Page "Abbahu" Paragraph 9

" When does your Messiah come?

" a Christian ( Minaah ) once asked Abbahu in a tone of mockery, whereupon he replied: " When you will be wrapped in darkness, for it says, ' Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the nations ; then shall the Lord rise upon thee and His glory shall be seen on thee ' lx. 2 ," ( Sanhedrin 99a ).

A Christian came to Abbahu with the quibbling question: " How could your God in His priestly holiness bury Moses without providing for purificatory rites, yet oceans are declared insufficient?

" ( Isaiah 40: 12 ).

" Why ," said Abbahu, " does it not say, ' The Lord cometh with fire '?

" ( Isaiah 64: 15 ).

" Fire is the true element of purification, according to Numbers xxi. 23 ," was his answer ( Sanhedrin 39a ).

Another question of the same character: " Why the boastful claim: ' What nation on earth is like Thy people Israel ' ( II Sam.

7: 23 ), since we read, ' All the nations are as nothing before Him '?

" ( Isaiah 40: 17 ), to which Abbahu replied: " Do we not read of Israel, he ' shall not be reckoned among the nations '?

" ( Numbers xxiii.

9, Sanhedrin as above ).