of Jerusalem and the appearance of false Christs are the last events of national history,
to be followed by the drear y blank and silence of the many centuries of the 'Gentile
dispensation,' broken and silence of the events that usher in His Coming.9
9. St. Luke xxi. 24 &c.
Keeping in mind, then, that the disciples could not have conjoined the desolation of the
Temple with the immediate Advent of Christ into His Kingdom and the end of the world,
their question to Christ was twofold: When would these things be? and, What would be
the signs of His Royal Advent and the consummation of the 'Age?' On the former the
Lord gave no information; to the latter His Discourse on the Mount of Olives was
directed. On one point the statement of the Lord had been so novel as almost to
account for their question. Jewish writings speak very frequently of the so-called
'sorrows of the Messia h' (Chebhley shel Mashiach.10 11) These were partly those of the
Messiah, and partly - perhaps chiefly - those coming of the Messiah. There can be no
purpose in describing them in detail, since the particulars mentioned vary so much, and
the descriptions a re so fanciful. But they may generally be characterised as marking a
period of internal corruption12 and of outward distress, especially of famine and war, of
which land of Palestine was to be the scene, and in which Israel were to be the chief
sufferers.13 As the Rabbinic notices which we posses all date from after the destruction
of Jerusalem, it is, of course, impossible to make any absolute assertion on the point;
but, as a matter of fact, none of them refers to desolation of the City and Temple as one
of the 'signs' or 'sorrows' of the Messiah. It is true that isolated voices proclaimed that
fate of the Sanctuary, but not in any connection with the triumphant Advent of
Messiah;14 and, if we are to judge from the hope entertained by the fanatics during t he
last siege of Jerusalem, they rather expected a Divine, not doubt Messianic,
interposition to save the City and Temple, even at the last moment.15 When Christ,
therefore, proclaimed the desolation of 'the house,' and even placed it in indirect
connection with His Advent, He taught that which must have been alike new and
unexpected.
10. Shabb. 118 a.
11. If these are computed to last nine months, it must have been from a kind of fanciful
analogy with the 'sorrows' of a woman.
13. Comp. Sanh. 98 a and b.
12. End of the Mishnic Trac tate Sotah.
14. When using the expression 'Advent' in this connection, we refer to the Advent of
Messiah to reign. His Messianic manifestation - not His birth.
15. Comp. Jos . War ii. 13, 4; and especially vi. 5. 2.
This may be the most suitable place for explaining the Jewish expectation connected
with the Advent of the Messiah. Here we have first to dismiss, as belonging to a later
period, the Rabbinic fiction of two Messiahs: the one, the primary and reigning, the Son
of David; the other, the secondary and warfaring Messiah, the Son of Ephraim or of
Manasseh. The earliest Talmudic reference to this second Messiah16 dates from the