He replied: When that Lord shall come (meaning God). Rabbi Joshua, the son of Levi,

said: I saw two (himself and Elijah), and I heard the voice of three (besides the former

two the Voice of the son of Jochai, and said to him: Shall I attain the world to come?

Elijah replied: If it pleaseth the Lord. Upon which follows the same remark: I have seen

the Messiah come? To which the answer is: Go and ask Him thyself. And where does He

abide? At the gate of the city (Rome). And what is His sign? He abides among the poor,

the sick and stricken. And all unbind, and bind up again the wounds at the same time, but

He undoes (viz. the bandage) and rebinds each separately, so that if they call for Him

they may not find him engaged.9 He went to meet Him and said: peace be to Thee, my

Rabbi and my Lord. He replied to him: Peace be to thee, thou son of Levi. he said to

Him: When wilt Thou come, my Lord? He replied to him: To-day. Then he turned to

Elijah, who said to him: What has He said to thee? He said to me: Son of Levi, peace be

to thee. Elijah said to him: He has assured thee and thy Father of the world to come. He

said to him: But He has deceived me in that He said: I come to-day, and he has not come.

He said to him that by the words 'to-day' He meant: To-day if ye will hear My voice (Ps.

xcv. 7). Rabbi José was asked by his disciples: When will the Son of David come? To

this he replied: I am afraid you will ask me also for a sign. Upon which they assured him

they would not. On this he replied: When this gate (viz. of Rome) shall fall, and be built,

and again fall, and they shall not have time to rebuild it till the Son of David comes. They

said to him: Rabbi, give us a sign. He said to them: Have ye not promised me that ye

would not seek a sign? They said to him: Notwithstanding do it. He said to them: If so,

the waters from the cave of Pamias (one of the sources of the Jordan) shall be changed

into blood. In that moment they were changed into blood. Then the Rabbi goes on to

predict that the land would be overrun by enemies, every stable being filled with their

horses. Rabh said that the son of David would not come till the kingdom (i.e foreign

domination) should extend over Israel for nine months, according to Micah v. 3. Ula said:

Let Him come, but may I not see Him, and so said Raba. Rabbi Joseph said: Let Him

come, and may I be found worthy to stand in the shadow of the dung of His ass

(according to some: the tail of his ass). Abayi said to Raba: Why has this been the bearing

of your words? If on account of the sorrows of the Messiah, we have the tradition that

Rabbi Eliezer was asked by his disciples, what a man should do to be fre ed from the

sorrows of the Messiah; on which they were told: By busying yourselves with the Torah,

and with good works. And you are a master of the Torah, and you have good works. He

answered: Perhaps sin might lead to occasion of danger. To this comforting replies are

given from Scripture, such as Gen. xxviii. 15, and other passages, some of them being

subjected to detailed commentation.

Rabbi Jochanan expressed a similar dislike of seeing the days of the Messiah, on which

Resh Lakish suggested that it might be on the ground of Amos v. 19, or rather on that of

Jer. xxx. 6. Upon this, such fear before God is accounted for by the consideration that

what is called service above is no t like what is called service below (the family above is

not like the family below), so that one kind may outweigh the other. Rabbi Giddel said,

that Rabh said, that Israel would rejoice in the years of the Messiah. Rabbi Joseph said:

Surely, who else would rejoice in them? Chillak and Billak? (two imaginary names,