Midras Yoel 3:5: Midrash Tehillim, Otzar Midrashim, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael & Sifrei Devarim

Another interpretation in the clouds. It says in the scripture (Deuteronomy 4:7), "For what great nation is there that has God close to it, as the Lord our God is whenever we call upon Him?" Rabbi Yudan said in the name of Rabbi Yitzhak, "He has a patron in the flesh." They said to him, "Your son has been caught." He said to them, "I am responsible for him." They said to him, "But he is sentenced to death. Where is he, and where is his patron?" However, the Holy One, blessed be He, saved Moses from Pharaoh's sword, as it says (Exodus 18:4), "For the God of my father was my help." Rabbi Yannai said, "It is written (Exodus 2:15), 'And Moses fled from Pharaoh.' Can a person escape from a monarchy? But at the moment when Pharaoh's men caught him and were about to decapitate him with a sword, the hilt of the sword broke above the neck of Moses, as it says (Song of Songs 7:6), 'Your neck is like the tower of David.' This refers to the neck of Moses." Rabbi Avitar said, "Not only that, but the sword fell on the neck of the executioner, and Moses killed him, as it says (Exodus 18:4), 'And He saved me from Pharaoh's sword.' He saved me, but not the executioner." Rabbi Berachya called upon it (Proverbs 21:18), "The wicked are a ransom for the righteous." Rabbi Avin called upon it (ibid. 11:8), "The righteous one is saved from distress." Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, "At the moment when Moses fled, all the inhabitants of Pharaoh's palace became dumb, deaf, and blind. To the dumb, he said, 'Where did Moses flee?' but they did not speak. To the deaf, he said, 'What is happening?' but they did not hear. To the blind, he said, 'What does Moses look like?' but they did not see. This is what the Holy One, blessed be He, said (Exodus 4:11), 'Who gives a person speech?' There, you have the answer, but here I have none." Therefore, it is written (Deuteronomy 4:7), "For the Lord our God is close to us whenever we call upon Him." Rabbi Yudan said another interpretation: "He has a patron in the flesh." They said to him, "Your son has been caught." He said to them, "I am responsible for him." They said to him, "But he is sentenced to death." "And the Holy One, blessed be He, did not save Jonah from the belly of the fish, as it is said (Jonah 2:11), 'And the Lord spoke to the fish.' Rabbi Yudan said in his name, 'Flesh and blood have an advocate. When a time of trouble comes upon him suddenly, he does not immediately enter before him (God), but he comes and stands at the door of his advocate and calls to his servant and says, "So-and-so is at the door." But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so. When a time of trouble comes upon Israel, he should not call upon Gabriel or Michael, but call upon him (God), and he will answer him. This is what is written (Joel 2:32), "And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered." Rabbi Alexandri related a story about a certain judge who used to deride others. He said to him, 'What is your name?' He replied, 'Alexander,' and he (the judge) turned away in contempt. The judge then asked him, 'What is the name of your advocate?' He replied, 'Alexander,' and the judge immediately rose to his feet and kissed him on his forehead, saying, 'My master, my master.' If one who is called by the name of flesh and blood can be saved from danger, how much more so one who is called by the name of the Holy One, blessed be He?' Rabbi Pinchas said two things in the name of Rabbi Zeira and one in the name of Rabbi Tanhum. Flesh and blood have an advocate. If one has burdened him excessively, he (the advocate) says, 'I have forgotten so-and-so who has burdened me too much.' But the Holy One, blessed be He, accepts whatever burdens Israel places upon Him, as it is said (Psalms 55:23), "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee." Flesh and blood have an advocate. If one's enemies seize him at the door of his home and he cries out to him (the advocate), the sword may fall upon his neck and kill him before he is rescued. But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so. He saved Jehoshaphat from the sword of Aram, as it is said (Chronicles II 18:31), "And Jehoshaphat cried out and the Lord helped him; and God moved them to depart from him." This teaches that he only lacked humility. Rabbi Shimon said, flesh and blood have a relative; if he is rich, he acknowledges him, but if he is poor, he does not acknowledge him. But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so. When Israel is in distress, he calls them "brothers" and "friends," as it is said (Psalms 122:8), "For my brethren and companions' sakes," and it is written (Exodus 33:11), "And the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." Rabbi Zeira said, a person has a son who is seen once in seventy years, and yet he kisses him on the forehead; but the Holy One, blessed