{"id":492,"date":"2013-04-24T19:37:01","date_gmt":"2013-04-24T19:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/?page_id=492"},"modified":"2013-06-01T16:11:44","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T20:11:44","slug":"sefer-zerubbabel","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/research-projects\/trajectories-in-near-eastern-apocalyptic\/sefer-zerubbabel\/","title":{"rendered":"Sefer Zerubbabel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Translated from the text published by Israel L\u00e9vi,\u00a0\u201cL\u2019apocalypse de Zorobabel et le roi de Perse Siro\u00e8s,\u201d\u00a0REJ<\/em>\u00a068 (1914): 131-44.\u00a0L\u00e9vi\u2019s text was based on that contained in Oxford Ms. 2797, the\u00a0Sefer ha-Zikronot<\/em>\u00a0or so-called\u00a0Chronicles of Yerahmeel<\/em>.\u00a0That manuscript has recently been transcribed and published as\u00a0Sefer ha-Zikronot hu’ Divrey ha-Yamim le-Yerahme’el<\/em>\u00a0(ed. Eli Yassif; Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 2001); see pp. 427-35 for\u00a0Sefer Zerubbabel<\/em>.\u00a0In addition, I have also consulted Adolph Jellinek, ed.,\u00a0Bet ha-Midrasch<\/em>\u00a0(6 vols.; repr., Jerusalem: Bamberger & Wahrmann, 1938), 2:54-57; S. A. Wertheimer,\u00a0Batey Midrashot<\/em>\u00a0(2 vols.; repr., Jerusalem: Ktav wa-Sefer, 1980), 2:495-505; Yehudah Even-Shmuel,\u00a0Midreshey ge’ullah<\/em>\u00a0(2d ed.; Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 1954), 71-88; Cairo Geniza fragments T-S A45.5, 45.7, 45.19, and 45.22 as published in Simon Hopkins,\u00a0A Miscellany of Literary Pieces from the Cambridge Genizah Collections<\/em>\u00a0(Cambridge: Cambridge University Library, 1978).\u00a0Other manuscript versions of this work are Oxford Ms. Opp. 236a (Bod. Or. 160) fols. 13a-15b; Oxford Ms. Opp. 603 fols. 32b-34; and Oxford Ms. Heb. f27 (2642) fols. 42-43.<\/p>\n

The prophetic vision of Zerubbabel ben Shealtiel.<\/p>\n

(This is) the word which came to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, (future) governor of Judah.\u00a0On the twenty-fourth day of the seventh month, the Lord showed me this spectacle there while I was prostrate in prayer before the Lord my God, experiencing a visionary spectacle which I saw by the river Kebar.\u00a0And as I was reciting (the passage of the\u00a0\u2018Amidah<\/em>\u00a0which ends) \u2018Blessed are You, O Lord, the One Who resuscitates the dead!\u2019, my heart groaned within me, thinking \u2018[How will] the form of the Temple come into existence?\u2019\u00a0He answered me from the doors of heaven and said to me, \u2018Are you Zerubbabel ben Shealtiel, governor of Judah?\u2019\u00a0I responded, \u2018I am your servant.\u2019\u00a0He answered me and conversed with me just as a person would speak to their friend.\u00a0I could hear His voice, but I could not see His appearance.\u00a0I continued to lie prostrate as before, and I completed my prayer.\u00a0Then I went to my house.<\/p>\n

On the eleventh day of the month \u2019Adar He was speaking with me (again) there, and he said to me, \u2018Are you my servant Zerubbabel?\u2019\u00a0I responded, \u2018I am your servant.\u2019\u00a0He said to me, \u2018Come to me!\u00a0Ask (anything) and I will tell you!\u2019\u00a0I answered and said, \u2018What might I ask?\u00a0That my appointed lifespan be short and my destiny fulfilled?\u2019\u00a0He said to me: \u2018I will make you live (a long life).\u2019\u00a0He repeated, \u2018May you live (a long time)!\u2019<\/p>\n

