Psalm 2: interpretation, text of prayer in Russian

Why read Psalm 2? What is the interpretation of the Psalm of David and what do its verses mean? You can listen online or read the text of the prayer Psalm 2 in Russian on our website.

1 Why do nations rage, and nations plot vain things?
2 The kings of the earth rise up, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed.
3 “Let us break their bonds, and cast away their fetters from us.”
4 He who dwells in heaven will laugh; the Lord will mock him.
5 Then He will say to them in His anger and dismay them with His fury:
6 “I have anointed My King over Zion, My holy mountain;
7 I will declare the decree: The Lord said to Me: You are My Son; Today I have given birth to You;
8 Ask of Me, and I will give the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession;
9 You will strike them with a rod of iron; You will break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10 Therefore, understand, O kings; learn, judges of the earth!
11 Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice [before Him] with trembling.
12 Honor the Son, lest He be angry, and lest you perish in your journey, for His anger will soon kindle. Blessed are all who trust in Him.

History of writing

The second psalm is considered messianic, that is, containing prophecies about Christ. In the Hebrew, Greek and Latin Bibles this psalm is not spelled with the name of David, but in the Slavic tradition it exists. However, in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, Peter quotes the psalm in response to the persecution of Christian believers by priests ruled by Herod and Pontius Pilate. At the same time, the Apostle Peter noted that this is what the servant of God, Father David, says.

Attention! We recommend that you read a prayer for money to Spyridon of Trimifuntsky, which can be done on this page.

Building on the promise of Psalm 2, Peter talks about the protection of Jesus Christ for those who have strong faith. Scholars imply that the writing of this psalm dates back to the time when God's ark had already been transported to Zion.

In the opening verses of Psalm 2, King David wonders how princes and kings can rebel against their Creator.
From verses 1 to 4, David , fighting in endless wars, knows that the Lord is next to him, calls all wars against the Almighty senseless. They will provoke the wrath and laughter of the Lord. That is, all attempts to overthrow the Lord’s Anointed will end in their desecration and ridicule. No one managed to overthrow David, who enlisted the support of the Lord himself.

Verse 7 tells us that the Lord God begat His Son. King David considers himself one. Also in the verse we find lines that the Messiah was originally with God, from the very creation of the world.

Verses 8-9 contain a powerful promise from the Creator. Christians can ask him for everything, most importantly for good and with pure faith. All enemies and problems will be destroyed by the rod and will disappear like fragments of an earthen vessel.

The Lord gives King David the right to rule the earth, holding an iron rod in his hands, and all his enemies will become like clay vessels that he can easily defeat.

Verses 10-11 are an appeal to kings in authority. They serve the Creator with fear and trembling.

Interpretation of Psalm 2

To understand the content of each line of the prayer, it is necessary to interpret them, which will allow you to understand the depth of its content if you read Psalm 2 in Russian.

Verse 1: talks about those pagans who do not accept Christ, but are plotting sedition and rebellion. The enemies of Christ are not only foreign peoples who worship pagan idols, but also the inhabitants of Judea, the Pharisees and other tempters who want the death of Christ, but pursue these goals in vain.
Verse 2: Those who rebelled against Christ were not ordinary people: they were kings and other famous people in the land of Judea, who imagined themselves to be gods and worshiped pagan idols. After his death, it was they who began the persecution of the Christian Church.
Verse 3: It explains why the uprisings against Christ began: the pagans and idolaters were disgusted by the law of spiritual purity and morality that Christianity preaches. It turns out to be unacceptable for the wicked, people mired in sin and base passions.
Verses 4-5: The singer argues that resistance to the Christian law is pointless, since God sees everything and knows everything. It is not difficult for him to turn into dust all the intrigues plotted by his enemies. They will be punished by excommunication from Christ, who will only laugh at them. But opponents will also face punishment. Those who rebelled against Christ and the heavenly teachings will be struck by the wrath of the Lord. Those who persecute the Christian faith will themselves be destroyed.
Verses 6-7: In these verses of the psalm the singer in the name of Christ addresses those who rebelled against him and explains that he has been appointed over the nations by the Most High, therefore faith, regardless of their resistance, will spread throughout the whole earth. This is the command of the Lord. In prayer, Zion is called not only the mountain where the holy city of Jerusalem was founded, but also the entire Christian church.
Verse 8: This prophesies the birth of the Son of God and that he will reign over the whole world, and the Christian church will be revered and accepted by all the nations of the world.
Verse 9: This verse speaks on behalf of God, saying that all nations will submit and accept the Christian church. The judgment of God will be carried out over them, and his power will be firm and limitless. Those who resist will be allowed to be treated as a potter treats poorly made products: he breaks them and destroys them.
Verses 10-11: Continuing the conversation begun in the previous verse, the singer instructs kings and “judges of the earth” not to resist Christ, the Son of God. It is he who is the King of the whole world, who cannot be overthrown. He advises not to persist, but to submit, serve him, rejoice and ask for the mercy of the Lord.
Verse 12: the last line of the psalm contains a call, an instruction from the prophet not to resist the will of God, to correct himself, repent and take the righteous path, so as not to awaken the wrath of the Lord and open the way to salvation.