be He, waits for the repentance of the wicked every day, as it is said (Ezekiel 33:11), "As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live." Above the firmament are the Chayot (heavenly beings). Rabbi Chelbo said that even the Chayot move in a cycle of 490 years. The legs of the Chayot correspond to all the animals, and the Throne of Glory corresponds to everything above. When a person enters the synagogue and stands behind the pillar to whisper their prayer, the Lord listens. This is what is written, "For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God whenever we call upon Him?" (Deuteronomy 4:7) Rabbi Chanina asked Rabbi Samuel, "What does it mean when it says in Lamentations 3:44, 'You covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through?'" He replied that the gates of prayer are sometimes open and sometimes closed, but the gates of tears are never closed. Why is this? Because the Lord our God is close to us. Rabbi Hoshea asked, "Which nation delays God like this one?" How is it that when elders sit and recall the past year, the Lord agrees with them? Concerning them, David said, "I will call upon the Most High God, who completes for me" (Psalm 57:3). Blessed be the name of the Lord our God who completes and finishes with Israel what they do. A mortal king decrees a decree, and even if people seek to annul it, they cannot do so, whether willingly or unwillingly, because they must fulfill his decree. However, if the king himself seeks to annul it, he can do so. But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not like that; rather, He upholds whatever the Sanhedrin decrees. When is this? On Rosh Hashanah, when the Sanhedrin sits and says, "Let Rosh Hashanah be on the second day of Shabbat or on the third day of Shabbat," immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, seats a Sanhedrin of angels and says to them, "Go and see if the lower court decreed and finalized it." They reply, "Master of the Universe, so they decreed." He then sits on that same day to judge His world, as it is stated (Psalms 47:6), "God has ascended amid shouts, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets." The thrones are brought out, the books are opened, and the Sanhedrin of angels sits before Him, as it is stated (Daniel 7:9), "I looked until thrones were set up and the Ancient of Days took His seat." Some teach merit, while others teach obligation. Why? As it is stated (Psalms 81:5), "For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob." Israel decreed that day as Rosh Hashanah, and it is also an ordinance of the God of Jacob, for He upholds His decrees and agrees with them. As it is stated (Psalms 50:15), "Call upon Me on the day of distress; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me." He agrees with Israel's opinion. Know that this is so because it is written (Numbers 29:1), "There shall be a day of blowing the horn for you," and it is only said "for you" and not for Me. Similarly, it is stated (Leviticus 23:2), "These are My appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as sacred assemblies." You shall proclaim them, whether in their proper time or not, for I have no appointed festivals except for these. As it is stated (Deuteronomy 4:7), "For what great nation is there that has God so near to them as the Lord our God is whenever we call upon Him?" And we call upon Him only for the sanctification of the festivals, as it is stated (Leviticus 23:4), "These are the appointed festivals of the Lord, the sacred occasions, which you shall celebrate at their appointed time." Rabbi Avin said in the name of Rabbi Aḥa: If a mortal king has a relative who is taken captive, he is ashamed to say that And the Lord brought out the captive and insane Israelites and called them His close people, as it is said (Psalms 148:14), "He has raised up a horn for His people, the praise of all His faithful servants, of Israel, the people close to His heart." King David said, "Master of the Universe, even if a wicked person from among the Israelites comes and calls out to You, You answer them immediately, so that the nations of the world will not say that all faces are equal and that You answer me too." The Lord said to him, "I smile until you call Me, then I will answer you," as it is said (Psalms 50:15), "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me." And it is said (Psalms 91:15), "When he calls on Me, I will answer him." And it is said (Isaiah 65:24), "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer." Nevertheless, his call must be sincere, as it is said (Psalms 145:18), "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth." Anyone who calls upon Him in truth can say, "God is good to Israel," (Psalms 73:1), "But as for me, God's nearness is my good," (Psalms 73:28), "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him," (Lamentations 3:25), "Good is the Lord to the one who seeks refuge in Him," (Psalms 34:9), and "The Lord is good to the upright in heart."