A wind lifted me up between heaven and earth and carried me to the great city Nineveh, city of blood, and I thought \u2018Woe is me, for my attitude has been contentious and (now) my life is at great risk!\u2019\u00a0So I arose in distress in order to pray and entreat the favor of the name of the Lord God of Israel.\u00a0I confessed all my transgressions and my sins, for my attitude had been contentious, and I said: \u2018Ah Lord!\u00a0I have acted wrongly, I have transgressed, I have sinned, for my attitude has been contentious.\u00a0You are the Lord God, the One Who made everything by a command from Your mouth, and (Who) with a word from Your lips will revivify the dead!\u2019\u00a0He said to me, \u2018Go to the \u201chouse of filth\u201d near the market-district,\u2019 and I went just as he had commanded me.\u00a0He said to me, \u2018Turn this way,\u2019 and so I turned.\u00a0He touched me, and then I saw a man (who was) despicable, broken down and in pain.<\/p>\n

That despicable man said to me: \u2018Zerubbabel!?\u00a0What business do you have here?\u00a0Who has brought you here?\u2019\u00a0I responded and said: \u2018A wind from the Lord lifted me up and carried me to this place.\u2019\u00a0He said to me: \u2018Do not be afraid, for you have been brought here in order that He might show you (and then you in turn might inform the people of Israel about everything which you see).\u2019\u00a0When I heard his words, I was consoled and regained my self-composure.\u00a0I asked him, \u2018Sir, what is the name of this place?\u2019\u00a0He said to me, \u2018This is mighty Rome, wherein I am imprisoned.\u2019\u00a0I said to him, \u2018Who then are you?\u00a0What is your name?\u00a0What do you seek here?\u00a0What are you doing in this place?\u2019\u00a0He said to me, \u2018I am the Messiah of the Lord, the son of Hezekiah confined in prison until the time of the End.\u2019\u00a0 When I heard this, I was silent, and I hid my face from him.\u00a0His anger burned within him, and when I looked at him (again), I became frightened.<\/p>\n

He said to me, \u2018Come nearer to me,\u2019 and as he spoke to me my limbs quaked, and he reached out his hand and steadied me.\u00a0\u2018Don\u2019t be frightened,\u2019 he said, \u2018and let your mind show no fear.\u2019\u00a0He encouraged me, and said: \u2018Why did you become silent and hide your face from me?\u2019\u00a0I said to him: \u2018Because you said, \u201cI am the servant of the Lord, His Messiah, and \u2018the light of Israel\u2019 (2 Sam 21:17).\u201d\u2019 Suddenly he appeared like a strong young man, handsome and adorned.<\/p>\n

I asked him: \u2018When will the light of Israel come?\u2019\u00a0And as I was speaking to him, behold, a man with two wings approached me and said to me, \u2018Zerubbabel!\u00a0 What are you asking the Messiah of the Lord?\u2019\u00a0I answered him and said, \u2018I asked when the appointed time for deliverance is supposed to come.\u2019\u00a0\u2018Ask me,\u2019 he replied, \u2018and I will tell you.\u2019\u00a0I said to him, \u2018Sir, who are you?\u2019\u00a0He answered and said, \u2018I am Michael, the one who delivered good news to Sarah.\u00a0I am the leader of the host of the Lord God of Israel, the one who battled with Sennacherib and smote 180,000 men.\u00a0I am the prince of Israel, the one who fought battles against the kings of Canaan.\u00a0In the time to come, I will fight the battles of the Lord alongside the Messiah of the Lord\u2014he who sits before you\u2014with the king \u2018strong of face\u2019 (\u2018az panim<\/em>) and with Armilos, the son of Satan, the spawn of the stone statue.\u00a0The Lord has appointed me to be the commanding officer over his people and over those who love Him in order to do battle against the leaders of the nations.\u2019<\/p>\n

Michael, who is (also) Metatron, answered me saying: \u2018I am the angel who guided Abraham throughout all the land of Canaan.\u00a0I blessed him in the name of the Lord. I am the one who redeemed Isaac and [wept] for him.\u00a0I am the one who wrestled with Jacob at the crossing of the Jabbok.\u00a0I am the one who guided Israel in the wilderness for forty years in the name of the Lord.\u00a0I am the one who appeared to Joshua at Gilgal, and I am the one who rained down brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah.\u00a0He placed His name within me: Metatron in\u00a0gematria<\/em>\u00a0is the equivalent of Shadday.\u00a0As for you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, whose name is Jeconiah, ask me and I will tell you what will happen at the End of Days.\u2019<\/p>\n

