Kabbalah Library
Zohar for All, Volume 3
The Gathering of the Exiles and the Revival of the Dead
63) It is written, “And Jacob gave to Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank.” What are lentils? Lentils are as round as a circle, like the wheel that surrounds the world, which does not change its course. So is man. Even though at that time there will be all goodness and all the perfection, the conduct of the world of eating and drinking will still not change.
64) The four winds of the world blow, and the Creator is destined to awaken one Ruach [wind/spirit] to sustain the body, which will incorporate four winds, as it is written, “From four winds, come, O wind.” It is not written “in” four, but “from” the four winds of the world, that he will incorporate the four of them. That spirit [wind] is the engendering spirit. It is the spirit that eats and drinks, and there is nothing between this world and the days of the Messiah except enslavement of kingships, and there is nothing between this world and the revival of the dead except cleanness and attainment of the knowledge and long living.
65) Are the days of the Messiah and the revival of the dead not one and the same? Rather, the Temple precedes the ingathering of the exiles, and ingathering of the exiles precedes the revival of the dead, and the revival of the dead is the last one, as it is written, “The Lord builds Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.” The revival of the dead is the healing for the brokenhearted over their dead. He builds Jerusalem first; subsequently, He will gather the outcasts of Israel; and finally, He will heal the brokenhearted.
66) Forty years prior to the ingathering of the exiles, the revival of the dead, as it is written, “And Isaac was forty years old, there are several troubles from the ingathering of the exiles to the revival of the dead, several wars will awaken upon Israel. Happy is one who escapes them,” as it is written in Daniel, “At that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book will be rescued.”
From here, many will be clarified and whitened, as it is written, “I will refine them like silver and test them like gold.” In those days, there will be days of which it will be said, “I have no wish for them.” From the time when the troubles pass until the revival of the dead, it will be forty years.
67) “The children of Israel walked in the desert forty years for not obeying the voice of the Lord.” So it is here: All those said the same thing. At the end of the forty years, when the troubles pass and there are no more wicked, the dead, who dwell in the dust, will live. Since it is written, “Trouble will not rise up twice,” and what they went through is enough for them, from the time of the revival of the dead, the world will settle down, as it is written, “In that day, the Lord will be one, and His name One.”
68) The redemption will be on the sixth millennium. But this is great prolonging for these dwellers of the dust. After 408 years from the sixth millennium, all the dwellers of the dust will be revived.
The dwellers of the dust are the sons of Het, since Het means that they will awaken for revival for 408 years. It is written, “In this year of jubilee [in Hebrew, Yovel], you shall return every man unto his possession,” when this one is completed, the 5,408th. The letter Hey of HaZot [this] implies five thousand, and Zot is 408 in Gematria. “You shall return every man unto his possession,” when the body returns to its soul, which is its share and domain.
69) There are three factions: complete righteous, complete wicked, and intermediate. The complete righteous will be revived in the revival of the dead of the land of Israel, which precede the time of the 408th by several years, in the fortieth year after the gathering of the exiles. The last ones will all rise at the time of the 408th of the sixth millennium. Who will be rewarded with this prolonging, and who will maintain His law at that time?
70) “Let there be light.” Light is the redemption. And the word “light” in Gematria is Raz, which means secret. When it is written, “Let there be light,” it implies that at the time of redemption, there will be a secret, unknown to any person.
With repentance, everyone will advance toward revival. If it is not said so, we would not have left an opening for those who await redemption every day, as it is written, “A sinew of salvation,” implying to those who await salvation every day. And if salvation is tied to a set time, how is it possible to expect it every day? Hence, surely it depends on repentance. When they repent, they will be redeemed, and forty years following the redemption will be the revival of the dead.
71) It depends on repentance, as it is written, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.” “Of them that sleep” means that only some will awaken, the righteous who repented during their lives are revived first. Thus, through repentance they advance.
By how many years do the righteous precede the rest of the people? It is written, “Out of Jacob One shall have dominion.” The righteous precede the rest of the people by 214 years. The measure of preceding depends on the measure by which it has decayed in the dust. Any body that decayed in the dust first is revived first. There are many revivals, since each body has a special revival depending on the speed of its rotting in the ground, but all the revivals will be at the same time.