And I rested for my prayer and also for my fasting for a day until it was revealed to me that this was the angel and he said to me and asked me something, I said to him, Lord, what will happen after these? The angel said to him, after all this the people of the West increase with large soldiers and they come mixed up and make war with the people of the East in their country and kill them, and the rest flee before them and come to Alexandria, and they will be chased by the people of the West and come there, and there will be a great war, and the people of the East will flee from there and come as far as Egypt and stay And they will take it from a customer and make it a wasteland, to fulfill what was said Egypt will be a wasteland (Joel 4:9). And they passed through the land of the deer and it was consumed by them, and everyone who was captured will not return until the Messiah comes, and when I heard this I wept very much. The angel said to him, Simon! what are you crying for I told him, Abraham's sons Isaac and Jacob will not have an escape in his days. He said to me, the matter is very difficult, if you put meat on the fire, you will not be able to escape from its smell, so Israel is not saved, and anyone who comes into the room and runs away and hides will be saved. He will fall by the sword (ibid. 13:15), and they will pass through the land of the deer and horses, as it is said, "And he came through the lands and washed and passed over" (Daniel 11:30), and they came to the rivers of the valleys and they were in the middle of it, and there will be a great war that all the prophets prophesied about and they will become streams and the waters of the Euphrates to the blood, and the rest will not be able to drink from it, and from there the kingdom of the East will break. And after all these, a bold-faced king will stand and do three and a half years, and at the beginning of his reign, when he stands, he takes the rich and diverts (a missing language, Zephaniah 3:15) from their wealth and kills them, and money will not escape its owners, as it is said that their silver and gold cannot be redeemed (Ezekiel 7 19), and his counsel and his thoughts will not stand on him, and anyone who mentions Shema Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, will be killed, and anyone who says, The God of Abraham will be killed. 7:25), times - they are the times, and religion - is the Torah, as it is said that the fire of religion is for him (Deuteronomy 33), and in his days there will be great trouble for Israel, and everyone who is exiled to the upper Galilee will escape, as it is said that there will be a plague on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem (Joel 3:5) Witness Demati condemns and kills Israel until he reaches Damascus, and when he reaches Damascus, God Almighty gives help and success to Israel, and in his days there will be strife and war in the world, and a city will fight with its friend and a country with a country and a nation against a nation and a nation against a nation, and there will be no peace for those who come and go, as it is said And my troubles came to man, and they went as blind (Zephaniah 1:17). And with the Lord there will be turmoil and trouble upon them for three years, and they will be given in his hand until the end of the three years, as it is said and they will be in his hand [עַד עִדָּן וְעִדָּנִין וּפְלַג עִדָּן] until Iddan and Iddain and peleg Iddan (Daniel 7:25), Iddan - one year, Iddain - two years, peleg Iddan - half a year, It is found that there are three years from the cancellation of the circumcision and prayer, which is said to have taken place at the time of the removal of the tabernacle and to give a glimpse of heaven for one thousand two hundred and ninety days (ibid. 12:11), and they are three and a half years. And there arose a king who put them to the frost, as it was said, and we gave the shadow of the desert (ibid. 11) and he was in front of you for three months, and after that, the sons of Ishmael made war with the Edomites in the valley of Acre, and immediately the Assyrians came upon them and drove them back, as it was said, "How long shall Assyria rest" (Numbers 24:22), and the fleet of the Hittites (ibid. 24) - these are Edomites who are destined to stand at the end of days, and when they go out as thieves they go out, as it is said if thieves come to you, etc. (Obadiah 1:5), and make war with the sons of Ishmael and kill A great number of them, and a great number of them gathered at streets of Akko, crushed with the iron and shame, and a water tank was brake with his fingers, and rush, rabble in Suswan (castle), and they joined legions with their people from Edom, and they came and made war in the valley of Acre until the horse was soaked up to its thigh in blood, and the children of Israel fled until they came to the valley of Jericho, and there they stood and said to one of his comrades, "Here we are fleeing, and let us rest." We bowed down and changed, and returned and waged another war in the Valley of Megiddo, and the Edomites fled and got into the ships, and a wind arose and brought them to Assyria, and they tormented the Assyrians and crossed the river. And at the end of nine months, the Assyrians went out and the Israelites and the Romans perished, as it was said, "How long shall Assyria be troubled"(Deuteronomy 24:20). And when you see Assyrians coming out and walking in the land of Israel, they are making peace, and Elijah the late comes out and announces peace to them as it was said, and it will be an Assyrian peace because it will come to our land (Micah 5:4), and the sons of Italy want to fight with them and the sons of Ishmael will almost return the kingdom to them, and there are not enough to take out their wives until Assyria captures them, and immediately a voice goes out and proclaims everywhere to the children of Israel: Go out and avenge God's vengeance on Edom, as it is said, I have given my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel (Ezekiel 25:14), and immediately the young men of the Israelites gather and listen and they reign A king from the seed of David reigned over them, and a dispute fell between one and another, and the children of the Land of Israel transgressed against the seed of David to fulfill what was said, and Israel transgressed in the house of David until this day (2 Chronicles 10:19).

Similarly, (Yoel 3:5) "And all who call in the name of the L–rd … as the L–rd said." And where did He say it? (Devarim 28:10) "And all the peoples of the earth will see that the L–rd's name is called upon you, etc."