Middle Ages, and may be regarded as the founder of Jewish rationalism. ⁶² Maimonides made a profound and permanent impression upon Judaism, and established the right of free investigation as against the principle of absolute rabbinical authority. PFF2 214.2

He was author of numerous works, The Guide to the Perplexed being his leading production. In this he sought to harmonize Biblical and rabbinical teaching with philosophy, particularly Aristotelianism. However, he held that matter is not eternal, but created, and that immortality is acquired, not inherent. He believed that prophecy was possible, and discussed its nature. He applied the Little Horn of Daniel 7 to the presumption of Jesus, regarding Jesus as a false prophet, like Mohammed. ⁶³ PFF2 215.1

He was particularly determined that no one should attempt to fix the time of the Messiah’s advent horn Bible texts, and he placed man’s highest aspiration in the future world rather than in a restored state. ⁶⁴ He believed that Messiah would come upon the termination of Rome’s allotted period of prosperity; he defended Saadia on the coming of Messiah, and although reluctant about time setting, looked to the year 1216. ⁶⁵ He did not hold to the cabalistic 7,000—year theory. ⁶⁶ PFF2 215.2

Maimonides is remembered also for his work in Jewish calendar science, particularly on the visibility of the new moon, which he based on Chaldean astronomy. His system of determining the visibility of the new moon in Jerusalem, and his plan of intercalation, appearing in his tractale, have a bearing on some of the later interpreters who dealt with the crucifixion date, as will be discussed in Volume IV of Prophetic Faith. PFF2 215.3