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Why is Psalm 2 read?

There are no strict rules for reading Psalm 2. Although some believe that it should be read by high-ranking people, for example, prime ministers, deputies, directors, and the president. That is, those who are endowed with certain powers, authority and are responsible for people. Then this applied to kings, today to presidents and all people who have a high position and a certain power.

Be that as it may, the habit of reading the psalms of King David changes a person’s thinking, filling it with:

strong faith;
the desire to send prayers to the Lord;
the desire to do good to people;
a sense of security and confidence in the future.

Psalm 2: Interpretation and Explanation

As you already understand, psalms are different. There are psalms of repentance, joy, thanksgiving, and there is a special section of psalms - “messianic”. The Messiah is one of the key concepts of sacred scripture and sacred history. Translated from Hebrew it means “anointing” and in Greek it sounds like “Christ”. By the way, in Hebrew the word “messiah” sounds like “Mashiach”. The fact is that the Greeks do not have the letter “Sh” in their dictionary, and where the Jew said “Sh”, the Greek pronounced “S”. So “Moshe” became “Moses”, and “Shlomo” became “Solomon”.

Scripture speaks about the Messiah for the first time when it talks about the Fall. The Lord God put it between the serpent, who drew the wife and her husband into sin, and between the wife. From the seed of the woman, the Lord promised the coming into the world of a redeemer who would erase the head of the serpent.

To this day, the main difference between Jews and Christians is that we believe in the Messiah who has already come, while the Jews are still waiting for him. This is the main theme of all Jewish history. Passionate anticipation of the coming of the Redeemer and a passionate desire to bring this hour closer.

Psalm 2 speaks of the Messiah as having already come. The psalm says that the princes of the earth and kings, glorious people, gathered together to overthrow the divine law.

Christ calls his commandments and teachings a good yoke. It is this yoke that people who have been separated from their knowledge for several centuries have been trying to throw off. Thus, a person with a fever tears off his bandages and plasters. This situation is understandable from within the life we live. People have been trying to erase from themselves the last signs of belonging to faith for several centuries. It is human nature to be proud of what is above him. Thus, a Hindu is proud of the Vedas, and a Muslim is proud of the Haran. Only former Christians, civilized and educated, are proud not of Christ and his Gospel, but of actresses and athletes, travelers and scientists. At the table of the world the Lord was given the last place, as the last beggar.

In the psalm, the Lord God is depicted as laughing, and he knows very well that those who are at enmity against him are at enmity against themselves. Ivan Andreevich Krylov has a wonderful fable about how people began to be at enmity with the sky. They collected a bunch of deadly metal, stones, darts, arrows and began to fiercely and furiously throw it all upward. The ending is predictable. The weapon fell on the heads of the madmen. This happens to everyone who is at enmity against God.

The psalm promises wrathful retribution. Moreover, the Son – the Anointed One, the Messiah – will be angry and punish. In the second psalm, Christ does not appear in the image in which we are accustomed to looking at him in the Gospel. If there he is meek and merciful, then in Psalm 2 he looks more like himself from the apocalypse. He is formidable and great, and in his hands is a rod with which he crushes nations like clay pots.

“Glorify your son so that he does not become angry, honor your son,” says the psalm. And these words equally apply to both Jews who do not believe in Christ and former Christians whose lifestyle has turned away from the sun.

Detailed interpretation

The Second Psalm of the Old Testament can be divided into 3 parts:

David discusses why the kings of the earth take counsel against God and Jesus Christ (verses 1-3);
God speaks to His Son and promises Him to bring all nations and their kings under the feet of Jesus Christ (verses 4-9);
David exhorts the kings to obey and serve the Lord, lest they perish by their own wicked actions (verses 10-12).