Then he said to me: \u2018This is the Messiah of the Lord: (he has) been hidden in this place until the appointed time (for his manifestation).\u00a0This is the Messiah of the lineage of David, and his name is Menahem ben \u2018Amiel.\u00a0He was born during the reign of David, king of Israel, and a wind bore him up and concealed him in this place, waiting for the time of the end.\u2019\u00a0Then I, Zerubbabel, posed a question to Metatron, the leader of the host of the Lord.\u00a0 He said to me: \u2018The Lord will give a rod (for accomplishing) these salvific acts to Hephsibah, the mother of Menahem ben \u2018Amiel.\u00a0A great star will shine before her, and all the stars will wander aimlessly from their paths.<\/p>\n

Hephsibah, the mother of Menahem ben \u2018Amiel, will go forth and kill two kings, both of whom are determined to do evil.\u00a0The name(s) of the two rulers (whom she will slay): N\u014dph, king of Teman, (so named) because he will shake (hen\u012bf<\/em>) his hand toward Jerusalem, (is the first one), and the name of the second is \u2019Isrinan, king of Antioch.\u00a0This conflict and these signs will take place during the festival of Shavu\u2018ot in the third month.<\/p>\n

The word is true.\u00a0Four hundred and twenty years after the city and Temple have been rebuilt, they will be destroyed a second time.\u00a0Twenty years after the building of the city of Rome, after seventy kings corresponding to the seventy nations have ruled in it, when ten kings have finished their reigns, the tenth king will come.\u00a0He will destroy the sanctuary, stop the daily offering, the \u2018saintly people\u2019 will be dispersed, and he will hand them over to destruction, despoiling, and panic.\u00a0Many of them will perish due to their faithfulness to Torah, but (others) will abandon the Torah of the Lord and worship their (i.e., Rome\u2019s) idols.\u00a0\u201cWhen they stumble, a little help will provide assistance\u201d (Dan 11:34).\u00a0From the time that the daily offering ceases and the wicked ones install the one whose name is \u2018abomination\u2019 in the Temple, at the end of nine hundred and ninety years, the deliverance of the Lord will take place\u2014\u201cwhen the power of the holy people is shattered\u201d (Dan 12:7)\u2014to redeem them and to gather them by means of the Lord\u2019s Messiah.<\/p>\n

The rod which the Lord will give to Hephsibah, the mother of Menahem [ben] \u2018Amiel, is made of almond-wood; it is hidden in Raqqat, a city in (the territory of) Naphtali.\u00a0It is the same rod which the Lord previously gave to Adam, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and King David.\u00a0It is the same rod which sprouted buds and flowered in the Tent (of Meeting) for the sake of Aaron.\u00a0Elijah ben Eleazar concealed it in Raqqat, a city of Naphtali, which is Tiberias.\u00a0Concealed there as well is a man whose name is Nehemiah ben Hushiel ben Ephraim ben Joseph.\u2019\u00a0Zerubbabel spoke up and said to Metatron and to Michael (sic<\/em>) the prince: \u2018My lord, I want you to tell me when the Messiah of the Lord will come and what will happen after all this!\u2019\u00a0He said to me, \u2018The Lord\u2019s Messiah\u2014Nehemiah ben Hushiel\u2014will come five years after Hephsibah.\u00a0He will collect all Israel together as one entity and they will remain for <four> years in Jerusalem, (where) the children of Israel will offer sacrifice, and it will be pleasing to the Lord.\u00a0He will inscribe Israel in the genealogical lists according to their families.\u00a0But in the fifth year of Nehemiah and the gathering together of the \u2018holy ones,\u2019 \u0160\u0113r\u014dy the king of Persia will attack Nehemiah ben Hushiel and Israel, and there will be great suffering in Israel.\u00a0Hephsibah\u2014the wife of Nathan the prophet (and) mother of Menahem ben \u2018Amiel\u2014will go out with the rod which the Lord God of Israel will give to her, and the Lord will place \u201ca spirit of dizziness\u201d upon them (i.e., the Persian army), and they will kill one another, each (slaying) his companion or his countryman.\u00a0 There the wicked one (\u0160\u0113r\u014dy) will die.\u2019<\/p>\n

