happen during the hebdoma d when the Son of David would come. In the first year it

would be according to Amos iv. 7; in the second year there would be darts of famine; in

the third year great famine and terrible mortality, in consequence of which the Law

would be forgotten by those who studied it. In the fourth year there would be abundance,

and yet no abundance; in the fifth year great abundance and great joy, and return to the

study of the Law; in the sixth year voices (announcements); in the seventh wars, and at

the end of the se venth the Son of David would come. Then follows some discussion

about the order of the sixth and seventh year, when Ps. lxxxix. 51 is referred to. Next we

have a description of the general state during those days. Sacred places (Academies)

would be used for the vilest purposes, Galilee be desolated, Gablan laid waste, and the

men of Gebul wander from city to city, and not find mercy. And the wisdom of the

scribes would be corrupted, and they who fear sin be abhorred, and the face of that

generation would be like that of a dog, and truth should fail, according to Is. lix. 15.

(Here a side issue is raised.) The Talmud then continues in much the same terms to

describe the Messianic age as one, in which children would rebel against their parents,

and as one of general lawlessness, when Sadduceeism should universally prevail,

apostasy increase, study of the Law decrease; and, generally, universal poverty and

despair of redemption prevail, the growing disregard of the Law being pointed out as

specially characterising the last days. R. Kattina said: The world is to last 6,000 years,

and during one millennium it is to lie desolate, according to Is. ii. 17. R. Abayi held that

this state would last 2,000 years, according to Hosea vi. 2. The opinion of R. Kattian was

however, regarded as supported by this, that in each period of seven there is a Sabbatic

year, the day here = 1,000 years of desolateness and rest - the appeal being to Is. ii. 17;

Ps. xcii. 1, and xc. 4. According to another tradition the world was to last 6,000 years:

2,000 in a state of chaos, 2,000 under the Law, and 2,000 being the Messianic age. But on

account of Israel's sins those years were to be deducted which had already passed. On the

authority of Elijah it was stated that the world would not last less than eighty-five

jubilees, and that in the last jubilee the Son of David would come. When Elijah was asked

whether at the beginning or at the end of it, he replied that he did not know. Being further

asked whether the whole of that period would first elapse or not, he similarly replied, his

meaning being supposed to be that until that term people were not to hope for the Advent

of Messiah, but after that term they were to look for it. A story is related of a man being

met who had in his hands a writing in square Hebrew characters, and in Hebrew, which

he professed to have got from the Persian archives, and in which it was written that after

4,290 years from the Creation the world would come to an end. And then would be the

wars of the great sea-monsters, and those of Gog and Magog, and the rest of the time

would be the time of the Messiah, and that the Holy One, blessed be His Name, would

only renew His world after the 7,000 years; to which, however, one Rabbi objects,

making it 5,000 years. Rabbi Nathan speaks of Habakkuk ii. 3 as a passage so deep as to

go down to the abyss, reproving the opinion of the Rabbis who sought out the meaning of

Daniel vii. 25, and of Rabbi Samlai, who similarly busied himself with Ps. lxxx. 5, and of

Rabbi Akiba, who dwelt upon Haggai ii. 6. But the first kingdom (Babylonian?) was to

last seventy years; the second (Asmonæan?) fifty - two years; and the rule of the son of

Kozebhah (Bar Kakhabh, the false Messiah) two and a half years. According to Rabbi

Samuel, speaking in the name of Rabbi Jonathan: Let the bones of those be broken who