Midras Daniel 12:1: Ruth Rabbah, Otzar Midrashim, Devarim Rabbah & Shemot Rabbah

“It was during the days when the judges judged, there was a famine in the land. A man from Bethlehem of Judah went to reside in the field of Moav, he, his wife, and his two sons” (Ruth 1:1).
“It was during the days when the judges judged” – Rabbi Yoḥanan began and said: “Hear My people and I will speak; [Israel, and I will forewarn you]” (Psalms 50:7). Rabbi Yoḥanan said: One forewarns only one who can hear it. Rabbi Yudan ben Rabbi Simon said: In the past they were called Israel like all other nations: “Savta, Rama, and Savtekha” (Genesis 10:7);¹These are the names of nations listed in Genesis, chap. 10. from here forward, they are called only My people. “Hear My people and I will speak” – from where did you merit to be called My people? From “and I will speak” – from what you spoke before Me at Sinai and said: “Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will heed” (Exodus 24:7). Rabbi Yoḥanan said: “Hear My people” – [what I have said] in the past; “and I will speak” – in the future. “Hear My people” – in this world; “and I will speak” – in the World to Come. So I will have a response to the angels of the nations of the world who are destined to accuse them before Me and say: ‘Master of the universe, these worship idols and those worship idols, these engaged in forbidden sexual relations and those engaged in forbidden sexual relations, these spilled blood and those spilled blood, and these are going down to the Garden of Eden and those are going down to Gehenna?’
At that time, the advocate of Israel is silenced. That is what you say: “At that time Mikhael will stand” (Daniel 12:1). Is there sitting on high? Did Rabbi Ḥanina not say: There is no sitting on high, as it is written: “I approached one of those standing [kamaya]” (Daniel 7:16). What is this language kamaya? Standing [kayama], as it is written: “Seraphim stood above Him” (Isaiah 6:2), and it is written: “The entire host of heaven standing in His presence on His right hand and on His left” (see I Kings 22:19). And you say “will stand”?²Since angels always stand, what does it mean that the angel Mikhael will stand at that moment? [Rather,] what is “will stand”? It is stand silent, as you say: “Shall I wait, because they do not speak, amdu] and do not answer>?” (Job 32:16).
The Holy One blessed be He says to him: ‘Do you stand silent and not advocate on behalf of My children? By your life, I will speak in support of their righteousness and rescue My children.’ What righteousness? Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yoḥanan, one says: Due to the righteousness that you established My world because you accepted My Torah, as had you not accepted My Torah, I would have restored it [the world] to emptiness and disorder, as Rabbi Huna said in the name of Rabbi Aḥa: “Earth and all its inhabitants dissolve, [I set its pillars, selah]” (Psalms 75:4). The world would have already dissolved, had Israel not stood before Mount Sinai…³Referring to a midrash that appears in Shir HaShirim Rabba 1:9: “If Israel had not stood on Mount Sinai and said: ‘Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will heed’ (Exodus 24:7), the world would have dissolved and returned to emptiness and disorder.” The midrash there then continues as it does here. And who established the world? “I [anokhi] set its pillars” (Psalms 75:4). Due to the merit of anokhi, “I set its pillars, selah.”⁴Anokhi is the first word of the Ten Commandments. In other words, due to the merit of Israel’s future acceptance of the Ten Commandments and the entire Torah, God established the foundations of the world. One said: Due to the righteousness you did for yourselves in accepting My Torah, as had you not done so, I would have eliminated you from among the nations.
“God; I am your God” (Psalms 50:7) – Rabbi Yoḥanan said: It is sufficient for you that I am your patron. Reish Lakish said: Although I am your patron, how does My patronage help at trial?⁵The midrash is responding to the repetition in the verse: “God; I am your God.” God [Elohim] represents the attribute of justice, and the verse thus presents a tension between God being strictly just and God being particularly Israel’s God, i.e., their patron.
Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai taught: I am the God for all humankind, but I have designated My name only upon My people Israel. I am not called the God of all the nations, but rather, the God of Israel. “God [Elohim]; I am your God” – Rabbi Yudan interpreted the verse in reference to Moses: The Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: ‘Even though I called you “god to Pharaoh” (Exodus 7:1), “I am your God” – I am above you.’ Rabbi Abba bar Yudan interpreted the verse in reference to Israel: Although I called you god, as it is stated: “I said you are godlike [elohim]” (Psalms 82:6), “I am your God” – know that I am above you. The Rabbis interpreted the verse in reference to judges: Even though I called you elohim, as it is stated: “Do not curse elohim” (Exodus 22:27), know that I am above you. Then He said to Israel: ‘I accorded honor to the judges and called them elohim, and they demean them. Woe unto a generation that judges their judges.’

And again I returned to pray before God with fasting and sackcloth and ashes until I saw, and behold, a hand touched me and set me on my feet and said to me, Ask a righteous man what you will ask, and I asked him and I told him in the last days of God how all Israel will be gathered from the four corners of the earth, and how their exodus will be under the hand of the kings, and if they go out for the portion they are going out, and how will they go and what will they be able to do? I would like you to tell me these things and the like until the end of the whole thing. And clouds appeared from the gates of heaven and he said to me: At the end of the reign of the sons of Ishmael, the Romans will go out against Jerusalem and make war with the sons of Ishmael and the land will be conquered before them, and they will come into it and kill many of the sons of Ishmael in it, and they will make many dead in it, and they will take captives from the daughters of Ishmael, a great captivity, and they will take the brains out of the babies and butcher every day a thousand babies. "And at that time He created a great deal for Israel, and at that time God will awaken the tribes of Israel and they will come to Jerusalem, the holy city, and they will find in the Torah it is written, "And God will go before them their day in a pillar of cloud" (Exodus 13:21). And another scripture says, "The Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will provide for you" (Isaiah 12:12), and they will walk in a cloud and a fog, and they will make war with the Edomites, and they will kill a great number of them, and their name will go out in the world where the tribes came. from being a Gentile until that time, and at that time all your people who are found written in the book will flee (Daniel 12:1), and the nations will stand against Israel and kill many of them and many criminals from the peoples of the land, and torture many of the followers in chains to leave the Torah of God, and more that they will be in this tribulation for days For a few, God will bring a great and strong wind and a great and thick black famine, the like of which has not been seen in the world, and from that wind, the Almighty will scatter the tribes in every city and city, and about them, it will be said, Who are these? Bread and the Holy One with his blessing will bring back to Israel the salt for the selet, and at that time it was said that there would be a piece of barley in the land at the top of the mountains (Psalms 15:16), (see Midrash Ecclesiastes 5 what happened). And Nehemiah son of Hoshiel stood up and made letters in the word of God, and a king stood up and disbelieved in the law, and showed himself as a servant of God, and his heart was not right with him. And there came a great thunder in the world, and the whole world was afraid of it, and Israel gathered to Nehemiah son of Hoshiel, and the king of Egypt would make peace with him and kill all the countries around Jerusalem, such as Tiberias, Damascus, and Ashkelon, and they would hear God, and terror and fear would fall upon them. And the sign that will be at that time is that the stars will appear as blood, and at that time it is said that the sun will turn into darkness and the moon into blood (Joel 3:4), and God will send ten plagues in the Holy of Holies as He sent in Egypt, to fulfill what was said, and it was on that day that Joseph will add