The division is conditional, made in order to better understand the meaning of the Psalm and its main idea.

Part 1 – David Is Indignant That Kings Are Rebelling Against God

Verse 1

“The tribes plot in vain” - whatever a person plots against God will not happen. That is why such events are called futile, that is, in vain and without results. There will be no victory for the people and country that goes against God's commandments. This is already predetermined and understandable. There simply cannot be any other outcome. Good always triumphs over evil, and God is the personification of grace and peace.

Verse 2

Princes and kings conspire against God and his Son, the Anointed One. They are making an insidious plan. But this plan initially has a defeatist outcome; it will not have a positive outcome. Only kings do not understand this or simply do not want to understand. In their own eyes, they seem omnipotent because they have a certain amount of power. But they do not understand that their power is not comparable to the power that God himself possesses. His power has no boundaries like theirs. They are kings of only a certain territory, but he is the King of the whole world and even the universe. And the fact that they plan to disobey him, looking stupid, has no basis.

Parallel Scripture for verses one and two:

Acts 4:25-26 – David spoke the words of the first two verses under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He spoke this through the mouth of God.

Verse 3

Kings and their people want to throw off the shackles of God. They consider God's protection to be bonds and chains for themselves. And they want to terminate them.

There is no parallel scripture verse.

Part 2 – God’s conversation with his Son regarding what awaits disobedient kings and their tribes and peoples

Verse 4

God laughs at these kings and nations, because their attempts to resist the Almighty are initially defeated. God knows in advance everything that they will do and even think. He knows their plan down to the smallest detail. Nothing is hidden from him. Every detail is transparent to God, so it makes no sense to build feats against the One who knows everything in advance.

Every person is like an open book to God. And kings are no exception. The rank of a ruler does not make people invisible - they, just like ordinary people, are open to the One who created them. God reads their thoughts, sees what their heart is filled with, because he himself gave birth to them, wove them together even when they were in the womb of their mothers. Without understanding this, people, having received a certain power, begin to rise in their own eyes, their pride grows, they become greedy and arrogant, sometimes the needs of ordinary people are no longer understandable to them. But all this does not save them from the fact that God sees and hears everything.

Parallel Scripture Verse:

Proverbs 1:26 – Solomon (son of David) speaks under the guidance of the Holy Spirit that God will laugh at the death of his opponents and will rejoice when horror comes upon them.

Verses 5-9

God in his rage and in his anger turns to Jesus Christ. He tells him that he anointed him as King, recognizes him as his son, says that he gave birth to Him. He promises Jesus that he will strike with an iron rod those kings who rebelled against God. He will crush them as he breaks an earthen vessel - into several small pieces. So that the people and tribe will no longer be able to reunite.

What is destroyed by God is never put back together, unless He himself wants it and helps to glue together what was once broken and crushed. It is better to submit to the One who can create and destroy, than to rely on one’s own strength, which is in no way comparable to God’s strength and his greatness. The power that God gives to his Son cannot be compared with the earthly power that ordinary kings who rule their country have.

To them, their power and greatness seem great, but in the eyes of God it is an insignificant power, as small as they themselves. It’s not that God was like a giant compared to them, but in the sense that their power extends only to a few nations and tribes, and God’s power has no boundaries - neither territorial, nor physical, nor any other.

Parallel Scriptures:

Acts 13:33 – There is a reference to the second Psalm.
Hebrews 1:5 – God did not tell any of the angels that he was His son, only Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 5:5 – God calls his son High Priest and once again confirms that he himself begot him;
Rev 2:26-27 - the iron rod and clay vessels are mentioned, with the rod the righteous will crush the wicked, they will be broken as clay vessels are broken;
Rev 12:5 – describes the birth of a male child who will grow to rule over all the nations of the earth;
Rev 19:15 – God says to praise and glorify His son Jesus Christ.

Verses 10-12

David is trying to instruct the nations and tribes to obey the Lord and serve Him with trepidation and joy. To honor His Son. He wants to protect people from the righteous anger and justice of the wrath that will surely befall those who oppose God and his Son.

God knows that His wrath is righteous, and therefore will not be able to spare those who oppose God's commandments. His goal is to have mercy on all people on earth, to give them a chance to repent of their sins and turn to the Lord as their last hope. For this purpose, He is not yet in a hurry to punish the irreconcilable kings and their peoples. He hesitates. Suddenly they will come to their senses and come to God with a contrite heart and complete repentance in their soul.