When I heard (this), I fell upon my face and said, \u2018O Lord!\u00a0 Tell me what Isaiah the prophet (meant) when he said: \u201cThere the calf will graze, and there it will crouch down and finish its branches\u201d (27:10)?\u2019\u00a0He answered me, \u2018This calf is Nineveh, the city of blood, which represents mighty Rome.\u2019<\/p>\n

I continued asking there about the prince of the holy covenant.\u00a0He held me close and they (sic<\/em>) brought me to the \u2018house of filth\u2019 [and scorn].\u00a0There he showed me a marble stone in the shape of a maiden: her features and form were lovely and indeed very beautiful to behold.\u00a0Then he said to me, \u2018This statue is the [wife] of Belial.\u00a0Satan will come and have intercourse with it, and a son named Armilos will emerge from it, [whose name in Greek means] \u201che will destroy a nation.\u201d\u00a0He will rule over all (peoples), and his dominion will extend from one end of the earth to the other, and ten letters will be in his hand.\u00a0He will engage in the worship of foreign gods and speak lies.\u00a0No one will be able to withstand him, and anyone who does not believe in him he will kill with the sword: many among them will he kill.\u00a0He will come against the holy people of the Most High, and with him there will be ten kings wielding great power and force, and he will do battle with the holy ones.\u00a0 He will prevail over them and will kill the Messiah of the lineage of Joseph, Nehemiah b. Hushiel, and will also kill sixteen righteous ones alongside him.\u00a0Then they will banish Israel to the desert in three groups.<\/p>\n

But Hephsibah, the mother of Menahem b. \u2018Amiel, will remain stationed at the eastern gate, and that wicked one will not enter there, thereby confirming what was written: \u201cbut the remainder of the people will not be cut off from the city\u201d (Zech 14:2).\u00a0This battle will take place during the month of Av.\u00a0Israel will experience distress such as there never was before.\u00a0They will flee into towers, among mountains, and into caves, but they will be unable to hide from him.\u00a0All the nations of the earth will go astray after him except for Israel, who will not believe in him.\u00a0All Israel shall mourn Nehemiah b. Hushiel for forty-one days.\u00a0His thoroughly crushed corpse will be thrown down before the gates of Jerusalem, but no animal, bird, or beast will touch it.\u00a0Due to the intensity of the oppression and the great distress, the children of Israel will then cry out to the Lord, and the Lord will answer them.\u2019<\/p>\n

As I listened to the content of the prophecy of the Lord to me, I became very agitated and got up and went to the canal.\u00a0There I cried out to the Lord God of Israel, the God of all flesh, and He sent His angel to me while the prayer was still in my mouth before I had finished (it).\u00a0The Lord sent His angel to me, and when I saw (him) I knew that he was the angel who had spoken with me regarding all the previous matters.\u00a0I knelt and bowed before him, and he again touched me like he had the first time.\u00a0He said to me, \u2018What\u2019s the matter with you, O Zerubbabel?\u2019\u00a0I answered him, \u2018Sir, my spirit remains depressed.\u2019<\/p>\n

Metatron responded by saying to me: \u2018Ask me (questions) and I will provide you with answers before I depart from you.\u2019\u00a0So I again asked him and said to him, \u2018My lord Metatron, when will the light of Israel come?\u2019\u00a0He answered and said to me, \u2018By the Lord Who has sent me and Who has appointed me over Israel, I solemnly swear to reveal to you the Lord\u2019s doing(s), for the Holy God previously commanded me, \u201cGo to My servant Zerubbabel, and tell him (the answers to) whatever he may ask of you.\u201d\u2019\u00a0Then Michael, who is (also) Metatron, said to me, \u2018Come closer and pay careful attention to everything which I shall tell you, for the word which I am speaking to you is true; it was one spoken by the Living God.\u2019<\/p>\n