again His hand is to buy the remnant of his people (Isaiah 11:11). It was said that there is a marble stone in Rome and it is a beautiful girl figure from the six days of Genesis, and from The sons of Belial (The wickedness) are from the nations of the world and you lie between them and you pass, and at the end of nine months it splits and there came forth a male child in the form of a man, twelve cubits long and two cubits wide, and his eyes are crooked red, the hair of his head is red as gold and his legs are green, and he has two talons and they call him Armilus. And he came to Edom and said to them, I am your Messiah, I am your God, and he misled them and immediately they believed in him and they made him their king, and all the sons of Esau and none were with him. They bring a book... and he says to them that I have given before you and I say to them I am the Lord your God and I am your Messiah and your God, and at the same time he sends to Nehemiah and all Israel, and says to them bring me your Torah and testify to me that I am God. And immediately all Israel will tremble and be afraid, and at that hour Nehemiah will stand up and three men with him from the sons of Ephraim and will go with him and sit with them and call before him I will stand and you will not have it, and he says there is nothing of this in your Torah? I (I don't?) leave you until you believe that I am God the way the nations of the world believed in me, and immediately Nehemiah stands against him and tells him you are not God but Satan, and Armilus says to them why did you lie to me, I will order you to be killed and says to his servants take him to Nehemiah, and immediately thirty thousand heroes will arise of Israel and made war with him and killed two hundred thousand from the camp of Armilus, and Armilus also went out and gathered all the soldiers of the nations of the world, and made war with the Israelites and killed a thousand [and] thousand of Israel and more. And I darkened the land with a day of light (Amos 8:9), and the rest of Israel fled to the wilderness of the nations and sat there forty-five days without bread or water because the grass of the field would be their food. (Daniel 11:22), and he returns and sets his sights on Jerusalem to be destroyed a second time, as it is said, and the tents of our deliverance shall fall.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Ten “deaths” are written in Moses’s regard, and these are: “Behold, your time to die is approaching” (Deuteronomy 31:14); “die on the mountain” (Deuteronomy 32:50); “for I will die ” (Deuteronomy 4:22); “for I know, after my death” (Deuteronomy 31:29); “and so, too, after my death” (Deuteronomy 31:27); “before his death” (Deuteronomy 33:1); “one hundred and tweny years old upon his death” (Deuteronomy 34:7); “Moses, the servant of God, died there” (Deuteronomy 34:5); “it was after Moses’s death” (Joshua 1:1); “Moses My servant died” (Joshua 1:2). It teaches that as many as ten times it was decreed against him that he would not enter the Land of Israel, but his harsh sentence was not sealed until the High Court²¹The supernal High Court. revealed itself to him. He [God] said to him: ‘It is a decree from before Me that you will not cross,’ as it is stated: “For you will not cross the Jordan” (Deuteronomy 3:27). This matter was not consequential in Moses’s eyes, as he said: ‘Israel performed great sins several times, and when I asked for mercy, He immediately accepted it from Me, as it is stated: “Let Me be, and I will destroy them” (Deuteronomy 9:14). What is written there? “The Lord reconsidered the evil” (Exodus 32:14). “I will smite them with the pestilence, and I will destroy them” (Numbers 14:12). What is written there? “The Lord said: “I have pardoned…” (Numbers 14:20); I, who have not sinned since my youth, all the more so that when I pray for myself, He will accept it from me.’
When the Holy One blessed be He saw that the matter was inconsequential in Moses’s eyes, and that he was not standing in prayer, He immediately seized the opportunity and took an oath in His great Name that he [Moses] would not enter the Land of Israel, as it is stated: “Therefore [lakhen], you will not bring this assembly [into the land that I have given them]” (Numbers 20:12), and lakhen is nothing other than an oath, as it is stated: “Therefore, I have taken an oath to the house of Eli” (I Samuel 3:14).