He doesn't want people to perish along the way and lose all the good things God can give them. Because God's wrath is about to flare up. And blessed (truly happy) are those who trust in God, do not resist Him, but keep His decrees and commandments. Blessed means blessed.

Such people are under God's protection and grace. Any of their undertakings will be accomplished, and their plans will be fulfilled. And even if they do something wrong, the Lord will easily turn it into good. Such people are considered blessed (joyful and happy) because they have nothing to fear. They are confident in the future.

Parallel Scriptures:

Psalm 33:9 – David tells people that they should trust the Lord, because He is good and wants only good for them, they will assure that only those who trust in God are happy.
Proverbs 16:20 – It says that he who conducts his affairs wisely will receive fruit from his activities, but this is not enough. You still need to hope in the Lord in order to become a truly happy person.
Isaiah 30:18 – God has not yet struck down the nations that resist Him only because He wants to save them and delays. He wants to have mercy on all those who are ready to repent to Him of their sins. Gives a chance.

Psalm 2: text with accents and translation into Russian

Text in Church Slavonic with accents:

Text in Russian:

Reading the beginning of this psalm, we understand that some kind of global conflict is brewing, in which peoples and tribes are drawn. That is, we are not talking about the confrontation between the Jewish people and the Philistines, but something more global, something more significant. But any rebellion against God will never succeed. During this global uprising, people tried to throw off the yoke of God's commandments. Their goal is to remove all taboos in order to fulfill their hedonistic aspirations. But all their attempts initially seem vain, meaningless, they are all meaningless.

The kings and princes have formed some kind of conspiracy against the Lord and his Anointed One, and hold council with each other. They planned to curtail the commandments of the Sinai revelation and abandon the yoke of the Gospel commandments.

But how can their rebellion culminate, when all kings and princes are unanimous against God? How will their global project end? Of course, they cannot defeat the Creator.

As long as we remain faithful to the head of the church - the Lord God, the enemy will not be able to defeat us. Why does Christ say: “Be wise as serpents!” This is because the snake always protects its head, since during an attack everyone tries to hit it.

But if kings and princes come to their senses and continue to serve the Lord with fear and joy, they have a chance of salvation.

The following is about honoring the Son of God. Why is it not said here about honoring the Father? The fact is that we cannot come to the Father without passing by the son. It turns out that he who believes in the Son also believes in the Father. Therefore, reverence for the Son is reverence for both the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Why is it believed that Psalms 1 and 2 were a single work? Because the first psalm begins with the word “blessed,” and the second ends with “blessed are all those who trust in him.” On this basis, ancient Christians and Jews believed that this is one psalm, which was divided into two in order to emphasize the features of the messianic meaning of Psalm 2 in relation to the first, which is the general constitution, the quintessence of the entire content of the Psalter.

Brief interpretation

The second Psalm can be briefly interpreted as follows:

Why do tribes and peoples plot various enterprises against the Lord? Are you restless and can’t find peace?
Kings and nations confer among themselves, set an insidious plan in order to resist Jesus Christ and say:
Let us take off these chains that God and His son have put on us.
But God, who lives in heaven, laughs at them.
Being angry and furious, He tells His Son that He has anointed Him king over all these nations, both rebellious and righteous. He gave the whole earth for His possession. Recognizes Him as His Son, speaks of His birth.
God offers Jesus all the lands as an inheritance for Him to possess.
The Lord promises that Jesus Christ will be able to crush the rebellious tribes with an iron rod, so much so that they will break like pottery breaks.
David is trying to reason with kings and nations who do not want to obey God, so that they change their minds and begin to serve the Almighty. They did this with trepidation and joy.
David says that in order for God not to become angry and pour out his righteous anger, it is necessary to honor His son Jesus Christ. God's wrath will flare up sooner or later. The main thing is not to be late and make the most important decision in your life on time - to obey the one who created the Earth. Only those who trust in God can be truly happy.

The second Psalm consists of 9 verses and 12 sentences. Found on page 569 of the Bible. King David performed the second Psalm.

Psalter. Psalm 2. Listen.

As we noted above, this psalm is not inscribed in the oldest manuscripts.
However, already in the first century there was a tradition of identifying authorship with David. Psalm 2 is royal. It can be assumed that it was originally performed during the solemn celebration of the king’s ascension to the throne of Jerusalem in the pre-exilic period. It is possible that this psalm was repeated annually in the temple on the day of the king's coronation.

If we follow the Hebrew version of the text, then verses 1-6 and 10-12 sound like the leader of the service, while verses 7-9 sound like the response verses of the king himself.

