Zacarías 14:13 Midrash: Midrash Tehillim

"Speak otherwise and ride on a cherub and float on the wings of the wind." Rabbi Tanchuma said: "Every war that the people of Israel waged against the nations of the world, they will fight in the future, as it says (Zechariah 14:13), 'A great tumult from the Lord will arise against them.' There, the incidents of the war and its occurrences are explained. It is said: 'Anyone who raises himself up will end up going into the fire.' Similarly, it says in the case of the generation of the Flood, the generation of the Dispersion, the people of Sodom, Gog and Magog, Sancheirev, King Hiram, Nebuchadnezzar, and Esau (Daniel 7:11), "And I watched until the beast was slain and its body destroyed, and it was thrown into the blazing fire.' It is said (Obadiah 1:18), 'The House of Jacob will be fire and the House of Joseph flame.' And Pharaoh blasphemed himself and said (Exodus 5:2), 'Who is the Lord?' He was punished by his own actions. Sancheirev blasphemed through his messenger, as it says about him (2 Kings 19:23), 'By the hand of your messengers you have blasphemed God.' He was punished by an angel, as it says (2 Kings 19:35), 'Then the angel of the Lord went out.' It is written in the language of 'tumult,' even though it is not written in other wars, to teach you that everyone fought them everywhere. As it is written, 'and floated on the wings of the wind.' Rabbi Yehuda said: 'The spirit comes out only from between the wings of living creatures,' as it says, 'and floated on the wings of the wind.' It is similar to a king whose son was kidnapped, and his servants offered him the chariot to chase after them. The king said, 'If I wait until they offer me the chariot, my son will be lost.' What did the king do? He took one horse from the chariot and chased after them. Similarly, the Holy One, blessed be He, took one cherub from the throne of glory and rode on it and waged war with Egypt, as it says, 'and rode on a cherub.' Where do the wheels of the chariot come from? Rabbi Chanina bar Papa said, 'Flesh and blood [make up] the chariot from below, but the Holy One, blessed be He, has a chariot above, as it says (Deuteronomy 33:27), 'The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.' One verse says 'floated' and another verse says 'saw.' The statement "ישת חשך סתרו" means that God has many hidden worlds, and he is going to reveal them. This is supported by the verse that says "he makes darkness his hiding place" (Psalm 18:12). Rabbi Nehemiah explains that the darkness that was brought upon Egypt came from the darkness of Gehenna (a Jewish concept of hell), as it says in Job 10:22 "a land of darkness, like utter darkness." [In essence, the idea is that God has many hidden worlds beyond what we can see and comprehend, and darkness is often used as a metaphor for these hidden places. The darkness that was brought upon Egypt was a manifestation of one of these hidden worlds.]

And the Lord thundered from the heavens. Rabbi Abba said that the Lord promised Israel three wars of confusion when they entered the land, as it is said, "I will send My terror ahead of you" (Exodus 23:27), "The Lord your God will place them before you, causing them to panic" (Deuteronomy 7:23). And the rabbis derive another one from here, "The Lord threw Sisera into confusion" (Judges 4:15), and another from here, "The Lord thundered with a great voice" (1 Samuel 7:10) and confounded them. Rabbi Simon said there were two more, "And lightning bolts with great noise" (Zechariah 14:13), "The Lord's confusion will be upon them" (Zechariah 14:13). Rabbi Simon said in the name of Rabbi Abba that one was in the past, which was done to Pharaoh, and one is for the future for Gog and Magog.