When Moses saw that his sentence had been sealed, he decreed a fast upon himself, drew a small circle, stood within it, and said: ‘I am not moving from here until You void this decree.’ At that moment, what did Moses do? He donned sackcloth, wrapped himself in sackcloth, covered himself with ashes, and stood in prayer and supplication before the Holy One blessed be He, until the heavens, the earth, and the order of Creation shook violently, and they said: ‘Perhaps, the desire of the Holy One blessed be He to renew His world has arrived.’ A Divine Voice emerged and said: ‘The desire of the Holy One blessed be He to renew His world has not arrived. Rather: “In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the spirit of all flesh of man”’ (Job 12:10), and man is no one other than Moses, as it is stated: “The man Moses was very humble, more than any person on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). What did the Holy One blessed be He do at that moment? He proclaimed at each and every gate of each and every firmament and each and every court that they should not accept Moses’ prayer and they should not take it up before Him, because the decree had been sealed in his regard. The angel who is appointed over proclamation, his name is Akazriel. At that moment, the Holy One blessed be He called in a frenzy, and said to the ministering angels: ‘Descend in a frenzy and lock the gates of each and every firmament,’ as the voice of the prayer was forcing its way upward to the firmament due to the sound of Moses’s prayer, as his prayer was like a sword that rips and cuts and cannot be delayed. His prayer was like the ineffable Name that he learned from Zagzael, the master scribe of the residents of the upper world. Regarding that moment it says: “A wind lifted me, and I heard behind me the sound of a great noise [raash]: Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place” (Ezekiel 3:12). Raash is nothing other than quaking, and great is nothing other than Moses, as it is stated: “The man Moses, too, was very great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of Pharaoh’s servants and in the eyes of the people” (Exodus 11:3). What is “blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place”? When the wheels of the divine chariot and the seraphs of fire saw that the Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Do not accept Moses’s prayer,’ and He did not show him favor, did not grant him life, and did not allow him to enter the Land of Israel, they said: “Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place,” as there is no favoritism, neither for the small nor the great.
From where is it derived that Mosed prayed during that period five hundred and fifteen times? It is as it is stated: “I pleaded [vaetḥanan] with the Lord at that time, saying” (Deuteronomy 3:23) – that is the numerical value of vaetḥanan.²²Vav – 6, alef – 1, tav – 400, ḥet – 8, nun – 50, nun sofit – 50. At that moment, Moses said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘Master of the universe, it is revealed and known before You, my exertion, and the suffering that I underwent for Israel, until they would believe in Your Name. How much suffering I underwent for them regarding the mitzvot, until I bolstered the Torah and the mitzvot in them? I said: Just as I saw their trouble, so, I will see their well-being, but now, when the well-being of Israel has arrived, You say to me: “You will not cross this Jordan”? You are rendering Your Torah a forgery, as it is written: “On his day you shall give his wage, and the sun shall not set upon it as he is poor, and he anticipates it, lest he cry out against you to the Lord and it will be a sin in you” (Deuteronomy 24:15). Is this payment for the work of forty years that I toiled, until they would become a sacred and loyal people? As it is stated: “But Judah still ruled with God, and he is faithful to the Holy One” (Hosea 12:1).
The wicked angel Samael was the head of all the accusing angels. Each moment, he would count toward Moses’s death and say: ‘When will the end arrive, the moment when Moses will die, so I can descend and take his soul from him?’ In his regard, David said: “The wicked man looks upon the righteous man and seeks to kill him” (Psalms 37:32). You have none among the accusing angels as wicked as Samael, and you have none among the prophets as righteous as Moses, as it is stated: “There has not arisen another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face” (Deuteronomy 34:10). To what is the matter comparable? It is to a person who happened upon the feast of a bride and groom, and that person was anticipating and saying: ‘When will their rejoicing arrive and I will rejoice in it?’ So, the wicked Samael was anticipating Moses’s soul, and saying: ‘When will Mikhael²³Mikhael is the ministering angel of Israel. See Daniel 12:1, Yoma 77a. weep and I will fill my mouth with laughter?’ Until Mikhael said to him: ‘What, wicked one, will I weep and you laugh? “Do not rejoice, my enemy, over me; though I fell, I will rise; though I sit in darkness, the Lord is a light for me”’ (Micah 7:8). “Though I fell” – due to Moses’ passing, “I will rise” – due to Joshua’s leadership, when he toppled the thirty-one kings.²⁴See Joshua 12:7–24. “Though I sit in darkness” – with the destruction of the first and latter Temple, “the Lord is a light for me” – in the messianic era.’
Up to this point, one hour had passed. At that moment, Moses said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘Master of the universe, if you do not take me into the Land of Israel, leave me in this world, and I will live and not die.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: ‘If I do not kill you in this world, how will I revive you in the World to Come? Moreover, you will render My Torah a forgery, as it is written in My Torah by your hand: “There is no deliverer from My hand”’ (Deuteronomy 32:39).
