Zohar on the Torah

Parshat Beshalach - Zohar, Page 58b

Translated and adapted by Mr. Simcha Treister

Rebbi Yitzchak commented on the verse: “And in the greatness of Your excellency You have overthrown those that rose up against You; You sent forth your anger, which consumed them as stubble.”[1] He said that this verse talks of the time in the future when the Holy One Blessed be He clothes Himself in His pride and exalts Himself over those peoples who gathered to fight against Him. This battle will reflect what is written in Psalms: “The kings of the earth gather their armies, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Mashiach.”[2]

We have learnt that in the future, the seventy celestial representatives of the seventy nations will gather with the multitudes they represent on this earth, to fight over Jerusalem. They will make war on the Holy City of Jerusalem when they see that Israel is becoming powerful claiming that they are not worthy of redemption. What will they claim? Firstly let us rise against their patron, and then against Israel and the Holy Temple. At that time in the future, the Lord will laugh at them as it stated “He who sits in the Heavens shall laugh; the Lord will mock them.”[3] At the same time G-d will put on His garments of pride and completely destroy them, as is written; “And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh will melt even while they are standing on their feet. Rebbi Abba said in the name of Rav Yissa the Elder, and Rebbi Shimon made the same comment, that the time would come when G-d will reincarnate all the kings who embittered the lives of Israel and fought over Jerusalem. These leaders would be reincarnations of Caesar Andrianus [who destroyed Betar 52 years after the fall of the Second Temple], Caesar Lofinus, Nebuchadnezzer [who destroyed the First Temple] and Sennacherib [who tried to destroy the Second Temple and exiled the Ten Tribes]. The other leaders of people who destroyed His House will also be given rulership and the rest of the people will rally to them and fight over Jerusalem.

In the future the Lord will exact their punishment from their reincarnated physical body and nefesh  ([level of the] soul), as they gather to retake Jerusalem [whereas as up till then their punishment has been hidden in the spiritual worlds]. This is the meaning of the verse: “And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem”. The verse is talks of the plague that “will strike” (in the future) all those who “fought” (in the past) against Jerusalem. At that future time their buildings will be destroyed and their very existence will be removed from the world. Then true happiness will reign in all the worlds.