If you follow the Greek version of the psalm, the entire text in it comes as if from the perspective of the psalmist, that is, the king.

Listen to how beautiful Psalm 2 sounds, because the tradition of singing was formed back in the Old Testament period, so most of the psalms were intended for singing. It is noted that Orthodox Christians experience a special closeness to God during psalmody.

Commentary on the Psalms of David. 2nd Psalm

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Why do peoples worry and nations plot in vain? The kings of the earth and rulers arise and take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed. Let us break their bonds and throw off their belts! He who sits in the heavens will laugh; the Lord will laugh at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and in His wrath He will frighten them. For I have set My king over Zion, My holy mountain! It’s like a law for me to tell this. The Lord said to me: You are My son, today I gave birth to you. Ask Me, and I will give you the nations for an inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron, like a potter's vessel you will break them. Now, kings, come to your senses! Hear the edification, judges of the earth! Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Desire purity [of heart], so that He will not be angry, and so that you will not lose the way. For a little more and His anger will flare up. Happy are all who trust in Him!

Rabbeinu Ovadiah Sforno writes that this psalm speaks about the situation in the world during the period called “the days of Moshiach,” and about the intention of Moshiach, the anointed of the Most High, to return the peoples of the world to serving the Most High. And this is how Sforno comments on this psalm.

“ Why are people worried? "(2:1). The goal and desire of peoples is to lead, through national feelings, to unity and to the restoration of lost political positions. Then “ the kings of the earth and the rulers arise ” (2:2) to unite and be ready for war. “ They take counsel together ” (2:2) - conduct secret negotiations “ against the Lord ” (2:2) - so as not to serve Him, “ and against His anointed ” (2:2) - in order to overthrow his rule. “ Let us break their fetters and throw off their belts! "(2:3) - the bonds of the Almighty and the Moshiach, who calls to observe the commandments of the sons of Noah. “ He who sits in the heavens will laugh ” (2:4) - at the decision they have made, “ The Lord will laugh at them ” (2:4) - seeing how they go out to war.

The Midrash says (Midrash HaGadol, Shemot 1:16): “Esav said: “Cain was a fool for killing his brother while his father was alive! Didn’t he know: the father would give birth to another son, like the one killed?! But I won’t act like he’s stupid – I’ll wait until my father dies.” And so it is written in the Torah that Esau said in his heart: “The days of mourning for my father will draw near, then I will kill Jacob my brother” (Genesis 27:41).

Pharaoh came and said: “Esau was a fool! Didn’t he know that while he was waiting for his father to die, sons would be born to Jacob?! But I will not act according to his stupidity - I will kill their sons in their mother’s womb.” And so it is written in the Torah that Pharaoh said to the midwives: “If it is a son, then you will kill him, but if it is a daughter, she will live” (Shemot 1:16).

Sinful Haman came and said: “Pharaoh was a fool who ordered his daughters to be left alive! Didn't he know that his daughters would get married and produce numerous offspring?! But I will not act according to his stupidity - I will kill both children and women in one day!

In the future, Gog will come from the land of Magog. And Gog will say: “Everyone before me was foolish because they sued Israel! Didn’t they know that they had a Patron in Heaven?! But I will not act according to their stupidity - I will start with a war against their Patron.” As it is written: “The kings of the earth and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed” (Tehillim 2:2).

The Almighty says to them: “You are the stupidest in the world, are you going against Me?!” I swear on your life that first I will laugh at you.” As it is written further: “He who sits in the heavens will laugh, the Lord will laugh at them” (Tehillim 2:4).”

Rabbi Tzadok Cohen of Lublin writes in his book Resisei Layla that the war of Gog and Magog prepares this world for the transition to a state called “The World to Come.”

In the Talmud (Berachot 58a), Rabbi Shila comments on the verse from Divrei HaYamim: “You, O Lord, [have] greatness and power, and glory, and eternity, and splendor. For over everything in heaven and on earth is Your kingdom, O Lord. And You are exalted, You appoint everyone” (Part 1, 29:11).