Moses said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘Master of the universe, if you do not take me into the Land of Israel, leave me like the beasts of the field, who eat greenery, drink water, live, and see the world. So, let my soul be like one of them.’ He said to him: “Enough for you, [do not continue to speak to Me of this matter]” (Deuteronomy 3:26). He said before him: ‘Master of the universe, if not, leave me in this world, like this bird that flies in all directions of the world, and gathers its sustenance each day, and in the evening it returns to its nest. So, let my soul be like one of them.’ He said to him: “Enough for you.” What is “enough for you”? He said to him: ‘It is enough for you what you have spoken.’ When Moses saw that no creature could save him from the path of death, at that moment, he said: “The Rock, His actions are perfect, as all His ways are justice; a faithful God and there is no injustice, righteous and upright is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4).
What did Moses do? He took the scroll and wrote on it the ineffable Name and the book of the song.²⁵The song of Haazinu (Deuteronomy 32). But he did not yet complete it until the moment arrived for Moses to die. At that moment, the Holy One blessed be He said to Gavriel: ‘Gavriel, go out and bring Moses’ soul.’ He said before Him: ‘Master of the universe, one who is the equivalent of sixty myriads, how can I see his death? And one who possesses these qualities, how can I act toward him with fury?’ Then He said to Mikhael: ‘Go out and bring Moses soul.’ He said before Him: ‘Master of the universe, I was his teacher, and he was my disciple, and I am not able to see his death.’ Then He said to the wicked Samael: ‘Go out and bring Moses’ soul.’ Immediately, he clothed himself in anger and girded himself with a sword, wrapped himself in cruelty, and went toward Moses. When he saw him that he was sitting and writing the ineffable Name, [that] the aura of his appearance was like the sun, and [that] he resembled an angel of the Lord of hosts, Samael grew fearful of Moses. He said: ‘The angels can certainly not take Moses’ soul.’ Before Samael showed himself to Moses, Moses knew that Samael had come. When Samael saw Moses, a fearful trembling seized him, like the pangs of a woman giving birth, and he was unable to open his mouth to speak to Moses, until Moses said to Samael: ‘“There is no peace, said the Lord, for the wicked” (Isaiah 48:22); what are you doing here?’ He said to him: ‘I came to take your soul.’ He said to him: ‘Who sent you?’ He said to him: ‘The One who created all the creations.’ He said to him: ‘You will not take my soul.’ He said to him: ‘Anyone who comes into the world, their souls are given to me.’ He said to him: ‘'I have greater strength than anyone [else] who comes into the world.’
He said to him: ‘What is your strength?’ He said to him: ‘I am the son of Amram, I emerged circumcised from my mother’s womb, and there was no need to circumcise me. On the day that I was born, I was able to speak, I walked on my feet, I spoke with my father and my mother, and I did not even suck milk. When I was three months old, I prophesied and said that I was destined to receive the Torah from fiery flames. When I was walking outside, I entered the king’s palace and took the crown from upon his head. When I was eighty years old, I performed signs and wonders in Egypt: I took out sixty myriads before the eyes of all Egypt; I split the sea into twelve sections; I sweetened the water of Mara; I ascended and trod a path in the heavens; I engaged in the battle of the angels; I received a Torah of fire; I resided under a throne of fire; took shelter under a pillar of fire; I spoke with Him face to face; I prevailed over the heavenly entourage; I revealed their secrets to humankind; I received Torah from the right [hand] of the Holy One blessed be He, and taught it to Israel. I waged war with Siḥon and with Og, two mighty idol worshippers, who during the Flood, the water did not reach their ankles due to their height. I caused the sun and the moon to stand still in the heights, and I struck them with the staff in my hand and I killed them. Who is there among those who come into the world who can do that? Go from here, wicked one, you must not say that.²⁶That you came to take my soul. Go, flee from before me, I will not give my soul to you.’