He said to me: \u2018Menahem b. \u2018Amiel will suddenly come on the fourteenth day of the first month; i.e., of the month Nisan.\u00a0He will wait by the Valley of \u2019Arb\u2019el (at a tract) which belonged to Joshua b. Jehosadaq the priest, and all the surviving sages of Israel\u2014only a few will remain due to the attack and pillage of Gog and Armilos and the plunderers who despoiled them\u2014will come out to him.\u00a0Menahem b. \u2018Amiel will say to the elders and the sages: \u201cI am the Lord\u2019s Messiah: the Lord has sent me to encourage you and to deliver you from the power of these adversaries!\u201d\u00a0The elders will scrutinize him and will despise him, for they will see that despicable man garbed in rags, and they will despise him just as you previously did.\u00a0But then his anger will burn within him, \u201cand he will don garments of vengeance (as his) clothing and will put on a cloak of zealousness\u201d (Isa 59:17b), and he will journey to the gates of Jerusalem. Hephsibah, the mother of the Messiah, will come and give him the rod by which the signs were performed.\u00a0All the elders and children of Israel will come and see that Nehemiah (b. Hushiel) is alive and standing unassisted, (and) immediately they will believe in the Messiah.\u2019\u00a0Thus did Metatron, the leader of the host of the Lord, swear to me: \u2018This matter will truly come to pass, for there will be full cooperation between them in accordance with the prophecy of Isaiah, \u201cEphraim will not envy Judah, nor will Judah antagonize Ephraim\u201d (Isa 11:13).<\/p>\n

On the twenty-first day of the first month, nine hundred and ninety years after the destruction of the Temple, the deliverance of the Lord will take place for Israel.\u00a0Menahem b. \u2018Amiel, Nehemiah b. Hushiel, and Elijah the prophet will come and stand by the Mediterranean Sea and read the prophecy of the Lord.\u00a0All the bodies of those Israelites who had thrown themselves into the sea while fleeing from their enemies will emerge: a sea-wave will rise up, spread them out, and deposit them alive within the valley of Jehoshaphat near the Wadi Shittim, for there judgment will transpire upon the nations.<\/p>\n

In the second month; i.e., Iyyar, the congregation of Qorah will reemerge upon the plains of Jericho near the Wadi Shittim.\u00a0They will come to Moses (!), and the cohort of the Qorahites will assemble.<\/p>\n

On the eighteenth day of it (the second month) the mountains and hills will quake, and the earth and everything on it will shake, as well as the sea and its contents.<\/p>\n

On the first day of the third month those who died in the desert will revive and will come with their families to the Wadi Shittim.\u00a0On the eighteenth day of the month of Sivan (i.e., the third month), there will be a mighty earthquake in Eretz Israel.<\/p>\n

In Tammuz, the fourth month, the Lord God of Israel will descend upon the Mount of Olives, and the Mount of Olives will split open at His rebuke.\u00a0He will blow a great trumpet, and every foreign deity and mosque will crumple to the ground, and every wall and steep place will collapse.\u00a0The Lord will kill all their plunderers, and He will battle those nations \u201clike a warrior fired with zeal\u201d (Isa 42:13).\u00a0The Lord\u2019s Messiah\u2014Menahem b. \u2018Amiel\u2014will come and breathe in the face of Armilos and thereby slay him.\u00a0The Lord will place each man\u2019s sword on the neck of his companion and their dead bodies shall fall there.\u00a0The \u201csaintly people\u201d (i.e., Israel; cf. Dan 8:24) will come out to witness the Lord\u2019s deliverance: all of Israel will actually see Him (equipped) like a warrior with \u201cthe helmet of deliverance on His head\u201d and clad in armor (cf. Isa 59:17).\u00a0He will fight the battle of Gog ha-Magog and against the army of Armilos, and all of them will fall dead in the Valley of \u2019Arb\u2019el.\u00a0All of Israel will then issue forth and \u201c[despoil] their despoilers, looting those who previously plundered them\u201d (Ezek 39:10) for seven months.\u00a0However, some survivors will escape and they will all regroup at Zela\u2018 ha-Elef: five hundred men, and (another) one hundred thousand wearing armor.\u00a0(Opposing them will be) five hundred from Israel with Nehemiah and Elijah, and you, O Zerubbabel, will be their leader.\u00a0They (sic<\/em>) will kill all of them: one man will pursue a thousand.<\/p>\n

