The translation of this passage below is based on a synoptic comparison of the final lines of\u00a0Pirqe R. El.<\/i>\u00a0\u00a730 which was prepared from the following four sources: (1) Hebrew Union College Ms. 75 fol. 44a-b, a manuscript of oriental pedigree stemming from the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries; (2) Hebrew Union College Ms. 2043 fol. 23b-24a, a nineteenth-century Yemenite manuscript; (3) the partial transcription of the passage from the 1544 Venice printed edition reproduced in Zunz-Albeck,\u00a0Haderashot<\/i>, 420 n.25; and (4) the version of\u00a0Pirqe R. El.<\/i>\u00a0published by Michael Higger, itself based upon an earlier unpublished edition prepared by\u00a0H\u0090. M. Horowitz which relied upon three manuscripts (two Italian and one oriental) dating from the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries.<\/p>\n
R. Ishmael said: The Ishmaelites will do fifteen things in the Land (of Israel) at the End of Days, to wit: They will measure the Land with ropes, and make cemeteries (places for) the lodging of flocks and (for) trash-heaps, and they will measure from them and by them on the mountains.\u00a0Deceit will increase, truth will be hidden, law will be distant from Israel, and transgressions will proliferate in Israel.\u00a0The ruling kingdom will withdraw coinage.\u00a0They will confuse scarlet-dye and worm, and paper and pen will decay.\u00a0They will refurbish the destroyed cities and clear the roads.\u00a0They will plant \u2018gardens and orchards\u2019 (Qoh 2:5), and repair the holes in the walls of the Temple.\u00a0They will build a structure at (the site of the) sanctuary.\u00a0Two brothers will arise over them as leaders.\u00a0In their days the Branch, the son of David, will arise, as scripture says: \u2018and in the time of those kings the God of Heaven will establish a kingdom, etc.\u2019 (Dan 2:44).<\/p>\n
R. Ishmael also said: The Ishmaelites will fight three great battles on the earth at the End of Days, as scripture affirms: \u2018for they fled from swords\u2019 (Isa 21:15); the expression \u2018swords\u2019 refers to \u2018battles.\u2019\u00a0One (will be) in the forest\u2014\u2018from the drawn sword\u2019 (ibid.); one (will be) on the sea\u2014\u2018from the drawn bow\u2019 (ibid.); and one (will be) at the great city of Rome, which (will be) more fierce than the (preceding) two, as scripture states: \u2018from the ferocity of battle\u2019 (ibid.).\u00a0From there (i.e., Rome) the son of David will sprout up, and he will come to the Land of Israel and behold the destruction of both these and those, as scripture states: \u2018Who is this\u00a0who comes from Edom<\/i>, red of garment from Bosra, this one majestic in his clothing etc.\u2019 (Isa 63:1).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The translation of this passage below is based on a synoptic comparison of the final lines of\u00a0Pirqe R. El.\u00a0\u00a730 which was prepared from the following four sources: (1) Hebrew Union College Ms. 75 fol. 44a-b, a manuscript of oriental pedigree stemming from the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries; (2) Hebrew Union College Ms. 2043 fol. 23b-24a, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":454,"featured_media":0,"parent":136,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-479","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P3kl1F-7J","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1058,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/479\/revisions\/1058"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}