The school of Eliyahu (Elijah) taught: Six thousand years is the duration of the world. Two thousand of the six thousand years are characterized by chaos; two thousand years are characterized by Torah, from the era of the Patriarchs until the end of the mishnaic period; and two thousand years are the period of the coming of the Messiah. Six thousand years is the duration of the world, and it is in ruins for one thousand years. The duration of the period during which the world is in ruins is derived from a verse, as it is stated: “And the Lord alone shall be exalted on that day” (Isaiah 2:11). That is the course that history was to take, but due to our many sins, the Messiah did not come after four thousand years passed, and furthermore, the years that elapsed since then, which were to have been the messianic era, have elapsed.
Rabbi Jacob said: This world (age) is like a lobby before the Age to Come; prepare yourself in the lobby so that you may enter the banquet hall… He used to say: Better is one hour of repentance and good deeds in this age than all the life of the Age to Come; and better is one hour of bliss in the Age to Come than all the life of this age.
The sentence of the generation of the Flood lasted twelve months, the sentence of the Egyptians lasted twelve months, the sentence of Job lasted twelve months, the sentence of Gog of Magog lasts twelve months, the sentence of the wicked in Gehenna lasts twelve months. Nebuchadnezzar was three and a half years. Sennacherib was over three and a half years. Vespasian was three and a half years.
The Sages taught: During the tenure of Shimon HaTzaddik, the lot for God always arose in the High Priest’s right hand; after his death, it occurred only occasionally; but during the forty years prior to the destruction of the Second Temple, the lot for God did not arise in the High Priest’s right hand at all. So too, the strip of crimson wool that was tied to the head of the goat that was sent to Azazel did not turn white, and the westernmost lamp of the candelabrum did not burn continually.