This will be the third battle, for three battles will take place in the land of Israel.\u00a0One will be waged by Hephsibah with \u0160\u0113r\u014dy the king of Persia, one will be fought by the Lord God of Israel and Menahem b. \u2018Amiel with Armilos, the ten kings who are with him, and Gog and Magog, and the third will be at Zela\u2018 ha-Elef, where Nehemiah b. Hushiel and Zerubbabel will see action.\u00a0The third battle will take place in the month of Av.<\/p>\n

After all this (has taken place), Menahem b. \u2018Amiel will come, accompanied by Nehemiah b. Hushiel and all Israel.\u00a0All of the dead will resurrect, and Elijah the prophet will be with them.\u00a0They will come up to Jerusalem.\u00a0In the month of Av, during which they formerly mourned for Nehemiah (and) for the destruction of Jerusalem, Israel will hold a great celebration and bring an offering to the Lord, which the Lord will accept on their behalf. \u201cThe offering of Israel will be pleasing to the Lord as it was formerly during her past history\u201d (cf. Mal 3:4).\u00a0The Lord will discern the pleasant aroma of His people Israel and greatly rejoice.\u00a0Then the Lord will lower the celestial Temple which had been previously built to earth, and a column of fire and a cloud of smoke will rise to heaven.\u00a0The Messiah and all of Israel will follow them to the gates of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

The holy God will stand on the Mount of Olives.\u00a0Dread at and reverence for Him will be upon the heavens and the uppermost heavens, the entire earth and its deepest levels, and every wall and structure to their foundations.\u00a0No one will be able to catch their breath when the Lord God reveals Himself before everyone on the Mount of Olives.\u00a0The Mount of Olives will crack open beneath Him, and the exiles from Jerusalem will come up to the Mount of Olives.\u00a0Zion and Jerusalem will behold (these things) and ask: \u201c\u2018Who bore these to us?\u2026Where have these been?\u2019\u201d (Isa 49:21).\u00a0Nehemiah and Zerubbabel will then come up to Jerusalem and say to her: \u201cBehold, (they are) your children whom you bore who went into exile from you.\u00a0\u2018Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!\u2019\u201d (Zech 9:9).\u2019<\/p>\n

Again I started to question Metatron, leader of the host of the Lord: \u2018Sir, show me how far and how wide Jerusalem will extend, along with its architecture.\u2019\u00a0He showed me the walls which surrounded Jerusalem\u2014walls of fire\u2014extending from the Great Desert unto the Mediterranean Sea and unto the Euphrates River.\u00a0Then he showed me the Temple and the structure.\u00a0The Temple was built on the peaks of five mountains which the Lord had chosen to support His sanctuary: Lebanon, Mount Moriah, Tabor, Carmel, and Hermon.\u00a0 Michael spoke and said to me, \u2018At the completion of nine hundred and ninety years for the ruins of Jerusalem is the appointed time for the deliverance of Israel.\u2019\u00a0He also continued to interpret for me the message and the vision in accordance with what he had first said to me: \u2018If you wish to know, ask!\u00a0Keep coming back!\u2019 (cf. Isa 21:12).<\/p>\n

