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Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Marwan Barghouti's Release - Predicted?

Will Marwan Barghouti, a murderer of Jews, get released from prison?

Arutz Sheva reports:
(IsraelNN.com) The Arab newspaper al-Hayat has reported that the government of Israel had agreed to discuss the release of Fatah terrorist Marwan Barghouti as part of a deal with Hamas to free captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Israel’s willingness to release Barghouti was on condition he be deported from the Land of Israel.


But Barghouti refuses to be deported. We'll have to see how this turns out.

Well, it may have been predicted. No, I mean really predicted - in the Midrashim. Similar Midrashim called תפילת רבי שמעון בן יוחאי , and פרק ר' שמעון בן יוחאי(see PDF p.283, p. 555 in אוצר המדרשים here) and עתידות לעתיד mention the following statment (Background: the Midrash is listing the rulers of Yishma'el before the time of Mashiah):

ויעמידו מלך אחר ושמו מריאו (מרואן) ויקחוהו מאחורי הצאן והאתונות ויעלוהו למלוכה



Translation:
And they will raise up a different king, and his name is Mario (Marwan), and they will take him from behind the sheep and she-donkeys, and they will bring him up for kingship.

Sheep is commonly used as a metaphor for Jews in Midrashim, as in ואנחנו עמך וצאן מרעיתך. Donkeys are commonly used as a metaphor for Yishmael as in עם משולים לחמור. Barghouti will be released from a Jewish prison from among his fellow Ishmaelite inmates.

Let's read on in the Midrash to see the fate of Marwan. It's unclear to me if this is the same Marwan mentioned earlier or not.


ויעמוד מלך אחר בגבורה ואיש מלחמה וקטטה בעולם
בימיו וזה לך האות כשאתה רואה שנפל נירון המערבי
שבמערב בהשתחויה של בני ישמעאל בדמשק נפלה
מלכותו ונכנסין ויוצאין במס. ואף מלכות ישמעאל
תיפול ועליהם הוא אומר שבר ה׳ מטה רשעים, ואיזה
זה מרואן השר. אצלו היו גבורי בני קדר קיימים
ותפשע עליו פינת מזרחית צפונית ויעלו עליו ויפלו
ממנו ג׳ חיילים גדולים בחדקל ובפרס והוא בורח
מפניהם ונלכד ונהרג ובניו יתלו על העץ


And another king stood up powerfully and [he is] a man of war, and there are fights going on in the world during his days. And this is the sign - when you see that Nero of the Far West will fall in prostration of the Ishmaelites in Damascus, his kingdom has fallen, and they will only enter and exit with taxes. And also the kingdom of Yishmael will fall, and it's said about them, "Hashem will break the staff of the wicked." And who is this? This is Marwan, the officer. He had the strongmen of the children of Keidar [associated with Yishmael] rising up and the northeast corner rebelling against him. And they will rise up against him, and 3 great armies will fall in the Tigris and Persia [perhaps it's פרת - not פרס - which would mean the Euphrates], and he will flee from them, and he will be captured and killed, and his sons will be hung on a tree.


Anyone catch the Obama reference?

6 Comments:

At Wed Dec 02, 07:54:00 PM 2009, Blogger Devorah said...

In italian, the word "nero" means black.
Just saying...

 
At Thu Dec 03, 07:20:00 AM 2009, Blogger NonymousG said...

I'm always skeptical of "divining" the future from our texts, as you don't actually know what you're looking for until the event has happened. But I'm always happy to be surprised :)

 
At Sun Dec 06, 05:47:00 AM 2009, Blogger mErA said...

What Midrash is this? There are some Italian words: Mario and Nero.

 
At Sun Dec 06, 05:56:00 AM 2009, Blogger yaak said...

It's called Perek Ribbi Shimon bar Yohai.

"Nero" is really an Anglicization of "Niron" - who was a Roman general who, according to the gemara in Gittin, eventually converted to Judaism.

 
At Sun Dec 06, 08:58:00 AM 2009, Blogger mErA said...

Oh yes, The Gemara says that Niron was also the ancestor of Rabbi Meir.
Why do you think that in this Midrash "Niron" is Obama?

 
At Sun Dec 06, 10:37:00 AM 2009, Blogger yaak said...

I don't know that - I'm just observing the interesting connection between this midrash and Obama. Take it with a grain of salt if you wish.

 

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