And so says Rabbi Shila: “You, O Lord, [have] greatness” - this is the creation of the world, “and power” is the exodus from Egypt, “and glory” is the sun and the moon, which stopped at the prayer of Joshua bin Nuna, “and eternity” is the fall of Rome, “and splendor” is the war at the Arnon River in the fortieth year of wandering in the desert. “For over all that is in the heavens and on the earth” is the war with the Canaanite general Sisra, about which it is said: “From the heavens the stars fought, from their ways they fought against Sisra” (Shoftim, 5:20). “Your kingdom, O Lord,” is a war with Amalek (Rashi writes here that through this war the kingdom of the Lord will be established). “And You Are Exalted” is the war of Gog and Magog. “You appoint everyone,” said Rabbi Yochanan, that even such an insignificant position as one responsible for digging canals for supplying water will be approved in the Future World from Heaven.”

The Torah touches on the theme of the war of Gog and Magog in a hidden form. It is written: “And two men remained in the camp: the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other was Meidad. And the spirit descended on them. And they were among those who were registered [as elders], but they did not go out to the Tabernacle. And they prophesied in the camp" (Bamidbar 11:26). The sages of the Talmud ask (Sanhedrin 17a) what Eldad and Meidad prophesied. And they answer that they said: “Moshe will die, and Joshua will lead the people of Israel to the Holy Land.” Rav Nachman said that they prophesied about events in the War of Gog and Magog.

What does the war of Gog and Magog have to do with the generation of the desert? Rabbi Yehonatan Aibeshitz writes (“Yaarot Dvash”) that after the prophecy “Moshe will die, and Yehoshua will lead the people of Israel to the Holy Land,” people in the camp were perplexed: why would Yehoshua bin Nun from the tribe of Yosef replace Moshe? After all, the kingdom of the Jewish people belongs to the tribe of Judah. The people in the camp were afraid that if Joshua bin Nun led the Jewish people, he would die in the war against the Canaanite kings. In response to this fear, a prophecy came to Eldad and Meidad about the war of Gog and Magog: the transition of the kingdom from the tribe of Yosef to the tribe of Judah will not happen now, but in the war of Gog and Magog, when Mashiach, the son of Yosef, will be killed (God grant that this did not happen), and Mashiach, the son of David, will be revealed.

The sages said that until the last dramatic events of this world take place, it is unknown how they will happen. Despite the fact that the death of Mashiach, the son of Yosef, is said in the prophecy of Zechariah: “On that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem” (Zchariah 12:11), there is a rule that unfavorable prophecies can be canceled by the mercy of the Almighty. Therefore, Rav Yosef Chaim from Baghdad writes ("Ben Ish Chai", "Ilkhot Shana Rishona", Beshalach) that in the prayer "Eighteen Blessings", in the blessing about Jerusalem, pronouncing the words "and the throne of David, Your servant, inside [the Temple] prepare quickly,” one should mentally ask the Almighty so that Mashiach, the son of Yosef, would not be killed.

The theme of the possible death of Moshiach, the son of Yosef, is relevant to this psalm. The Midrash tells (Yalkut Shimoni, Tehillim, 621) that the Almighty will turn to Mashiach, the son of David: “Ask Me, and I will give you the nations for an inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession” (Tehilim, 2:8). But Mashiach, the son of David, will see that Mashiach, the son of Joseph, has been killed, and he will say to the Almighty:

“I ask nothing from you except life.” The Almighty will tell him:

“Even before your request, David, your father, had already prophesied about you: “He asked for life from You - You gave him eternal long life” (Tehillim, 21:5).”

Maaral from Prague explains (Netzach Yisrael, 37) that Mashiach, the son of David, will say this not out of fear for his life, but out of unwillingness for his kingdom to be interrupted.

If, God forbid, Mashiach, the son of Yosef, is killed, then, as the Arizal said (“Sefer etz ha-daat tov”), his body will remain completely intact until Mashiach, the son of David, revives him.

How to escape from the war of Gog and Magog? The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Shemot 261) says on behalf of Rabbi Eliezer that if the Jews are worthy of observing the laws of the Sabbath, they will be saved from three disasters: from the [hard] day in the war of Gog and Magog, from suffering before the coming of the Moshiach, and from day of the Great Judgment. And Bar Kapara said (tractate Shabbat, 118a): the one who holds three feasts on Saturday will be saved from three disasters: from suffering before the coming of Moshiach, from judgment in hell and from the war of Gog and Magog.

The Midrash Haggadah (chapter Mishpatim) says what is written in the Torah in the law about a Jew sold into slavery: “If you buy a Jewish slave, then let him serve for six years, and in the seventh let him go free” (Shemot, 21: 2). The six years recorded here allude to the six exiles of the Jewish people: Egypt, Sancherib (Assyria), Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. And in the seventh he will come out - from the kingdom of Gog and Magog.

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