Immediately, Samael returned and brought the response before the Almighty. The Holy One blessed be He said to Samael: 'Come and bring Moses’ soul.' He immediately drew his sword from his scabbard and stood over Moses. Moses immediately became furious at him, took in his hand his staff, on which the ineffable Name was inscribed, and smote Samael with all his strength, until he fled from before him. He pursued him with the ineffable Name, and removed the beam of glory from between his eyes and blinded his eyes. Until this point, Moses was successful. A moment later, a Divine Voice emerged and said: ‘The end, your death, has arrived.’
Moses said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘Master of the universe, remember that day that You revealed Yourself to me at the bush, and said to me: “And now, go, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and take My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt”? (Exodus 3:10). Remember that day that I was standing upon Mount Sinai for forty days and forty night? I ask You, please, do not hand me over to the angel of death.’ A Divine Voice emerged and said to him: ‘Fear not, I, Myself, will tend to you and to your burial.’ At that moment, Moses stood and sanctified himself, like the seraphs.
The Holy One blessed be He descended from the uppermost heavens of heavens to take Moses’ soul, and there were three ministering angels with him: Mikhael, Gavriel, and Zagzagel: Mikhael prepared Moses’ bier, Gavriel spread a fine linen cloth at his head, and Zagzagel at his feet. Mikhael on one side and Gavriel on one side. The Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: ‘Cover your eyes with your eyelids’ and he covered his eyes with his eyelids. He said to him: ‘Place your hands on your chest,’ and he placed his hands on his chest. He said to him: ‘Place your feet one next to the other.’ He placed his feet one next to the other.
At that moment, the Holy One blessed be He summoned the soul from within his body. He said to it: ‘My daughter, one hundred and twenty years I allotted for your being in Moses’ body. Now, your end has arrived, it is time to leave. Depart, do not delay.’ It said before Him: ‘Master of the universe, I know that You are the God of all the spirits and all the souls. The soul of the living and the dead are given into Your hand. You created me, You formed me, and you placed me in Moses’ body for one hundred and twenty years. Now, is there a body in the world purer than Moses’s body? As no putrid wind was ever seen in him, and no worms or maggots. That is why I love it and do not wish to depart from it.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to it: ‘Soul, depart, do not delay, and I will take you up to the uppermost heavens of heavens, I will seat you beneath My Throne of Glory with the cherubs, the seraphs, and the troops.’²⁷Troops of angels.
It said before Him: ‘Master of the universe, from near your Divine Presence on High, two angels, Uza and Azael, descended and lusted after earthly women and corrupted their way on the earth until you suspended them between the earth and the heavens. But the son of Amram, from the day that You revealed Yourself to him, he did not consort with his wife, as it is stated: “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses with regard to the Kushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Kushite woman”²⁸The midrash here is based on the interpretation that they were talking about the fact that Moses abstained from being with his wife. See Rashi on Numbers 12:1. (Numbers 12:1). I ask You please: Leave me in Moses’ body.’ At that moment, the Holy One blessed be He kissed him, and took his soul with a kiss on the mouth.
The Holy One blessed be He began weeping: “Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against the evildoers?” (Psalms 94:16). And the Divine Presence says: “There has not arisen another prophet in Israel like Moses” (Deuteronomy 34:10). The heavens weep and say: “The pious one is lost from the land” (Micah 7:2). The earth weeps and says: “The upright among men is no more” (Micah 7:2). When Joshua sought his master but did not find him, he was weeping and saying: “Help, Lord, for the faithful man is no more, for trustworthiness has disappeared from among men” (Psalms 12:2). The ministering angels say: “He executed the righteousness of God” (Deuteronomy 33:21), and Israel said: “And His ordinances with Israel” (Deuteronomy 33:21). These and those were saying: “May he come in peace, may they rest on their resting places, one who walks in his uprightness” (Isaiah 57:2).
“The memory of the righteous is for a blessing” (Proverbs 10:7), and his soul for life in the World to Come. Amen, so, may it be His will. “Blessed be the Lord forever, amen and amen” (Psalms 89:53).