Does the Torah mention the Messiah?
Also, please, where is it written that describes the conditions that will be occuring in our world prior to the Messiah coming? thank you in advance Rabbi.
Answer:
The coming of a future Messiah is mentioned in the writins of the Prophets:
For instance, Isaiah writes (42:1-3; 42:14-17): “Behold My servant, whom I shall uphold; My chosen one, whom My soul desired; I have placed My spirit upon him so he can bring forth justice to the nations. He will not shout nor raise his voice, or make his voice heard in the street.… But he will administer justice in truth.… I have long kept silent, I have been still … I will cry like a woman in childbirth … I will lead the blind on a way they never knew; I will have them walk on paths they did not know; I will turn darkness into light before them, and make the crooked places straight.”
Jeremiah also states (23:5-6): “Behold, days are coming—the word of Hashem—when I will establish a righteous sprout from David; a king will reign and prosper and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. This is the name people will call him: Hashem is our righteous.”
There are various statements made by the Sages as to the conditions at the time of the Messiah’s coming. The Mishnah (end of Sotah) writes that general conditions will not be good: “A little before the coming of the Messiah, the son shall insult the father, the daughter rebel against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and each man shall have his own household fur his enemies.” A similar theme is found in Sanhedrin (97): “In the age in which the Messiah shall come, the young men shall turn the elders into ridicule; the elders shall rise up against the youth, the daughter against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and the man of that age shall be excessively impudent; nor shall the son reverence his father.”
Other conditions are mentioned elsewhere. One interesting condition, stated by the Gemara to be a “ketz megulah” (a revealed time of the End), is that the Land of Israel will blossom–something that has already come to pass.
Yet, we cannot know much from signs, and rather than speculating on signs and dates, our duty is to anticipate the coming of the Messiah, and the ushering in of the Kingdom of Hashem, may it come speedily and in our times.