In the fifth (year) of the week Nehemiah b. Hushiel will come and gather together all Israel.\u00a0In the sixth (year) of the week Hephsibah, the wife of Nathan the prophet, she who was born in Hebron, will come and slay the two kings N\u014dph and \u2019Esr\u014dgan.\u00a0That same year the \u2018shoot of Jesse\u2019 (Isa 11:10), Menahem b. \u2018Amiel, will spring up.\u00a0Ten kings from among the nations shall also arise, but they will not supply enough (rulers) to rule for a week (of years) and a half-week (of years), each one (ruling) for a year.\u00a0These are the ten kings who will arise over the nations for the week of years: these are their names correlated with their cities and their places.\u00a0The first king is S\u012blq\u014dm and the name of his city is Seferad, which is Aspamia, a distant country.\u00a0The second king is Hart\u014dm\u014ds, and the name of his city is G\u012btanya.\u00a0The third king is Fl\u0113\u2019vas (Flavius?), and the name of his city is Fl\u014d\u2019yas.\u00a0The fourth king is Gl\u016b\u2019as (Julius?), and the name of his city is Galya (Gaul?). The fifth king is Ram\u014dshd\u012bs, and the name of his city is M\u014dd\u012bt\u012bka.\u00a0The sixth king is M\u014dqlan\u014ds, and the name of his city is Italia.\u00a0The seventh king is \u2019\u014ckt\u012bn\u014ds, and the name of his city is D\u014drm\u012bs.\u00a0 The eighth king is \u2019Apl\u014dst\u014ds from Mesopotamia.\u00a0The ninth king is \u0160\u0113r\u014dy, the king of Persia.<\/p>\n

The tenth king is Armilos, the son of Satan who emerged from the sculpted stone.\u00a0He will gain sovereignty over all of them.\u00a0He will come along with the rulers of Qedar and the inhabitants of the East and provoke a battle in the Valley of \u2019Arb\u2019el, and they will take possession of the kingdom.\u00a0He will ascend with his force and subdue the entire world.\u00a0 From there in Riblah, which is Antioch, he will begin to erect all the idols of the nations on the face of the earth and to serve their gods, those whom the Lord hates.\u00a0During those days \u2018there will be reward for neither human nor beast\u2019 (cf. Zech 8:10).\u00a0He will construct four altars, and he will anger the Lord with his wicked deeds.\u00a0There will be a very terrible and harsh famine upon the surface of the whole land for forty days\u2014their food will stem from the salt-plant; leaves plucked from shrubbery and broom to sustain them (cf. Job 30:4).\u00a0On that day \u2018a fountain will flow forth from the Temple of the Lord and fill the Wadi Shittim\u2019 (Joel 4:18).<\/p>\n

Now this Armilos will take his mother\u2014(the statue) from whom he was spawned\u2014from the \u2018house of filth\u2019 of the scornful ones, and from every place and from every nation they will come and worship that stone, burn offerings to her, and pour out libations to her.\u00a0No one will be able to view her face due to her beauty.\u00a0Anyone who refuses to worship her will die in agony (like?) animals.<\/p>\n

This is the mark of Armilos: the color of the hair of his head is similar to gold, and (he is) green, even the soles of his feet.\u00a0His face is one span in width, his eyes are deep-set, and he has two heads.\u00a0He will arise and rule over \u2019\u012am\u012bs (?), the province of Satan, the father of Belial.\u00a0All who see him will tremble before him.\u00a0Menahem will come up from the Wadi Shittim and breathe in the face of Armilos and thereby slay him, just as it is written: \u2018he will slay the wicked one with the breath of his mouth\u2019 (Isa 11:4).\u00a0Israel will take possession of the kingdom; \u2018the holy ones of the Most High will receive sovereign power\u2019 (Dan 7:18).<\/p>\n

These were the words which Metatron spoke to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, (future) governor of Judah, while he was still living in exile during the time of the Persian empire.\u00a0 Zechariah ben \u2018Anan and Elijah recorded them when the period of exile was completed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Translated from the text published by Israel L\u00e9vi,\u00a0\u201cL\u2019apocalypse de Zorobabel et le roi de Perse Siro\u00e8s,\u201d\u00a0REJ\u00a068 (1914): 131-44.\u00a0L\u00e9vi\u2019s text was based on that contained in Oxford Ms. 2797, the\u00a0Sefer ha-Zikronot\u00a0or so-called\u00a0Chronicles of Yerahmeel.\u00a0That manuscript has recently been transcribed and published as\u00a0Sefer ha-Zikronot hu’ Divrey ha-Yamim le-Yerahme’el\u00a0(ed. Eli Yassif; Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 2001); see […]<\/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-492","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P3kl1F-7W","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/492","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=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1049,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/492\/revisions\/1049"}],"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=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}